China's diplomatic outreach

China's diplomatic outreach

Bantarto Bandoro, Editor, 'The Indonesian Quarterly' Centre for Strategic and
International Studies (CSIS), Jakarta, bandoro@csis.or.id

Series of events in the Asia-Pacific region last month -- the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Bali,
the APEC meeting in Bangkok, the visit of top Chinese leaders to
Australia and to North Korea -- seemed to confirm the fact that
China is building more confidence in its political and economic
presence in the region; seeking a long-term strategic gains
through a more pragmatic approach to its Asian neighbors.

In Southeast Asia, during the ASEAN Bali summit, China acceded
to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC), making it the first
country outside Southeast Asia to join the club.

It is also the first time that China established a strategic
partnership with a regional organization. China and ASEAN also
signed a supplementary protocol to the Framework Agreement on
Comprehensive Economic Cooperation and other documents. In the
APEC meeting in Bangkok, China showed its resolve in becoming
part of the core activities of the region.

Beijing has shown the region that it is confident and
comfortable in handling international issues and pressure as
well. China is trying to be the center of economic, as well as
political and strategic, power. China's No. 2 man just returned
from Pyongyang and succeeded in persuading North Korea to return
to negotiation table. China is not yielding to the U.S. agenda,
but definitely has its own.

What one notices of China's current foreign policy is its
sophistication. China stressed the importance of increasing
mutual trust on the basis of mutual respect, seeking common
ground while putting aside differences and working to resolve
whatever problems there might be through dialog and consultation
in a joint effort to maintain peace and stability in the region.

This is perhaps the message the Chinese leadership is sending
to the region, that China has no malevolent intent, despite its
territorial quarrels with some of its neighbors.

What is clear from the current Chinese diplomatic moves is the
want to promote a sense of a multilateral world, in which the
United States will not dominate. China is cultivating its image
as a peace-loving state. This image has been employed to project
China as peaceful and the United States as belligerent.

The signing by China of the treaty of solidarity with ASEAN
committed Beijing to look at ASEAN as a friend instead of a foe,
since the TAC rules out the use of force to settle disputes. This
has shown China's willingness to build a strategic alliance with
its southern neighbors. China is seeking legal guarantees for
being a good neighbor and partner.

On the one hand this strategic partnership indicate's China
greater diplomatic confidence. On the other hand, the joint
declaration on the strategic partnership will make ASEAN
gradually believe that China will accept and respect the overall
status of ASEAN and would not adopt a policy of dividing it up.
Under complex and profound changes, the cooperation between China
and ASEAN will certainly serve the immediate and long-term
interests of both sides and is conducive to peace in the region.

The motivation of China's current Asian diplomatic strategy is
primarily to secure China's foreign policy environment at a time
when the regime in Beijing is now focused on sustaining economic
development and political stability, and to prevent countries in
the region from uniting against China by virtue of a perceived
fear of a Chinese threat. It is not wrong to suggest that the
focus of China's diplomatic strategy has been on countering the
influence of the United States in Asia.

Another primary motivation is to calm regional fears and
reassure Asian neighbors about how China might use its rising
power and influence in the future. It is probably against such a
background that China decided to use high level diplomacy and
initiate more extensive and constant contacts with the countries
in the region.

What is clearly noticed from the presence of Chinese leaders
in the meetings in the Asia-Pacific region, as mentioned above,
is the revelation of China's sense of place in eastern Asia.
Through such important regional meetings, China is determined not
only to stay in the region, without having to compromise core
Chinese territory, security or other interests, but also to help
boost the region, economically and politically. ASEAN and other
countries in the region must now see the reality that a stronger,
more developed and properly behaved China will certainly bring
tremendous immediate and long-term benefits to other east Asian
countries.

In an environment in which unilateral option is no longer on
the diplomatic menu, mutual respect and trust and an
understanding by the countries in the region of the impact of the
current acute strategic problems is necessary. China's current
diplomacy toward Asia seems to reflect such a sentiment, meaning
that it is wished to be seen not only as a promoter of a
multipolar world through which stability and cooperation can be
pursued, but also as one that adheres to regional codes of
conduct.

This is the same position that has long been sought by ASEAN.
China is showing no signs of retreating strategically from Asia
and it does not even need to do so. This is something that ASEAN
must acknowledge. If China goes badly, be certain that eastern
Asia will also suffer.