East Asia at critical juncture
Pang Zhongying The China Daily Asia News Network Beijing
Regional integration has become an irresistible trend in East Asia's development, mainly in the field of economic cooperation, and that has served as a catalyst for stability in the region.
The "10 + 3" process in East Asia (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations plus China, Japan and the Republic of Korea) continues. The new "East Asia identity" has been solidifying swiftly.
Promoting and negotiating the establishment of a free trade area has become a sizzling topic the region.
Nonetheless, the regional politics of East Asia may be among the most complicated international situations in the world.
Though there is cooperation in the aforementioned fields, there exist some negative factors which could affect the long- term regional future.
East Asia's international politics are characterized by territorial disputes, competition for economic resources, the rise of irrational nationalism, and interactive balance-of-power geopolitics.
There are also Cold War legacies such as the nuclear issue between Washington and Pyongyang and the possibility of the so- called "new Cold War" between China and the United States.
The relationship between China and East Asia is the basic issue of East Asia's international politics. Due to the rise of China, the following questions are unavoidable:
o What should be the current and future basis of this relationship?
o Can this region view China as a basic force for stability, peace, development and prosperity?
o How can benign interaction between China and East Asia be positively planned?
Therefore, East Asia is at a critically historical moment in which cooperation and conflicts are combined. All the nations of East Asian should realize that non-cooperation could probably mean encouraging conflicts.
The core power relations in East Asia are mainly the relationships between China and the United States, China and Japan, and the trilateral relations between China, the United States and Japan.
Stabilizing power relations requires a new strategic mentality and direct and sincere dialog between China, Japan and the United States to eliminate misunderstandings, establish strategic mutual trust, and even achieving strategic cooperation.
China and the United States need to establish a "trans- Pacific" strategic relationship.
The U.S.-Japanese alliance, with obvious Cold War colors, has served the interests of only Japan and the United States rather than the entire region. On its negative side, particularly in the military field, the alliance is mainly set to restrict, prevent, and even contain China from playing a role in the region.
There is need for a new relationship that makes regional strategy and security the starting point and seeks a basis for coexistence and cooperation.
Furthermore, Japan has been attempting to stabilize the Sino- Japanese relationship by taking advantage of its alliance with the United States, which, however, does not help to improve Sino- Japanese ties.
It would be extremely dangerous if the current uncertain and problematic situation is allowed to develop toward more serious antagonism, competition and clashes.
Handling such complicated issues in East Asia will require wisdom in international politics, effective diplomatic policies, skilled diplomatic approaches and in particular, cool minds, strong political encouragement, and the vision and commitment of great statesmen.
The writer is a professor with the Institute of Global Issues of Nanhai University.