Since
President Xi Jinping took office in China in 2012, the country has
undergone changes in its foreign policy. This is apparent to Chinese
scholars as well as to foreign policy experts who had not noticed such
changes since 1989. The strategy now used is not only sophisticated but
also progressive. The president has created new platforms with which
China can substantially influence and control its relations with
neighbours. But what are these new elements of the emerging foreign
policy of China? To the discerning eye the new policy aims at creating
points of influence with which China can directly control its relations
with other countries. Experts note that they are progressive in nature
yet are not provocative. It gives the impression to the world that China
seeks further economic development. Yet in real terms it helps China to
enhance its own security and promote long term strategic objectives.
Last
November (2014), in the APEC meet, China presented a singular proposal
for regional integration. It suggested the creation of a free trade area
of the Asia Pacific (FTAAP). The proposal was an alternative to the
Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) sponsored earlier by the United States.
China also suggested setting up an Asian investment fund (the AIIB).
This is a new version of the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank
with more capital and bigger participation by emerging economies. So in
effect, instead of withdrawing from existing institutions, China created
its own alternative so that it is able to have more control over these
institutions and have deeper impact. President Xi Jinping has cleverly
sidelined the existing multilateral institutions where China has little
voice and influence. But by creating new and bigger institutions it is
participating in global organisations where it is able to now play the
role it wants. By strengthening several other institutions like the
BRICS and the Shanghai Co-operation Organization (SCO), China is quietly
counterbalancing Nato and other military cooperation outfits in Asia.
It is gradually playing leading roles so that its voice is heard clearly
and loudly the world over.
China has devised new plans to
counter the 'US pivot to Asia' by proposing two major communication
links. The first is 'one belt, one road.' This is a new Silk Road
economic belt. It will help to link China with Europe and will pass
through Central and West Asia. The other is the 21st century Maritime
Silk Road. This link will pass from China and connect South East Asia
and South Asia, Africa as well as Europe. This will help China to access
resources like oil and gas in these regions. It will also help to
overcome security and counter 'US pivot to Asia.' China can do all these
subtly so that the world cannot blame it for seeking dominance in this
part of the world. While this is true, Beijing would be able to please
countries like the US, which has been increasingly blaming China for not
playing a bigger role in global affairs. Thus, with one policy stroke
China has been able to ingratiate itself to the US and the west as well
as to its Asian neighbours. They would all acknowledge the good role
China is playing by providing more trade, investment and technology to
them.
In the late seventies, when Deng Xiaoping was the supreme
leader of China, the foreign policy in China was to hide its strength
and bide its time. But China's policy is now more proactive. Yet the
Chinese are more circumspect and in many cases show no outward
exuberance. This was clear when it was not ready to intervene when
Russia quietly took action against Ukraine. China made it clear that it
adhered to its policy of non-interference in the internal affairs of any
country. Thus China with its big power status was a reluctant
stakeholder in the world order. This is in contrast to the new Chinese
foreign policy of 'robust engagement' and its right to speak on
international matters. However, China has been active in confronting
Japan in the contested Senkaku/Diaoyou islands. It has also been active
in contesting territories in the East China Sea. In effect, China's
foreign policy is at times proactive and on other occasions ambiguous
and non-confrontational. Like many states, China tries to make the best
out of the current global order and follow its own interests diligently.
Yet it has been recently noticed that whenever China sees the
possibility of creating new norms, it becomes assertive. Far from being a
reluctant stakeholder it sticks to being a reluctant leader.
The
beauty of the new Chinese foreign policy is that it intelligently
chooses its adversaries and deploys policy tools which can be aggressive
where its interests are at stake. It can also use these policy tools
which are benign now but which can benefit its interests in the future.
So as China's economic clout grows Beijing is forging its own path in
international relations.
