China's golden autumn diplomatic blitz
- Source: Global Times
- [03:52 October 13 2009]
- Comments
Recent weeks have witnessed a swirl of high-profile diplomacy between Beijing and the rest of the world.
After Vice President Xi Jinping set off for Europe, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin landed in Beijing. This week, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization will hold its eighth Prime Ministers' meeting. US President Barack Obama is scheduled to visit China in November.
Change is obvious in the relationship between China and the Western world. In a recent speech, US deputy secretary of state James Steinberg called on China to offer strategic reassurance to the world, a step building on then-undersecretary of state Robert Zoellick's naming of China as a "stakeholder" in 2005.
Leaders of developed countries have declared clearly and frequently that solving pressing issues, from nuclear proliferation to climate change, cannot be accomplished without cooperating with China and other major developing countries. This has become the centerpiece of their diplomacy toward China.
China's elevated status in global politics, whether based on its own diplomatic efforts or the pragmatic considerations of developed countries, has raised a new question: How should China deal with its fellow developing countries?
While the notion of a so-called "G2" between China and the US has received much play in the media, less noticed has been increasing conflict between China and other developing nations. Made-in-China products are facing more protectionism in developing nations, while Chinese overseas investment is meeting suspicion in energy-rich countries.
Gone are the days when China was a solid member of the developing country bloc and received almost unconditional support from those nations during the Cold War era.
Over time, diplomacy with big powers has become the focus of China's policymaking and academic research.
But as rich countries ask Beijing to take on more responsibilities, developing countries are also attaching more conditions to their support of China's ascending status and influence. China must walk the diplomatic tightrope between the interests of the two groups.
The Chinese government is rightly making moves like increasing financial aid to Africa and coordinating different interests in shifting IMF voting shares.
China is still a developing country. Compliments from the wealthy nations shouldn't blind China to the importance of maintaining mutually beneficial ties with less developed states. It is those relationships which will decide China's real influence in world affairs.
