Chinese Actions on North Korea Show New Assertiveness
By Tim Shorrock
WASHINGTON, April 7 — Recent Chinese moves to influence events in the Korean peninsula are part of a new assertiveness in Beijing that has dovetailed with closer economic and political ties with the United States, experts on Chinese-U.S. relations claim.
"Interdependence between our two societies has never been deeper," said Wang Jisi, director of Beijing's Institute of American Studies and the author of a recent book about U.S. foreign policy after the Cold War.
"There is ballast in this relationship," added Kurt Campbell, a former Pentagon official who analyses Asian security issues for the Centre for Strategic and International Studies. Two years ago, he said, "no one would have ever imagined this situation."
Earlier, the Chinese government took the unusual step of urging North Korea not to provoke the United States amid media reports that China had closed a key oil pipeline to North Korea as a way to send a message to Pyongyang that its nuclear standoff with Washington was threatening regional peace.
Chinese officials denied the oil cutoff, but admitted they are taking a more active role in resolving the tensions in North-east Asia that have led North Korea to restart a nuclear power programme that could produce weapons and test-fire missiles in waters near Japan.
"We have realised that we cannot let this situation alone," a Chinese government official told the 'Washington Post' Apr. 4. "So we've decided to attempt to influence it."
"There does seem to be now a clear sign that China is making a substantial effort to persuade the North Koreans, first of all to engage in multilateral dialogue and secondly to exercise a greater degree of restraint," Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer told reporters after visiting U.S. President George W Bush in Washington.
Wang, speaking at a Washington forum on China sponsored by the Japan-based Sasakawa Peace Foundation in early April, said Beijing's actions reflect its growing importance in Asian affairs and comes at a time when its ties with the United States are closer than at any time since the People's Republic was founded in 1949.
Growing economic ties, a 10 billion U.S. dollar bilateral trade relationship, China's deep interest in American culture and films and the fact that "we have no crisis in sight" show how deep the relationship has developed. "There is an increased institutionalisation of linkages between the United States and China," he said.
As further examples, Wang said the United States and China have "no open quarrel" about Taiwan or Iraq and are jointly engaged in fighting terrorism, particularly in the region around Afghanistan. At the same time, the Chinese media no longer refers to U.S. "imperialism and hegemonism" while U.S. newspapers have painted generally positive images of China, he said.
Compared to the early days of the Bush administration, when the relationship seemed heading toward a major confrontation, "the siege mentality is gone''.
Another factor in China's new assertiveness in world affairs, Wang said, is the country's economic progress. For the first time in its history, he argued, China's economy surpassed those of its neighbours, including North Korea and Vietnam, and is seen in many quarters as healthier than Japan. "China is better off than the rest of Asia, that is a fact," he said.
This does not mean that all is rosy. The Bush administration's pre-emptive war doctrine and its declaration of war against the so-called 'axis of evil' are "alarming tendencies," Wang said, "but at least they are not directed against China at the moment."
When it comes to the Korean peninsula, Wang said China is trying to steer a course between the hawkish line of the United States and a desire to see more stability in the North-east Asian region.
"The United States is single-mindedly pursuing a goal of non-proliferation of nuclear weapons" while China "wants stability in North Korea" and Asia as a whole, he said. Ironically, this has brought China and South Korea much closer while it has created distance between the two allies.
If the U.S. administration is being "single-minded," countered Campbell, "please tell me what that is." By leaning on China to "do the heavy lifting for us" with North Korea, the former defence official continued, the United States has "set the stage perfectly for China showing leadership. It's a tremendous opportunity for China".
Campbell also argued that China, despite its aversion to some U.S. policies, likes being seen as a diplomatic equal to the United States. "Maybe it's really good to be in the club," he said. "It just feels good to be a new imperialist." (Inter Press Service)
