(29) Foreign Minister articulates China’s global vision - Global Times

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Foreign Minister articulates China's global vision

Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

Editor's Note:

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met the press Wednesday to discuss China's policy on international and regional issues for the Fifth Session of the 12th National People's Congress. A wide range of subjects including the Sino-US relationship, global governance, the Korean Peninsula situation and the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) have been covered at the meeting. What are the prospects of China's relationship with the US and South Korea? How will the situation on the Korean Peninsula develop? Will China replace the US to "lead" the world? The Global Times has talked with four experts on these issues.

Lin Hongyu, dean of the College of International Relations, Huaqiao University

China-US relations are phasing into a new normal that is full of uncertainties since the gap in overall strength between China and the US is narrowing, which has become a crucial factor affecting the bilateral relationship. Thus, the possibility the tension between the two countries will come to a head in the future is high.

Under such circumstance, a new version 2.0 for the pattern of the relationship between the two great powers is required in order to benefit the bilateral ties and help the two countries avoid tumbling into the so-called Thucydides Trap.

In the meantime, China should continue making every effort to avoid the "Thucydides Trap." If China and the US fail to transcend difference in the social systems and fall into a zero-sum mentality, the future of their relationship is doomed to be a catastrophe.

China should bear the responsibility and duty to lead the Sino-US relations in a healthy and stable development. And that is the upgrade needed for the relationship between the two great powers.

China and the US should seek a more stable basis aside from achieving their shared national interests. In the process of expanding the shared strategic interests, China and the US should positively build shared values - to seek win-win cooperation through common development - in order to forge a community of common destiny for mankind.

Wang Yiwei, director of the Center for International Studies, Renmin University of China

Regarding global governance, China seeks to return to what the world used to be - harmonious and orderly, while the US seeks to realize its goals by enforcing its own will.

Foreign Minister Wang Yi stressed that China's participation in the global governance is based on the UN's principle. The UN emphasizes equal opportunities for every sovereign nation and promotes achieving shared growth through discussion and collaboration. The US, however, achieves growth by exploiting its alliance system.

As China promotes economic globalization, it also actively helps tackle global challenges and participates in public affairs like climate change, energy, environment, population and the refuges crisis.

On security, China stresses the non-traditional security model while the US aims to secure its global military status quo. On globalization, China focuses more on the economic front, while the US integrates political and cultural dimensions into it.

The complicated situation in the world right now has prompted China to come up with new coordination strategies with other major powers in the process of global governance and commit to putting the strategies into practice.

China should carry on with its progress on initiatives including poverty alleviation, infrastructure and connectivity building.

Cui Zhiying, director of the Korean Peninsula Research Center, Tongji University

Foreign Minister Wang Yi's remarks echo China's consistent policy on the Korean Peninsula - calling on all concerned parties to join Beijing in pushing for an early restart of the Six-Party Talks.

The escalating tensions on the peninsula cannot be ignored. Following North Korea's four ballistic missiles launch on Monday, some equipment for the THAAD have already been delivered to South Korea for deployment. The ongoing military drills between South Korea and the US, targeting North Korea, have made Pyongyang more anxious and made the regional situation more sensitive and complex.

Under these circumstances, relevant parties should exercise restraint and play their roles in the settlement of the crisis through consultation. A lack of communications may lead to a strategic miscalculation, which may trigger small-scale clashes. If not controlled well, these clashes may eventually escalate into a real war.

The peninsula's future depends largely on the US' Pyongyang policy. US President Donald Trump is known for his unpredictability, and how he will handle US relations with North Korea is still unclear at the current stage. The White House must be aware that escalating the tensions will only result in losses on all sides and restarting the talks is the only way to alleviate the ongoing tensions.

At present, all parties should refrain from any action that may provoke each other and avoid going further down the wrong path. North Korea must abandon its nuclear ambitions, give up missile launches and stop further military attempts that are in violation of UN Security Council resolutions.

In the meantime, South Korea and the US should call off the THAAD deployment that only undermines the strategic and security interests of regional countries and jeopardizes peace and stability on the peninsula. Confrontation will only draw all parties into a vicious cycle. China will stick to its consistent position and continue to call on all parties concerned to return to the negotiation table.

Jin Qiangyi, director of the Institute of International Politics, North Korea-South Korea Research Center, Yanbian University

The THAAD deployment has brought the Sino-South Korean relationship into a deadlock. On the one hand, South Korea is extremely anxious about the North's nuclear ambition. What concerns Seoul the most is the protection from Washington, and, as a result, although its public is distrustful of the capability of THAAD, the defense system is deployed to court the latter in exchange for security.

On the other hand, the monitoring scope of THAAD reaches deep into the hinterland of Asia, posing a direct threat to China. Meanwhile, the system will exert some effects on the Sino-US strategic game in the region, and this is what Beijing worries the most. With major security concerns in mind, neither Beijing nor Seoul is willing to make concessions on the THAAD deployment.

Although South Korea is now witnessing political turmoil following the corruption involving its president, Park Geun-hye, and the public's protests over THAAD, the likelihood for Seoul to withdraw the defense system remains quite low. Seoul attempts to trade the THAAD deployment for a nuclear umbrella from Washington. Given the strong patriotic sentiments in both countries, the tension in the Sino-South Korean relationship will escalate for some time in the future.

A strained Beijing-Seoul relationship is what both the US and North Korea want to see. The more complicated the THAAD issue becomes, the more perplex the situation on the Korean Peninsula will be. Driving a wedge between China and South Korea is one of the US' strategic goals.

Meanwhile, Pyongyang launched four ballistic missiles on Monday, and from a strategic perspective, the country is deliberately giving Washington and Seoul excuses deploying THAAD, an attempt that may erode the Beijing-Seoul relationship.

THAAD, originally put forward to counter North Korea's nuclear attempts, is now affecting the strategic game in the region of which neither China nor South Korea would be the winner. Both sides should have more communications on the issue for the sake of their national interests, and regional peace and stability.