China’s new foreign policy headaches
Andrew Sullivan nicely recaps the state of play in Burma. I confess I’ve been loathe to blog about events there because, knowing the military regime’s track record in that country, there is only one way this will end. Quentin Peel uses this flare-up on China’s southern border to point out that Beijing is beginning to ...
Andrew Sullivan nicely recaps the state of play in Burma. I confess I've been loathe to blog about events there because, knowing the military regime's track record in that country, there is only one way this will end. Quentin Peel uses this flare-up on China's southern border to point out that Beijing is beginning to adjust to the fact that the world expects responsibility to go along with power: The prospect of growing chaos in the confrontation between Burma?s military junta and civilian protesters provides a critical challenge to China?s efforts to forge a new international image as an influential and responsible world leader. It calls into question the Chinese position of non-interference in the politics of countries with which it does business, and the absolute priority for political ?stability? ? which hitherto has always meant an acceptance of the status quo.... Senior Chinese academics attending a Sino-European dialogue in Paris this week repeated the familiar mantra that China puts development before democracy. But they also admitted that growing experience of operating conditions in Africa has caused Chinese officials to start discussing issues such as the rule of law, corporate social responsibility, and institution building. Neighbouring Burma is far more sensitive for Beijing than distant African states such as Sudan and Angola, but there are similar signs of growing frustration with the Burmese military regime, as much for its incompetence as for its brutality. ?China is changing its identity from being a spectator to being an actor,? said Professor Feng Zhongping, director of the Institute of European Studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, at the Paris seminar, hosted by the EU Institute for Security Studies. ?Now it increasingly realises its responsibilities outside China.?The question, of course, is whether senior Chinese officials are heading in the same direction as the senior Chinese academics.
Andrew Sullivan nicely recaps the state of play in Burma. I confess I’ve been loathe to blog about events there because, knowing the military regime’s track record in that country, there is only one way this will end. Quentin Peel uses this flare-up on China’s southern border to point out that Beijing is beginning to adjust to the fact that the world expects responsibility to go along with power:
The prospect of growing chaos in the confrontation between Burma?s military junta and civilian protesters provides a critical challenge to China?s efforts to forge a new international image as an influential and responsible world leader. It calls into question the Chinese position of non-interference in the politics of countries with which it does business, and the absolute priority for political ?stability? ? which hitherto has always meant an acceptance of the status quo…. Senior Chinese academics attending a Sino-European dialogue in Paris this week repeated the familiar mantra that China puts development before democracy. But they also admitted that growing experience of operating conditions in Africa has caused Chinese officials to start discussing issues such as the rule of law, corporate social responsibility, and institution building. Neighbouring Burma is far more sensitive for Beijing than distant African states such as Sudan and Angola, but there are similar signs of growing frustration with the Burmese military regime, as much for its incompetence as for its brutality. ?China is changing its identity from being a spectator to being an actor,? said Professor Feng Zhongping, director of the Institute of European Studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, at the Paris seminar, hosted by the EU Institute for Security Studies. ?Now it increasingly realises its responsibilities outside China.?
The question, of course, is whether senior Chinese officials are heading in the same direction as the senior Chinese academics.
Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast. Twitter: @dandrezner
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