By THE EMBASSY OF THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA
Apr 6 2017 (Manila Times)

China has always regarded the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) as a high priority in its neighborhood diplomacy. We firmly support Asean community building, its centrality in regional cooperation and the commemoration of its 50th anniversary. We stand ready to work with Asean for a closer China-Asean community of shared future. This year also marks the 25th anniversary of China’s diplomatic ties with central Asian countries. We support their efforts to follow a development path compatible with their national conditions and to uphold their independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity. We will build a circle of close partnership with central Asia and set good examples of a new type of state-to-state relations. We will continue to expand trade and investment with South Asian countries, enhance people-to-people exchanges, build platforms for mutually beneficial cooperation and contribute our share to the development of South Asia.

China is a strong advocate of and contributor to regional cooperation and supports the Asian Way of mutual respect, consensus building and accommodating each other’s comfort level in advancing regional cooperation. We stand ready to work with the parties to follow through on the outcomes of the upgraded China-Asean Free Trade Area as soon as possible and bring Asean Plus Three cooperation to a higher level. We are willing to help China-Japan-ROK cooperation to overcome obstacles, build consensus and move toward the goal of realizing an East Asia economic community by 2020. We will take solid steps to advance the result-oriented and efficient Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) and build an LMC corridor and an LMC community of shared future at a speed that produces progress every day and outcomes every month. We hope to accelerate the negotiations for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and strive to conclude the negotiations by the end of the year to demonstrate the region’s resolve in promoting trade liberalization. We will encourage the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the East Asia Summit, the Asean Regional Forum and the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia to make fresh contributions to regional peace and development.

Differences created by history
As for the differences with some of our neighbors created by history, we are ready to address them properly through dialogue and negotiation in the spirit of good-neighborliness. Last year, foreign ministers of Asean member states and China issued the Joint Statement on the Full and Effective Implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC), at the core of which is the agreement that disputes over the Nansha islands and reefs should be peacefully addressed through dialogue and negotiation by the parties directly concerned and that stability in the South China Sea should be maintained by China and Asean countries together. Thanks to the joint efforts of China and Asean countries, consultations on the “code of conduct in the South China Sea” are making new progress. China is ready to work with Asean countries to develop, by consensus, binding regional rules on the basis of the DOC, thereby demonstrating that we in this region are fully capable of managing our differences and safeguarding regional stability. Every unbiased observer can see that tension in the South China Sea has cooled down significantly. It is important to cherish this hard-won result and not allow ill-intentioned forces to stir up trouble again.

We will enhance partnership with other developing countries to support each other for common development and progress. The developing world is the foundation of China’s diplomacy as well as a sincere partner in pursuing peaceful development. We will vigorously deepen mutually beneficial cooperation with other developing countries following President Xi Jinping’s enlightened view on moral principles, and friendship on the one hand and practical interests on the other, which prioritizes the former over the latter. China will, as always, remain committed to non-interference, attach no political conditions, never impose its views on others, abide by local laws and regulations, respect local customs, and pursue green, shared and sustainable cooperation, so that the future and destinies of China and fellow developing countries will be more closely connected.

China remains a member of the developing world. We will continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with other developing countries and resolutely safeguard our common interests. In September this year, China will host the ninth BRICS summit in Xiamen. We have extended invitations to leaders of various emerging economies and developing countries representing their regions and leaders of some international organizations as well as BRICS leaders for a dialogue between emerging markets and developing countries. The Xiamen summit is an opportunity to draw the cooperation blueprint for the second decade of BRICS, enhance the quality of BRICS cooperation, build a global platform of South-South cooperation and further increase the voice of emerging markets and developing countries in global governance.

We will keep deepening the partnerships with countries along the Belt and Road and others for common development. The Belt and Road Initiative put forward by President Xi is the most important public good that China has provided to the world and an important effort by China to build partnerships. Following the principle of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, the Initiative encourages partner countries and others to combine comparative advantages, narrow development gaps, accelerate regional integration and achieve common development and prosperity by promoting the connectivity of policy, infrastructure, trade, finance and people.

Belt and Road forum
In May this year, China will hold the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing, where we will work with the participants to plan our cooperation, revive the splendor of the Silk Road and share enduring prosperity. Together with the relevant countries and international organizations, we will further consolidate cooperation consensus, set out cooperation measures, enhance strategic complementarity, link China’s economic transformation and upgrading with the industrialization, modernization and infrastructure development of other countries, and open up new space for and lend new impetus to the development of all. We will promote cooperation on production capacity and equipment manufacturing with other countries, improve cross-border connectivity, enhance trade and investment cooperation and create new opportunities for global growth. By pooling our ideas and resources, we will explore the establishment of a long-term cooperation mechanism, a win-win cooperation network and a new cooperation model, thus drawing a blueprint for the continued progress of the Initiative.

As President Xi has pointed out with great insight, countries, with or without agreement, could all be partners. China will continue to improve partnerships with countries world-wide with a more open and inclusive approach and, on this basis, make unremitting efforts to accelerate the building of a new type of international relations featuring win-win cooperation and ultimately achieve the long-term goal of building a community of shared future for humankind. China is taking a journey that is in keeping with the call of the times and the course of human progress. We are convinced that, as time passes, China’s thinking and vision will find resonance with more and more countries, and they will all join us in this journey forward.

This story was originally published by The Manila Times, Philippines

Excerpt:

By THE EMBASSY OF THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA
Apr 5 2017 (Manila Times)

As the world economy remains in the doldrums, regional turbulence intensifies and protectionism and isolationism rise against globalization, the international community has turned its eye on China, hoping for a bigger role from China for world stability and development. Some even expect China to play some kind of leadership role in the international system and global governance.

As the world’s second biggest economy and a permanent member of the UN Security Council, China is willing to fulfill its due international responsibilities. China has made efforts and is becoming an anchor of world stability, an engine of global growth, a champion of peace and development and a new impetus for global governance. Yet, China never has the intention to lead the world. A globalized world, where countries are more closely interconnected than ever before, needs not a single hero but partners of cooperation who stick together in times of difficulty. This is why China has put forward the idea of building partnerships as the new direction for state-to-state relations, a proposal welcomed by most countries. By the end of 2016, China had set up partnerships with 97 countries and international organizations, which include big countries, neighboring countries as well as developing countries. Partnership has become an important feature and a highlight of China’s foreign policy.

In Chinese culture, unity means strength, while isolation means weakness. We believe an able fellow still needs the support of others and more hands make light work. These are the cultural origins of China’s pursuit of partnership.

Since the founding of the New China, we have been committed to a foreign policy of peace and we have developed friendly relations and cooperation with all countries on the basis of the five principles of peaceful coexistence. These are the historical traditions of China’s pursuit of partnership.

New way for state-to-state interaction
We now live in a world with a degree of interdependence unseen before where peace, development and win-win cooperation form an irresistible trend of the times. Old thinking such as the balance of power, zero-sum games are hard to keep up. What we need is a new way for state-to-state interaction. This is the current background of China’s pursuit of partnership.

Different from conventional theories of international relations, the partnership China advocates has the following distinctive features.

First, pursue peace and cooperation. In the age of globalization, the strength of any individual country is limited. Only through cooperation can countries effectively handle the ever-increasing regional dangers and global challenges. The type of partnership which China proposes does not target an imagined enemy or any third party. It advocates a win-win approach instead of a zero-sum game approach to state-to-state relations, and stresses the importance of seeking common interests.

Second, treat each other as equals. Countries may differ in size, strength and wealth, but all are equal members of the international community. China advocates a partnership which follows the principle of equality of nations, respects all countries’ sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity, and respects each other’s core interests and major concerns. Such a partnership values people’s independent choice of social systems and development path of their countries and rejects power politics whereby the big, strong and rich bully the small, weak and poor.

Third, advocate openness and inclusiveness. The ocean is vast, as it admits all rivers. The partnership that China proposes conforms to the global trend of interdependence and the shared aspiration of all countries for friendly relations with others. It aims to draw on each other’s strengths through exchanges and mutual learning, seeks common progress despite differences and prevents isolation and exclusion created by small group politics.

Fourth, highlight benefits for all. In the world today, the winner-takes-all approach and seeking self-interest to the neglect of others is both obsolete and counterproductive. Those who want absolute security will only find themselves less secure. Those who only care about their own development will eventually run out of steam and lose space of progress. The partnership that China strives for aims to make the pie of common interests bigger through cooperation, so that more fruits of success and common development and prosperity can be shared.

Early this year, in his speech at the UN office in Geneva, President Xi Jinping said that China remains unchanged in its commitment to foster partnerships and will build a circle of friends across the world.

We will actively build partnerships with major countries to jointly promote world peace and development. Major countries have more resources and greater capabilities, therefore play a more vital and important role in the cause of world peace and development. History shows that the world is peaceful and prosperous only when major countries live in harmony and work in partnerships.

China-US relationship
As one of the most consequential bilateral relationships in the world, China-US relationship is always closely watched by the international community. In recent years, some people have been worried that China and the United States could fall into a “Thucydides Trap” which refers to potential conflicts between an established power and a rising power. Lately, there is another worry, i.e. the “Kindleberger Trap”. It says if the emerging power fails or refuses to shoulder due international obligation, the global system could plunge into greater chaos.

First of all, historical comparisons shouldn’t be so simplistic. Today, the future prospects of different countries are closely intertwined. As the interests of rising powers and established ones deeply converge, there will be no winner should a conflict break out between them. Moreover, in such a complex and multi-faceted world, no country can single-handedly provide all global public goods. The only right choice is international cooperation and the only right way is improved global governance.

China is ready to strengthen strategic communication with major partners like the United States, Russia and the EU, deepen cooperation in all fields, promote sustained, stable and healthy development of relations with them, play a bigger role in upholding global peace and security and contribute more to development and progress of humankind.

We will deepen partnerships with neighboring countries to promote overall prosperity and revitalization of Asia. As a Chinese saying goes, “A distant relative may not be as helpful as a close neighbor. “ We will continue to build friendship and partnership with our neighbors, foster an amicable, secure and prosperous neighborhood, and uphold the principle of amity, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness. We are committed to working with neighboring countries as a reliable partner to keep Asia on a positive trajectory, advance regional cooperation and integration and build a balanced, stable, open and inclusive regional security framework, thus enabling Asia to play a bigger role on the world stage.

(To be continued tomorrow)

This story was originally published by The Manila Times, Philippines

Excerpt: