Illuminating Chinese Perspectives
Regional Cooperation And Defence Hike

By M.R. Josse

ALTHOUGH there has been some reportage here of the recent launch of the Boao Asia Forum in Boao on the island province of Hainan in China, additional facts and impressions gathered on that and other important themes during a recent personal visit to Nepal’s northern neighbour may, I believe, be of readership interest.

BOAO FORUM: First, some facts: Ajit Singh, a Malaysian national and a former secretary-general of ASEAN, was appointed the Forum’s secretary-general.

Four chairmen were also elected, including Chen Jinhua, vice chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference National Committee.

The other three also elected were Fidel Ramos, former president of the Philippines; Robert Hawke, former Australian prime minister; and Yasuhiro Nakasone, former Japanese prime minister.

As is known, the guest of honour was His Majesty King Birendra, the only foreign head of state to address the gathering. Prime Minister Mahathir of Malaysia delivered a keynote address.

High level representatives from 26 countries in Asia, including former Nepalese prime minister Kirtinidhi Bista, also attended the historic meet.

A score of Asian presidents, prime ministers and the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan sent messages of congratulations. They included heads of state or government from Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam, Iran, Japan, Kazakhstan, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, the Republic of Korea, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkmenistan and Vietnam.

Conspicuously, former Indian prime minister I.K. Gujral who had accepted the invitation to attend the ceremony failed to do so. There was also no congratulatory greeting either from the Indian head of state or from her head of government.

Chinese President Jiang Zemin in his opening speech said that the Forum would be a useful complement to other inter-governmental cooperation mechanisms and meetings between leaders of China, Japan and South Korea. [The ‘three’ of the ’10 (ASEAN) plus 3' regional set up that is already in place.]

The declaration adopted on occasion — that is, on 27 February 2001 — expounded the Forum’s goal of developing itself into the most important forum in Asia by promoting business and economic integration among Asian countries, while at the same time speeding up globalisation.

HIGHLIGHTED: His Majesty’s address was reported in this fashion on the front page of the Shanghai Daily, dated 28 February 2001, the day this observer arrived in Shanghai from Kathmandu:

"King Birendra echoed Jiang’s speech, saying the founding of the forum fully demonstrated the common aspiration of people in Asia.

Characterised with diversified culture and tradition, some Asian countries are the cradles of the world’s most ancient civilisations, he said.

"But, faced with the information revolution and globalisation, leaders of Asian countries bear the responsibility to sketch a future for Asia.

"The king said he hopes the forum can become a platform for Asian countries to express their wishes and care, and to strengthen cooperation."

In Beijing, Chinese scholar, Prof. Wang Zaibang, shed some further light on the Forum in an interview to this then visiting correspondent.

Among his observations were: "America is very sensitive about regional cooperation in East Asia. She is specially concerned about the ’10 plus 3' region since she is not a member — just as she is not of the Boao Asia Forum."

In response to a query, Wang asked rhetorically: "Where was America at the time of the East Asian financial crisis?"

The main lesson that China learnt at that time, he explained, was that "Asian countries must settle their economic problems themselves." The developing countries have "to assess how best to tackle" their own problems.

The World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the Chinese scholar also asserted, "does not have a prescription" for the economic problems of Asia.

Recalling that the IMF has been critical of Mahathir’s economic policies, he went on however to acknowledge that "globalisation is a process whose momentum cannot be stopped."

DEFENCE HIKE: While in China, this visiting reporter had the opportunity to read the full extract in China Daily of a press conference held by Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan on 7 March 2001 on the sidelines of the then ongoing ninth National People’s Congress, the Chinese parliament.

Tang’s answers to a question related to the Chinese finance minister’s announcement of a new budget in which the military budget will increase by a significant 17.7 percent are worth noting not merely because the finance minister had linked the hike to "drastic changes in the international situation" but also in the context of US plans for National Missile Defence (NMD).

Tang said he did not see any "direct" link with the US’s NMD plans. However, the increase "by a fairly big margin" of China’s defence budget, he said, could be traced to two factors — one related to "continued progress in China’s economic development" and the other to the cost of "modernisation of China’s defence system."

Those, he said, were the "basic reasons" for the dramatic hike, a claim that implies that there are other reasons, some of which, no doubt have a clear nexus with the "drastic changes in the international situation."

One may thus speculate whether such changes include an enhanced threat perception from a nuclearised India which only recently test-fired a nuclear-capable missile while Li Peng, China’s second senior leader, was on an official visit! Doubtless, only time will tell if that is so,
or not.

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