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| VIEW POINT |
China’s Foreign Policy in South Asia By Sun Heping
Understanding each other is an
important prerequisite to close relations and cordial cooperation between one country and
another, but the languages play a key role in communicating with each other. We, Chinese people, are sometimes
misunderstood by some people in the rest of the world because of different languages
stemming from different history, cultures, religions and evolution. For example, the
English word “superpower” is a good word and someone can be proud of saying his
country wants to be a superpower in 10 years’ time. However, the translation of the
word in Chinese is a bad word to China. That’s why China has announced that China
will never be a superpower if it becomes powerful in economy. The other day, one of my Nepali friends
said to me, the information and knowledge about today’s China Nepali people got are
from the western and Indian media and there are very few China’s publications like
the Peking Review available in Nepal. “Why is that now?” he asked me. I tried my
best to make explanations by answering there are many reasons and one of them is
publishers in China have become cost-minded since we took the road of socialist market
economy. At last, I was kidding: “If two thirds of the world population could speak
Chinese, the world today would be different.” What I mean is that language barrier is
one of major difficulties when China is open to and communicates with the outside world,
and the world gets to know China. My predecessor, Ambassador Wu Congyong, non
English speaker, addressed here at the Council nearly a year ago. He spoke Chinese in his
address which is good one from the Chinese point of view, but his young and inexperienced
interpreter did not do as good as he should. Today, I will try hard to make myself clear
to the audience, this time not in Chinese but in English, and wish it a success that I can
make the audience today know and understand more about China with my address. The Council
gave me a theme “China’s Foreign Policy in South Asia”, which is too big
for me to take on since I am engaged in bilateral relations with Nepal. But, I’ll try
my best to do it. I would like to divide my address into five
parts, which are: 1. Foreign Policy serving China’s development; 2. China and South
Asia; 3. China’s good-neighborly partnership and traditional friendship with Nepal;
4. Tibet issue and 5. China on the rise. I. Foreign Policy serving
China’s development Last year was a significant and unusual
year in the course of China's development. It was a year in which we made remarkable
achievements in reform and opening up and in the modernization drive. The economy grew rapidly. China's GDP
increased by 9.1% over the previous year and reached 11.67 trillion yuan ($1.4 trillion).
Foreign trade expanded significantly. Total import and export volume was $851.2 billion,
37.1% more than the previous year. China is now the third biggest importer and fourth
biggest exporter in the world. China utilized $53.5 billion in foreign direct investment
in 2003. State foreign exchange reserves reached $403.3 billion at the end of the year.
China's first manned spaceflight was a complete success. These achievements indicate that China's
overall national strength has reached new heights. They have boosted the confidence and
courage of all our people to continue forging ahead. One of reasons that China has sustained
fast development is its independent foreign policy of peace. Foreign policy of a country
must serve its national interests. To China at the present phase, the highest national
interest is the all-round construction of a better-off society. To serve this, our foreign
policy must be based on its objective assessment of the contemporary world and starting
from that assessment as follows, our diplomatic work is to create a favorable
international and neighboring environment for China’s economic development. The international situation is continuing
to undergo complex and profound changes. Peace and development remain the themes of our
times. World multi-polarization and economic globalization are making tortuous progress.
Seeking peace and development and promoting cooperation and progress have become an
irreversible historical trend. However, the tendency toward unilateralism is reemerging,
local conflicts continue, international terrorist activity is rampant, the North-South gap
is widening, and traditional and non-traditional security issues are intertwined. All
these problems pose serious challenges to the people of all nations. China follows an independent foreign policy
of peace by upholding the banner of peace, development and cooperation, adhering to the
Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, increasing friendly exchanges and cooperation
with other countries, and striving to further improve international and neighboring
environments. With this foreign policy, the Chinese
government and people have, as always, supported the cause of justice for the whole human
race and work tirelessly with the people of all other nations to safeguard world peace and
promote common development. In the international arena, we continue to
promote world multi-polarization, advocate democracy in international relations and
diversity in development models, and encourage the progress of economic globalization in a
direction that benefits the common prosperity of all nations. We adhere to a new concept
of security based on mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality and cooperation, and oppose
hegemonism, power politics, and terrorism in all its manifestations. We actively engage in
multilateral diplomacy and play a constructive role in the United Nations and other
international and regional organizations, and continue to work for a new international
political and economic order that is fair and equitable. We deepen our friendly cooperation with
developing countries, explore new avenues and forms of cooperation, and support the
efforts of developing countries to become stronger through unity. We constantly strengthen our relations with
developed countries, strive to seek out and expand areas of common interest, gradually
settle existing differences through dialogue and consultation on an equal footing, and
facilitate the steady development of our relations with developed countries. And then, we come to our neighboring
countries including Nepal which is the focus in my diplomatic work. We continue our
policy of friendship and partnership with, deepen good-neighborly and friendly cooperation
with all our neighbors and safeguard regional peace and stability. II. China and South Asia China’s foreign policy towards South
Asia, as I mentioned earlier, is to implement the policy of developing friendship with
China's South Asian neighbors by living in harmony and partnership with its neighbors, and
promote mutual understanding, trust, friendship and cooperation between China and
countries concerned. South Asia is one of earliest regions with
which China has the history of exchanges. There is a famous Chinese phrase I have
remembered since my childhood: “go to the west heaven for scriptures”. It means
that someone who wants to upgrade his learning must go to the west heaven. Where is the
west heaven? It is South Asia. The phrase is derived from the legend of Master Monk
Xuanzang in China’s Tang Dynasty more than a thousand years ago, who became a
well-known pundit in ancient China after learning Sanscrit scriptures during his visit to
Nepal and India in South Asia. China has more than 3000 kilometers of land
border with some South Asian countries such as India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bhutan, and
enjoys friendly relations and cooperation in economic, trade and other fields with South
Asian Countries. These countries, as China does, attach great importance to relations
between them and hope that China will establish linkage with SAARC, take active part in
and promote economic cooperation in South Asia. In recent years, under the guidance of the
Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence and thanks to the joint efforts, China-Indian
relations have been improving and developing in an all-round way. It's the common will of
the two peoples to develop friendly and neighborly ties between China and India. After the
new Indian Government takes office, China stands ready to work with India to maintain and
develop the sound momentum of China-Indian relations and to press ahead with the constant
and further development of the long-term constructive partnership and cooperation between
the two countries. In the meantime, China keeps cordial
relations and friendly cooperation with other South Asian Countries like Pakistan,
Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Bhutan. As a close neighbor of South Asian
countries, China sincerely hopes that countries in this region can live in harmony and
develop hand in hand for common prosperity and is ready to play a constructive role in
pressing ahead peaceful cooperation in South Asia. As for the South Asian Association for
Regional Cooperation (SAARC), China expresses appreciation and support for the efforts and
achievements SAARC made in strengthening cooperation among South Asian countries, hopes
that SAARC play an active role in alleviating poverty and promoting common development of
South Asian countries and safeguarding peace and stability in South Asia. In his message of congratulations to the
convocation of the 12th SAARC Summit in Islamabad on January 4, 2004, Chinese Premier Wen
Jiabao said: “Since its founding, SAARC has played
an active role in enhancing the economic development, social progress and cultural
exchange in South Asia thanks to the common efforts of its member states. Today, leaders
of SAARC member states meet to discuss major issues of further stepping up South Asia
regional cooperation and moving towards common prosperity. I am sure that this Summit will
exert a positive influence upon the regional development and cooperation in this part of
the world.” “China and South Asian countries enjoy
long-standing friendly relations and cooperation. The Chinese government is ready to work
together with the governments of all South Asian countries to promote the cause of peace
and development in the region.” Premier Wen Jiabao’s message sent a
strong signal, in my view, that, with the further enhancement of friendly relations and
cooperation between China and SAARC member countries based on the aspiration of our
peoples, the time is now basically ripe to establish relations between China and SAARC. III. China’s good-neighborly
partnership and traditional friendship with Nepal China and Nepal enjoy over a thousand years
of friendly contacts. Master Monk Fa Xian of the Jin Dynasty and Master Monk Xuanzang of
the Tang Dynasty visited Lumbini, the birthplace of Sakyamuni. During the Tang Dynasty,
Nepalese Princess Brikuti married Tibet's Songtsan Gambo Eminent. Nepalese Craft-man
Arniko went to Beijing to supervise the building of the White Dagoba Temple during the
Yuan Dynasty. Since the establishment of Sino-Nepalese
diplomatic relations on August 1, 1955, traditional friendship and friendly cooperation
between the Chinese and Nepalese people have witnessed continuous development. Frequent
have been the contacts between the leaders of the two countries. Nepalese king and prime
ministers visited China many a time. Premier Zhou Enlai paid two visits to Nepal.
Vice-Premier Deng Xiaoping, Premier Li Peng, Chairman Li Ruihuan of the Chinese
People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and Vice-Premier cum Foreign
Minister Qian Qichen also visited Nepal respectively. The latest visit to Nepal was the
one by Chairman Jia Qinglin of CPPCC in early December 2003. During his state visit to Nepal at the end
of 1996, then President Jiang Zemin and the late King Birendra jointly established
friendly and neighborly partnership of generations into the 21st century, thus pushing the
Sino-Nepalese friendly relations onto a new height. In July 2002, His Majesty the King
Gyanendra paid a state visit to China. Leaders of the two countries spoke highly of
Sino-Nepalese neighborly friendship and cooperation and reached broad consensus on further
deepening and expanding exchanges and cooperation in various areas. The state visit to
China by His Majesty the King has further strengthened and consolidated the historical
bonds and opened new vistas of cooperation between China and Nepal. China enjoys sound economic and trade
cooperation with Nepal. Nepal is one of the first group of countries China has provided
with aid. Since 1956, China has rendered the Nepalese government 77 sums of aid, all free,
with the total amount close to RMB 1.5 billion. With the help of this financial
assistance, 30 whole plants have been undertaken, with 25 of them built, one being built
and 4 to be built. They are mainly highways, brick-kilns, paper mills, hospitals, schools,
hydro-power stations, textile plants, tanneries, irrigation projects, sugar refineries and
international conference house. The economic assistance to Nepal China has
been providing within its capability over the past years is completely from the sincere
wishes to help Nepal develop its economy and enhance its people’s living standard,
without imposing any conditions. The bilateral trade volume has been
maintained at a relatively high level, and the cooperation in joint ventures, joint
management, contracted engineering and infrastructure works has been growing rapidly.
According to the statistics by the Customs of China, the total trade volume of 2003 was
USD 127 million, an increase of 12% comparing with the same period last year. The Chinese
investment in Nepal exceeds USD 30 million while Nepalese investment in China is above USD
5 million. During the visit of Chairman Jia Qinglin of
the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference in December 2003, our two
countries signed the two agreements on the economic and technological cooperation and
opening another two pairs of trading points along the border between China and Nepal. On April 1, 2004, a 20-member survey group
from China went to the site of the long-due Syfrubesi-Rasuwagadi Highway Project for
conducting an extensive study and designing of a highway that will be the second important
road link between Nepal and China, and its construction work could be started within one
year if everything goes on smoothly. Two months ago, Nepal’s Ministry of
Culture, Tourism & Civil Aviation organized an interaction program with the Chinese
Embassy in Kathmandu on how to promote mutual tourism. The program was successful with the
participation of 15 traveling agencies and 11 media groups from China. These Chinese
traveling agencies are very interested in Nepal’s tourist market and plan to organize
at least one package tour per week after going back to China. Furthermore, China’s fast development,
especially the modernization drive in Tibet Autonomous Region would bring benefit to
Nepal. For example, the completion of Qinghai-Lhasa railway in 2006 will greatly enrich
the Tibet’s commodity market and facilitate Chinese-Nepali trade as well. IV. Tibet issue I would like to take this opportunity to
refer to the Tibet issue, which is China’s major concern in Nepal. We appreciate it
very much that His Majesty’s Government of Nepal is committed to the one China
policy, understands how sensitive the Tibet issue is to China and never allow any
anti-China activities to be carried out on Nepali soil. The Tibet issue is one related to the
sovereignty and integrity of China. Since it was officially incorporated into the domain
of China's Yuan Dynasty in the mid-13th century, Tibet has been under the jurisdiction of
China's Central government as an inalienable part of Chinese territory. The external
forces, however, have never stopped instigating Tibetan Independence since the beginning
of the 20th century. With the support of foreign anti-China forces, Dalai Clique’s
separatists have been engaged in numerous activities to split the motherland. In September 1960, the Dalai clique
re-organized the "religion guards of the four rivers and six ranges" in Mustang,
Nepal, which carried on military harassment activities and violence along the Chinese
border for ten years. There are no more Kampas who were disarmed by the Nepalese
government in the 1970s, but in its place is the free Tibet movement advocating Tibet
independence. Together with this movement, Dalai’s representative’s office and
reception station in Kathmandu, and Tibetan extremists have never stop anti-China
activities by destabilizing and attempting to separate Tibet from China. China's position on the Dalai question is
clear-cut and repeated on many occasions. The door of dialogue with Dalai is always open.
At the same time, we request that Dalai renounce its attempts for Tibet independence,
acknowledge that Tibet is an inalienable part of China, Taiwan is a province of China, and
the government of the People's Republic of China is the sole legal government of China. However, Tibetan separatists and pro-Dalai
external forces use the question of Tibetan illegal immigrants as a ploy against China.
With neglecting China’s opposition and Nepalese law, some external forces granted
these illegal immigrants a status of refugees, put pressure on the Nepalese government not
to repatriate them back to China and criticize China for the so-called human rights
violations and political and religious persecution. They have misconceptions on the human
rights issue when they refer to China. They think China does not pay enough attention to
human rights. So whenever the human rights issue is mentioned, the Chinese government
might feel weak inside. This is a big mistake. The matter of the fact is that the Chinese
government has always put the interests of the people above everything else, and regarded
people's health, right to enjoy democracy and their political rights as the top priority. In the Second Session of the 10th National
People's Congress held in Beijing, China in March 2004, the respect for and protection of
human rights and protection of lawful private property is written as amendments to the
constitution of China. In this way, Chinese citizens’ human rights and lawful private
property are respected and protected by the law. The Tibetan people in China have enjoyed
freedom in religious belief and expression, unprecedented rights to education and all
other rights to exercise democracy. They are living happily in harmony with all ethnic
groups residing in Tibet. There is no political and religious persecution in Tibet. The
human rights of Tibetan people, as Chinese citizens, are respected and their private
property protected by the law. For a handful of foreigners, however, they
seem to turn a blind eye to the picture. They see only the trees, not the woods. When they
see someone whom they are fond of is punished by law, they say it is violation of human
rights. In fact, the development and realization of the right to enjoy democracy is
inseparable from legislation, judicial work and law enforcement. Without the guarantee of
law, it is very hard to ensure the fundamental human rights. According to the Chinese Constitution, the
state practices the ethnic regional autonomy system in Tibet, which has been established
as the Tibet Autonomous Region, and the state safeguards, according to law, the political
rights of the people of all ethnic groups in Tibet to participate in administration of
state and local affairs on an equal basis, especially the Tibetan people's autonomous
right to independently administer local and ethnic affairs. The implementation of the
ethnic regional autonomy system has further guaranteed the political rights of the Tibetan
people. The Chinese government respects and
protects its citizens' right to freedom of religious belief in accordance with the law.
The Chinese Constitution stipulates that freedom of religious belief is one of the
fundamental rights of citizens. These laws are strictly observed in Tibet. At present,
there are 1,787 sites for Tibetan Buddhist activities in the Region, and there are 46,380
Buddhist monks and nuns living in monasteries. Tibet is quite backward economically and
culturally in comparison with some other provinces of China. Therefore, the state has
given special care to Tibet's development with 62 construction projects with an estimated
investment of over 3 billion Yuan. The projects include mainly infrastructure, such as
water supply, electricity, roads, power, telecommunications, schools and hospitals. The
purpose is to lay a good foundation for the full-fledged development of Tibet. More than
40 projects have been completed and handed over for use. Completion of these projects has
vigorously promoted economic development in Tibet, improved the production and living
conditions of Tibetans and raised their standard of living. Furthermore, the project of
the Qinghai-Tibet Railway is under construction, the completion in 2006 of which will
further strengthen Tibet’s connection with inner areas of China and enrich
Tibet’s commodity market. What is more, the Chinese government has
always respected and valued the traditional culture of ethnic minorities. It has allocated
large sums of money for the protection and maintenance of historical relics and sites of
ethnic minorities. Among them, the government invested 53 million Yuan to completely
renovate the world-famous Potala Palace in Tibet and finished 111 projects. This is the
biggest renovation of the Potala Palace since it was constructed early in the Qing Dynasty
in the mid-17th century. Also, the government invested another sum of more than 30 million
Yuan and provided manpower and material for the renovation of the Kumbum Monastery, an
establishment of Tibetan Buddhism in Qinghai Province, China. There are, however, still some Tibetans
illegally crossing the border between China and Nepal. It is not because of what the
Chinese government is doing in Tibet, it is because they are misguided by Tibetan
separatists under religious cloak, who make use of ordinary Tibetans’ simple
aspiration for better life. Some external organizations advocating free Tibet campaign
also help Tibetan separatists to do anti-China and anti-Nepal activities by politicizing
the lawful repatriation of Tibetan illegal immigrants and criticizing China for so-called
human rights violations, without paying attention to their violations of law by illegally
crossing the border. I advise them not to destabilize or split China by helping make Tibet
independent from China. A stable China, of which Tibet is an inalienable part, is in the
interest of peace and security in this region and world at large. V. China on the rise Referring to a stable China, I think it is
necessary to say something about China’s rise. Everybody is now talking about the
rising of China, which is on its fast economic growth and becomes more powerful
economically than ever before. Some people are afraid of China’s rise mainly because
of being influenced by the so-called “China threat” designed viciously by
anti-China forces. Contrarily, China’s rise, which would
require a lot of time and probably efforts of several generations, is different from other
powers and will not stand in the way of, nor pose threat to, nor at the cost of any other
country. China is now moving on the road of peaceful rise. China's peaceful rise will be based on its
own strength and self reliance, as well as the vast domestic market, abundant human and
natural resources. On the other hand, China's rise could not be achieved without the rest
of the world. We must always maintain its open policy and develop economic and trade
exchanges with all friendly countries on the basis of equality and mutual benefit. Safeguarding world peace and seeking common
development are the two focuses we pursue in our diplomatic work. China’s diplomatic
work has made its due contribution to creating a peaceful and favorable international and
neighboring environment for China’s own development, to maintaining world peace and
promoting common prosperity among all countries. In the final analysis, peaceful development
in China as well as the growing prosperity of the 1.3 billion Chinese people is in itself
the biggest contribution to the progress of all humanity. China will take full advantage
of the good opportunity of world peace to develop itself and at the same time safeguard
world peace with its development. Conclusion There have been some arguments in critical
of China on the rise that China will be an assertive power exerting its influence not only
around the neighborhood but also around Asia and the world. They claim it with the
assertion that China has engaged in a sustained effort to modernize the People’s
Liberation Army. Contrary to it, some friendly countries concerned hope China could
increase its presence in South Asia. Actually, the past years saw the role or
“influence” played by China in its relations with South Asian countries, Asia
and the world, is neither what they asserted nor the traditional influence as exerted by
superpowers before. What they saw is that China is playing the constructive role in
bilateral relations, regional and international arena with economic cooperation and
assistance, not with its military power. Judging from China’s history, internal
and foreign policies and deeds, one can make a conclusion that China is a peace-loving
country and its people are peaceful, friendly and helpful. China’s national image,
prestige and dignity is now being enhanced in the comity of nations while it is pursuing
the two goals of safeguarding world peace and promoting common prosperity in its relations
with neighboring countries and countries all of the world. (Excerpts of t he address by the
Chinese Ambassador at the Nepal Council of World Affairs on May 28, 2004) |
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editor: spot@mail.com.np |
