By NESTOR MATA
MALAYA
MALAYA
‘Is this why China has arrogantly ignored Asean’s recent calls for a Code of Conduct and peaceful settlement of territorial disputes in the South China Sea?’
A DAY after the summit meeting in Brunei of the leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) last week, China lashed out at the Philippines for its attempt to seek an international verdict on the territorial dispute between them in the South China Sea.
And it was also not enthusiastic about Asean calls for the adoption of a Code of Conduct and peaceful settlement of disputes with other claimant member-nations.
Beijing’s Foreign Ministry, in a statement on its website last Friday, said that the Philippines was attempting to cover up “in a cloak of legality” the illegal occupation of China’s islands and reefs and called on Manila to withdraw all its personnel and facilities from the areas. And it brushed off Asean’s call a Code of Conduct for “peace, stability and maritime security in the region.”
China stated once more its official position that it would never give up its claims for the entire South China Sea. It has consistently rejected multilateral negotiations over the disputes and that it preferred direct talks with each claimant countries, like the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.
The reason for China’s seemingly arrogant conduct, as Asian and Western observers and analysts have noted, is simply because the Asian colossus considers itself now a world superpower. It does not want to sign an agreement, like the Asean proposal for a Code of Conduct in the region, which would constrain its sovereignty-building activities in Asia, and its strategic worldview.
China’s strategic worldview — or Weltanschauung — was revealed for the first time last week when Beijing released a white paper, written by its Ministry of Defense, clarifying China’s defense activities and structure. It is China’s equivalent of the U.S. National Defense Strategy, spelling out security priorities and giving basic information about China’s military programs, including personnel figures for China’s main armed forces with a total headcount of 1.4 million, except paramilitary and police forces.
The white paper, according to an article of the American Enterprise Institute in Washington titled “Beijing’s Paranoid Worldview,” is the clearest public statement available of Beijing’s strategic worldview. “It is a worrying statement in that it excoriates the United States and Japan, as well as its unapologetic promise to protect territorial claims by all necessary means. This should convince U.S. leaders that President Xi Jinping will do little to improve relations between Beijing and Washington.” (And it should indeed worry Asean leaders, particularly those of its member-claimants to several parts of the South China Sea.)
Here are other pertinent parts from the AEI’s article: ‘Nowhere is the gulf between reality and Beijing’s aggrieved worldview more apparent than in the white paper’s discussion of the U.S. The report claims that U.S, President Barack Obama’s so-called ‘pivot’ to Asia ‘makes the situation tenser,’ by ‘enhancing military deployment and also strengthening alliances.’ In Chinese eyes, the U.S. pivot is not responding to nearly two decades of double-digit Chinese defense budget increases and Beijing’s aggressive security stance. .. Beijing’s actions have played no role in destabilizing the region or eroding mutual trust. Only U.S. policies have. This blame-Washington view ignores longstanding U.S. provision of public security goods such as freedom of navigation, which China has benefitted from more than any other nation.”
“The white paper also ignores attempts by the American military to forge closer relations with China and to be transparent as possible about U.S. defense capabilities, relationships and operations. For these efforts the U.S. military is repaid with little reciprocity from its Chinese counterparts…
“Lest the U.S. feel alone in facing China’s ire, the Chinese defense white paper also accuses Japan of ‘making trouble over the Diaoyu (Senkaku) Islands issue. The defense report also fails to mention that Japan is just one of many countries that China’s navy has recently riled up. Last month Chinese ships entered Malaysian waters in order to conduct military drills close to the Strait of Malacca. Elsewhere in the South China Sea, Beijing’s patrol vessels regularly face off with Vietnamese and Philippine ships over fishing rights and natural resources exploration…
“In almost every case, smaller nations have backed down in the face of China’s willingness to send more ships and maintain pressure. The national defense report gives no indication China will alter this approach.”
In other words, China’s new defense strategy ignores its bullying in the South China Sea and blames the U.S. as the one destabilizing Asia. And this is the reason why, as Asian observers have noted before, China has been acting so arrogantly, even occasionally saber-rattling, because it is confident no power on earth today can stop it from being transformed into an economic, if not also a military, superpower in the 21st century.
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Quote of the Day: “Are the Chinese coming? The answer is: They are already here!…The Chinese will become partners and often dominators in our economies. And, like it or not, they will become part of our populations, leaders in academia, the economy and politics, if only because their commercial acumen and ruthless determination to succeed has made them the new settlers of the world.” – Uli Schmetzer, author of “The Chinese Juggernaut: How the Chinese Conquered Southeast Asia.”
Thought of the Day: “Military and political power rest on economic strength, and the ability of nations to exercise and sustain global hegemony has ultimately depended on their productive capacity.” – Paul Kennedy, “The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers.”
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