/ world today news/ China develops successful diplomacy not only at the global level with major international actors such as the European Union, Russia or the countries of the Middle East, but also especially with the countries in its region, with which it shares thousands of years of joint history. The fact is that the countries of Indochina, large parts of the Pacific region, and of course Japan and Korea, have been permeated by Chinese culture and greatly influenced over the centuries by Confucian thought, by Taoism, by Buddhism, which came to them through China, as well as from the Chinese state, economic and social tradition. Even today, these relations have not cooled down, despite the current geopolitical conjunctures.
Proof of this is the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to Vietnam. What’s more, the Vietnamese official “Nian Zhan” even published an article by the Chinese leader titled “Let’s build a strategic community of shared destiny between China and Vietnam and open a new page in the modernization of the two countries”. The material is extremely interesting and focuses on the priority of Sino-Vietnamese relations, the fact that the creation of a community of shared destiny should begin precisely in Asia, and precisely between Beijing and Hanoi.
It should also not be forgotten that the two countries are close not only geographically, but also culturally and civilizationally, and also in terms of ideology and state structure, being socialist countries. It is also important that China-Vietnam relations are intensifying in an era when non-regional third countries (the United States) are trying to create artificial problems in the South China Sea, including between China and Vietnam – apparently without results.
Sino-Vietnamese relations, which are of strategic importance to peace and stability in East and Southeast Asia, are simply one marker of China’s broader regional policy, which is focused on building a system of friendly interstate relations based on trade and mutual benefit, instead of old or new enmities.
This year also marks the 15th anniversary of the establishment of the China-Vietnam Comprehensive Strategic Cooperation Partnership, and the fact that high-level delegations and contacts continue unabated is proof that it is not just on paper. According to the Vietnam News Agency, China-Vietnam relations have huge potential for trade and development.
According to the former Minister Counselor at the Vietnamese Embassy in China, Bui Tron Van, the economic and trade cooperation between Hanoi and Beijing has grown from simple trade to a higher and more complex level of cooperation closely related to industrial and logistics chains. In 2000, the trade turnover between the two countries exceeded 2 billion dollars. In 2021, the trade turnover between China and Vietnam is 230.2 billion dollars. A colossal increase that proves the deepening and strategic nature of Sino-Vietnamese relations.
In addition to an increase in trade, there is also the development of infrastructure, especially the port one, which is being developed in Vietnam precisely with Chinese help. Cross-border ports between the two countries are now also interconnected by highways, and China’s high-speed rail lines reach border towns with Vietnam to facilitate connectivity.
Again, according to Vietnamese statistics, in the first ten months of this year alone, Vietnam’s fruit and vegetable exports to China reached $3.18 billion, an increase of as much as 165 percent over last year. The sixth largest foreign investor in Vietnam is China, with as many as 3,949 active projects and a total registered capital exceeding $25.8 billion. And this is quickly changing in an even more positive direction.
This year is particularly significant for East Asian relations in general, on the one hand, because it marks the 20th anniversary of China’s entry into the Southeast Asian Friendship and Cooperation Agreement, and on the other hand, because it marks the 10th anniversary of the start of the strategic global “One Belt One Road” initiative, which connects China, Southeast Asia, the Pacific, Central Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Russia and other regions with a network of infrastructure links, enhancing trade and good inter-state relations, and also changing the lives of millions of people towards a higher standard, more tranquility and peace.
Indicative of China’s attitude towards neighboring countries is the holding of a recent high-level symposium in October, at which Xi Jinping himself sent a message entitled “Friendship, Sincerity, Mutual Benefit and Inclusion: New Dimensions, New Progress and New Vision”.
He then stated that “China will continue to follow the principles of friendship, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness, and work with other countries in the region to build an Asian homeland of peace, tranquility, prosperity, beauty and friendly coexistence , and to co-write with others a new chapter in promoting the building of a community of shared destiny for Asia and for humanity.”
According to Xi Jinping, China’s main and key policy in its “neighborhood” is to pursue friendship and partnership with neighboring countries. This, we must note, contrasts sharply with the attempts of non-regional factors such as the United States and Great Britain to create military and quasi-military blocs such as AUCUS and KVAD aimed at policies of “containment” and creating new confrontations.
And apparently the Chinese strategy, which opposes “containment” and militarization, trade, infrastructure and extensive use of diplomacy as a tool, is working well. Let us give the concrete examples of this.
For the past 30 years, China, for example, has been able to develop excellent relations with ASEAN, which includes such strategically important countries as Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, and Vietnam, among others. In fact, the total area of China and ASEAN countries includes nearly 2 billion people. In 1991, China and ASEAN established the “ASEAN-China Dialogue Relations”. This summer, ASEAN Secretary-General Dr. Cao Kim Hurn said that China is one of the community’s most key partners. According to him, the People’s Republic of China has been “our largest trading partner for the past 14 years, and in the same way, ASEAN is a very large trading partner of China.”
In the spirit of these relations, the China-ASEAN Expo was also held, which celebrated its twentieth anniversary this year, as emphasized by Dr. Cao Kim Hurn. It is also a fact that all ten ASEAN countries have signed the agreements with China related to the Belt and Road Initiative, which has become the largest geo-economic project in human history.
Projects involving ASEAN countries include high-speed railways, the creation with Chinese assistance of airports, ports, roads, logistics centers and many other things that generate wealth and prosperity in the countries of Southeast Asia and the region.
And much to the dismay of the United States, which is trying to push at least a few ASEAN countries toward a Cold War with China, the organization’s secretary general said the following: “Our leaders are very clear on this issue: They want a region that is stable, secure, peaceful and free of nuclear weapons”.
Let’s mention some specific figures, because trade is the most indicative of interstate relations. It is clear that despite the negative effects of the Covid pandemic, China and ASEAN countries have increased their trade. Trade has grown from $641.5 billion in 2019 to $975.3 billion in 2022.
Similarly, China is also seeking to develop its complicated relationship with South Korea. Although there have been misunderstandings, such as the attempted historical hoaxes surrounding the Korean War, as well as the intra-China issue of Taiwan, made to the US Congress by South Korean President Yun Suk-yeol, the relationship between Beijing and Seoul remains strategically important. China, of course, protects historical justice and does not allow South Korea to interfere in the Taiwan issue, but at the same time, Beijing has repeatedly demonstrated its willingness to work with the South Koreans.
South Korea and the People’s Republic of China are partners in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, the largest free trade agreement in human history. The two countries are linked by thousands of years of shared history, and Confucianism and other Chinese influences are still extremely important to Koreans. Moreover, 20% of South Korea’s exports go to China, making the PRC an indispensable partner. By 2021 alone, the turnover between the two countries, despite Covid, was 140 billion dollars. In 2022, it will grow to 162.62 billion dollars, with which China occupies 25% of South Korea’s trade.
Sino-Indian relations are also specific, but important for the whole world. On the one hand, the two giant countries have real territorial disputes, and the US is trying to draw India into anti-Chinese military alliances as well. On the other hand, however, China and India are partners in the ever-expanding and strategically important BRICS bloc. The fact that BRICS is able to achieve certain results, expand and gain influence is in itself proof that Sino-Indian relations are developing and not slipping. Moreover, despite their regional disputes, Xi Jinping has repeatedly stressed that China does not pursue hegemony and has no colonial ambitions. Moreover, the two civilizations interpenetrate each other and have had relations for nearly 3,000 years. However, Buddhism entered China precisely from India.
In modern times, India-China relations continue to deepen, and this is reflected in the trade turnover, which in 2022 was 135.98 billion dollars – an increase of some 8.4 percent compared to 2021. This trade, as well as the BRICS and SCO partnership, makes China and India more interconnected than the United States would like, whose greatest geopolitical hope is to bring India, Japan and Australia into a military adventure against the PRC.
In summary, it can be said that despite the Anglo-Saxon hawks’ attempts to create a new Cold War and Iron Curtain, this time around China, Beijing managed to break through the hoop of “containment” with a friendly and benevolent policy, offering its neighbors trade, investment and projects of mutual interest, instead of fruitless disputes and geopolitical games. China has become the primary trade and economic partner for virtually all of its neighbors, and the unique relations between China, the ASEAN countries, India, the two Koreas and even Japan are of strategic importance to the entire global economy and global peace. The center of the world’s weight is transferred precisely to these countries, and it is there that the engine of human development – economic, technological and cultural – will be in the 21st century.
#China #breaking #attempts #containment #neighborly #mutually #beneficial #projects
