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December 23, 2005
Peaceful development
A new white paper from the Chinese government represents its latest attempt to downplay fears of its rapid growth:
"To stick to the road of peaceful development is the inevitable way for China to attain national prosperity and strength and its people's happiness," said the document, which was issued by Premier Wen Jiabao's State Council, or cabinet. It added: "China's development will never be a threat to anyone."
[...]
"China's road of peaceful development is a brand-new one for mankind in pursuit of civilization and progress, the inevitable way for China to achieve modernization and a serious choice and solemn promise made by the Chinese government and the Chinese people," the paper said, drawing a distinction between China's rise and that of Japan a generation ago. "China did not seek hegemony in the past, nor does it now, and will not do so in the future when it gets stronger."
The Post's piece goes on to note that some in the Communist Party assign negative connotations to the term "rise." The preferred nomenclature henceforth will be "peaceful development." I have to say I'm with the party on this one. The notion of "China's rise" has created a nice little cult of fear-mongering around it. But while "peaceful development" may be a tad more difficult to demonize, I'm sure it won't stop some from trying.
And among the first of those to try, perhaps, would be new Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso. He certainly has a different take on China's "peaceful development:"
A neighboring country has an atomic bomb and its military spending has been rising for 12 consecutive years. There is no transparency and I view that as a concern, a threat," Aso told a news conference.
But a Foreign Ministry spokesman said Tokyo's position was that it did not see the Chinese military as a "direct threat", meaning it did not expect an invasion by Chinese troops.
I'm glad Japan doesn't expect an invasion by Chinese troops, for that would be rather foolish. The important thing, however, is that Aso's statement really isn't far off-base. China does neighbor Japan, it does possess nuclear weaponry, and its military spending is anything but transparent. While labeling China as a "threat" does stretch reason a bit, labeling the country as a "concern" is perfectly legitimate and, I might suggest, rather accurate.
But for the Japanese Foreign Minister to speak so truthfully is to disregard any hope that the statement will be taken seriously, for the Japan-China relationship is anything if not dysfunctional. On cue, the Chinese Foreign Ministry shot down Aso's statement:
China pursues the road of peaceful development. China's development has made worldly recognized contribution to the peace and stability of the region and the world and presented enormous opportunities for the development of Asian countries, including Japan. This is a fact obvious to all. It is extremely irresponsible for a Japanese foreign minister to make such remarks. One can't help question the real motive of the Japanese Foreign Minister to foment a groundless argument of China's threat at such a moment.
Our friend Qin Gang at the Foreign Ministry is conveniently tying all the rhetorical threads together for us. First, there's absolutely no reference to a "rise" of any kind, but only to "peaceful development." The he notes the irreseponsibility of Aso's statements, not based on their merit, but rather on the nationality of who spoke them. Finally, we descend into the typical questioning of Japanese motives, etc.
All in all, nothing new in the tragic comedy that is Japan-China relations.
Posted by Daniel Widome at 04:45 PM to Asia
