China and Asia in the Early Twenty-First Century

We knew that after the end of the Cold War era, US become the only one hegemon in the world and try to share its influence and interest in all of the part of the world especially in Asia region. China also try to balancing the US influence by having a good relations with its neighbor periphery via Beijing’s diplomacy. Here, next will explain about china effort to engaging the periphery countries.

ENGAGING THE PERIPHERY

Shambaugh sure that the China’s growing regional influence derives not only from its hard power- its growing economic weight and military power – but its influence is also growing in ways aassociated with soft power.

§The first is the normative realm, where Beijing’s enunciation of the “new security concept,” “strategic partnerships,”.

§ The second area of potensial Chinese soft power lies in the realm of hihger education.

§In the economic sphere, China has been able, through a variety of efforts -  ranging from responsible management of its currency during the Asian financial crisis, to timely grants of aid and loans.

MEASURING CHINAS’S NEW REGIONAL POSTURE

Engaging Regional Organizations

Shambaugh add that Many analysts have long argued that Asia, with its diversity of nations, societies , political systems, and security interests, is not ripe for regionalism and pan-regional cooperation, but this earlier prognosis. Asia is not like Europe and North or South America states.

Here the list of some regional organizations that followed by China:

ASEAN Plus One

ASEAN Plus Three

Asean Regional Forum

ASEAN Vision Group

ASEAN Senior Officials Meeting

Shanghai Cooperation Organization

Pacific Basin Economic Council

East Asia and Pacific Rim Nations

Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation

Asia-Europe Meeting

East Asia-Latin American Cooperation Forum

Council on Security Cooperation in the Asia-Pacific

Shangri-la Dialogue

Boao Forum

Improving Bilateral Ties

China – South Korea

Shambaugh explain that China strategy for building ties with South Korea is born not only of economic motive, but also strategic calculus. Such ties would also serve to offset  any potential threat from the US-ROK alliance and US forces on the peninsula.

China- Vietnam

Shambaugh said that the two countries signed a treaty on the land border in December 1999, and another on the sea boundary in Gulf Tonkin in December 2000. They have also established a forum for discussion of unresolved conflicts related to the disputed Paralel and Spartly Islands.

China – India

Indian prime minister Vajpayee and Chinese premier Wen Jibao signed the overarching Declaration on Cooperation and a total of nine separate protocols for different spheres of bilateral cooperation – thus fully normalizing relations and pledging that their countries would work together for regional stability and peace.

China and Regional Security

According to Shambaugh, there are two primary “drivers” for this military moderanization program:

1.The desire to bulid and deploy a comprehensively modern military commensurate with China’s status as a major power.

2.The desire to build certain capabilities with various Taiwan military scenarios in mind.

This reading chapter from the author is really exciting, because we see that the author is try to write the chapter by using future scheme, it’s means that the author not only try to explain what he want to explain but also try to read what will be happened to China’s in the future and his “guess” is right and really happened to China right now. But, because of this chapter is launched in 2005, so there are some unrelevant things to China right now, for example is China now not only use its dominant soft power by cooperations but China right now try to use the hard power too, such as : the case of South China Sea and Senkaku Island with Japan. For the regional security also China now is not only focus on Taiwan, but China upgrade its military for its interest in South China Sea with some Asian countries.

At the first part, the author said that is too premature to say that China will be the hegemon in Asian region. By following many regional securities, economic cooperations and giving aid, loan and scholarships to Asian countries, China will be like what the author predict, that’s shifting the US influence. But it’s rather hard for China, because we can see that the US left India to having nuclear program to balancing the China dominant in Asia. So, China’s way rather hard because of US influence in Asia will be more difficult to China for the next, by using India, South Korea, Japan and other Asian countries to balancing China. Reading Material : Shambaugh, D. (2005) Return to the Middle Kingdom? China and Asia in the Early Twenty-First Century. In: Shambaugh, D (ed). Power Shift: China and Asia's New Dynamics. California: University of California Press.

“China, India Sign Nine Departments in Beijing,” available at http://english.eastday.com/epublish/gb/paper1/class000100004/hwz143868.htm.