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| Influential Instructor of China’s International Relations |
| Dr. Gui Yong-Tao: |
“The younger generation should adopt a global identity, get a better understanding of issues China shares with other countries and realize that China’s peace and prosperity depend on those of the world.”
With its rapidly expanding economy and subsequent growing political influence in the international community, China’s view of the world, particularly those of its youths, need major adjustment, says a leading Chinese academic. Can the old ideology and politics adapt to an ever changing world? Can a global identity co-exist with ingrained patriotism and nationalism? These are the challenges faced by Dr. Gui Yong-Tao, associate professor of comparative politics at Peking University’s School of International Studies.
Dr. Gui, who obtained his doctorate in international relations from both Peking University in Beijing and Waseda University in Japan, is currently involved in researching American-East Asian relations and Asian nationalism.
One of the major research topics when you were doing your doctorate was Asian nationalism. Is such a concept still relevant today?
Actually, the academics still do not have a consensus on the definition of this so-called Asian nationalism. But it was during those years when Chinese and Japanese nationalism had clashed over history issues. Even though we 60 years have passed since World War II and these two countries are independent nations, their peoples still carry strong nationalist feelings. These sentiments may affect relations between nations negatively. In some cases, the presence of overseas Chinese in some Southeast Asian countries can trigger issues relating to nationalism, which may affect the stability of the region. So, given the affairs in Asia, it is still relevant to discuss the issue of Asian nationalism.
Perhaps a better wording would be a region-based Asian nationalism.
There might be some common themes among some countries in Asia, like the shared historical experience of colonialism. This is one of the major characteristics of Chinese, Korean and many Southeast nations’ nationalism, which is quite different from the traditional nationalism as we know it in Europe or North America. Japan is also slightly different and somewhat closer to the developed countries. Anyway, anti-colonialism is still a common concern among Asian nations, especially when we look at the current international order, even though they aspire to be a member of. Yet, sometimes they feel it is not fair, sometimes they feel justice is not fully served. This might be a common theme in various Asian nationalism.
What is the Asian identity, that might be a more appropriate question? ASEAN seems keen on developing such an identity.
People say that nationalism in some countries may conflict with a regional identity but on many occasions, some kind of Asian identity (is forged) when Koreans, Japanese and Chinese and Southeast Asian countries, gather to discuss on how to develop this identity, through dialogue, negotiations and cooperation in such a field.
I believe last year, you took part in a workshop for future leaders in which the theme was to build a better Asia. What kind of conclusions came out of that meeting?
Actually, that was a preliminary step in our efforts to build a better Asia. So, my impression is that we do need to understand the feelings, the emotions and the initiatives of other countries. Because although the countries of Northeast Asia, China, Japan and Korea have had good relations with Southeast Asia in recent decades, we still find that we do not understand enough the situation, at least in the Chinese case, the situation in Southeast Asia. I myself learnt a lot through this interaction with people from Southeast Asian countries, from Thailand, from Cambodia, Myanmar, from Indonesia and Malaysia.
What about with South Asian countries like India and Pakistan?
Yes and Sri Lanka too. Sometimes, we only find out what is happening in these countries from the news. But through dialogue and person-to-person relationships with people from these countries, we begin to understand the real concerns of the people in these countries. For example, what the Vietnamese are thinking about their relations with the United States, might be very different from the conventional wisdom. We find out that in conflict areas like Sri Lanka, what we see on television or in newspapers, are always bloodshed and violence. But we find that there are people who make peace and development their life work.
We are seeing a different kind of relationship between China and ASEAN, what with China’s accession to the WTO and its rapid economic growth. Do you see a competition building up for markets between China and Southeast Asia?
People may worry about a competitive relationship between China and the Southeast Asian countries. I think it’s too early, too premature to judge or to give a yes or no answer. The focus of China is economic growth and the Chinese people are emphasizing on the development of the domestic market. So, the recent world financial crisis may affect China, and one of the measures of coping with this kind of crisis is developing our own markets, so that our economy does have to depend on exports to foreign countries, like the United States. Basically the US market is still its domestic market, so it is less affected by happenings in other parts of the world. China should learn from this and we think we have a promising future in developing a domestic market, which I think will not cause fear among Southeast Asian countries.
In fact, there might be complementary relationship because with such a big domestic market, China will need energy sources and this is what Southeast Asian countries can offer.
Yes, exactly, and this is already happening. If you go to Chinese supermarkets, you will find many things imported from Southeast Asia, which would have been unimaginable a few years ago. Of course, the focus of China’s recent policy is the resources of energy from Southeast Asia. Admittedly, during this rapid industrialization China needs to secure its supplies. And I think in this process, China and Southeast Asia, can create a sort of win-win situation that can benefit both sides.
But as China becomes stronger, many people may see it as a threat. Chinese products are everywhere. Is this concern justified?
It’s not just Southeast Asia, even in the US, you will find Chinese products there, no longer just toys or light industry products. In a few years, US taxi drivers may be driving Chinese-made cars. There might be a fear about this so-called China threat. But I think that in the economic field, it’s not a zero sum game. People should not look at it from a political or an ideological perspective. From a business perspective, both sides can benefit. It is understandable, but not justifiable.
However, economic power leads to political power. And I think that the concern in Southeast Asia is the presence of a very strong China in the South China Sea, where a lot of the problems are located. I understand there has been an effort to deal with this problem through a non-traditional security cooperation. Will this help alleviate tension in the area?
Yes, on the South China Sea issue, a code of conduct has been agreed between China and the Southeast Asian countries. This is very encouraging. China has resolved most of its territorial disputes with such countries as Russia and India and with Southeast Asia, the priority is to maintain peace in the region. Through the non-traditional security cooperation, bureaucrats, diplomats and even the military understand each other better, leading to less misconception, misunderstanding or misjudgment.
What about China’s foreign policy itself? What are the priorities of its relations with other countries?
China is a country which emphasizes strategy or long-term policy in dealing with foreign affairs. A consensus was reached in China that the fundamentals of its foreign policy should be peaceful development. This means that China will emphasize on economic aspects in its foreign relations, which is consistent with its domestic agenda. China sees the world as a strategic opportunity for China. This is very significant, because in the past China saw wars and revolutions as the seeds of the world order. But since the open reform policy began, China changed its perception of the world.
Let me ask you about two problematic areas China faces: Tibet and Taiwan.
For western countries like the US and those in Europe, sovereignty or territorial integrity is no longer a national priority, no longer a political agenda. So their major priority is human rights, religious freedom and ethnic minorities. That’s understandable. For China, Tibet and Taiwan remains on China’s top political agenda because they are still related to China’s core interests, which we define as China’s territorial integrity, sovereignty. It’s also based on China’s moral perspective on the world order. From China’s perspective, these issues originated from a colonial history. China has the task of protecting its territory from any international influence, international forces. This might be difficult to understand by people in the west. I will not say that the Chinese government policies on these issues are 100 percent correct. We may make mistakes. What we really want is other countries to understand that the Chinese government faces a difficult dilemma.
Dr. Gui, how would you like your students, future leaders of China, to understand China’s foreign relations?
As a teacher, I have high expectations, high hopes from my students, the future generation. One point I would like to raise, which is related to your first question is the patriotic sentiments among the younger Chinese generation. They grew up in a patriotic atmosphere in terms of their education and the media reports they read, because until very recently, China still faced difficult relationships with the major powers of the world. The Chinese people felt uncertain and insecure when facing the outside world. So, it is understandable and justifiable that China’s younger generation harbor nationalistic sentiments. On the other hand, we must admit these sentiments have a negative side. They may create a negative image in the international community, and affect China’s domestic agenda—peaceful economic development. So, I believe the students should develop a kind of a global identity. Personally, I am optimistic about the younger generation, because they have so many opportunities to interact with people around the world. Through these kinds of exchanges, they can get a better understanding of what is happening around the world, on issues, questions and problems China shares with other countries. They should understand that China’s peace and prosperity are dependent on those of the world. I would not go so far as to say the global identity will replace the national identity but at least we should have a balance between these two identities.
That would be ideal.
Yes, that would be our goal.
AsiaViews, Vol.II No.6 October-November 2008
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