A newly modest China? Official's reassurances raise eyebrows in US.
| Bejing
For the past two years, China has been riding buoyantly聽on the crest of a diplomatic wave; the Asian giant is widely seen at home and abroad as the natural heir to the United States鈥� mantle as the world鈥檚 leading superpower.
Three weeks ago, a top Chinese official sounded a very different note.
鈥淚t is the United States that leads the world. We have a clear understanding of this,鈥� Vice Premier Wang Yang told a US-China trade forum in Chicago. 鈥淐hina does not have any ideas or capabilities to challenge the leading role of the United States.鈥�
Since President Xi Jinping took power two years ago, Beijing has strengthened its claim to be Asia鈥檚 undisputed leader, demanded that Washington should treat it as an equal in a 鈥渘ew kind of great power relationship,鈥� and done nothing to discourage official media from speculating on the implications of US decline.
Mr. Wang鈥檚 new humility initially attracted little attention. The state-run Xinhua News Agency鈥檚 Chinese language report on the speech did not refer to his unusual comments. Neither did the official press mention them.
Yet聽there was no indication that he had spoken out of turn. The Ministry of Commerce later posted the full text of the speech in Chinese and English on its website, and Chinese news web portals have carried the speech prominently in recent days, ensuring its wide distribution and a lively discussion on social media.
Analysts in both China and the US see the speech as a Chinese attempt to reassure the Americans about Beijing鈥檚 intentions after a bruising year or two of diplomatic clashes.
鈥淭his is part of a new campaign to reassure the United States and build on the recent summit between Xi and Obama,鈥� says David Shambaugh, who teaches Chinese politics at George Washington University in Washington.
鈥淯S nervousness has been growing,鈥� agrees Zhu Feng, an international affairs specialist at Nanjing University. 鈥淲ang Yang took note of that and so he elaborated on the Chinese view of the US. It was a very intentional message.鈥�
After clashing with Washington over its declaration of an air defense identification zone聽around Japan鈥檚 Senkaku Islands and its blunt assertion of sovereignty claims in the South China Sea, Beijing has 鈥渦nderstood that they mishandled a variety of issues,鈥� says Michael Swaine, a China expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington. 鈥淭he Chinese are trying to convey a more moderate and softer message,鈥� he adds. 鈥淭hey are trying to promote the image of a more flexible power.鈥�
Whether that image matches reality is a matter of debate. China has taken a number of steps recently that could be seen as aimed at undermining Washington鈥檚 role in the Asia-Pacific region.
President Xi outlined an 鈥淎sia for Asians鈥� security framework 鈥撀爌ointedly excluding the US聽鈥撀燼t a regional conference he hosted in Shanghai last May; China is promoting an Asian free trade pact to rival the US-backed Trans-Pacific Partnership; and late last year, Beijing launched the $50 billion Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, which Washington tried to stop its regional allies from joining for fear it could challenge the US-dominated Asian Development Bank.
鈥淚 see nothing in their global diplomatic behavior to suggest that the Chinese accept the US order,鈥� says Prof. Shambaugh. 鈥淭hey have been highly uncomfortable with it for years and now they have the money to try to weaken the US role in the world,鈥� he adds. 鈥淲e must not confuse rhetoric with reality.鈥�
Chinese scholars acknowledge that Wang鈥檚 speech is unlikely to convert skeptics in the US. His comments 鈥渨ere helpful but far from sufficient,鈥� says Shi Yinhong, an expert on China-US relations at Renmin University and foreign policy adviser to the government.
At the same time, he points out, 鈥淐hina has not changed in any degree its positions on the South China Sea and East China Sea,鈥� which have brought it into conflict with Washington and its allies in recent years. 鈥淲ang Yang鈥檚 stance is only part of the picture,鈥� Prof. Shi cautions. 鈥淭he overall situation is still very complex.鈥�
But Chinese foreign policy analysts insist that Wang鈥檚 comments reflect mainstream official Chinese thinking on the relationship with Washington. 鈥淚t is what Xi tells Obama in private,鈥� says Jia Qingguo, an international relations expert at Peking University.
鈥淐ertainly some Chinese have recently become quite euphoric 鈥� about the progress that China has made and its future. Even in government, there are people who think in that way,鈥� Prof. Jia explains. 鈥淏ut Wang was stating a reality.鈥�
Less triumphalist voices are rarely given space in the Chinese media 鈥� hence the surprise that Wang鈥檚 speech has occasioned. 鈥淭he Chinese government believes it should do everything possible to ensure that people are confident of China鈥檚 future,鈥� says Jia. So the media do not often disseminate such modest assessments of China鈥檚 role in the world as Wang offered.
In the West, meanwhile, such modesty may be suspect when set against recent Chinese assertiveness on the world stage. Prof. Zhu, however, insists that it is no more than a healthy dose of realism. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think many people in the US will be convinced,鈥� he says. 鈥淏ut at least Wang Yang鈥檚 comments are honest and candid.鈥澛�
