As China’s President Xi Jinping asserts a new
normal in Asia — one featuring a more belligerent Chinese presence — he is
digging a deep diplomatic hole. The backlash in Asia may have been guarded, but
the region’s minnows are getting feistier.
For
example, at a June meeting hosted by China, ASEAN foreign ministers issued a
draft communique that embarrassed the hosts by suggesting — get ready for this
bombshell — “what is happening in the South China Sea … is an important issue
in the relations and cooperation between ASEAN and China.”
The
ministers were not exactly being tendentious because this is the consensus of
every sentient observer of regional affairs. Soon after this cheeky draft
statement appeared, however, it was expunged, apparently because Beijing was
deeply miffed at this sign of ASEAN impudence, muted as it may have been.
Indonesian
President Joko Widodo took a tougher stand, holding a recent Cabinet meeting on
a warship in the Natuna Islands and deploying more military assets to a
resource-rich area vulnerable to Beijing’s grandiose ambitions.
The
recent ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague dismissing
Beijing’s claims in the South China Sea, Seoul’s decision to allow the U.S. to
station a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) radar in South Korea and
the gestures of defiance by ASEAN and Indonesia are portrayed as setbacks for
Xi, potentially harmful to his standing in China. But this underestimates the
power of a man nicknamed the “chairman of everything.” Xi has accumulated and
consolidated more power than any leader since Deng Xiaoping and has carefully
cultivated a Mao-like cult following.
The
notion that Xi is threatened by such diplomatic road bumps is a bad misreading
of the situation in China. Threats from without are routinely invoked to rally
the nation around the flag and party, and presented as compelling evidence that
China’s enemies are intent on sabotaging Beijing’s quest to regain what it
thinks is its rightful place as regional helmsman. The reaction in China to the
South China Sea ruling has focused on the bias and illegitimacy of the
proceedings, and how the international status quo is designed to keep China
down. Much has also been made of America’s unhelpful interventionism in the
dispute, fanning regional discord. So such diplomatic setbacks actually
strengthen Xi’s position and confer legitimacy on the state narrative of
encirclement.
Asian
governments surely want America to stay engaged because they fear Beijing’s
designs and prefer playing one power off the other. The U.S. would prefer
bolder defiance and is trying to nudge fence-sitters into taking sides, but
it’s a tough sell for leaders who are not keen to antagonize a nation they must
come to terms with.
India is
the big prize Washington covets in its neo-containment policy designed to
constrain China’s hegemonic ambitions. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and
President Barack Obama have met seven times, with evident good chemistry,
despite espousing diametrically opposed political views on almost everything
that matters. But the forces favoring nonalignment in India remain deeply
entrenched, frustrating policymakers in both nations who are eager to deepen
the strategic partnership.
At the
June meeting of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), China vetoed India’s
application to join a body that was originally established to sanction and
isolate India for its nuclear bomb testing. Since the early 2000s, Washington
has leaned on NSG members to lift sanctions on India and provide access to what
it needs for peaceful uses of nuclear energy. America seeks to woo India as a
counter to China, wants help in counterterrorism efforts and is eager to profit
from New Delhi’s ambitious plans to ramp up nuclear power generation. It
accepts India’s assurances that it will not resume testing, but this promise
falls short of a treaty commitment.
Japan has
been at odds with the U.S. over this issue since India has not signed the
nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Tokyo is not convinced by India’s
reassurances. Entrenched skepticism in Japan about the wisdom of cutting India
slack on its nuclear weapons program is offset, however, by Abe’s advocacy of
lucrative reactor deals for Japan’s nuclear champions: Hitachi, Toshiba and
Mitsubishi.
Pratap
Bhanu Mehta, president of the Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi, astutely
observed in the June 29 edition of the Indian Express that China’s action in
vetoing New Delhi’s bid for membership is more about America than India,
signaling that it will not acquiesce to Washington writing and redefining the
rules of the international order at its whim. He downplayed the NSG rejection,
noting that India can get whatever nuclear energy components it wants because
of U.S. arm-twisting of other suppliers, meaning there is no advantage in
becoming a member. Mehta warned against those in India seeking to manipulate
Beijing’s veto into a closer security relationship with the US.
From
Beijing’s perspective, international law and institutions facilitate and
reinforce U.S. hegemony. So why abide? The NSG veto may prove a Pyrrhic
victory, driving India into a U.S. embrace, but that is far from a done deal
and China has laid down a marker: It seeks a greater voice in deciding the
rules of the game. Moreover, it has signaled that just because Washington wants
something, the days of unilaterally amending rules to keep up with its swerving
foreign policy are numbered.
Or are they?
In an
article published by The Atlantic in June, Howard French, former bureau chief
for The New York Times in Tokyo and Shanghai and currently professor at
Columbia University’s School of Journalism, dissects the China juggernaut
narrative, highlighting stark demographic realities. He argues that China will
grow old before it gets rich. This looming social crisis involving a rapidly
aging population (blowback from the one child policy) that poses numerous
policy challenges. Projections reported in The Atlantic suggest that by 2050,
the number of Chinese older than 65 will reach 329 million. Beginning in 2020,
the state will have to ramp up social welfare programs for an exploding elderly
population, crimping military budgets. Moreover, there is a shrinking pool of
potential military recruits as many ignore patriotic calls to duty and seek
better options amid looming labor shortages.
Demographics
may not be destiny, but a “geriatric peace” in a rapidly aging East Asia offers
a silver glimmer of hope. But such optimism comes up against Asia’s rapidly
escalating arms race, which risks igniting the kindling of heightened tensions
at a number of flash points. Technological advances are enabling modern militaries
to do more with less — so, even without weaponized walker frames, there is
still plenty to worry about.
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