China has presented a dazzling diplomatic image to the world in
the past year, said Wu Jianmin, president of Foreign
Affairs College, in an interview with Beijing News.
By adhering to the peaceful development ideology, the country
has garnered a lot of diplomatic achievements in all dimensions,
according to Wu.
Through hard work of the whole nation, China's national strength
has achieved outstanding growth. While bringing a lot of benefits
to other countries, China's fast-paced development has also brought
certain impacts upon their economies, and some nations are
concerned with the so-called "China threat."
However, these impacts have not been brought about merely by the
Chinese, Wu emphasized.
In the globalization era, the global economy is undergoing
profound structural adjustments and all members in the world
community should embrace the impacts brought about by the
irreversible tendency.
Due to globalization, tens of millions of Chinese workers have
been laid off. As a world member, the country must adapt itself to
the new situation, and so must other members.
Historical experience tells us that at any time when a new power
emerges, there will always be worries and misgivings that arise
from other players, who already hold dominating seats in the
established power arrangement.
Thus, efforts to build mutual trust with other countries are
badly needed. However, this will be a long process, Wu said in the
interview.
At a high-level academic dialogue between China and the US in
November, scholars and veteran diplomats from the two nations
gathered and discussed significant issues of common concern,
deepening their understanding about each other's national
interests.
Over the past 27 years since China adopted the reform and
opening-up initiative, what has featured China's development most
is its sharing with other world members the benefits brought by its
marvelous economic growth.
For instance, in 1980, the total foreign direct investment (FDI)
volume in China was only US$1 billion, while investments in Japan
and Republic of Korea (ROK) were respectively US$3.3 billion and
US$1.3 billion.
The figures in the three nations in 2004, however, were
respectively US$560 billion, US$96 billion and US$56 billion.
Take another example. In 2004, the overall economic volume of
the US was about 28 to 29 percent of the world's total, and the
superpower's contribution to the world's economic growth was 35.7
percent. However, China contributed as much as 23.6 percent in the
same year to the world's economic growth, but with only one-seventh
of the US economy.
The great progress China has made in the economic domain is
inseparable from its cooperation with the outside world.
Under this logic, the more developed China becomes economically,
the more interdependent it becomes with other nations, said Wu.
People should still remember Chinese great navigator Zheng He's
seven western voyages during 1405-1433. At that time, China enjoyed
an overwhelming economic, military, technological, and cultural
advantage over other nations. However, the nation held no intention
of conquering the world.
The cultural essence of China decides that the country will not
be an aggressor at any time.
Through the idea of peaceful diplomacy and making friends with
all countries, China has achieved marked success in developing
relations with neighboring countries, with the exception of Japan,
according to Wu.
With its active participation and pushing, the leaders of the
10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China,
Japan and ROK issued a joint declaration in Kuala Lumpur,
committing themselves to constructing an East Asian community.
Under the context of globalization and regional integration and
at a time when Asian integration has been lagging behind other
regions, the event undoubtedly bore a historical significance.
The first-ever East Asian Summit, which was held in Kuala Lumpur
in November and aimed at mapping out the prospect of Asian
integration, attracted worldwide attention. It also absorbed
participation of non-East Asian members of India, Australia and New
Zealand.
China advocates the bloc should be built in the manner of
complete openness.
Without active efforts from China, the fastest-growing major
economy, Asian countries would have had more difficulty achieving
such a great breakthrough in their process of regional
integration.
A closer East Asian bloc will also provide a wider diplomatic
platform for China and Asian neighbors to discuss issues of common
concern and pursue further development.
As the host nation, China has also deeply impressed the world
community with its hard work and wisdom in tackling the nuclear
crisis on the Korean Peninsula.
Under China's active brokering, the Six-Party Talks aimed at
defusing the nuclear tension have made a stride forward.
At the latest round of talks, the participants finally issued a
document in the manner of a joint announcement, an obvious progress
compared with the previous rounds of talks.
In the past year, the country's cooperative relations with
neighbors within other regional blocs, such as the Shanghai
Cooperation Organization, have also made a tangible headway, Wu
told the paper.
As regards its relations with world's major powers, China has
also made noteworthy headway over the past year.
Last year, US President George W. Bush made his third visit to
China, the most by a US president. Including other international
occasions, he and Chinese President Hu Jintao have had five
meetings in a single year.
Such a high frequency of meetings between the heads of two
influential powers demonstrates the great importance the two
countries attach to relations with each other, said Wu.
The country's relations with the EU made a larger stride forward
in the past year.
With both advocating multilateralism in the international arena
and enjoying economic complementariness, China and EU members have
maintained and carried forward long-standing momentum in bilateral
ties.
In particular, the two have carried out fruitful cooperation in
the high-tech field.
For instance, at a recent visit to France by Chinese Premier Wen
Jiabao, a big deal was reached that China would purchase 150
Airbuses from the EU, and the Airbus corporation also agreed to
build a production line in China, a significant move towards
deepening high-tech cooperation between the two sides.
At multilateral occasions, the country's diplomatic efforts have
also harvested good results, such as on the reform of the UN, Wu
concluded.
(China Daily January 11, 2006)
