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China's October
revelation
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK - It was meant to be US President George
W Bush's big moment in Asia, but by the time he finished
his six-country tour last week, there were unmistakable
signs that the world's most powerful man had been undone
by regional heavyweight China.
Two events
captured this best: one in Australia and the other in
Thailand. In Australia, Bush was given a reminder about
an emerging pattern in the region - that countries will
shower Chinese President Hu Jintao with the same respect
as they would the leader of the United States.
On Friday, Hu became the first head of an Asian
country to address the Australian parliament. The
confidence with which Beijing currently views itself was
reflected in the comment by Hu that Australia had a role
as a regional peacekeeper.
"We are ready to be
your long-term and stable cooperation partner, dedicated
to closer cooperation based on equality and mutual
benefit," Hu said in his address to the federal
legislature on the second day of his four-day tour of
Australia.
That came a day after Bush had
addressed the same body to thank Canberra for backing
the US in its invasion of Iraq and its "war against
terrorism".
However, what occurred in Thailand
shortly before Hu's Australia visit was even more
revealing of China's sense of place in Asia, and the
determined wall of confidence it is building to stay its
ground.
Bush, who joined Hu and leaders from 19
other Pacific Rim economies for a meeting on trade in
the region, failed to make the expected headway on
China's policy of pegging the yuan to the US dollar.
This failure was all the more acute given the
rhetoric flowing from Washington as Bush rode into town.
Media reports gave the impression that the US president
would use his meeting with Hu to apply pressure for
change.
The US has been calling on China to free
its currency, which has been locked at 8.28 yuan to the
dollar since 1994. By doing so, US critics say, China
has enjoyed an unfair edge in the global economy,
including taking away manufacturing jobs from the US.
But Hu, in an artful display of diplomacy,
struck before his encounter with Bush. During an address
to business leaders in Bangkok for the Asia-Pacific
Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, which ran from
October 14-21, he said that China was not contemplating
any change in the country's currency-rate system.
There was little the US president could do after
that, since Hu had drawn a line in the sand. "Bush was
outmaneuvered," wrote William Pesek Jr in a commentary
for Bloomberg News. "The battle [between Bush and Hu]
was lost before it even began."
Such moments add
to what has clearly become China's October revelation -
a tapestry of achievements throughout the month that has
helped add new standing to Beijing.
Already,
China's moves are sending ripples through the region.
"There is a new respect for China emerging throughout
Asia," said Panitan Wattanayagorn, an international
relations specialist at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn
University. "The recent events, including China's
performance at APEC, have clearly contributed to this
regional shift."
By not yielding to the US
agenda on the yuan, Beijing has shown the region that
"it is confident and comfortable in handing
international pressure", he said. "This new
sophistication in China's foreign policy was also
evident in the press conference Hu had with the
international media at the end of APEC."
The
significant highs Beijing chalked up before APEC was
China's first space mission on October 15. That made
China only the third country in the world to have sent a
manned rocket into outer space, marking its entry into
an exclusive club that previously included only the US
and Russia.
"It left other countries like Japan,
South Korea and India, which are keen to compete in
space technology, with something serious to ponder," the
Bangkok Post newspaper commented in an editorial soon
after. "This is especially the case as China managed
this achievement alone, using rockets and the spacecraft
of its own manufacture."
As noteworthy were
Beijing's achievements at the 10-member Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meeting early this
month. During that summit in the Indonesian tourist
resort of Bali, Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao signed
a variety of agreements with ASEAN.
They
included a treaty of solidarity that committed Beijing
to look at the ASEAN grouping as a friend instead of
foe, since the ASEAN Treaty of Amity of Cooperation
rules out the use of force to settle disputes. This turn
prompted some analysts to declare it was a deepening of
the strategic alliance China was building with its
southern neighbors.
ASEAN countries are already
gearing up for the new economic reality in the region: a
free-trade area that will unite China and ASEAN's
members - Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia,
Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and
Vietnam - to become the world's largest economic entity
of its kind.
The importance of such economic
bonds has not been lost on China, which is currently
enjoying a phenomenal spell of economic growth - 8.2
percent in the first half of this year, as against 7.2
percent in 2002. Premier Wen challenged ASEAN leaders at
the Bali summit to achieve US$100 billion worth of trade
with China by 2005.
That would almost place it
on par with the US in terms of economic relevance in
Southeast Asia. In 2001, the volume of US trade with
ASEAN amounted to $120 billion.
"China is trying
to be the center of economic power in Asia, and it has
demonstrated to the US that it has its own agenda," said
Panitan, the academic.
Such an agenda is far
from cosmetic, as showcased at the beginning of this
month when Beijing celebrated the 54th anniversary of
communist rule. The tone was set by Hu, 60, who became
the Communist Party's general secretary last November
and then the country's president this March. At an
address to mark the occasion, he called for a more open
political culture and one that was accountable to the
people.
Set against these combined messages
flowing out of China were the three issues - Iraq, Islam
and terrorism - that were on Bush's mind as he traveled
through six Asian countries in as many days.
On
Iraq, it appears that his Asian shopping spree for money
and bodies to support the US conquest of Iraq paid off,
with Japan, South Korea and Singapore assuring material
support in addition to three others who already have
sent troops, Australia, Thailand and the Philippines.
On Islam - which Bush touched on during his
three-hour stop in Indonesia - the US president was not
convincing enough, a fact that may not be lost on the
region's estimated 190 million Muslims.
The
headline chosen by the Jakarta Post editorial after
Bush's message to Indonesian Muslims - that Washington
is after terrorists and not the followers of Islam -
aptly conveyed how US commitment is viewed. "Action, not
flattery needed," it said.
It is a comment that
reflected how much more the Bush administration will
have to do in the region if it is to be seen as being
seriously engaged.
If this month is any
indicator, Washington's agenda in the region may be
increasingly compared with what regional heavyweight
China has in mind - and Southeast Asian leaders such as
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad are eagerly
welcoming the fallout.
"The United States is
trying to make a comeback to interact with Southeast
Asia," Mahathir told a press conference at the end of
APEC. "We will benefit from this China-US competition."
(Inter Press Service)
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