China needs to clearly express its opposition to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and stop taking actions that threaten the safety of its neighbors if it wants to play the role of guardian of the world order.
The Chinese administration of President Xi Jinping is stepping up its diplomatic offensives.
China recently surprised the world by brokering a rapprochement between Iran and Saudi Arabia, two Middle East rivals that severed diplomatic ties in 2016.
In trumpeting China’s role in mediating the deal, Wang Yi, a member of the Political Bureau of China’s Communist Party Central Committee and director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs, said, “China advocates seeking political settlements of all problems and disagreements through dialogue, to maintain world peace and stability.”
Wang visited Europe in February to improve China’s frayed relations with major European nations where suspicions are growing about the emerging superpower.
But China’s credentials to act as a responsible peacemaker are being tested by its response to the crisis in Ukraine. China announced on March 17 that Xi will visit Russia next week for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The outcome of the meeting will answer many questions about Beijing’s commitment to promoting peace.
China’s foreign ministry previously issued a statement urging both Russia and Ukraine to agree on a ceasefire and start peace negotiations. It seems that Beijing is trying to cast itself as a well-meaning broker of peace between the two countries at war.
But it should not be forgotten that China has maintained its close relationship with Russia to this day and never openly criticized Moscow’s aggression against Ukraine. By ramping up its Russian oil imports and other trade with Russia, China has even provided a loophole to the international economic sanctions against Moscow.
The Group of 20 foreign ministers’ meeting this month failed to issue a joint statement denouncing the war because of opposition from China and Russia.
These actions inevitably raise the suspicion that Beijing is seeking to take advantage of the “war fatigue” that is spreading among emerging and developing countries to divide the world.
China needs to understand that what the world wants it to do is to use its influence over Russia to stop Putin’s aggression.
Both the United States and China, the two leading powers responsible for securing stability in the world order, have a duty to make serious efforts to put their bilateral relationship on a normal footing.
In a recent news conference, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang denounced the U.S. decision to shoot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon, saying Washington “overreacted.”
If the Xi administration really wants to mend the deeply strained bilateral relationship, however, it should swiftly reopen dialogue between the two nations to dispel mutual distrust.
China has been sending many ships to islands in the South China Sea controlled by the Philippines. It has also been dispatching patrol boats and oceanographic research vessels to waters near Japan, including areas around the Senkaku Islands in Okinawa Prefecture.
While promising a “peaceful unification” with Taiwan, China has been expanding military operations around the island involving warplanes and battleships.
All these actions are at odds with Beijing’s pledge to protect peace and stability and are causing serious concerns among countries involved and in the region as a whole.
China plans to increase its defense spending by 7.2 percent in 2023 from the previous year at a rate faster than the growth of the state budget as a whole. The country has continued its rapid military buildup without offering detailed information about the expenditures.
One ray of hope, however, came from deputy minister-level diplomatic and security talks between Japan and China held last month in Tokyo.
Japan and other countries concerned should now put greater collective pressure on China to play more positive and helpful roles in the international community.
--The Asahi Shimbun, March 18
EDITORIAL: Before brokering a peace, China should denounce Russia’s invasion
China needs to clearly express its opposition to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and stop taking actions that threaten the safety of its neighbors if it wants to play the role of guardian of the world order.
The Chinese administration of President Xi Jinping is stepping up its diplomatic offensives.
China recently surprised the world by brokering a rapprochement between Iran and Saudi Arabia, two Middle East rivals that severed diplomatic ties in 2016.
In trumpeting China’s role in mediating the deal, Wang Yi, a member of the Political Bureau of China’s Communist Party Central Committee and director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs, said, “China advocates seeking political settlements of all problems and disagreements through dialogue, to maintain world peace and stability.”
Wang visited Europe in February to improve China’s frayed relations with major European nations where suspicions are growing about the emerging superpower.
But China’s credentials to act as a responsible........
© The Asahi Shimbun
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