The Chinese Dream what does it imply for India and the rest of Asia?
0 Comment(s)
Print
E-mail China.org.cn, December 6, 2013
--By Jagannath P. Panda, Research Fellow & Centre Coordinator, East Asia, Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, India
What, precisely, does the concept of Chinese Dream mean? Expectedly, India will want to listen in to its reverberations.
The closing ceremony of the 12th National People's Congress witnessed that the Chinese President Xi Jinping expounded the notion of ‘Chinese dream' by stating that: "We must make persistent efforts, press ahead with indomitable will, continue to push forward the great cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and strive to achieve the Chinese dream of great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation". Going by these words, many see this concept as President Xi Jinping's personal trademark to promote his own charisma as a political leader. Some others see it as the core of China's national and international discourse. Some others see it as an ideal concept to explain the role of the Chinese people in China's emerging socio-political stratagem. Xi wants to prioritize the interests and ideas of the Chinese people and bring about rejuvenation in the country. The leadership in China also argues that the Chinese dream will benefit the rest of the world. Fu Ying, Chairwoman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of China's National People's Congress, is among those who have expressed the view that the Chinese dream is also about a better contribution from the Chinese people for the betterment of the world.
Promoting the party's ideology, leadership vision and ethos, national priorities and intents are all part of the concept of the Chinese dream. Many have also drawn a parallel between it and the American dream. What about an Indian dream? To what extent can it be housed in the broader context of the Chinese and American dreams?
Tao Guang Yang Hui has been at the core of Chinese foreign and diplomatic practice since Deng Xiaoping's era, but this seems to be undergoing a re-look under the current leadership. For instance, a shift has been taking place from fanying shi waijiao (responsive diplomacy) to zhudong shi waijiao (proactive diplomacy). Aiming to rise as a responsive and responsible major power in global politics, China is open to new issues, new developments, concerns and opportunities in an evolving multipolar world order. The current movement in Chinese foreign policy is to be open, flexible, considerate, and adjust to the extent possible to multilateral practice. There will be enormous interest in India to see how India fits into this dialogue, given the fact that both are developing countries and emerging economies.
The world order is currently undergoing renovation, and both these Asian neighbours have a lot to do with it. It has been argued that the decisive causes of a state's external activities may be identified in the structure of the current global system. The shifts in Chinese foreign policy and the new advocacy of leadership in China, just like the promotion of the Chinese dream, will push China to the next level. Beijing is expected to employ smartly the dialogue of the Chinese dream, mainly in the developing-developed world politics. This is vital for China's three mainstream overseas interests: political interests; business interests; and promotion of China as a power, all of which are linked to overseas Chinese. The main consideration for China will be how to maintain a balance and establish a linkage between China's interests and relations with countries both at the bilateral and the multilateral levels. Many Chinese leaders are of the view that China's overseas economic interests can be better protected by effective use of multilateral forums. Given the common strategic interests of both China and India as developing countries in a rapidly growing multipolar world structure, China has to take India's strategic interests seriously. Embracing multilateral institutions has been a key policy priority for both China and India for some time. This preference needs to go beyond the political parameters and touch upon economics, culture and science and technology. This also coheres with China's official discourse of interdependence, win-win and cooperative and comprehensive security in multilateral forums. Economic globalization makes nation-states inter-reliant, and no single country or group can alone handle the emerging global challenges.
Fu Ying has also discussed how the Chinese dream cannot be realized without a stable external environment. Be it the boundary problem with India, the South China Sea conflict with the Southeast Asian countries or the East China Sea conflict with Japan, China has to rise to the occasion and must show its credibility as a responsive and responsible country. The way China behaves and constructs its foreign policy standing will go a long way in projecting China's image. So far, China has been seen positively as an economic power by fellow Asian countries. Beijing currently contributes almost 58 per cent to Asia's economic growth and has almost $1.3 trillion trade exchange with the rest of Asia. China has emerged as the largest trading partner of Vietnam, Malaysia, South Korea and Japan. Out of the $77 billion of total overseas investments in Asia, China accounts for half. All these figures suggest China's integration with the rest of Asia and it will be hard to isolate the Chinese dream from the rest of Asia's dream.
Traditionally, Beijing does not make concessions to other countries when it comes to national interests and security issues. Given this traditional outlook, to what extent will China go in making a deal with India on the boundary issue? China will also be closely watched for its position on maritime disputes.
Deng Xiaoping launched the Reform and Opening policy in 1978. His vision that it would transform China in every aspect – economically, politically, militarily and ideologically – however, came to be doubted by analysts. The majority view was that the changes Deng brought about had primarily to do with China's opening to the outside world. State transformation in China has been an evolving practise since the days of Deng Xiaoping. State transformation in today's China is manifested in many aspects within its internal institutional adjustments. These include comparative autonomy of the military under the constitution and State, increasing importance of the military as an institution, partial liberalization, good governance, improved performance of socio-legal system and gradual democratization. These institutional adjustments are intended that arise from socio-economic developments, both inside and outside China. It always remains an open academic question, however, whether these changes have become more accommodative of democratic culture. If China have started accommodating the spirits and ethos of a democratic culture, then to what extent it is reflected in its foreign policy practise and how far it will accommodate the interests of developing countries or its neighbouring countries in a democratized world. Understanding domestic order of China's State transition, which is linked to the notion of ‘Chinese dream', is an increasingly vital task. Policy makers, officials and scholars in India and around the world are engaged in a serious learning process of this emerging issues.
Today, China makes headline news: as the world's second-largest economy; a land of 200 million Internet users and 500 million cell phone users; a significant player in some of the most pressing global concerns (North Korea, Iran, Africa); and a key dialogue player on issues like climate change, energy security and human rights. For China, the impact of these changes is appropriate but minimal. The pressing point in China's trajectory today is that the Chinese State is in transition. China's foreign relations approach and positions on conflicting issues will greatly determine not only the future of the Chinese dream but also the acceptance and course of China's rise.
Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)