Great powers and alliances in a multipolar world
- By Sumantra Maitra
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E-mail China.org.cn, April 16, 2016
It is wrong to say that China always rejected alliances. The first country to be a technical ally of China was Nehru's India, after 1949, with the "Panchsheel" treaty. The alliance broke down during 1962. The Soviets were never really China's allies, but more of a tactical alignment, when China was the third biggest power, until the détente with Nixon's U.S. and the world was then a balancing game between the U.S., Soviet Union and China. It could be fair to say that China has and had alliances with Pakistan, North Korea, Laos or Cambodia. My problem is, in the definition and use of the word alliance itself. For example, India and the United States are not treaty bound as allies, but are in all but name allies in the Asia Pacific Region. Similarly, China and Russia are all but allies when it comes to major decisions in the Security Council, and sometimes we see China align with United States as well. Similarly, the United States and Saudi Arabia are allies in seemingly every possible way, but don't see eye to eye on major issues. Therefore, it is increasingly difficult in the modern world to divide the world in alliance systems like those we used to know until the 1990s.
The reason is the changing world order. With traditional alliances breaking down, and the relative decline of Pax Americana, there are tectonic shifts happening in the world. Having a rigid alliance structure therefore might even hamper proper interest based decision making. There might be situations for example, when India, China, the United States and Russia, in any combination herewith, have to act along their individual interests which may align. It is prudent, in a multipolar world, to have tactical alignments, rather than rock solid alliances.
The debate about the peaceful rise of China, as well as both the Chinese American rivalry and cooperation is never-ending, and will not be answered authoritatively. Evidence suggests that while there have been incidents of rising tensions, there have also been surprising and massive examples of cooperation between the two giants. The same applies for other powers alongside China and the U.S. It is my opinion, that the policymakers in major powers, including both China and the U.S. might want to look at the world through a lens of understanding and cooperation, depending on their shared interests, which will actually give them more space to align, rather than trying to form traditional alliances based on treaties and the letters of law.
Sumantra Maitra is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit:
http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/SumantraMaitra.htm
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