'Pragmatism' key to China relations

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Sat, 08/04/2007 12:34 PM

Harry Bhaskara, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

In dealing with China it pays to be pragmatic, says a leading expert on the country.

""In 2003 China began practicing peace policy. It offered itself to be a partner of the United States,"" Dr. Robert Sutter, a visiting American professor, said in a discussion here Friday.

Asked how Indonesia should respond to China's foreign affairs shift, Sutter said it was best to deal with the country pragmatically.

Sutter traced China's foreign policy by stages, starting from the era of Deng Xiao-ping in the 1980s, when China opted to maintain a low international profile.

In the 1990s, China abandoned this policy, up until 1995 when trouble with Taiwan began brewing. In 1996 it began practicing its new security concept, described by Sutter as ""being nice to its Asian neighbors"".

""This was the time when it used to rail against the United States in the Asian region,"" said the visiting professor of Asian Studies at Georgetown University.

But before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, China became very quiet, he says, displaying no hostility toward the U.S.

Two years later Chinese President Hu Jintao laid bare China's weaknesses in front of President George W. Bush and offered his hand in partnership with the U.S., Sutter says.

Thus started its peace policy, he says, as it saw no alternative other than befriending the U.S.

""China's goal is clear, it needs economic ties. This means China is not a danger,"" Sutter said at the discussion organized by Paramadina University.

This does not, however, mean there are no problems, he said, pointing to China's lukewarm relations with Japan.

Despite China's rapid rise, Sutter advocates a more balanced look at China.

Its sweeping diplomatic maneuvers in Africa and Latin America are impressive, Sutter says, but its promises of aid and other assistance should be closely scrutinized when it comes to practice.

He attributed the impression that China poses a threat to media coverage of the country, which he said was often somewhat sensationalistic.

""The same thing happened in the 1960s with Japan was seen as a potential threat,"" says the professor who has more than three decades of experience in the U.S. government behind him.

He urged people to look at China's weaknesses in addition to its strengths.

These weaknesses, he said, range from its centralistic political system to the urban and rural divide.

And beside some positive points, the strong nationalism in China also has negative aspects, he said.

""This has made it difficult to deal with the Taiwan question,"" Sutter said.

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