China pursues no hegemony

The second white paper on peaceful development reflects China's strategic commitment to a world of mutual benefit

The post-crisis world has been undergoing a comprehensive readjustment and deep transformation. While the bigger developed economies such as the United States, the European Union and Japan were afflicted by the three highs of unemployment, deficit and debt and the three lows of growth, savings and consumption, China's stable growth and the success of the 2008 Beijing Olympics Games and 2010 Shanghai World Expo highlight its rapid emergence. Against this background, the outside world, neighboring countries in particular, have become increasingly concerned about whether China will give up its diplomatic line of keeping a low profile, taoguang yanghui, and forego its peaceful development. The new white paper aims to alleviate their anxieties.

The white paper elaborates that peaceful development is a long-term strategic choice the Chinese Communist Party, the Chinese government and the Chinese people have made based on their observations and understanding of the world. There exists a general consensus in China that globalization has made the interdependence among nations so deep that no single country can develop in isolation, nor seek self-interest at the expense of others. Most Chinese believe that peace has been a precondition for the economic miracle the country has achieved over the past three decades. Such an interdependent world means there is less and less room for colonialist aggression or imperialist policies. It is a trend of the times to seek development in a peaceful environment in a peaceful way. Only by insisting on peaceful development can a country realize the opportunities for development and remain competitive. In fact, most countries have put long-term and lasting development at the top of their strategic priorities, competing with each other peacefully. In other words, China is not in isolation on the road of peaceful development.

The peaceful development road also embodies China's cultural traditions. Each nation has its own ethical norms, political philosophy and strategic culture. The essence of Chinese traditional cultures is he, meaning peace and cooperation, which arose from its long and complicated historical experiences and the thinking and behavior of generations of Chinese people. The five principles of China's peaceful co-existence, good neighborly policy and independent peaceful foreign policy are the incarnation of its traditional culture. In the era of globalization and comprehensive interdependence among nations, the Chinese government has made its commitment to the road of peaceful development the keystone of its policies.

The new white paper says that with its increasing capability China will assume more responsibilities in maintaining world peace, stability and progress. With China's rapid emergence, the expounding of the country's peaceful development in the white paper is itself a very important step by the Chinese government to shoulder its international responsibilities. Of course, as a responsible power, China will never pursue hegemony. On the contrary, a more powerful China should oppose hegemony more firmly.

It should be pointed out that peaceful development is one of the theoretical achievements of sinicized Marxism, which means it will be a fundamental strategic guideline in the future. In other words, the Chinese Communist Party, which is innovative and people-orientated, is the political and organizational safeguard for China's peaceful development road.

The reasons why other countries worry about China's foreign strategy in the future include: first, it is unprecedented for a great power like China to pledge itself to peaceful development; second, it is just 20 years since the end of the Cold War, when countries were involved in the confrontation of ideologies, for many of them, it is natural to assume the foreign strategy of an emerging power will inevitably be pursuit of hegemony; third, surprised by China's rise over the past three decades and ill-informed about China's historical and cultural traditions, most foreigners feel uncertain about how a stronger China will use its power.

But as time goes on, the peaceful development road of China will become more and more evident.

The author is vice-president for China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations.

(China Daily 09/14/2011 page16)