October has not been an anomaly. The once non-interventionist government in Beijing behaves like a major player on the world stage today. China threw its hat into the Syria ring, promising training and humanitarian aid for President Bashar al-Assad’s regime on Aug. 18, four days after a Chinese rear admiral visited Damascus. In the same month, China hosted the first meeting of senior military officials from China, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Tajikistan to combat terrorism and extremism in Asia. In March, China declared it would build a naval facility in Djibouti and would station “a few thousand” troops there – China’s first permanent overseas operation. In January, China earned a seat at the table in the Afghan peace process with the U.S., Pakistan and Afghanistan after hosting Taliban leaders for talks in 2015. Last year, China provided one-fifth of all soldiers committed to the U.N.’s peacekeeping standby force. It also pledged $100 million to the African Union standby force and $1 billion to the U.N. Peace and Development Trust Fund.
These are all examples of a Chinese foreign policy that extends beyond China’s immediate interests. China’s foreign policy has historically been defined by local and regional imperatives. Squabbles in both the South and East China seas have been a source of great publicity and little practical import this year. The ebb and flow of tensions between China and its Japanese and South Korean neighbors make constant headlines. (link) Every North Korean missile test or high-level Sino-North Korean meeting reminds the world that China is the country with the most diplomatic leverage in Pyongyang. But the laundry list of Chinese activities above goes beyond the issues China faces in its own backyard. At face value, it seems indicative of a China that is strong and getting stronger and willing to assert its own interests at the global level, even if those interests conflict with those of the United States.
The moves China is making are impressive, and I do not dismiss them. But they should not be seen as China attempting to increase its power at the expense of other global powers. China, despite its massive economy and its rapidly improving military forces, has internal weaknesses that preclude it from broadly increasing its power internationally. This weakness is rooted in China’s serious internal economic issues that threaten social stability and the rule of the Chinese Communist Party. For decades, the promise of prosperity was a fundamental part of the glue that kept the Chinese state together. China is now entering a new economic situation, in which the Communist Party cannot make good on promises of extremely high levels of growth and rapid enrichment of wide swaths of the population. In response, President Xi Jinping and the Communist Party have turned to Chinese nationalism as an alternative adhesive as they attempt a major transformation of the Chinese economy.
One overlooked part of this strategy is that it requires China to boost its global prestige. Take Syria as an example. China has no strategic interests in Syria. But the grisly images of the Syrian civil war dominate world headlines, and China can now say that it is playing an integral part. It is the same with many of the other issues Beijing has involved itself in this year. In the same way that China uses North Korea to its diplomatic advantage, China has gotten closer to Pakistan, which has put it at the negotiating table with the United States over the continuing war in Afghanistan. In Central Asia and Saudi Arabia, China appears like a paternalistic big brother, passing on needed skills and information in military exercises that will not stop terrorism. Inclusion in the IMF’s SDR means the yuan can be spoken of in the same sentence as the dollar, the pound, the yen or the euro. The fact that inclusion in the SDR will have little practical import doesn’t matter. The average Chinese citizen can look at such developments and feel pride in his or her country’s position in the world and in the Communist Party’s stewardship.
One of the most discussed storylines when it comes to China’s increasing power and influence in the world is its activities and investment in Africa. Taking apart this myth helps show the way this kind of prestige works. China is Africa’s largest trade partner, and according to Trade Map, roughly 12 percent of all exports out of Africa go to China. Speaking at the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation last December, Xi said China had pledged $60 billion in aid to African states. The U.N. has published extensive reports on the “breathtaking pace” at which relations and trade are growing between China and Africa.
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