2008年4月27日星期日 晴

                 后冷战时代的中国外交政策
                 China’s Foreign Policy in the Post-cold War Era

        这几天正在应邀为一美国学者编著的书写一个book chapter，题目是China’s
 Foreign Policy Priorities: Latin America and Beyond。 我把第一部分的初稿贴出
来，希望朋友们提意见。非常感谢。为了让眼睛舒服点， 可把下文粘贴到word文
档中。

         I. China’s Foreign Policy in the Post-cold War Era
　
    When the cold war ended in 1989, China had been implementing its policies
of reform and opening to the outside world for more than a decade.　 Achieve-
ments of these policies were obvious.　 For instance, market forces started to
play an increasingly important role in the economic system; people’s living stan-
dards had been raised and the economy had been increasingly integrated with
the world market.　
　
　 China clearly understood that, in order to deepen the process of reform and opening to the outside world, world peace and stability should be maintained so
that  a  friendly  external  environment  could  be created for domestic needs.As
 the largest developing country, China was determined to make contributions to
 the above goals.With the onset of the post-cold war era, the government start-
ed to recognize the need to adjust its foreign policies.　 

　 Guiding principles of China’s foreign policy　　　 

　 Foreign policy making of any nation should be based on a clear understand-
ing as well as a correct judgment of the world situation.According to the majority 
of the Chinese people, the post-cold war era exhibited the following characteris-
tics: 1) Peace and development, not revolution and war, would become the ten-
dency of the time. 2) With  the collapse of the Soviet Union,  the  two-polarized 
world   was  replaced  by  a multi-polarized  one, and China could be one of the 
five “poles”.[1] 3) However, hegemony still exited and the United States, the on-
ly remaining super-power,  continued  to  bully  the  weak nations. 4) China and 
other developing countries should unite to struggle against the unjust world ord-
er, whose rules of the game had been designed by the developed nations.

　 Ending of the cold war, signified by the fall of the Berlin War, came soon af-
ter  a  domestic  political  unrest  in  Tiananmen Square in May and June, 1989.　 The  west,  led  by  the  United States, waged a campaign of sanctions against 
China. Confronted  with  this  critical situation, particularly in the face of repeat-
ed changes of regimes in the Soviet bloc, Deng Xiaoping put forward the well-
known “Guiding Principle of Twenty-four Characters”, i.e., watch the world with
 a calm mind; stand firmly; confidently deal with the difficulties; keep a low pro-
file; never act as a leader; and do something.[2] 

　 This principle, summarized from many speeches by Deng Xiaoping during the
 end of the 1980s and the early 1990s, was his observation of the world situation
 and thinking of China’s foreign policy in the new world scenario.　 In 1989 and 
1990, the Soviet Union and East European countries declared the end of socia-
lism in these countries.  These significant events, together with the onset of the
post  cold  war  era,  shocked  all  the  Chinese  people,  many of whom got lost
and  showed  great  concern  about  China’s  future.  Deng  Xiaoping  said  that
the Communist Party of China  (CPC),  the government  and the people should
look  at  the  world  situation  calmly  so  as to  fully understand what was really 
going  around  the globe  and how the west would exert pressure on China. He 
also said that, in addition to challenges, the world situation also generated some
 good opportunities for China to maintain its policies of reform and opening to the outside world.　 　

　 As early as in the first stage of the ongoing political turmoil in the Soviet bloc,
Deng  Xiaoping  urged  the CPC to keep on leading the nation to walk along the
road  of  socialism.  He  also said that China could maintain the socialist system 
by persisting on the reform policies.　 On the world stage, Deng Xiaoping urged, China should keep a low profile and never act like a leader for the developing world.　 However, in certain circumstances, China should do something for the benefits of the world peace and development.

　 “keeping a low profile” or “doing something”

 　 Since its formulation in the early 1990s, Deng Xiaoping’s Guiding Principle has become the foundations for China’s foreign policy.　 However, consensus has never  been  reached  regarding  the  relationship  between “keeping a low profile” and “doing something”.Some people believe that, though China has made remarka-
ble  progress  in  speeding  up  economic  growth,  it is  still  a developing  country, and   there  is  a  long  way  to go  before  it can exert significant influence upon the
 world.They suggest that China should deal with domestic problems and get less involved in international affairs.　 

　 Others argue that China is an important player on the world stage.　 It is a big country with large market, five thousand years of civilization, permanent membership in the Security Council of the United Nations, nuclear weapons, etc.　 With the rise of its overall national strength, China should speak in a louder voice for the benefits of the developing countries.　 It should also resist the United States and other western countries in a more powerful way.
　　　　 
      Despite the fact that the debate is still going on and no one can gain the upper hand, China has made remarkable diplomatic achievements since 1989:　
-　
　 It has established “strategic partnership” with the United States and some other major countries.　This type of relationship has enabled China to develop bilateral relations with them in a more consistent way.　 　
-　　　　　　　　
      It takes an active part in regional cooperation with Asia-Pacific countries, ASEAN members and Central Asian nations.[3]
-　
　 It regained full sovereignty of Hong Kong and Macao in 1997 and 1999, respectively.

　 It sends out peace-keeping missions to many parts of the world, helping the host countries to restore stability.

　 It established diplomatic relations with forty more countries, including Israel in January 1992, Korea in August 1992, and South Africa in January 1998.

　 It joined the World Trade organization through fifteen years of diplomatic negotiations and economic consultations.

　 It speaks in a louder voice in the United Nations and other international forum for the benefits of its own and/or other developing nations’ sovereignty.

 　These diplomatic achievements, recognized by the international community, have raised China’s position on the world stage.　 Even the United States has started to acquire a new look at China. 　Robert Zoellick, former Deputy Secretary of State of the United States once said, “As it becomes a major global player, we are now encouraging China to become a "responsible stakeholder" that will work with the United States and others to sustain, adapt, and advance the peaceful international system that has enabled its success.”[4] 

　 Once again, Chinese scholars have different interpretations of the term “stakeholder”.Some felt quite proud of the label because the meaning of the word “stakeholder”, according to their understanding, represents importance and lofty position for China on the world stage.It also means that China has become a very important player that has stronger bargaining power with the United States and other western nations. But others argue that, while it is true that China’s international position has been raised, it should continue to stick to the “Guiding Principle of Twenty-four Characters” by “keeping a low profile”. 　Still others warned that China should not be cheated by the United States, whose real purpose is to drag others to its side so as to jointly share the heavy burden of dealing with all the problems it faces.

　 It is important to note that, during his visit to the United States in April 2006, President Hu Jintao said that China and the United States are more than “stakeholders”, but also “constructive partners” while President Bush repeated the word “stakeholder”.

　 To build a harmonious world

　 Foreign policies are the extension of domestic ones.　 The CPC’s sixteenth national congress convened in November 2002 declared that it was highly necessary to build a harmonious society in the process of deepening reforms.　 It is believed that, in the Chinese civilization, particularly in Confucianism, harmony is the quintessence. Without harmony, there will be no political stability, or steady economic growth. “Social harmony is the nature of socialism with Chinese characteristics and also the guarantee for constructing a prosperous country, re-energizing the nation and generating people’s happiness,” said an important CPC document.　 

　  In September 2005, at the United Nations summit on the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the world body, Chinese President Hu Jintao put forward the notion of establishing a harmonious world.　 He pointed out that the new century has ushered bright prospects for the progress of human society. “In the critical historical period of coexistence of opportunities and challenges, all the countries must unite closely to truly build a harmonious world with long-lasting peace and common prosperity,” said President Hu.[5]

　 In his speech Hu Jintao suggested the following four measures that will facilitate the establishment of a harmonious world:

　 Set up the new security concept of mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality and collaboration and establish a fair and effective collective security mechanism;

　 Respect the rights of each country to independently choosing its social system and development road and support the efforts of countries to realize rejuvenation and growth according to their own national conditions;

　 Safeguard the authority of the UN through reasonable and necessary reform, raise the efficiency of the organization and strengthen its capacity of coping with new threats and challenges;
、
　 The United Nations should take tangible measures to implement the millennium development goals, accelerate the development of developing nations and make the 21st century “the century of development for everyone” in a real sense.

　 At the end of his speech Hu Jintao stressed that in the long history of human progress, the fate of mankind has never been so close and interdependent as today. “Our common goals and challenges have made everyone of us united. Let's join hands to make great efforts to build a harmonious world with long-lasting peace and common prosperity!” urged President Hu.

     Strengthen unity and cooperation with the Third World countries
When he met with the visiting United Nations Secretary-General Javier Perez
de Cuellar in Beijing on August 21, 1982, Deng Xiaoping said, “China’s foreign policy is consistent and this policy could be summarized into three sentences: oppose hegemony, safeguard the world peace, and strengthen unity and cooperation with the Third World countries.Why do I emphasize the Third World?　 That’s because opposition to hegemony and safeguarding world peace is important for the Third World.” [6]

　 It is not difficult to understand why China attaches importance to its relations with the developing world.　 It is the developing countries in Africa and other regions that helped China regain its legitimate seat in the United Nations in October 1971.　 With the help of most developing countries, China has successfully foiled every anti-China motion introduced by some western countries at the United Nations Human Rights conference in Geneva.[7] It was even believed that Beijing’s success in bidding for the Olympic Games in 2008 and Shanghai’s request for hosting the World Expo in 2010 were supported by many of the developing countries.　 Most of the developing countries in Africa and other parts of the world have also played an important role in stopping Taiwan from joining the United Nations and other international organizations whose seats are only for sovereign nations.　 

　 The conspicuous attention to the developing countries does not mean that the developed nations are less important for China.　 Contrarily, the United States, Japan and Europe have always occupied very important positions in China’s foreign policy.