New year begins with frictions
- Source: Global Times
- [03:14 January 07 2010]
- Comments
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao speaks at the leaders' meeting of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, Dec. 18, 2009. (Xinhua/Wu Wei)
By Kang Juan
Chinese scholars say Western countries are viewing China with complicated minds, mixing misunderstanding, jealousy and over-expectation, as finger pointing against China mounted in recent weeks.
An opinion piece in Sunday's Financial Times said, "If 2009 was China's year and the 'noughties' were a decade when its rise seemed on permanent fast-forward, the last two weeks have been a setback for Beijing's global ambitions."
"The Copenhagen conference, a dissident sent to prison and an execution have raised again the question of whether China's political system is compatible with the international respect it craves," the report said.
A report in The Guardian on Sunday, quoting economists, even claimed "China's emergence on to the world stage brought with it a key reason for the global economic meltdown between 2007 and 2009."
The latest criticism against China is also rooted in Beijing's stance on the Iran nuclear issue. USA Today Wednesday said China is setting obstacles as the US seeks sanctions on Iran after China's UN Ambassador Zhang Jiye said imposing tougher sanctions on Iran is a bad idea while diplomatic negotiations remain a possibility.
This stance was reiterated by Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu on Tuesday, who also responded to a series of issues, from China's role in the global economic crisis to Sino-US ties, Australia's annulment of a natural gas agreement to the execution of a British drugs smuggler, the first European to be put to death in China since the 1950s.
A report by AFP on December 31 said that surging economic and diplomatic clout has given China the confidence to ignore 'old world powers' like Britain, which failed to halt the execution.
"Today, Western governments are calling on Beijing to help prop up the flailing world economy and resolve thorny diplomatic disputes such as standoffs over the controversial nuclear programs of Iran and North Korea," it said.
Sun Zhe, director of the Center for US-China Relations at Tsinghua University, said many Western countries are concerned that China is becoming arrogant with the rise of its economic power, which, he thinks, is mainly a misunderstanding.
"China's stronger voice and greater presence, after having kept a lower profile, were actually propelled by the ever-changing international situation.
The crucial reason for the frequent disputes is that China and the West haven't sorted out how to share global obligations," Sun said, adding that both sides are accustomed to judging each other based on their own values.
"It might take another two decades for China and the West to gain a more thorough mutual understanding," Sun said.
A global political risk-research group said in a report published on Monday that China-US ties will significantly deteriorate in 2010 on the expectation of more trade protectionism, the upcoming mid-term elections in the US, and the divergence between Washington and Beijing on whether to take global leadership.
