China’s clarion call

C hina has spelt out a vision of order for the new era. It rightly has underscored the need for non-partisanship in international affairs, and especially urged the developing states to stick to their national interests rather than becoming a ploy in the hands of major powers. The thrust of this doctrine is that it equally applies to Beijing’s clout too, but it is unmindful and unconcerned as it canvasses a just order based on the principles of non-interference, upholding of sovereignty and equal development opportunities for all.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, addressing his ASEAN compatriots in Jakarta, insisted that countries of the region, and elsewhere, should avoid being used as ‘chess pieces’, which inadvertently poses grave risks to the new geopolitical order that is in the making. The hint was, of course, at Washington which is proactive in sowing the seeds of camp politics in Asia, in an attempt to curtail the growing influence of China. Wang’s emphasis on non-alignment in the geopolitical premise has come close on the heels of two developments.

One, his extensive brain-storming with US State Secretary Antony Blinken wherein apparently an attempt was made to dissuade Washington from going over the brink in South China Sea and Taiwan. Two, the G20’s resolve under President Joe Biden to foment a parallel fund of $600 billion in next five years to browbeat the Chinese BRI initiative. Beijing sees it as an attempt to polarise the world once again, and that too at a time when the global economy is struggling and the Ukraine war has pushed the world to the point of a major conflagration.

Washington’s overt and covert attempts to prevail over struggling states to toe its line has for long acted as a discord. This is, indeed, the essence behind camp politics and marginalisation of regions. What has changed the perspective of developing states is the sense of participation and growth opportunities since the BRI was unveiled a decade ago. The US is out to torpedo it. China’s clarion call for decency in world politics is worth-pondering.