Opinion | China and Asia rising--as America pivots to Asia-Pacific
By Augustus K. Yeung
Introduction
If Boris Johnson, Prime Minister of Britain, could roll back the clock, or more precisely the Big Ban of London to…he would see her majesty the queen Elizabeth with an Asian emperor.
Photo 1: Emperor Hirohito of Japan was seen with Queen Elizabeth in London, on his state visit a year earlier. This photo symbolizes the rise of an Asian country. However, the city of Hiroshima was hydrogen-bombed by the Americans, and he would have been hanged, but for the mercy of General McArthur who spared his life, showing pity on the Japanese emperor--whose empire in the sun has since been setting, perhaps forever.
If Li Keqiang, the Premier of China, would roll back the clock, and take us to Tiananmen Square, we would be proudly witnessing President Nixon reviewing China's guards of honor, accompanied by the forever popular Zhou Enlai, Prime Minister of China.
Photo 2: American President Richard Nixon with Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai in Beijing, on his historic visit in 1972, a year of significance, which marks the grand opening of China to America and the world.
Contrast these two photos, and we will see one Asian country goes down history as a notorious invader--whose fate is sealed with the setting sun.
The world has been seen the red star of modern China rising overhead, growing up and playing in the political arenas of the world. Specifically, today we are seeing Wang Yi, China's flamboyant State Counsellor and Foreign Minister busily visiting Southeast Asian counties:
Amid anti-Asian racism and anti-China talks in town, Wang Yi is lobbying its neighbors in Southeast Asia—hoping to reject a US-led three-way security pact, allowing Australia to deploy nuclear-powered submarines, but it may be an easy work of the devil, proving a tough task, regional observers have said.
Words of Wisdom from Wang Yi
During separate discussions with counterparts in Malaysia and Brunei late last month, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said the deal between Australia, Britain and the United States posed dangers to peace and stability in the region.
Wang's warning, coming two weeks after the surprise announcement on September 15, 2021 of the Aukus, as the pact is known were widely seen as Beijing's official response to the dreadful deal that threatens to raise the temperature in the South China Sea--eventually to the boiling point.
But experts said it wouldn't be easy for China to find an echo among policymakers in Southeast Asia, where Asean members' position over the Aukus pact remained divided, notably Malaysia and Indonesia.
Some Members' Mixed View of AUKUS
Among the 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations member states, the Philippines and Singapore reacted positively to the US-initiated deal while Vietnam, the most vocal critic of the Chinese claims in the South China Sea, appeared to be cautious, waiting what would be the right next step to move forward in the apparent contest fight--of two titans--that has dominated international politics--since the start of the 21st century.
Malaysia and Indonesia, which had earlier warned against arms races and nuclear proliferation, said last Monday after their foreign ministers met in Jakarta that they were still "worried and concerned" that Aukus might lead to an arms race in Southeast Asia, even though nuclear weapons were not part of the plan.
But William Choong, a senior fellow at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore, said the responses from Malaysia and Indonesia were less negative than they appeared to be, reports the Post. ("Asean has mixed view of U.S-led coalition." South China Morning Post October 26, 2021.)"
Malaysia to Seek Consultations with China over the Pact
Malaysia's reactions were in line with its long-standing views on regional security and there may have been domestic considerations when Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein revealed that he would seek consultations with China over the pact, Choong not
"There were domestic considerations because there was also criticism of the deal from opposition coalition," he said.
"Malaysia stands to actually gain from Aukus in a sense, because Malaysia is a claimant state in the South China Sea, and it has been fighting quite hard on the international law front to challenge China and defend its claims at the United Nations.
The Battle of Diplomatic Notes to the UN Secretary General
Mr. Choong, the Asian observer, was referring to the battle of diplomatic notes to the UN secretary general since 2019, in which Malaysia, later joined by the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, the US, Australia, Britain, France, Germany and Japan, forming a so-called united front. Together they submitted their positions to refute China's claims of historic rights over the contentious waterway.
"Even Indonesia's fears about "the continuing arms sales race and power protection", as President Joko told Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison over the phone last month, "could refer not only to Aukus but also to the US and China. Choong added.
Both Malaysia and Indonesia have close security ties with the US, and "that could explain why, instead of going to the US, both Malaysia and Indonesia turned to Australia to protest over Aukus", said Chen Xiangmiao, an assistant research fellow with the National Institute for South China Sea Studies in Hainan.
Aukus is the Product of a Resurgent Cold War Mentality
In one of China's latest pushes, Hong Xaioyong, its ambassador to Singapore, denounced Aukus as the product of a resurgent Cold War mentality.
"From the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance and the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, to the current Aukus, the US has formed more and more 'small circles', in which the confrontation is sensed stronger and stronger," Hong wrote in a signed piece titled "Aukus will not bring prosperity or stability" in The Straits Times last Thursday.
"The emergence of Aukus, however, casts a shadow over prosperity and stability in the region. Should its existence lead to power confrontation, the current regional cooperation framework and Asean centrality would cease to exist," Hong warned.
There have been broader concerns that Asean's centrality under which the bloc must be at the core of regional institutions, has been challenged.
"Asean needs to ask why this has happened over Asean's head and without Asean knowing," Nguyen Hung Son, vice-president of the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam, said during a web seminar hosted this month by the Foreign Policy Community of Indonesia, a Jakarta think tank.
Warning Britain, China's Divide-and-Rule Strategy at Work
Foreign Minister Wang Yi has warned Britain to be cautious about its Aukus security pact with Australia and the United States, which will allow Canberra to build nuclear-powered submarine…
Conclusion
The discipline of sociology affords its social science practicians with a historic-telescopic and a wide-angled lens, enabling students of history to see before their eyes the Japanese emperor riding towards the end of their "glorious "history: and enabling us to presently see China's forever busy Wang Yi, doing the devil's bid to materialize the rise of Asia, first through regional unity, and perhaps later world harmony, ending America's bloody century of hegemonic saturation bombing from Vietnam to Iraq, Afghanistan and beyond.
How US fans fall into China's bosom one by one, starting with Cambodia, or morphed into China's stance/hands?!
"When the US sneezes, the world catches a cold" is a common phrase used to describe the relevance and significance of the US. But in recent years, more and more people have applied the same metaphor to China, as the latter grows in size and influence and starts to project its economic power globally," Observed Aidan Yao, senior emerging Asia economist of AXA Investment Managers.
The author is a freelance writer; formerly Adjunct Lecturer, taught MBA Philosophy of Management, and International Strategy, and online columnist of 3-D Corner (HKU SPACE), University of Hong Kong.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of DotDotNews.
Read more articles by Augustus K. Yeung:
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