With Palestinian deal and Ukrainian foreign minister's visit, China shows its rising influence

THE COUNTER HEGEMON

Huizhong Wu And Didi Tang
Fri, July 26, 2024 at 6:13 a.m. MDT·6 min read




The Associated Press

In consecutive days this week, China brokered a deal between rival Palestinian factions and hosted Ukraine's foreign minister at a moment when pressure is mounting on the country to negotiate an end to the grinding war there.

While it's unclear if the agreement between Hamas and Fatah will succeed where others have failed and there is little concrete progress towards peace in Ukraine, China emerged a winner, further cementing its role as a diplomatic force on the global stage, not just an economic powerhouse.

As Beijing and Washington vie for influence around the world, China is increasingly playing a role that had previously been the domain of world powers like the U.S. and Russia. Earlier this month, Western countries called some of China’s activities worrying and labeled Beijing a troublemaker. But the events of this week — and the China-brokered deal last year to reestablish relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia — show that international players are seeking Beijing's help, an acknowledgment that it is a diplomatic force to reckoned with.

"China is now offering itself as a broker on the global stage, and countries are responding," said Carla Freeman, a senior expert for China at the United States Institute of Peace. “It’s a recognition — one much sought after by Beijing — that China has international influence and could play a role in improving the outcomes of a diplomatic process.”

On Tuesday, Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah agreed in principle to form a government, the latest attempt at resolving a longstanding rivalry that looms over Gaza's future after the war with Israel. Previous similar declarations have failed, but even just getting the parties together in a room was an achievement, said Jon Alterman, senior vice president and director of the Middle East program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

“They say, ‘we did what nobody else could do, nobody saw was possible,’ and that, by itself, represents a victory,” he said.

While Beijing did not publicly offer any concrete steps such as timeline for implementation or money for rebuilding, the deal was another sign that China has influence in the Middle East — and even perhaps room to maneuver that the U.S. might not have, said Danny Russel, vice president for international security and diplomacy at the Asia Society Policy Institute. Hamas officials have said that they see China as a potential counterweight to the U.S., which is a staunch ally of their foe, Israel.

“U.S. influence with key Middle East players remains substantial, but there is a new player in the game who is entirely comfortable dealing with Iran and Hamas,” Russel said, referring to the 2023 rapprochement between archrivals Iran and Saudi Arabia, widely seen as a breakthrough.

Washington, meanwhile, is grappling with discontent at home over its position on the war in Gaza and its hosting of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week, and even its allies have doubts about U.S. foreign policy commitments as a presidential race draws closer. Beijing, on the other hand, celebrated.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi exuded confidence in a photo with top representatives of Hamas and Fatah on Tuesday. The Chinese state media tabloid Global Times hailed the Palestinian deal as having “transcendent significance.”

A day later, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba also posed with Wang, and said China has a role to play for peace.

The deal will “bring hope and a future to the Palestinian people, and is an important step toward resolving the Palestinian question and achieving peace and stability in the Middle East," said Mao Ning, a spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry, on Wednesday.

Though some experts doubt the deal will succeed, Wang Jin, a Chinese scholar specializing in Israeli studies at Northwest University in the city of Xi’an, said the involvement of a non-Western power could inject “new force” into resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

In Washington, Matt Miller, spokesperson at the State Department, declined to comment on the declaration itself but said the U.S. has generally encouraged China to “use their influence with countries in the region — especially countries with whom they have a relationship with where we don’t — to discourage any escalation in the conflict.”

China has long sought more power on the global stage, and it became more assertive around 2009, after Beijing successfully hosted the Olympics, an event seen as its global debut as a modern nation. It was a stark shift from former leader Deng Xiaoping's characterization of Beijing's foreign policy approach as “keep a low profile.”

The more self-assured, and at times brash, approach has only picked up under leader Xi Jinping, who came to power in 2012. Under Xi, China has urged its diplomats to pursue “major-country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics” — a call for Beijing to reclaim its historic status as a global power.

That has meant signature schemes like the now decade-old Belt and Road Initiative, under which the world's second-largest economy gives loans to developing countries, as well as newer ones like the Global Security Initiative, a call for China to bring its vision to the world's biggest security challenges.

While the Palestinian deal is a symbol of Beijing's new influence in the Middle East, the Ukrainian foreign minister's visit may be tied to the uncertainty the U.S. presidential election could bring for Ukraine, and the recognition that China is one of three major players to engage with, alongside the U.S. and the EU.

“I am convinced that a just peace in Ukraine is in China’s strategic interests, and China’s role as a global force for peace is important,” Kuleba, the highest-ranking Ukrainian official to visit China since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, said Wednesday during the trip.

China is one of Russia's biggest allies, and while it insists that it does not provide military aid to Moscow, it has maintained strong trade ties with its neighbor throughout the conflict. That includes technology that ends up in Russia's arms.

But given China's strategic partnership with Russia — and the gradual advance of the Kremlin's forces — Ukraine has carefully courted Beijing, understanding that without its backing any cease-fire deal that benefits Kyiv would likely remain out of reach.

Kuleba’s visit was the result of calculation. The foreign minister sought to convince China that deepening ties with Ukraine would not only serve Kyiv’s interests, but feed Beijing’s ambitions to be a serious player on the global stage.

“Going forward, if there is to be peace at all, the Ukrainians realized that China cannot be left out of the equation,” said James Char, a research fellow at the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

Derek Grossman, a senior analyst at the RAND Corporation think tank, said while Beijing’s influence is increasing, it has a much more cautious approach than the U.S.

For now, that could slow its rise.

“The last 12 years have shown that China is now a great power in the world,” said Grossman. But even while they want to build up their influence everywhere, “they don’t want the burdens of having influence everywhere.”

Huizhong Wu And Didi Tang, The Associated Press

Southeast Asian diplomats meet with China as friction mounts over Beijing's sweeping maritime claims

Jintamas Saksornchai
Fri, July 26, 2024 


Southeast Asian diplomats meet with China as friction mounts over Beijing's sweeping maritime claims

The Associated Press


VIENTIANE, Laos (AP) — Top diplomats from Southeast Asia met Friday in Laos with China’s foreign minister for talks that come as friction escalates over Beijing’s growing effort to press its sweeping maritime claims in the South China Sea.

Several members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations have territorial disputes with China, which have led to direct confrontations that many worry could lead to broader conflict.

“One wrong step in the South China Sea will turn a small fire into a terrible firestorm,” Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said ahead of the talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.


ASEAN members Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei all have conflicts with China over its claim of sovereignty over virtually all of the South China Sea, one of the world’s most crucial waterways for shipping. Indonesia has also expressed concern about what it sees as Beijing’s encroachment on its exclusive economic zone.

The United States and its allies, meanwhile, have regularly conducted military exercises and patrols in the area to assert their “free and open Indo-Pacific” policy, including the right to navigate in international waters, drawing criticism from China.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was to arrive Saturday to attend the ASEAN foreign ministers' meetings and was expected to meet with Wang on the sidelines.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is also attending the meetings, and already held direct talks with Wang.

China is a key ally of Russia's in its war against Ukraine, and Wang emphasized the “deepening strategic coordination” between the two nations, China's official Xinhua News Agency reported.

Josep Borrell, the European Union's top diplomat, urged the ASEAN ministers not to ignore the European conflict as they hold their meetings.

“I am aware that the Russian aggression against Ukraine may seem far away from ASEAN, but its consequences, be it in inflation or increase in food and oil prices, are also felt by our populations, even if Russia works hard to spread disinformation,” Borrell said.

This year, tensions between the Philippines — an American treaty ally —- and China have escalated. In June, a Chinese vessel and a Philippine supply ship collided near the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, sparking alarm.

The ASEAN members — Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Myanmar, Cambodia, Brunei and Laos — emphasized in their opening meetings Thursday that it's important they don't get drawn in as both China and the U.S. look to expand their influence in the region.

Following the talks, Marsudi said the group stressed that it should not be a proxy for any power, otherwise “it will be difficult for ASEAN to become an anchor for regional stability and peace.”

Wang did not mention the South China Sea in his opening remarks as he met with the ASEAN ministers Friday, instead emphasizing Chinese economic and trade ties.

But the issue did come up, with Indonesia imploring China to “participate in maintaining peace, stability and prosperity in the region,” Indonesia's Foreign Ministry said.

The ASEAN ministers emphasized the importance of completing ongoing work with China on preparing a South China Sea code of conduct, as issues there continue to be a “stumbling block” in ASEAN relations with China, the ministry said.

“Indonesia’s position is consistent, namely that all claims must be resolved peacefully through direct dialogue between the parties concerned,” it quoted Marsudi as saying.

China and the Philippines said Sunday they had reached a deal that they hope will end their confrontations, aiming to establish a mutually acceptable arrangement for the disputed area without conceding each side’s territorial claims.

There are divisions within ASEAN on how to deal with China's maritime claims and the Philippines has been critical over a perceived lack of support from the bloc.

In Thursday's talks, the Philippines pushed for the inclusion of June's collision in the joint communique to be issued at the end of the meetings. Cambodia and Laos, which are close to China, opposed the wording, according to a senior Southeast Asian diplomat who was involved in closed-door negotiations and spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the matter freely.

Manila’s proposal stated that a recent incident in the South China Sea caused “damage to properties” and “caused injuries” without mentioning specific details like the name of the shoal and the contending state forces, the diplomat said.

The increasingly violent civil war in ASEAN member state Myanmar is also one of the main issues being taken up, and the group supported Thailand taking a broader role, Thai Foreign Minister Maris Sangiampongsa said.

Thailand, which shares a long border with Myanmar, has already been involved in providing humanitarian assistance. Maris announced another $250,000 will be donated to the ASEAN Coordinating Center for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management that is overseeing a plan to deliver aid into Myanmar.

The army in Myanmar ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021 and suppressed widespread nonviolent protests that sought a return to democratic rule, leading to increasing violence and a humanitarian crisis.

ASEAN has been pushing a “five-point consensus” for peace, but the military leadership in Myanmar has so far ignored the plan, raising questions about the bloc’s efficiency and credibility.

It calls for the immediate cessation of violence in Myanmar, a dialogue among all concerned parties, mediation by an ASEAN special envoy, provision of humanitarian aid through ASEAN channels, and a visit to Myanmar by the special envoy to meet all concerned parties.

Myanmar has been blocked from sending political representatives to ASEAN meetings and is instead represented by Aung Kyaw Moe, the permanent secretary of Myanmar’s Foreign Ministry.

China, which also shares a long border with Myanmar, also plays an important role in that it supports the military regime while also maintaining close contacts with several of the powerful ethnic armed groups that are currently fighting against it.

In his opening statement ahead of talks between ASEAN and China, Aung Kyaw Moe had effusive praise for Beijing, pledging that the bloc would continue to work to deepen cooperation with China in all areas.

___

Associated Press journalists Jerry Harmer in Vientiane, Jim Gomez in Manila, Philippines, David Rising in Bangkok and Edna Tarigan in Jakarta, Indonesia, contributed to this report.

Jintamas Saksornchai, The Associated Press



India and China agree to work urgently to achieve the withdrawal of troops on their disputed border

Fri, July 26, 2024 




NEW DELHI (AP) — India and China have agreed to work urgently to achieve the withdrawal of tens of thousands of troops stationed along their disputed border in a long-running standoff, India's government said.

Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar met his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, on Thursday on the sidelines of Association of Southeast Asian Nations meetings in Laos, where they stressed the need for an early resolution of outstanding issues along the disputed Line of Actual Control, the long Himalayan border shared by the two Asian giants.

The line separates Chinese and Indian-held territories from Ladakh in the west to India’s eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, which China claims in its entirety.


Ties between the two countries deteriorated in July 2020 after a military clash killed at least 20 Indian soldiers and four Chinese. It turned into a long-running standoff in the rugged mountainous area, where each side has stationed tens of thousands of military personnel backed by artillery, tanks and fighter jets.

Both India and China have withdrawn troops from some areas on the northern and southern banks of Pangong Tso, Gogra and Galwan Valley, but continue to maintain extra troops as part of a multitier deployment.

The two foreign ministers “agreed on the need to work with purpose and urgency to achieve complete disengagement at the earliest,” according to an Indian statement late Thursday, which added that peace on the border is essential for restoring normalcy in ties between the two countries.

Jaishankar in his opening remarks said the border issues have “cast a shadow” over India-China ties for the last four years despite considerable efforts by both sides to solve them. “The state of the border will necessarily be reflected on the state of our ties,” he said, according to the statement.

Wang stressed that improving China-India ties is beneficial for both countries as well as for other nations, China's official Xinhua News Agency reported. The two sides agreed to work together to maintain peace in border areas and push for progress, it said.

India and China fought a war over their border in 1962. The Line of Actual Control divides the areas of physical control rather than territorial claims. According to India, the de facto border is 3,488 kilometers (2,167 miles) long, but China claims a considerably shorter figure.

Top Indian and Chinese army commanders have held several rounds of talks since the military clash to discuss the disengagement of troops from areas of tension.

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This story corrects that the Indian statement was released late Thursday, not Friday.

The Associated Press



China and India pledge to boost border peace efforts as Wang Yi urges 'rational approach'

South China Morning Post
Fri, July 26, 2024

At their second meeting this month, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar agreed to make "concerted efforts" to keep the peace along their disputed border and improve communication.

The ministers spoke on Thursday on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) foreign ministers' meeting in Vientiane, Laos, just three weeks after talks at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Astana, Kazakhstan, where a reconciliatory tone was established.

Without mentioning the Himalayan border, which saw military clashes in May 2020 followed by deteriorating ties, Wang urged India and China to "take a rational approach to rise above differences and frictions".

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"It is hoped that the two sides will work together to actively explore the right way for the two big neighbours to get along with each other and guide all communities to develop positive perceptions of each other," Wang said, according to a statement from his ministry.

He added that putting bilateral relations back on the right track would serve the interests of both sides and meet the shared aspirations of countries in the Global South, reinforcing the stance he took at the dialogue in Kazakhstan, where both leaders agreed that prolonging border disagreements was not in the interest of either side.

Since the deadly clashes four years ago, Beijing and New Delhi have carried out several rounds of military talks and have disengaged from four points along the border. But both sides have steadily built up military capabilities in the region.

"The two sides agreed to make concerted efforts to maintain peace and tranquillity in the border areas and work for new progress in consultations on border affairs," the Chinese ministry statement said, adding that they were ready to strengthen communication through platforms such as the East Asia Summit, the Group of 20 (G20), Brics and the SCO.

Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar arrives to attend the 57th Asean Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Vientiane, Laos on Thursday. Photo: AFP alt=Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar arrives to attend the 57th Asean Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Vientiane, Laos on Thursday. Photo: AFP>

Jaishankar also maintained a forward-looking stance, while acknowledging that the border conflicts had cast a "shadow" over the two countries' "broad converging interests".

"But the Indian side is ready to take a historic, strategic and open perspective to find solutions to the differences and get the bilateral relations back to a positive and constructive track," he said, according to the Chinese statement.

"Maintaining stable and predictable development of the bilateral relations is entirely in the interests of the two sides, and holds special significance to upholding regional peace and promoting multipolarity."

On social media platform X, formerly Twitter, Jaishankar said the two countries "agreed on the need to give strong guidance to complete the disengagement process" and "must ensure full respect for the [Line of Actual Control] and past agreements".

The Line of Actual Control refers to the 3,200km (1,988-mile) disputed border that separates Chinese-controlled and Indian-controlled territories.

"It is in our mutual interest to stabilise our ties. We should approach the immediate issues with a sense of purpose and urgency," Jaishankar wrote.

In May, Beijing sent ambassador Xu Feihong to fill an 18-month vacancy at the Chinese embassy in New Delhi, in a show of willingness to manage differences and improve ties.

This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2024 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

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