Paying tribute to Beijing
Eric Teo Chu Cheow, International Herald Tribune
Wednesday, January 21, 2004
naar overzicht artikels van Internet
SINGAPORE. Asia is being reshaped by two fundamental trends - a new security environment that resembles the ancient Chinese tributary system, and the rise of China's soft power.
The increase of China's influence and power over a major part of Southeast Asia has been remarkable lately. The summit meeting in Tokyo in December of Japan and members of Asean, the Association of Southeast Asia Nations, could be interpreted as a direct response by Japan to this emergence of China as a major actor - and rival - on the Asian stage.
Eisuke Sakakibara, a professor at Keio University and a former Japanese deputy finance minister, spoke recently in Kuala Lumpur of the re-emergence of China as a great power after a lull of 150 years. China seems to be recreating its imperial security system and environment once again, but in a more benign and discreet way.
A recent publication by Beijing University's Institute of International Relations put forward a novel perspective on China's new security environment, which clearly has profound implications for Beijing's relations with its Asian neighbors.
Beijing's new environment could have been modeled after ancient China's tributary system, which was started under the Ming dynasty and perfected under the Qing. China's Ming/Qing tributary system was based on three cardinal points:
First, China considered itself the central heart of the region; this tributary system assured China of its overall security environment.
Second, to ensure its internal stability and prosperity, China needed a stable environment immediately surrounding the Middle Kingdom.
Third, the Chinese emperor would in principle give more favors to tributary states or kingdoms than he received from them; for this generosity, the emperor obtained their respect and goodwill.
According to the Beijing University publication, the royal Qing archives indicate that this well-established arrangement laid out a meticulous system of tribute to the Chinese court. Korea had to pay tribute once a year, the Ryukyu Kingdom (comprising the present-day Okinawan islands) once every two years, Annam (Northern Vietnam) once every three years, Siam (Thailand) once every four years, Sulu (in Southern Philippines) once every five years, and Burma (Myanmar) and Laos, once every 10 years.
There are echoes of the ancient tributary system in certain geopolitical trends in Asia.
The stabilization of China's immediate external environment is proceeding at an impressive pace, as is shown by its rapprochement with India, separate naval exercises with India and Pakistan in the South China Sea, an active role in the six-party talks on the Korean Peninsula and ongoing negotiations on an Asean-China free trade area by 2010.
The free-trade area project could be perceived as a continuation of China's tributary system across Southeast Asia, especially as Beijing gives more than it receives, in according most-favored nation status to Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia before they even join the World Trade Organization.
China has conceded trade surpluses to its smaller Asian neighbors - including Japan since 2003 - in line with the tributary principle of "give more, take less." These trade surpluses are funneling economic growth to the smaller countries, thus confirming China as the heart of the Asian economic system today.
China has also become a "brotherly example" to Vietnam, just as it had been culturally in the past; Vietnamese leaders' current reforms are inspired by China's. Similarly, India appears to be finding inspiration in China's "external stabilization" efforts, setting its own South Asian region in order and focusing on Chinese-style economic reforms.
There is a fundamental difference, however, between China's new regionalism and that of the Ming and Qing dynasties. China's current leaders, President Hu Jintao and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, are more humble, down-to-earth and "polished" than the great emperors of Beijing. The current Chinese slogan of "more confidence, more cooperation" gives China a better chance of becoming the "central heart" of the region once again.
Ethnic Chinese communities in Southeast Asia have risen in influence and stature as China's soft power has increased. Joyous celebrations of the Chinese New Year across Asia this month are a symbol of this new geopolitical trend.
The writer, a corporate consultant based in Singapore, is also council secretary of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs.
Copyright © 2004 the International Herald Tribune. All Rights Reserved