It is not just China's military expansion that is worrying the US. Washington sees it as part of a coordinated overall strategy to ease out the US from the Asia-Pacific region. When talking of the rapid upgrading of China's 2.5 million strong military as alarming, he also dwelt on Beijing's attempt to exclude the US from the Pacific region forums, an obvious reference to the East Asia Summit in Kuala Lumpur in December.
He said, "It raises some questions about whether China will make the right choices, choices that will serve the world's interests in regional peace and stability."
China is already looming large in the Asia-Pacific region. Most countries in the region, even those contesting China's sovereignty over South China Sea islands, are not keen to make an issue of these and other matters. They are already accommodating themselves to China's great power role in the region. According to former US deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage, until recently US deputy secretary of state, his country is involved in "very active competition" with China for influence in the region, and that "we're not doing well."
And Beijing is pushing its advantage all the time. The regional press is averse to publishing anything critical of China. On the other hand, Japan is pilloried for complicating things in the region by provoking China, for instance, on Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visits to Yasukuni shrine.
There is a valid case that Koizumi should show greater sensitivity on this issue in view of the history of Japanese wartime crimes. But to suggest that Japan should somehow become invisible to let China dominate the regional show is unlikely to happen. Beijing seeks to exercise a veto on Japan's foreign and defense policies by focusing only on its wartime crimes. For instance, it has scrapped a planned visit by Japan's foreign minister to China for talks on issues plaguing their relations. Beijing's attempt to bludgeon Japan might prove counter-productive.
China's ambitions are not simply regional but global. And the present is an opportune time to steadily expand its influence. The US is still mired in Iraq and obsessed with terrorism. It is overstretched and is losing political capital in the Islamic world.
China is systematically working to secure energy supplies for its industrial development in the medium and long term. It is springing up everywhere in the world in a scramble for dwindling energy supplies. Whether it is Africa, the former Soviet Central Asian republics, South America, Russia, the Middle East or Australia (the US' close ally), China is popping up everywhere to corner energy resources. Because energy security is very important for its superpower role.
Even though the US is becoming increasingly aware of the China danger, it is greatly distracted. And China is making the most of it.
Sushil Seth is a writer based in Australia.
RSS