Beijing should refocus on relations with developing countries

Editor’s note: The trade dispute with the United States should awaken China to the importance of consolidating ties with developing countries, said Zhang Chun, a researcher in international relations at the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, in a comment for Guancha.cn. Excerpts:

Some people worry about China’s future because of the tense relations with the United States. Interestingly, that sentiment was not so observable when the Sino-US relationship was much worse in the late 1980s and the early 1990s.

But China’s reliance on the US has never been heavier than nowadays. Which deserves the decision-makers’ caution.

In fact, since the Barack Obama administration launched its rebalancing to the AsiaPacific strategy, the nature of Sino-US ties has transformed from strategic cooperation to strategic competition, if not all-around antagonism for the time being.

The rise of China — a country dedicated to walking down its own path rather than that chosen for it by the West — has naturally prompted the developed countries to deem its rise to be a thorn in their side.

The West has realized that China will not be Westernized with the development of its economy, a process many developing countries have experienced. Instead, its 40 years of fast economic growth since the launch of reform and opening-up has further consolidated China’s confidence in its own path and system. Future US administrations will very likely continue the current administration’s bellicose China policy. So China’s dealings with the West will only become more difficult.

Now is the time for China to understand its situation and be prepared to face the growing hostility of Western countries, which have till now been important partners for its openingup and economic rise. It is impossible for the Western countries to accept China as a member of the developed club, even if China becomes an industrialized and high-income country in the future.

China needs to divert more attention to improving its relations with developing countries, which used to be a priority of its diplomacy in the 1960s and the 1970s. It should always identify itself as a developing country. Keeping a low profile is essential.

Over the past 40 years, China has drawn valuable lessons from the West in developing its market economy. Now it has come to the point when it must refocus its attention on pursuing more internal institutional innovation, while continuing to keep the door open to developed economies. China’s rise needs to be innovative.

Also, unlike the rise of the West which came at a heavy cost for the other countries, China’s rise should benefit the developing countries. In this process, deepening its relations with developing countries is by no means a makeshift move to weather the storm in its relations with the West, but a long-term prerequisite for its rise.