The Belt and Road and BOAO Forum for Asia
THE National People’s Congress with 3,000 voting delegates last 14 March 2013 in Beijing elected Xi Jinping as “State President,” thus formalizing/ reinforcing his hold on China’s topmost leadership position. Previously, he had been chosen General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, and soon thereafter was elected Chairman of China’s Military Commission.
At the conclusion of the 2013 NPC, President Xi was firmly in command and control of the vast Chinese political-military structure from Beijing down to the villages. Forthwith, the People’s Liberation Army issued orders to all troops to provide “robust support” for Xi’s strategic vision, an ambition considered fearsome to China’s neighbors because of her growing assertiveness in the West Philippine Sea/ East Sea/South China Sea.
ASEAN AND CHINA
Last 6-8 April 2013, President Xi’s first exposure at home to an international gathering took place at the 2013 Annual Conference of the Boao Forum for Asia in Hainan Province. More than 2,000 national leaders, government officials, business CEOs, think-tankers and media representatives participated in that grand event, notably 10 foreign heads of state/government plus IMF Chief Christine Lagarde, and current UN General Assembly President Vuk Jeremic of Serbia.
FVR had a unique vantage viewpoint (from his position as chairman of the BFA Council of Advisors) to observe the dynamics of China’s new leadership in pursuit of BFA’s 2013 theme “Asia Seeking Development for All: Restructuring, Responsibility and Cooperation,” and implementing “China’s Peaceful Rise.”
Foremost among the HoS/G was His Majesty, Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei Darussalam, who was hosted by President Xi in Beijing as the first foreign leader to be received by China’s new leader as state guest, a fact that underscores the great importance China has attached to its relations with Brunei and ASEAN. As 2013 ASEAN’s Chairman, Brunei was thereby compelled to pursue the multi-lateral, win-win approach to the region’s territorial disputes.
President Xi Jinping’s acceptance of the role of main speaker last 7 April 2013 at the Opening Plenary of the 2013 BFA Annual Conference was unprecedented in the sense that China’s presidents would normally be preceded annually by the #2, #3, or #4 top State official (as in previous years).
AT BOAO, PRESIDENT XI REPEATED HIS MESSAGE GIVEN TO THE CHINESE PEOPLE LAST 14 MARCH 2013 AT THE NATIONAL PEOPLE’S CONGRESS: “OUR COUNTRY HAS TO STRIVE TO ACHIEVE THE CHINESE DREAM OF THE GREAT RENAISSANCE OF THE CHINESE NATION…” (FOUNDED 5,000 YEARS AGO IN THE YELLOW RIVER VALLEY BY EMPEROR SHI HUANGDI).
CHINA’S VISION OF HARMONIOUS CO-EXISTENCE
PRESIDENT XI OUTLINED A VISION OF HARMONIOUS COOPERATION AND PEACEFUL CO-EXISTENCE AMONG THE MEMBERS OF THE GLOBAL COMMUNITY BY WAY OF A “ONE BELT-ONE ROAD” INITIATIVE. HE EMPHASIZED: “CHINA WILL CONTINUE TO PROPERLY HANDLE DIFFERENCES AND FRICTIONS WITH THE RELEVANT COUNTRIES…. ON INTERNATIONAL AND REGIONAL HOTSPOT ISSUES, CHINA WILL PLAY A CONSTRUCTIVE ROLE, ADHERE TO PEACE, FACILITATE TALKS, AND MAKE UNREMITTING EFFORTS TO PROPERLY HANDLE RELEVANT ISSUES THROUGH DIALOGUE AND NEGOTIATIONS.”
Diversity was the character of the “eminents” as well as issues/ concerns at Boao. The conference was host not only to high officials and celebrities from the spheres of politics, economics, environment, energy and human development (like International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde, former US Secretary of Labor Elaine Lan Chao and investor-philanthropist George Soros) who spoke at jampacked sessions – but also to Chinese millennials. eager to learn new knowledge
There were also presentations where Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates spoke on investments for the poor, and Hsing Yun, founder of the Buddha’s Light International Association, expounded on the universal virtues of honesty, integrity and the Golden Rule.
MEDIA WAS WELL REPRESENTED WITH OVER 600 JOURNALISTS FROM 132 INTERNATIONAL/LOCAL AGENCIES – NOTABLY XINHUA NEWS AGENCY, CHINA DAILY, CCTV, PHOENIX TV, ASSOCIATED PRESS, AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE, REUTERS, CNN, BBC, CNBC, BLOOMBERG AND THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.
FLASHBACK: BFA’s GREAT OUTREACH
TWENTY-EIGHT ASIA-PACIFIC COUNTRIES FORM THE CORE OF BFA, WHICH IS REGISTERED UNDER PRC LAWS AS A NONGOVERNMENT, NON-PROFIT ECONOMIC-INTELLECTUAL RESOURCE CENTER. BFA IS THE FIRST “ASIA-FOCUSED” INTERNATIONAL FORUM ESTABLISHED TO PROMOTE ASIA’S INTERESTS AS “ONE FAMILY” THROUGH CLOSER COOPERATION AND ECONOMIC INTEGRATION, THUS COMPLEMENTING THE ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION (APEC) FORUM, ASEAN+16 (DIALOGUE PARTNERS), AND WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM (WEF).
Other incumbent HoS/Gs who took part in the opening events, partnership encounters, and other sessions were: Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev; Myanmar President U Thein Sein; Mexico President Enrique Peña Nieto; Peru President Ollanta Moises Humala Tasso; Zambia President Michael Sata; Finland President Sauli Niinisto; Cambodia Prime Minister Hun Sen; Australia Prime Minister Julia Gillard; and New Zealand Prime Minister John Philip Key. BFA Chair, former Japan PM Yasuo Fukuda, assisted by SecGen Zhou Wenzhong, was in charge of the proceedings.
As a key policy and intellectual resource center in the Asia-Pacific region, BFA not only gathers top policy-makers and key advisors, but also evaluates prospects for wider economic recovery and sustainable progress. More importantly, its annual conference helps chart a roadmap for the better future of Earth’s people by pursuing sustainable development and enduring peace.
AT BOAO, PRESIDENT XI REPEATEDLY STRESSED COMMON DEVELOPMENT, INCLUSIVENESS, FRIENDSHIP, AND PARTNERSHIP WITH NEIGHBORS, SUMMARIZING CHINA’S FOREIGN RELATIONS, THUS:
“WE ARE FIRM IN OUR RESOLVE TO UPHOLD PEACE AND STABILITY IN ASIA AND THE WORLD…. WE WILL WORK TIRELESSLY TO SOLVE THE RELEVANT ISSUES PROPERLY THROUGH DIALOGUE AND NEGOTIATIONS.”
ON TAIWAN, NORTH KOREA, RUSSIA, AND AFRICA
CHINA-ASEAN RELATIONS AND THE SOUTH CHINA SEA/ WEST PHILIPPINE SEA/EAST SEA TERRITORIAL DISPUTES RECEIVED SPECIAL ATTENTION FROM PRESIDENT XI WHEN HE COMMITTED TO BRUNEI SULTAN BOLKIAH:
“Our country has to strive to achieve the Chinese dream of the great renaissance of the Chinese nation…” –– President Xi Jinping, March 2013
“THERE SHOULD BE NO FACTOR TO DISTURB THE CHINAASEAN FRIENDLY COOPERATION PROCESS” AT THEIR ONEON-ONE MEETING IN BEIJING
(CHINA DAILY, 6-7 APRIL 2013). COMPATRIOTS FROM THE MAINLAND AND TAIWAN ARE PART OF ONE FAMILY, AND PEOPLE SHOULD KEEP THAT IN MIND, PRESIDENT XI SAID, AS HE CALLED FOR LONGTERM COOPERATION TO BOOST CROSS-STRAITS TIES WHEN HE MET IN BOAO WITH VINCENT C. SIEW, FORMER TAIWAN VICEPRESIDENT AND HONORARY CHAIRMAN OF THE TAIWANBASED CROSS-STRAITS COMMON MARKET FOUNDATION.
ON NORTH KOREA’S NUCLEAR THREATS, INFLUENTIAL POLITICAL VOICES CONTINUED TO PILE PRESSURE ON BEIJING FOR NOT DOING ENOUGH TO AVERT THE DANGER OF WORLDWIDE CONFLAGRATION. IN HIS BOAO SPEECH, PRESIDENT XI SAID: “NO COUNTRY SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO THROW A REGION AND EVEN THE WHOLE WORLD INTO CHAOS FOR SELFISH GAIN,’ BUT STOPPED SHORT OF NAMING NORTH KOREA (ASSOCIATED
PRESS AND REUTERS, 09 APRIL 2013).
President Xi made his initial foreign sortie to Moscow last 22 March and then to Africa. New Foreign Minister Wang Yi summarized the Xi Jinping-Vladimir Putin meetings as “frank, practical and congenial.”
Xi visited the Russian Defense Ministry and the Armed Forces Command Center, the first-ever for a foreign Head of State. The two countries signed 32 agreements, dubbed “contracts of the century” because of their enormous collaboration value.
Xi thereafter visited Tanzania and the Republic of Congo. He sounded a clear message to the international community that China and Africa have long been “a community of shared destinies” and will forever be “reliable friends and sincere partners,” according to Foreign Minister Wang.
China’s new President committed full support to the construction of transnational infrastructure to facilitate Africa’s better connectivity. He also attended the 5th BRICS Summit in Durban, South Africa last 26-27 March 2013 -- the first time emerging powers Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa held their annual meeting in Africa.
AT A TIME WHEN THE UNITED STATES IS REDIRECTING ITS SECURITY PRIORITIES WITH ITS ASIA-PACIFIC “PIVOT,” XI’S DECISION TO VISIT RUSSIA AHEAD APPEARS TO BE HIS OWN “COUNTER-PIVOT” AIMED AT THE US ACCORDING TO THE ECONOMIST (LONDON, 23 MARCH 2013): CHINA AND RUSSIA, ANTAGONISTS SOME DECADES AGO, ARE NOW ON REMARKABLY GOOD TERMS. BOTH COUNTRIES RESENT AMERICAN GLOBAL DOMINANCE, AS WELL AS WESTERN INTERVENTION IN OTHERS’ AFFAIRS.
OPPORTUNITY FOR THE PHILIPPINES/P. DU30
AS A POSITIVE OUTCOME OF THE HOSTING OF ASEAN @ 50 BY THE PHILIPPINES, WE FIND P. DU30 NOW PLAYING THE ROLE OF A MODERN “CALL CENTER” – WHICH IS WHAT FILIPINOS DO EXCELLENTLY IN THE GLOBAL ECONOMY OF THE 21ST CENTURY – SO, LET’S GO FOR IT!!!
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