Post by Anodyne on Jan 13, 2007 20:01:58 GMT -5
A quintet, anyone?
Jan 11th 2007 | BEIJING
From The Economist print edition
China is making it clear that it wants a bigger role in the Middle East
UNLIKE other outside powers involved in the Middle East, China is on good terms with everyone. Hardly had Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, left Beijing than Israel's prime minister, Ehud Olmert (above with Wen Jiabao, his Chinese counterpart), arrived this week for talks with Chinese leaders. Should America be worrying?
Last month, the Chinese foreign ministry played host to what it called its first non-governmental seminar bringing together former senior Israeli and Palestinian officials to discuss ways of achieving peace. They reached a consensus that must have pleased their hosts. China, they said in a statement, should increase its influence in the Middle East and join the “Quartet” (America, the European Union, the UN and Russia) that is pursuing peace efforts. This, China's press quoted a Palestinian participant as saying, would help counter the bias of “some countries” involved.
Never mind that China, in the more than four years since it appointed a special envoy to the Middle East, has offered no original ideas. To all sides, it still has much to offer. To oil-exporting countries, China has rapidly emerged since the 1990s as a big customer and investor. Some 45% of China's oil imports from January to November last year were from the Middle East. To countries such as Iran and Syria, eager to check American power in the region, China's veto power at the UN and its shared misgivings about America make it a welcome friend. Refreshingly, China asks no questions about democracy.
Israel, too, courts China because of its potential influence in the region. China shares its distaste for Islamic militancy. And despite China's close ties with Arab countries and Iran, Israel (to America's chagrin) sees China as an important market for its military industries. Last week China unveiled a new home-built advanced fighter jet, the Jian-10. Western military experts believe it incorporates Israeli (as well as Russian) technology.
American officials do worry. China has been hesitant to put pressure on Iran to abandon its nuclear programme. In the first 11 months of last year, Iran was China's third-biggest supplier of oil after Angola and Saudi Arabia, providing 12% of the total. China has also been reluctant to penalise Arab-led Sudan for the bloodshed in Darfur. From January to November 2006, Sudan accounted for less than 3% of China's crude imports. But China has invested hugely in Sudan's oil infrastructure, helping it become a net oil exporter.
China sees advantages for itself in any diminution of American power. In its view, America's preoccupation with the insurgency in Iraq strengthens China's hand in its dealings with Taiwan. Anxious to avoid trouble on another front, America has been even more vigorous than usual in deterring Taiwan from angering China with any hint of a move towards formal independence. In both Sudan and Iran, China has often balked at American-led initiatives in the UN that could be seen as legitimising strong-arm tactics against countries deviating from international norms. China fears it might be next.
But China has recently edged closer to America's position. In November, its UN ambassador, Wang Guangya, began showing unusual zeal in trying to persuade Sudan to accept UN intervention in Darfur. The same month, China offered to send 1,000 troops to join UN peacekeepers in Lebanon. On December 23rd China and other members of the UN Security Council approved the imposition of sanctions on Iran's trade in nuclear and missile-related materials. The sanctions were hardly crippling, but China's endorsement of them was an important symbolic act.
Despite China's disdain for the American-led invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan (the latter bringing the American army right to China's border), it has not attempted to frustrate American operations in either country. It has pledged more than $300m for reconstruction in Afghanistan and begun negotiations with Iraq that could result in its writing off billions of dollars-worth of pre-invasion Iraqi debt. China was a big seller of arms to both Iraq and Iran during the 1980s war between the two countries. It hawked missiles and nuclear technology across the region. But since the 1990s it has been far more sympathetic to American concerns about weapons proliferation and has tightened its still-imperfect export controls.
China worries about its dependence on American military might for the security of its oil shipments from the Middle East. It is still a long way from being able to project military power over such a distance itself, though a Chinese official was quoted in the state-owned press this week as saying China had the ability to build an aircraft carrier, but had not decided when to do so. China is trying to diversify its sources of energy, buying more from Russia, Central Asia, Africa and Latin America.
But experts predict that China will long remain heavily dependent on energy from the Middle East. So it has little choice but to support efforts to stabilise the region. It may not agree with America's tactics, but will share the same broad objective. Jeffrey Bader, a former senior American diplomat now at the Brookings Institution, a think-tank in Washington, DC, says that China's resistance to American initiatives in Sudan and Iran depends on Russian support for its position. If Russia were to switch sides, so too would China, he argues. It is in no mood to take on America alone.
www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8521894
Jan 11th 2007 | BEIJING
From The Economist print edition
China is making it clear that it wants a bigger role in the Middle East
UNLIKE other outside powers involved in the Middle East, China is on good terms with everyone. Hardly had Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, left Beijing than Israel's prime minister, Ehud Olmert (above with Wen Jiabao, his Chinese counterpart), arrived this week for talks with Chinese leaders. Should America be worrying?
Last month, the Chinese foreign ministry played host to what it called its first non-governmental seminar bringing together former senior Israeli and Palestinian officials to discuss ways of achieving peace. They reached a consensus that must have pleased their hosts. China, they said in a statement, should increase its influence in the Middle East and join the “Quartet” (America, the European Union, the UN and Russia) that is pursuing peace efforts. This, China's press quoted a Palestinian participant as saying, would help counter the bias of “some countries” involved.
Never mind that China, in the more than four years since it appointed a special envoy to the Middle East, has offered no original ideas. To all sides, it still has much to offer. To oil-exporting countries, China has rapidly emerged since the 1990s as a big customer and investor. Some 45% of China's oil imports from January to November last year were from the Middle East. To countries such as Iran and Syria, eager to check American power in the region, China's veto power at the UN and its shared misgivings about America make it a welcome friend. Refreshingly, China asks no questions about democracy.
Israel, too, courts China because of its potential influence in the region. China shares its distaste for Islamic militancy. And despite China's close ties with Arab countries and Iran, Israel (to America's chagrin) sees China as an important market for its military industries. Last week China unveiled a new home-built advanced fighter jet, the Jian-10. Western military experts believe it incorporates Israeli (as well as Russian) technology.
American officials do worry. China has been hesitant to put pressure on Iran to abandon its nuclear programme. In the first 11 months of last year, Iran was China's third-biggest supplier of oil after Angola and Saudi Arabia, providing 12% of the total. China has also been reluctant to penalise Arab-led Sudan for the bloodshed in Darfur. From January to November 2006, Sudan accounted for less than 3% of China's crude imports. But China has invested hugely in Sudan's oil infrastructure, helping it become a net oil exporter.
China sees advantages for itself in any diminution of American power. In its view, America's preoccupation with the insurgency in Iraq strengthens China's hand in its dealings with Taiwan. Anxious to avoid trouble on another front, America has been even more vigorous than usual in deterring Taiwan from angering China with any hint of a move towards formal independence. In both Sudan and Iran, China has often balked at American-led initiatives in the UN that could be seen as legitimising strong-arm tactics against countries deviating from international norms. China fears it might be next.
But China has recently edged closer to America's position. In November, its UN ambassador, Wang Guangya, began showing unusual zeal in trying to persuade Sudan to accept UN intervention in Darfur. The same month, China offered to send 1,000 troops to join UN peacekeepers in Lebanon. On December 23rd China and other members of the UN Security Council approved the imposition of sanctions on Iran's trade in nuclear and missile-related materials. The sanctions were hardly crippling, but China's endorsement of them was an important symbolic act.
Despite China's disdain for the American-led invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan (the latter bringing the American army right to China's border), it has not attempted to frustrate American operations in either country. It has pledged more than $300m for reconstruction in Afghanistan and begun negotiations with Iraq that could result in its writing off billions of dollars-worth of pre-invasion Iraqi debt. China was a big seller of arms to both Iraq and Iran during the 1980s war between the two countries. It hawked missiles and nuclear technology across the region. But since the 1990s it has been far more sympathetic to American concerns about weapons proliferation and has tightened its still-imperfect export controls.
China worries about its dependence on American military might for the security of its oil shipments from the Middle East. It is still a long way from being able to project military power over such a distance itself, though a Chinese official was quoted in the state-owned press this week as saying China had the ability to build an aircraft carrier, but had not decided when to do so. China is trying to diversify its sources of energy, buying more from Russia, Central Asia, Africa and Latin America.
But experts predict that China will long remain heavily dependent on energy from the Middle East. So it has little choice but to support efforts to stabilise the region. It may not agree with America's tactics, but will share the same broad objective. Jeffrey Bader, a former senior American diplomat now at the Brookings Institution, a think-tank in Washington, DC, says that China's resistance to American initiatives in Sudan and Iran depends on Russian support for its position. If Russia were to switch sides, so too would China, he argues. It is in no mood to take on America alone.
www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8521894