Is China befriending the distant while alienating neighbors?

By Li Hongmei

The US President Barack Obama's tour of Asia commencing last week takes him to India, Indonesia, South Korea and Japan---- "a prominent omission is China", as aired by the Western media as one of the most oft-hyped topics all these days. Obviously, China is not on Obama's agenda during his Asia trip, but high on his mind as the "paramount concern".

It has become obvious that the growing economic strength of China has become not only a cause of envy for the US but perhaps, a tinge of jealousy is also more visible than ever. In the similar vein, it is no surprising that the US should feel animosity towards China, since the super power's financial meltdown, and even when China came to its rescue investing trillions of dollars in treasury bonds.

This explains why the US is currying favors with those who carry a grouse with China and organize them into an anti-China bloc. Due to the disputes and legacies left over by history, China's neighbors are somewhat perturbed seeing China's ever-growing strength. In addition, the constant diplomatic squabbles with China also send them estranging from their giant neighbor, and the increasing Chinese influence in the region not only frays the nerves of some neighboring states, but upset the U.S. as well, as it officially declared the "comeback" to Asia.

According to the NYT exposé, it is an ardent desire of the US to "encircle China". The famous "Mandala Theory" advocates that the enemies of one's enemy must be befriended and organized into circles to contain one's own enemy. This is exactly what Mr. Obama has set out to achieve.

While in the Chinese culture, the well-documented Stratagem of 36 Strategies also brings home the deal between states. For instance, Strategy 23---Befriend a distant state while attacking a neighboring state---pinpoints why adversaries at a distance can be a temporal ally.

Perhaps, based on this, some Western observers assume that the Chinese President's distant trip to Europe, almost synchronizing Obama's Asian leg, a Chinese-style strategy to break through the enclosure by cultivating the goodwill from afar.

President Hu signed the aircraft and nuclear fuel contracts totaling US$20bn with French companies during his just-wrapped up state visit to Paris, and inked a series of trade deals in Portugal. Meanwhile, he pledged to help Portugal, currently bogged down in debt crisis, out of its acute trouble. Last month, China also offered a hand to the debt-ridden Greece.

Be that as it may, it is still naïve to rush the conclusion that China has recalibrated its strategic focus from developing a friendly neighborhood to befriending the distant states, just for the purpose to counterbalance the U.S.

The Western strategists and observers are supposed to learn also of another famous Chinese idiom, which says a distant water supply is no good in putting out a nearby fire. To wit, China will never bend its consistent determination to seek after the good-neighborly mood in its vicinity.

And for this, the Chinese Government and people will remain committed to the road of peaceful development, to the win-win strategy of opening up, to the policy of fostering an amicable, secure and prosperous neighborhood, and to the promotion of harmony, sustainable peace and common prosperity in Asia and the world at large.