In shift, Xi says China, US and other nations can share the region
BEIJING — China appears set to take a softer hand with its neighbors as tensions with the U.S. escalate, seeking friends that will take its side in a long-term battle with Washington for influence in the Asia-Pacific region.
The Pacific Ocean is vast enough to accommodate China and the United States, as well as other countries, Chinese President Xi Jinping told visiting U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis in late June, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.
Dividing control over the Pacific with Washington has been Beijing’s official goal since 2007, when Chinese military commanders proposed such an arrangement to American counterparts. On a 2012 a visit to the U.S. as vice president, Xi told then-President Barack Obama that the Pacific had enough room to accommodate their two countries.
But “other countries” have never before entered the picture.
This sudden shift apparently originated in late June’s Central Conference on Work Relating to Foreign Affairs — the most important foreign policy meeting on the Chinese calendar, last held in 2014, and in 2006 before that. There, Xi divided China’s foreign policy into three broad strategies tailored to major powers, neighboring countries and developing nations.
With the first group, China targets a framework for stable, well-balanced relations. With neighbors, it looks to advance diplomacy, aiming to create an Asia-Pacific region favorable to its interests. Lastly, Beijing sees developing countries as natural allies and seeks cooperation and unity.
In essence, Xi’s goal was to instill in the party, the government, the military and even the private sector his sense of China’s place in the world, according to a person who received an insider explanation of the president’s remarks. To understand the path of history, China must not only observe the current international situation, but also review the past, summarize historical laws, and look forward to the future, Xi said, according to Xinhua. Sources close to the matter say the president wrote this language himself, making it especially significant.