A Chinese national flag flutters at the headquarters of a commercial bank on a financial street near the headquarters of the People’s Bank of China, China’s central bank, in central Beijing November 24, 2014. Credit: Reuters/Kim Kyung-Hoon/Files
A Chinese national flag flutters at the headquarters of a commercial bank on a financial street near the headquarters of the People’s Bank of China, China’s central bank, in central Beijing November 24, 2014. Credit: Reuters/Kim Kyung-Hoon/Files
China’s policy white paper on Asia-Pacific security cooperation, its first ever dealing with the region, signals the country’s desire to put its own stamp on the region’s security order. The central thrust of the document, issued on Wednesday, January 11, is security cooperation. The document mentions, but does not dwell, on “hotspot” issues like the Korean nuclear crisis, the Afghan reconciliation process, the South China Sea dispute or, as it is often called, the Senkaku-Diaoyu issue.

Nevertheless, the paper provides a clear outline of the realist basis of Chinese security policy. For instance, it explicitly warns that “small and medium-sized countries need not and should not take side among big countries.”

China Watch_Manoj JoshiIndia will be happy that it is listed among the “major countries”, along with the US, Russia and Japan, who are, in turn enjoined to “treat the strategic intentions of others in an objective and rational manner, reject the Cold War mentality [and] respect each other’s legitimate interests and concerns.”

https://thewire.in/99542/china-watch-white-paper-on-asia-pacific-security-reveals-chinas-regional-ambitions/