WHY CHINA WON'T GO TO WAR | War is not in its interest and other reasons, from Beijing's new envoy

From InterAksyon (Apr 25): WHY CHINA WON'T GO TO WAR | War is not in its interest and other reasons, from Beijing's new envoy



Ambassador Zhao presents his credentials to President Aquino April 8, 2014. MALACANANG PHOTO

Going to war “is not in the interest of China,” new Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Zhao Jian Hua declared at Thursday night’s celebration of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s birthday hosted by the British embassy.

Going to war means disrupting China’s development, particularly trade and investment, he said, noting that 80 percent of the goods that go in and out of China, and particularly 90 percent of its energy and mineral sources, pass through the disputed South China Sea.

“With the territorial dispute in the South China Sea, a lot of Filipinos think that China will go to war; that is not China's interest to do that. Because once there is a conflict, no matter the scale, there will be a disruption of investment and disruption of trade.

The trade of goods being exported or imported to China that pass through the South China Sea is 80 percent; the energy and minerals that pass through the South China Sea nearly 90 percent. When we talk about the freedom of navigation, I think South China Sea is most important for China,” Zhao said.

The top Chinese diplomat in the country said a major factor in China’s current prosperity is the peace and stability in the region, and maintaining these in its neighborhood is in its interest.

“One of the fundamental reasons that China is able to achieve so much is stability and peace in the region. So it’s in China’s interest to maintain stability and peace,” he said, after pointing out how its per capita income increased from $200 in 1978, when China started opening its economy to capitalism, to the present $5,000.

The new ambassador, who said his colleagues has teased him about his new appointment at a time when relations between the two countries are not so good, said China cannot go to war because it is busy enough with the everyday job of governing over 1.347 billion people.

“You know how much eggs we consume a day? 600 billion. How much rice? 1.347 billion kilos of rice. We have nearly 7 million college graduates, and the government each year has to create at least 7 million jobs. So when you look at China, you look at the details: How the Chinese government is working to provide services to feed all those people. So from that perspective, I could say, we are busy enough,” he said.

Right now, although it has successfully lifted hundreds of millions of people out of extreme poverty, China still has 120 million people who live on $2 a day, the UN definition of extremely poor. “That’s still a long way to go,” he said.

Worried but confident about PH-China relations

Saying he is personally worried about the bilateral relationship between the two countries, Zhao admitted that the Philippines and China are not directly talking to each other but through the media through “their spokespersons.”

But he attributes this to the natural “ups and downs, twists and turns” that are normal in life between neighbors, whom “you cannot choose, like relatives.”

“Sooner or later people will realize that the diplomatic channel is the settled and sound way of settling disputes,” he said.

“We are confident that this problem will be resolved sooner or later through peaceful means,” he said.

Zhao stressed the importance of diplomacy. “Without face-to-face negotiations or dialogues never solves problems. (But) sometimes you are trying to reflect. This is the time for reflection,” he said.

“We are neighbors. Sometimes you cannot choose your neighbors. Yes, like your relatives. There will always be problems when you are neighbors.”

The territorial dispute between the two countries continue to be a problem partly because China wants to resolve the matter bilaterally, but the Philippines -- seeing that it is at a disadvantage with a rising superpower -- wants it resolved multilaterally through ASEAN initially and now through the international tribunal.

Zhao said that over China’s 5,000 years of existence, it has always had problems with its neighbors, noting that China shares common land or water with 29 other countries.

“Throughout the years there are a lot of troubles. If you study the history of Asia, China used to be a dominant power and it has had problems. We have gone back in dominance and in the meantime we have problems. I think it’s quite natural for China to have problems.”

“So the US is lucky, they have only two neighbors,” Canada and Mexico, he said.

Different from previous Chinese ambassador

Zhao is unlike his predecessor Ma Keqing, who has not addressed the South China Sea dispute publicly during her three-year posting.

Asked if he would be more willing to talk publicly about the main issue that’s preoccupying the diplomatic relations of the two countries, Zhao said: “Since I have just been here three months, I’ll take some time to understand what the Filipino people are really thinking.”

Zhao said that before this appointment, he visited Manila many times before as part of the ASEAN group of China’s foreign ministry. This time, he would like to visit other parts of the country, particularly those devastated by super typhoon Yolanda.

Recently, he said, China donated 800 tons of rice and 540 mobile two-room houses to the survivors.

Zhao submitted his credentials to President Aquino on April 8.

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/85460/why-china-wont-go-to-war--war-is-not-in-its-interest-and-other-reasons-from-beijings-new-envoy