Though brief, the exchange between Chinese
President Xi Jinping and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on the
sidelines of the G20 summit in Indonesia on November 16 has become a social
media sensation. Xi, assertive if not domineering, lectured the visibly
apprehensive Trudeau about the etiquette of diplomacy. This exchange can be
considered another watershed moment in China’s relationship with the West.
اضافة اعلان
“If there is sincerity on your part,” the Chinese
president told Trudeau, “then we shall conduct our discussion with an attitude
of mutual respect, otherwise there might be unpredictable consequences.”
At the end of the awkward conversation, Xi was the
first to walk away, leaving Trudeau uncomfortably making his way out of the
room.
For the significance of this moment to be truly
appreciated, it has to be viewed through a historical prism.
When Western colonial powers began the process of
exploiting China in earnest — early to mid-19th century — the size of the
Chinese economy was estimated to be one third of the world’s entire economic
output. In 1949, when Chinese nationalists managed to win their independence
following hundreds of years of colonialism, political meddling and economic
exploitation, China’s total GDP accounted for merely 4 percent of the world’s
total economy.
In the period between the first Opium War, in 1839,
and China’s independence, over a hundred years later, tens of millions of
Chinese perished as a result of direct wars, rebellions and famines. The
so-called Boxer Rebellion (1899-1901) was one of the many desperate attempts by
the Chinese people to reclaim a degree of independence and assert nominal
sovereignty over their land. The outcome, however, was devastating, as the
rebels, along with the Chinese military, were crushed by the mostly Western
alliance, which involved the US, Austria-Hungary, Britain, France, and
others.
The death toll was catastrophic, with moderate
estimations putting it at over 100,000. And subsequently, once more, China was
forced to toe the line as it has done in the two Opium Wars and many other
occasions in the past.
Purporting to defend human rights and champion democracy have historically been convenient Western tools that provided a nominal ethical foundation for interventions.
China’s independence in 1949 did not automatically
signal a return to its past grandeur as a global, or even as an Asian, power.
The process of rebuilding was long, costly and sometimes devastating: trials
and errors, internal conflicts, cultural revolutions, periods of “great leaps
forward”, but sometimes also great stagnation.
Seven decades later, China is back at the center of
global affairs. Good news for some. Terrible news for others.
The 2022 US National Security Strategy document
released on October 22 describes China as “the only competitor with both the
intent to reshape the international order and, increasingly, the economic,
diplomatic, military and technological power to do it”.
The US position is not at all surprising, because
the West continues to define its relationship with Beijing based on a colonial
inheritance, a legacy that spans hundreds of years.
For the West, the re-rise of China is problematic,
not because of its human rights record, but because of its growing share of the
global economy which, in 2021, accounted for 18.56 percent. This economic power, coupled with growing
military prowess, practically means that Beijing will soon be able to dictate
political outcomes in its growing sphere of influence in the Pacific region, and
also worldwide.
The irony in all of this is that, once upon a time,
it was China, along with most of Asia and the global south that were divided
into spheres of influence. Seeing Beijing creating its own equivalence to the
West’s geopolitical dominance must be quite unsettling for Western governments.
For many years, Western powers have used the
pretense of China’s human rights record to provide a moral foundation for
meddling. Purporting to defend human rights and champion democracy have
historically been convenient Western tools that provided a nominal ethical
foundation for interventions. Indeed, in the Chinese context, the Eight-Nations
Alliance, which crushed the Boxer Rebellion, was predicated on similar
principles.
The charade continues until this day, with the
defense of Taiwan and the rights of the Uyghurs and other minorities being
placed on top of the US and Western agendas, respectively.
Of course, human rights have very little to do with
the US-Western attitude toward China. Human rights and democracy were hardly
the motivator behind the US-Western invasion of Iraq in 2003. The difference
between Iraq, an isolated and weakened Arab country at the height of American
military dominance in the Middle East, and China today is massive. The latter represents
the backbone of the global economy. Its military power and growing geopolitical
import will prove difficult — if at all possible — to curtail.
In fact, language emanating from Washington
indicates that the US is taking the first steps in acknowledging China’s
inevitable rise as a global competitor. Prior to his meeting with President Xi
in Indonesia on November 15, Biden had finally, although subtly, acknowledged
the uncontested new reality when he said that “we’re going to compete
vigorously but I’m not looking for conflict. I’m looking to manage this
competition responsibly”.
Xi’s attitude toward Trudeau at the G20 summit may
be read as another episode of China’s so-called Wolf Diplomacy. However, the
dramatic event — the words, the body language and the subtle nuances — indicate
that China does not see itself only as deserving of global importance and
respect, but also as a superpower.
Ramzy Baroud is a journalist, author and the Editor of The Palestine Chronicle. He is
the author of six books. His latest book, co-edited with Ilan Pappé, is ‘Our
Vision for Liberation: Engaged Palestinian Leaders and Intellectuals Speak
out’. His other books include ‘My Father was a Freedom Fighter’ and ‘The Last
Earth’. Baroud is a Non-resident Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Islam
and Global Affairs (CIGA).
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