Date: March 30, 2012

Venue: East Main Building of Guanghua Towers

This roundtable conference was the second part of a seminar for the political affairs section of Shanghai Forum, designed to provide a platform for discussion and exchange in preparation for the forum which will take place May 26-28, 2012.  The previous meeting focused on understanding how regional players, including South Korea, Japan, and ASEAN look upon the coming regional order.  During this meeting, Professors Wu Xinbo, Chen Zhimin, Su Changhe, and Dr. Song Guoyou spoke on “Creating a New Regional Order in East Asia,” followed by several commentators.  The discussion focused on the historical process leading to the current situation in East Asia, the principal features that the new order should possess, and recommended five areas in which China can play an active role in the creation of a new regional order: providing thought leadership, promoting economic cooperation, deepening security cooperation, providing institutional support, and fostering a regional identity. 

Introduction of the author

Jeffrey Chen grew up near Washington, D.C., USA.  He studied at George Mason University in Virginia, and is currently a Ph.D. candidate for China-U.S. Relations at the Center for American Studies, Fudan University.  Jeff works for the Fudan Development Institute on the Shanghai Forum 2012 Organizing Committee, and is serving as Associate Editor-China for Fair Observer, an online multimedia platform providing 360° perspectives on politics, economics, and business.

China: a driving force in East Asia

The construction of an East Asian order is faced with the question: what is the driving force—behind the production of a new order or the change of an old one—and where does it come from?  Two main factors have their origins in developments of the last 20 years since the end of the Cold War.  The first is the development of cooperation in the region, to a great extent due to promotion and leadership by ASEAN.  The second is China's growth into the center of East Asia's regional economy, bringing a whole new meaning to the regional landscape.  Thus, China itself is one of the two main forces behind the creation of a new regional order. 

How to Create a New Regional Order

In the past, East Asia's political and economic regimes have been dominated by an external power, and for the better part of the last half century Cold War geopolitics shaped the regional order.  One characteristic of the new system will be endogeneity—that is, it will be led by internal development and an autonomous power structure.  While the Cold War was characterized by intense security competition between the great powers, the new order will largely be based on economic cooperation.  To a certain extent, economic logic is inherently cooperative in nature.  This gives China a greater chance of assuming a leadership role as it propels regional economic development, with the opportunity to create mutually beneficial relationships between states in East Asia.

Another important feature of the new system is plurality.  China emphasizes respect for the diversity of actors in the region.  East Asian states espouse a wide variety of political systems, development models, and security frameworks, and China's tolerance of these differences as well as maintenance of its non-interference strategy regarding other states' domestic policy is crucial.  Most importantly, China asserts that participation in the new regional order will not be based on a single value system—that is, states will not be excluded on the basis of differing political, economic, or cultural values—as is widely perceived to be the case under Western regimes.  Instead, China will focus on finding areas of common interest and cooperation, so as to better achieve integration of the regional members' internal interests.  In addition to addressing these internal interests, it must also be receptive to external interests in order to secure East Asia's place within the global system. 

The Role of China

Providing conceptual leadership, or the ability to articulate key issues in international affairs and put them on the agenda, is an important component of China's strategy.  This can be achieved primarily by strengthening its existing role in ASEAN, and also requires the restructuring of China's diplomatic resources and investment in key areas of the periphery where transformation is taking place.  It is important to note, the concept of “region” is both political and geopolitical in nature, engendering a strategic discourse of competition.  The U.S., for example, prefers the terms “Greater Asia” or “Asia Pacific” when discussing a regional order, while China prefers “East Asia.”  The terms we use are not merely a question of semantics, but also a competition of narratives.

As it is already the regional center of economic development, promoting economic cooperation is China's strong point.  Without a doubt, the recent global economic crisis hastened the tightening of economic relations between East Asian states.  Not only are cooperative trade agreements increasing in both scope and scale, but East Asian countries—including China—are playing an increasingly dominant role. Despite China's strength in this area, however, the deepening of economic relations does not equal an East Asian order.  Indeed, the present economic order has not yet fully taken shape: for example, although China is emerging as the economic center, Japan still has disproportionate influence in the the political and security sphere.

Challenges to Creating a New Regional Order

It is imperative that China develop security cooperation to preserve stability and resolve disputes peacefully.  When expanding regional security cooperation, China's diplomacy regarding the periphery should strive for shifting from seeking stability to resolving disputes.  Many unresolved issues, especially claims to territorial waters in the region, can no longer be ignored if stability is to be maintained.  Also, while states in the region are gravitating towards China as the economic center, the tendency is to move towards the U.S. for security cooperation.  This presents a challenge to China's diplomatic creativity, as there are two opposing forces at work here: economic cooperation vs. security competition.  Governance and security planning must be adept at the transformation of economic power into political influence and security, which is currently China's major shortcoming. 

Under these circumstances, how can we ensure cooperation in both economic and security realms?  This question is complicated by the way that economic strength translates into political influence and hard power.  The conflict between economic cooperation and security competition has serious implications for defining a new strategy logic, yet friction can and should be mitigated through the active promotion of regional cooperative mechanisms.  For the last 20 years, ASEAN has provided conceptual leadership and set the standard for a cooperative framework in Southeast Asia.  In the coming years, focus should be redirected towards East Asia, with China as the center.