Major-power diplomacy, Chinese style

Achieving shared growth through discussion has become a core element of diplomatic philosophy

China will continue to promote justice and equity, contribute to world peace, facilitate global development and back international order, Premier Li Keqiang said in a soaring description of the country's self-image as he delivered the Government Work Report to the fifth plenary session of the 12th National Peoples' Congress in Beijing on March 5.

It is only recently that China has learned to express such global ambitions and preferences clearly. For a long time, it was accustomed to saying "no" in international affairs. But active engagement with the rest of the world compels it to adopt international norms and rules. China has gradually come to recognize that it needs to play as a stakeholder in international society and exert a positive influence.

"Rather than talking about leadership, we should really be talking responsibility," Foreign Minister Wang Yi said as he described the new thinking behind major power diplomacy on the sidelines of the two sessions on March 8.

In a Chinese context, the word "leadership" has a somewhat bureaucratic connotation. Some people are regarded as subordinate to others. But China will not become a center issuing orders; rather, it would like to jointly participate in international affairs with other countries.

In fact, the principle of achieving shared growth through discussion and collaboration has become a core element of China's diplomatic philosophy. The BRICS organization and the Belt and Road Initiative are the products of this philosophy.

Wang noted that China will host the BRICS summit later this year. To satisfy the new conditions, the organization of major emerging economies - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - will add political and security cooperation to its mission, and is planning its first official meeting of foreign ministers. It will also explore the "BRICSPlus" model to establish a more extensive partnership with other countries.

On China's Belt and Road Initiative, there was a big change in the 2017 Government Work Report: The Belt and Road Initiative is directly connected to China's reform and opening-up policy and considered a top-level project. In 2016, various local governments in China took measures to contribute to the platform. To a larger extent, the consensus is shared by domestic society. At the same time, the central government has worked closely with related countries and signed many bilateral agreements.

The forthcoming high-level forum on the Belt and Road will help formulate and upgrade multilateral consensus among affected countries.

"The forum in May will build consensus and connect the development strategies of various countries," Wang said, adding that the cooperative scheme will add a new dynamic to the global economy.

China, the world's second-largest economy, accounted for more than 30 percent of global growth in 2016. Last year, the economy grew at a rate of 6.7 percent, compared with the United States at 1.6 percent. It seems that China is now playing a bigger role than the US in promoting global economic health.

According to the Word Bank, the average growth of per capita GDP in China from 1961 to 2015 was 6.9 percent. From 1978 to 2015, it was 8.7 percent. Such lengthy sustainable growth has never before been witnessed in world history. And it produced various effects at regional level, as well as globally.

In a strategic sense, the astonishingly high growth pace of the Chinese economy over past three decades will eventually help China become an important player in international politics.

Parallel to this impressive economic growth, China's defense budget has also experienced double-digit growth over a decade. However, this is the second year that China has constrained the growth of its military budget. Fu Ying, spokeswoman for the NPC, announced a 7 percent rise for 2017, compared with 7.6 percent in 2016.

A simple reason is that China's economic growth rate will go down from 6.7 percent in 2016 to about 6.5 percent in 2017. In this sense, the slowdown of defense spending will be in line with overall economic performance. Fu said the proposed budget was based on defense needs as well as the national economy.

A major shift in China's military spending will be aimed at enhancing maritime power. With the growing importance of overseas interests, China needs to develop its own maritime force to protect it. Premier Li promised that China will continue "improving its overseas interest projection mechanism and capacity construction".

What should be kept in mind is that China is attempting to strike a balance between domestic civil needs and effective defense. To China, military power is not the first priority. However, US President Donald Trump has proposed boosting the US military budget by 10 percent. To Trump, absolute US military advantage is using "force for peace".

The logic seems quite different for the Chinese government. It believes that China will benefit from reform and globalization. In fact, a stable and open outside environment allows China to import capital, technology and ideas from the rest of the world, at the same time as it's exporting products to other countries. It is a win-win situation.

The EU-China relationship is one such example. Foreign Minister Wang illustrated the strategic importance of the EU, saying that China will continue to support European integration, in the hope of seeing a more stable, united and prosperous European Union.

The changing attitude toward globalization has aroused concern within and outside advanced countries. Premier Li pointed out in his report that "the deglobalization trend and protectionism are growing", which creates uncertainty.

"There are many uncertainties about the direction of the major economies' policies and their spillover effects," he said.

The Chinese government has promised to support multilateral institutions. An inclusive, equitable and reasonable new globalization is necessary for world peace and development.

The new type of globalization needs a political foundation and security. China benefited from the last wave of globalization, and promises to be a facilitator of development going forward. As Premier Li stated in delivering the Government Work Report, "China will actively provide constructive schemes for global as well as regional hot issues." It might be expected that China will also add inputs in counterterrorism, international peacekeeping and ocean escort.

China has entered a new stage with its growing power. The world will see it use this power correctly and positively. As President Xi Jinping emphasized, the great powers should avoid the old ways and find new solutions, and China has worked to establish a new type of international relations. In this way, Xi is proposing major-power diplomacy with Chinese characteristics. It promises to create new opportunities.

The author is a senior research fellow, National Institute of International Strategy, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.