Xi's proactive foreign policy fruitful

Xi's first year in office has also seen an improvement in Sino-French ties. In fact, China and France are set to celebrate 50 years of diplomatic ties this year. Sino-French relations suffered a setback in 2008 because former French president Nicolas Sarkozy ignored China's warning and met with the Dalai Lama. But French President Francois Hollande's visit to China in April last year, the first by the leader of a major Western power after Xi took office, changed the equations, which became more favorable after French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault's visit to Beijing in December. It seems France, like Italy and Germany, wants to use its economic engagement with China to accelerate its economic turnaround. Next week President Xi will visit Europe, which will no doubt cement the achievements of Sino-European ties last year.

In China's neighborhood, given the impact of the "pivot to Asia" policy of the US, Xi seems to have adopted a two-pronged strategy of engagement and non-compromise. China's announcements of an Air Defense Identification Zone over the East China Sea and a "no-fishing zone" in the South China Sea have been accompanied by a 10-point cooperation program with Vietnam, which talks of security cooperation and joint gas exploration in the Gulf of Tonkin. And China's "charm offensive" of reviving the Silk Road and the "Maritime Silk Road" across Central Asia and Southeast and South Asia has witnessed the signing of series of free trade, investment and infrastructure-building deals.

Xi has also paid attention to China's neighbors, visiting Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan in September. During the trip Xi attended the 8th G20 Summit in St. Petersburg and the 13th Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit in Bishkek, where he also held several bilateral meetings with other regional leaders.

In October, Xi visited Indonesia and Malaysia and attended the APEC meeting in Bali, where again he held several bilateral meetings. Indeed, the absence of Obama (because of the financial default-forced US government shutdown) in Bali, made Xi the most visible dignitary with positive spin-offs for China-ASEAN relations.

The fact that around the same time Premier Li Keqiang was in Brunei to attend the East Asia Summit, which was followed by his visits to Thailand and Vietnam, made China the flavor of the times.

But more than anything else, the formation of the National Security Commission stands out as the most novel contribution of Xi in the past year. Headed by Xi, Li and Zhang Dejiang, chairman of the National People's Congress Standing Committee, the NSC is aimed at strengthening civilian control over the military and security (especially cybersecurity) components of foreign policy.

The above developments give an indication of how China's leadership under Xi will use the foreign and domestic policies to resolve China's formidable challenges, including those concerning Sino-Japanese and Sino-Indian ties.

The author is professor of diplomacy and disarmament at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

 

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