China stepping into role as major world player with tsunami response
JAKARTA : Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao arrived in Jakarta where he is expected to play a key role in global efforts to help his country's tsunami-hit neighbors, further raising Beijing's profile as a major regional and world power.
Wen will be one of the most high-ranking leaders to attend a summit Thursday on how to cope with the December 26 tsunami which hit 11 countries, killing almost 146,000 people.
Instead of simply pledging aid, China is expected to heighten its leadership role in the region by calling for greater cooperation in rebuilding battered countries and preventing future disasters, a Chinese government source said.
"China's participation is very important," she said.
Despite being a developing country, China is one of the biggest donors to the global tsunami-relief efforts, pledging 63.1 million dollars so far -- an unusually high amount for a developing country.
Wen, speaking after his arrival in Jakarta on a plane carrying 16 tonnes of Chinese relief supplies to show "Chinese people's deep feelings for Indonesia", told reporters his country intended to make good on its pledge.
"We've made a promise, we always keep our promises. It's like this in the past, it's like this now and it will always be like this," he said.
Aside from funds, Beijing is also an active participant in the world's biggest-ever relief operation, shipping in supplies and sending experts to the worst affected areas.
It also agreed to conduct DNA tests to identify thousands of victims from Thailand.
China's response to the disaster symbolizes the once closed-off country's emerging role in regional affairs and its increasing desire to be an active player in world matters, analysts said.
"This is exactly what China wants. It wants to secure respect as a responsible, major power, a benevolent power," said Joseph Cheng, a long-time China analyst at City University in Hong Kong.
Since launching economic reforms and opening up in the 1980s, the world's most populous country has steadily gained political and economic might, especially in the Southeast Asian region, which it has traditionally regarded as its sphere of influence.
However, with the world's largest army and a rapidly growing economy -- surpassing even the United States in attracting foreign investment, China's rise has been viewed as a threat by some quarters.
Helping its neighbors cope with disasters such as the tsunami is in line with China's efforts to calm such fears, said Cheng.
"In the past two to three years, China's foreign policy has emphasized its rise is peaceful, that it is no threat to its neighbors and even that China's prosperity will mean prosperity for the region," Cheng said.
"These are very important themes in Chinese foreign policy, so it is under pressure to play a big role (in tsunami relief)."
In terms of contributions to relief for a specific natural disaster, the aid China pledged this time is believed to be the biggest in the communist country's 55-year history, analysts said.
But China has been steadily and quietly using its growing coffers to build good foreign relations in recent years.
It gave substantially during the Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s, pledging billions of dollars in loans to countries such as Thailand, and winning trust along the way.
In recent years, China has also taken a more active part in international disaster-relief and peacekeeping operations, sending missions after the 2003 quake in the Iranian city of Bam and peacekeepers to places such as East Timor and Haiti.
As China's economic and political strength continues to grow, it will be expected to pitch in more in future crises, said Cheng, but whether its generosity will erase the remaining suspicions of its neighbors remains to be seen.
"It certainly helps, but of course it's not one incident or two incidents. It's a long-term behavioral pattern," said Cheng.
The government source declined to say whether China would offer increased financial assistance at the summit, although other forms of assistance were likely.
Cheng predicted Beijing was unlikely cough up another big sum of money.
"China knows its limitations," he said.
- AFP channelnewsasia.com |
