Aid effort shows limits of China's rising power
By Jim Yardley The New York Times
Tuesday, January 4, 2005
Significant response quickly loses luster
BEIJING China's new and growing influence in Asia, which some analysts say has come at the expense of the United States, is showing its limits as the aspiring superpower plays an active but secondary role in responding to the tsunami disaster.
The Chinese response is significant by even the recent standards of its inward-looking history. But it is also a reminder that the world's most populous country is far from being the dominant power in Asia.
Last weekend, Prime Minister Wen Jiabao announced that China would donate more than $62 million, one of its largest ever pledges of international relief aid. But that figure was quickly eclipsed when the United States increased its pledge to $350 million and Japan followed with a $500 million donation.
Moreover, China has watched as American vessels have moved quickly into the region with U.S. Navy helicopters delivering food and critical supplies to the hardest-hit areas of Indonesia. This week, another convoy of American ships is expected to arrive in Sri Lanka with more than 1,500 marines.
By contrast, China's primary contribution at the scene has been a 35-member medical team now treating patients in Indonesia. Other Chinese medical teams are being dispatched, and at least one commercial cargo plane has already left Beijing with $1.8 million in medicine, food and generators.
For more than a year, China's top officials and diplomats have sought a leadership role in the region on the strength of the country's booming economy. Other Asian countries have eagerly sought trade deals with China, and Wen has promoted the idea of an Asian equivalent to the European Union.
But gaining such economic clout has not yet translated into broader power or influence, according to Robert Sutter, a former American government official who has written extensively about U.S.-China relations. China's soft power is growing in the region but should not be overstated, Sutter said.
"The things China has been doing are all win-win," said Sutter, now a visiting professor at the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.
"They don't generally cost China anything. But when you have to do something that costs something, it's hard for them to do it. They don't have the resources or the experience."
He added, "They are still an aid recipient."
In the past few years, China has begun to transition from a recipient to a donor nation. Last year, the World Food Program, an arm of the United Nations, announced that it would phase out subsidies to China by the end of 2005, and China is beginning to make small donations to the agency. Japan has also been reducing its aid to China while increasing support for India.
Meanwhile, China has increased its donations to nations like Vietnam, Indonesia and Burma as part of its effort to raise its profile in the region. China is also believed to donate tens of millions of dollars in annual aid to help prop up its ally and neighbor, North Korea.
But such direct donations are different from responding to an international disaster. Shi Yinhong, a professor at international politics at People's University in Beijing, said that the United States had a "huge superiority" over China in responding to such crises. But he said China's response to the tsunami disaster marked a milestone shift from the country's past. He said $62 million was a very significant sum for China.
"We are still learning how to react multilaterally," Shi said. "But there is a new sense that China should play more of a role. China has a new sense of its potential as one of the most important regional powers in Asia."
President Hu Jintao, quoted in the state news media, said the government would provide "any possible aid in its power to those in need."
His comments echoed remarks by Wen, who announced China's expanded aid package last Friday at a meeting with ambassadors from the affected nations. In all, China has delivered $2.6 million in aid.
Wen is also planning to attend the international summit on Thursday in Indonesia, in which leaders are expected to decide on a strategy for responding to the crisis and rebuilding the region.
Meanwhile, the Chinese propaganda machine has been hard at work. Stories of ordinary citizens making small donations to nongovernmental relief funds have filled newspapers.
An article about the Chinese medical team in People's Daily, the Communist Party's main newspaper, declared in a headline on Monday: "Indonesian disaster victims speak from the heart: China is a great country!"
But China is also a country with a yawning wealth gap and massive domestic problems.
On the Chinese Internet, writers posted e-mail messages in several chat rooms questioning why China was not spending its money at home. Others were furious that China was helping Indonesia, where ethnic Chinese residents were raped and attacked during rioting in 1998.
"Chinese care more about foreigners!" complained one Internet writer. "Of course disaster relief is necessary, but we should give more care to the disadvantaged groups within our country!"
Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing has already spoken by telephone with the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan. China Daily, the government's English-language daily, reported that China, a Security Council member with veto power, had endorsed the United Nations' taking the lead role in the relief effort.
No mention was made of the relief coalition of donor nations announced by President George W. Bush that includes India, Japan, Australia and the United States. China is conspicuously absent, though Bush said he expected other nations to quickly join the group.
David Shambaugh, director of the China Policy Program at George Washington University, said China, ultimately, had the basic equipment and capability to provide a military response to future disasters. For now, Shambaugh said, the Chinese military is largely unaccustomed to participating in international efforts. China started joint search and rescue naval operations only in 2002 with countries like Pakistan, India, Britain and France.
Beyond the military, Shambaugh said, the rest of the region is watching China as the tsunami crisis continues.
"Given China's growing influence in the region," he said, "this catastrophe is going to reveal whether China will put resources behind its rhetoric and can contribute on the ground in a meaningful way."
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