Why China, and Others, Stubbornly Defend Rogue Nations
"China,
Russia and many others see themselves in a defensive struggle against
democracy. And in that struggle, every state that remains in the authoritarian
camp becomes an important ally."
At the Munich security
conference, in addition to the speech by the Iranian foreign minister, there
was another bizarre performance: that of the Chinese foreign minister. Before
an astonished audience, Yang Jiechi laid out the theory of harmony behind
Chinese foreign policy [watch below]. As though China hadn't stood reliably at
the side of the very rogues who have so severely disrupted this harmony
and international order - be it Sudan, North Korea, or Iran.
Chinese
Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi at the 46th Conference on
Since Russia has now swung
around to the view of the Western states on the Iran nuclear dispute, Peking [Beijing]
alone is preventing new sanctions.The Chinese
constantly repeat that it continues to rely on negotiations. And this, eight
years after the discovery of Iran's secret nuclear program and after six years of
intense negotiations that consisted of a series of Iranian lies, deceptive
maneuvers, broken agreements and withdrawn pledges.
CHINA HAS ITS REASONS
There are several reasons for
the Chinese refusal. First of all, the country obtains important raw materials
from Iran. Second, Beijing, partly because of Tibet, among other reasons, has
long been a major proponent of the principle of non-interference in domestic
affairs, and apparently considers this more important than the commitments made
by Iran when it signed the Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty. Third, China’s position is marked by the same
anti-Western impulse that long determined Moscow's policy toward Iran: A
concept of balance firmly anchored in 19th century power politics, which
assumes that anything harmful to the West is good for China. And fourth, China is
acting out of solidarity with a fellow authoritarian regime.
This last point is often
overlooked in the foreign policy debate, because the West sees China as a
country whose political evolution has been delayed, but nonetheless, one that
will eventually arrive at the port of democracy. In fact, the conflict between
liberal democracy and authoritarian government has been going on since the
French and American Revolutions. It entered a new phase in the 1990s and no
longer has the ideological focus it had during the Cold War, since neither
Russia nor China offer the world a real political alternative. However, they
and many others see themselves in a defensive struggle against democracy. And
in that struggle, every state that remains in the authoritarian camp becomes an
important ally.
AUTHORITARIAN REGIMES STICK TOGETHER
When Woodrow Wilson entered
World War I against Germany, he hoped to “make the world safe for democracy.” Today,
authoritarian regimes hope to make the world safe for undemocratic states. After
a wave of democratization swept the globe during the 1990s, they have organized
a tenacious resistance. They learn from one another. And they stand united.
In the end, it's irrelevant
whether Iran is a theocracy and that North Korea preaches stone-age era
communism. Of importance to Beijing is that both are part of an anti-democratic
bulwark, with which the wave of democratization can be stopped. How successful
this strategy has been can be deduced by reading the reports of Freedom House that
document the decline of freedom and democracy in the world during the last four
years - the worst setback since the fall of the Berlin Wall.
INFLUENCE WITHOUT RESPONSIBILITY
With the revival of competition
between political systems so well-known during the Cold War is an associated paralysis
of the international system. This now threatens President Barack Obama with
failure. Because more than most of his predecessors, Obama happens to count on
the United States acting through that very international system - specifically the
U.N. Security Council. If Beijing ensures that the U.N. Security Council
becomes irrelevant, it will promote the erosion of the international system. And
with an Iranian bomb, an important cornerstone of this system - the non-proliferation
regime, would, too, become irrelevant.
Posted
by WORLDMEETS.US
China wants to weigh in heavily
on everything, but without accepting the responsibilities that come along with
that. But the time has come for China to finally accept responsibility for the
maintenance of international order, from which, as the world’s leading
exporter, it profits more than any other country. That should be more important
than solidarity among dictators.
