China Daily Weekly - 09.08.2019

ByTOMHARPER

T

heUnitedKingdomgot
its third primeminister
sincetheEuropeanrefer-
endumof 2016 intheform
ofBorisJohnson,butmanyofthe
problemsthat plaguedhisprede-
cessor persist.
Whilethequestionofhow to
implementBrexitcontinuesto
dominateheadlines, theissueof
Britain’s relationshipwithChina
hasnot receivedthesameamount
ofcoverage,eventhoughitisan
equallyimportantissueforBritain’s
future.
TheSino-Britishrelationship
wasrecentlyinvokedbyJohnson’s
apparentendorsementofChina’s
BeltandRoad Initiative.Thishas
comeas somethingofa surprise
giventheassumptionthat a John-
sonpremiership wouldfurtherties
withtheUnitedStatesratherthan
China.Butjudgingbyhisrecord,
thisshouldnothavebeenso unex-
pected.Afterall,Johnsonserved
intheCamerongovernmentin

what was the“goldenera” ofSino-

Britishties, as decl aredbythethen

chancellor oftheexchequer, George

Osborne.ThissawBritainjointhe

AsianInfrastructureInvestment

Bank.

AstheUKinchesclosertoBrexit,

adeeperSino-Britishrelationship

h bas ecomeimperativefor thenew

leadership’sforeignpolicy.Thisis

apriority.Another“goldenera”is

requiredtofurtherthesetiesinthe

faceofthewiderpivot ofeconomic

andpoliticalpower towardAsia.

Oneareawherethesetiescanbe

furtheredisthetradingrelationship

betweenthetwo countries.China

istheUK’s second-largest trading

partner outsideoftheEuropean

Union,beingthedestinationfor

Britishexports worth22. 3 million

pounds ($27.1million), andhas

oftenbeenheldupasanalternative

to theEUforBritain’s traderela-

tions.ShouldBritainleavetheEU,it

wouldbenecessary to deepentrad-

ingtiesbetweentheUKandChina.

An dthatwouldrequiregreater

exports ofBritishproducetoChina.

China’s centrality toBritainis

evidentintheroleitplaysinthe

Britisheconomy, whereLondonhas

becometheEuropeancapitalofthe

renminbi. Its dail trady eofoffshore

renminbireached69billionpounds

inthesecond quarterof 2018 ,fur-

thercementingLondon’s status

inthatit accountedfor almost 39

percentoftransactionsinoffshore

renminbi,overtakingHongKong.

It isthisrolethat willplayasig-

nificantpartinshapinga stronger

Sino-Britishrelationship.

Chinahas also becomean

integralfactorinBritishhigher

education,withChinesestudents

comingindroves to study atBrit-

ishuniversi ities.Thshas seen

Chinesescholars becomethelarg-

est contingentofforeignstudents

intheUnitedKingdom,witha30

percentincreaseinthenumber

ofapplicationsfromChina.While

thiscanbeattributedtoBritain’s

prestigeineducation,itisalso

aresultoftheseeminglyhostile

environmentChinesestudentsface

intheUS.ThishasmadetheUK

anattractivealternative.

Chinesescholars willalso

becomemoreimportantforBrit-

ain’shighereducationsectorifthe

apparent dropinapplicationsfrom

EUnations—by3percent accord-

ingto datafromtheRussellGroup

in 201 8—isanindicationofdevel-

opments to come.

Ontheotherhand,itispossible

thatChinawillalso becomean

attractivedestinationforBritish

scholars.Chineseuniversitieshave

launchedapushto recruit students

and academics, withseveralevents

aimedatachievingthisheldin

London.Chinaispresentlythe

thirdmostpopular overseas study

destination,with379,000 students

comingto studyinChinain2015.

Britishstudentshavecontributed

to thisfigure,withthenumber

ofstudents seekingto workand

studyinChinatriplinginthesame

year.Thishas al sso eenagrowing

relationshipbetweenBritishand

Chineseuniversities, withseveral,

suchas LiverpoolandNottingham,

establishingcampusesinChina. It

isthefieldofeducationthat offers

anexpressionofthewiderSino-

Britishexchanges.

WhiletheSino-Britishrelation-

shipcontinuestogrow, remaining

aconstantregardless ofthechange

inprimeminister, theoverall

importanceoftieshasgrown,with

thepost- 20 16 worldmakingita

furtherimperative.WhileBritain’s

departurefromtheEUandthe

consequencesofitarestilluncer-

tain,whatiscertainistheneedfor

astrongerrelationshipbetween

LondonandBeijingandthecon-

tinuationofthegoldenera ofthis

relationshiptoachieveamutually

beneficialoutcome.

The author is a doctoral researcher

in politics and international

relations at the University of

Surrey.He specializes inChinese

foreign policy in the developing

world.The author contributed this

article toChina Watch, a think tank

powered byChinaDaily.The views

do not necessarily reflect those of

ChinaDaily.

WithUK’simpendingdeparturefromEU,adeeperrelationshipwithChinalooksimperative

ByLIZHENG

T

hewhitepaper“China’s
NationalDefenseinthe
New Era”,issuedonJuly
24 ,isthefirst systematic
andcomprehensivedocumenton
China’s defenseinfour years, and
detailsthenewcommandand
management systemofthePeople’s
LiberationArmyanditsnewstra-
tegictasksandlong-termdevelop-
mentplan.
Thewhitepaperisalso a timely
moveto scotchrumors andspecu-
lations,includingrecentmedia
claimsthatChinaandCambodia
havesigneda“secretagreement”
allowingChinatouseanavalbase
ofCambodiaandthat,inaddition
to GwadarPort,Chinaalso seeks
to buildamilitary baseinJiwani,
Pakistan.
Thesereports suggestChina’s
BeltandRoad Initiativeismoving
towardmilitarization.SomeWest-
ernscholarsevenbelieveChina’s
realpurposebehindtheinitiativeis
militaryexpansion,andeconomic
cooperationisonly as “bait” to
“entrap” countries.
Giventhecurrenttensions
betweenChinaandt Unihe ted

States,ithas becomeeasierfor

sometohypethe“Chinaconspira-

cy” theory, whichstemsfromamis-

understandingofChina’smilitary

strategyandintentions.

Tooutsiders,China’smilitary

growthanddefensivedefense

policyareacontradiction.TheUS

believesthat becauseofitsgrowing

military power,Chinawillinevi-

tablyseekgoalsbeyondthemere

safeguardingofnationalsecurity.

TheUSalso speculatesthat

China,likeother powerfulcoun-

tries, willpursueregionalorglobal

hegemonybyusingitsmilitary

power.Thenewdefensewhite

paperclears suchmisunderstand-

ings.

Whileacknowledgingtherecent

changestotheglobalenvironment

andChina’smilitary, thenewwhite

paper’s assessmentoftheinterna-

tionalsituationismorecautious

thanthe 20 10 version.

Increasinglyfierceglobalmilitary

competitionhasmadeitneces-

saryforChina to catchup with

theworld’sleadingmilitary pow-

ers,implementextensivemilitary

reformsandestablishanewman-

agementandoperationalcommand

system.

Chinanowhasaclearernational

defensestrategy, whichfocuses

onimprovingcombat readiness:

“Wewillnot attackunless weare

attacked, but wewillsurely coun-

terattackifattacked.”

ThisdoesnotmeanChinawill

fundamentallychangeits defensive

defensepolicy. Infact, thenew

whitepaperdemonstratesthat

Chinahasfoundwaystoresolve

thecontradictionbetweenmili-

taryexpansionandthedefensive

defensepolicy—byincreasing

transparencyasChina’smilitary

strengthgrows.

Thenewwhitepapernot only

detailsthenewcompositionand

scaleofthecombatforces, but also

reflects thestrategicplanningof

China’smilitarymodernization.

Theoverallplanistocompress

non-combatants, significantly

reducethesizeofthearmy’s active

service,andmoderatelyenhance

strategyandcombatforcesin

emergingareas. It showsChina’s

military strategyremainsf usoc ed

onnationaldefense.

Thesecondsolutionto theper-

ceivedcontradictionistomake

clear thelimits ofChina’s defense

spending.Thewhitepaperuses

data to show thatChina’s defense

spendinggrowthisgenerallycon-

sistentwithitseconomicandfiscal

conditions, andthat thereremains

alargegap betweenthedefense

budgets ofChinaandsomedevel-

oped countries.

Besides,Chinahasnotincreased

thedefensespendingbecauseof

changesintheinternationalenvi-

ronmentnor doesitintendtouse

themilitaryindustry to boostits

economy.

Thethird solutionistoincrease

theChinesemilitary’s supplyof

internationalpublicsafety prod-

ucts.Thewhitepapersaysoneof

thePLA’slong-termtasksistobuild

acommunity ofasharedfuturefor

mankind.

ThegoalistomakethePLAa

forceto safeguard worldpeace,

onethat actively supportsUnited

Nationspeacekeeping,helps with

internationaldisasterrelief,pro-

videshumanitarianassistance

andtakesglobalcounterterrorism

measures.

Chinabelievestheunstablefac-

torsintheworldareconnected,

andthat controllingandreduc-

ingthesefactors would boostits

nationalsecurity, too.

Thefourthsolutionisto

strengthenglobalmilitary coopera-

tionandactivelyintegratewith

theinternationalsecurity system.

ThewhitepapersaystheSino-US

military relationshiphas showna

generally positivetrend,andChina

wants tofurther stabilizeSino-US

relations.

It alsomoreactively participates

intheregionalsecurity architecture

inordertopeacefullyresolvethe

disputesanddifferenceswithits

neighbors.

Itisthusclear that thePLA’s

goalintheneweraistobecomea

constructiveforceformaintaining

theworld orderandglobalpeace.

Chinahaslongbelievedthepur-

poseofamilitary shouldnot beto

bullyother countries butinst eadto

maintainpeace.Thisprinciplewill

helparisingChinatobetterinte-

gratewiththeworld.

The author is an assistant research

fellow at theChina Institutes of

Contemporary International

Relations.The views do not

necessarily represent those ofChina

Daily.

Source: chinausfocus.com

Whitepaperhighlightsstrategictasks,developmentplanofthePeople’sLiberationArmy

A force to safeguardworld peace

London’seye on Beijing post-Brexit

CHINA DAILY GLOBAL WEEKLY August 9-15, 2019 COMMENT 25