Opinion | China needs to re-examine its diplomacy skills to ease regional tensions

China’s leaders have been at great pains to reassure the world of the country’s peaceful rise, and the international community of its intentions to uphold the existing world order.

Under his “neighbourhood diplomacy” initiative, President Xi Jinping ( 習近平 ) sees building a friendly region as key to realising the Chinese dream of national rejuvenation. Policymakers have also launched charm offensives, with the creation of new institutions such as the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the New Development Bank, and the “One Belt, One Road” blueprint to help promote China-centric regional integration.

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However, Beijing’s relations with major regional players Japan, South Korea, India and Australia, and most nations in the 10-member Asean, have all suffered major setbacks, despite a sharp increase in commercial links.

The Sino-Japanese confrontation over their territorial dispute in the East China Sea has pushed the second world war foes to the edge of potentially another conflict. South Korea and the US’ recent decision to deploy the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defence system in response to North Korea’s nuclear programme has destroyed the hard-won friendship between Seoul and Beijing. Mistrust has grown to new levels between China and most Asean members following the landmark ruling in July by an international tribunal that denied Chinese sovereign claims to most of the South China Sea.

Amid rising tension in the East and South China seas, Beijing’s relations with all eight of its maritime neighbours have fallen into deadlock.

Relations with most of its 14 land neighbours are not stable, either. Ties with India have suffered following Beijing’s opposition to New Delhi’s quest for membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group. Suspicions have grown over Australia’s close military cooperation with the US. (While Australia is not an Asian nation, Oceania is a major regional player).

It is understandable that China’s rising clout causes anxiety in the region, whether due to its sheer size, its unique position as the last major communist-ruled nation, or historic misgivings. Rising rivalry between the US, the world’s sole superpower, and a rising China also complicates geopolitics.