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US-China relations
OpinionComment

The US is right that China has no allies – because it doesn’t need them

Zhou Bo says US criticism that China is building a ‘great wall of self-isolation’ misses the point, as choosing to remain above the fray is a strategic choice and serves Chinese interests well

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Zhou Bo says US criticism that China is building a ‘great wall of self-isolation’ misses the point, as choosing to remain above the fray is a strategic choice and serves Chinese interests well
Zhou Bo
States engage in military alliances to protect themselves against threats from other states. However, China doesn’t need alliances for survival. Illustration: Craig Stephens
States engage in military alliances to protect themselves against threats from other states. However, China doesn’t need alliances for survival. Illustration: Craig Stephens
The latest round of attacks from the US on China – following American criticism over “freedom of navigation” and “militarisation” – is on China’s image. In January, Admiral Harry Harris, commander of the United States Pacific Command, said at a Washington think tank that “we have allies, friends and partners where China does not”. And, earlier this month, US Secretary for Defence Ash Carter asserted at the Shangri-La Dialogue that Beijing is “erecting a great wall of self-isolation”.

Such remarks can be brushed aside almost effortlessly. China has no friends? China is one of the top tourist destinations in the world. A hundred million people visit the Chinese mainland each year. China has no partners? China is the largest trading nation in the world and the top destination for foreign investment. By 2015, 124 countries, including the United States, have China as their largest trading partner.

Nevertheless, Admiral Harris is right to say China has no allies.

China and the United States – best of frenemies

Admiral Harry Harris is right to say China does not have allies. Photo: AP
Admiral Harry Harris is right to say China does not have allies. Photo: AP

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The thing is: China doesn’t need allies. States engage in military alliances to protect themselves against threats from other states. However, China doesn’t need alliances for survival. During the stand-off during the cold war between Nato and the Warsaw pact, China’s non-alliance and non-interference policies won it many friends, particularly from the Third World.

China is not a hegemonic power with an ambition to police the world

Today, China is the second-largest economy in the world and a nuclear weapon state. China has become, as Deng Xiaoping (鄧小平) said, a pole itself. An invasion into the Chinese mainland by any country is next to impossible. As the late Germany chancellor Helmut Schmidt said: “You [China] are big enough and you will be able to stand alone.”

More importantly, China is not a hegemonic power with an ambition to police the world with a Pax Sinica. However different China might be in its social system and ways of development, it has no intention to overthrow the existing world order from which it has benefited enormously. A stronger China today is happy to promote its culture abroad through its Confucius Institutes and so on, but the offer is voluntary rather than missionary. China’s military presence abroad is restricted to humanitarian operations such as peacekeeping, anti-piracy missions, disaster relief and evacuation of non-combatants during a crisis.

US Secretary of State John Kerry shakes hands with Chinese State Councillor Yang Jiechi after both wrote their signatures on the wall during an event on ocean conservation, at the recent US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue in Beijing. Photo: AP
US Secretary of State John Kerry shakes hands with Chinese State Councillor Yang Jiechi after both wrote their signatures on the wall during an event on ocean conservation, at the recent US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue in Beijing. Photo: AP

Is a new cold war brewing over the South China Sea?

If China develops alliances, particularly with Russia, the American hostility towards China will only heighten. The China-US relationship will certainly become more volatile. True, the US is rebalancing towards the Asia-Pacific and beefing up its alliances against China in the South China Sea, but it is irresponsible to conclude that the US wants a conflict with China.

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