Week 4: China's International Relations and Environmental Partnerships

Week 4 Presentation

This week's topic - China's international relations - is an important one for understanding the context of China's development and environmental impact. Globalization and international trade have been driving forces in China's modernization, and China's international relationships will continue to shape its economic and environmental policies. Within the broad topic of international relations we focused on environment-relevant subjects such as energy security and environmental diplomacy. We structured the class as follows:

1. China's relationship with the US - overview (Cecilia)
2. China-US environmental cooperation (Cecilia)
3. China's energy security (Cecilia)
4. The concept of "Harmonious World" - Hu Jintao's vision for international diplomacy (Devon)
5. China's relations with Africa and Latin America (Devon)
6. EU-China environmental cooperation (Devon)

As Cecilia mentioned, we also discussed China's relations with Japan and Taiwan in more detail. Here, I'll give an overview of the topics I presented and some notes on our discussion.

I. "Harmonious World" - Hu Jintao's vision for international diplomacy

Since Hu Jintao came to power in 2002, he has used “harmonious world” to describe his vision for China’s international rise and domestic Chinese society. By pushing this as his vision for China’s rise, Hu Jintao integrates traditional philosophy and attempts to quell fears of a “China threat.” This concept is also symbolic of China’s growing presence in international affairs. In our discussion, this term proved to be very useful for understanding China’s strategic approach to international relations and the internal problems it faces. Wumeng pointed out that this concept is often looked upon skeptically in China. For example, when websites are blocked in China, people often refer to this as “harmonizing.” He also brought up that the Chinese publication “qi zenme kan,” which lists the seven most pressing issues facing China today, and does not include environmental problems. This discussion helped us put China’s environmental problems in the context of China’s other challenges, including the disparity between rich and poor, high housing prices, and poor medical care. China’s environmental problems are severe, but the country is also met with social issues that may take priority in day-to-day decision-making.

II. China's relations with Africa and Latin America

Hu Jintao has worked to build relations with African and Latin American countries since he came to power in 2002, and since then trade has grown at an incredible rate. China-Africa trade increased from $10 billion/year in 2000 to $72 billion/year in 2007, and China now has formal diplomatic relations with 49/53 African nations. While China has a number of reasons for pursuing these relationships, they are largely centered around oil. Today, one-third of China's oil comes from Africa, and China has oil and gas exploration deals with Venezuela, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Colombia, and Bolivia. In exchange for securing oil partnerships, China has offered billions of dollars in development aid to these trade partners.

These growing partnerships raise some questions. First, is it ethical for China to maintain a position of “non-intervention” and support of human rights violators? China’s support of Sudan is especially problematic, and they received heavy political pressure during the Olympics to end this relationship. However, China is not alone in collaborating with oppressive regimes. In the words of Dartmouth professor of government David Kang, “We support Pakistan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia—huge human-rights violators—because we have other strategic interests. China's not unique in cutting deals with bad governments and providing them arms.” This does not justify relationships with despotic governments, but shows that we must keep context in mind when criticizing China’s actions.

Second, are China’s attempts to build relations in Africa and Latin America just a new brand of neocolonialism? Elizabeth C. Economy of the Council of Foreign relations says providing large aid packages in exchange for exploitative trade deals is an established pattern, and China is not unique in building these kind of relationships. In addition, China denies this criticism, stating that their demand for raw materials keeps prices high, which benefits these countries. In addition, they have offered extensive aid packages to many trade partners including billions of dollars to develop roads, railways, and other infrastructure. So far, China has followed through on some large projects and abandoned others. With time we will see how mutually beneficial these relationships are.

III. China-EU-US environmental cooperation

There are a few key similarities and differences in China-US and China-EU partnerships with regards the environment and climate change. Both the US and EU have held high-level economic summits with China, and in recent years both have incorporated climate change and energy into these discussions. However, the EU and China have made much more progress specifically on climate change, launching the EU-China Partnership on Climate Change 2005. The EU has also formed a number of large research partnerships with China regarding clean energy technologies and carbon sequestration.

In contrast, the US and China have made no concrete climate change agreements or public research partnerships, and continue to point fingers at one another at international climate negotiations. The EU is clearly taking the lead with China on climate change, but this significance of this partnership is uncertain. At Copenhagen, the EU was left out of key negotiations, and China appeared to ignore any progress made with Europe on climate. This represented a major blow to these EU-China climate partnerships as China demonstrated its unbending commitment to development.