Washington Post: Rising Power

From a Washington Post editorial about China:

…Thus far China’s amazing rise has been relatively peaceful. So much so that many in Asia, even such traditional rivals as Japan and Korea, began to think of China as a potential alternative to the purportedly declining United States as regional guarantor. Another popular conceit was that the United States and China might form a “G-2” partnership to manage global affairs.

But in recent weeks, China’s behavior has reminded the world that it remains an authoritarian state with national and territorial grievances — and its own ideas about the political and military uses to which its economic might should be put. Ominously, the flash point is relations with Japan, which waged war on China for 15 years in the 20th century but more recently has figured as China’s largest foreign investor. Bluntly demanding that Japan release a Chinese fishing boat captain who had collided with Japanese patrol boats in waters both countries claim, Beijing turned a minor dispute into a geopolitical shoving match, complete with officially tolerated nationalist demonstrations in major Chinese cities. Worse, commodities traders reported that China threatened to deny Japanese industry crucial “rare earth” minerals until it got its way. China denied this, but the very notion is sobering at a time when China is engaged in a global effort to lock up raw materials.

Japan announced Friday that it would let the captain go; now China demands an apology besides. Meanwhile, it also continues to question U.S. efforts to impose sanctions against Iran — and pushes to build a nuclear reactor in Pakistan, a possible violation of international nonproliferation law. And, of course, it shows no sign of permitting its undervalued currency to rise substantially, despite overtures from President Obama, including directly to Prime Minister Wen Jiabao last week, and from an increasing number of its trading partners whose economies also suffer from China’s stance.

The picture painted by this behavior is not that of a moderate power eager to fit into a regulated international system. Rather, China’s recent conduct looks more like 19th-century mercantilism.

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