View Point: Enter the dragon; exit the eagle?

Julia Suryakusuma, Jakarta | Wed, 11/30/2011 9:38 AM A | A | A | - Klipping the Jakarta post

When European and Western hegemony was at its peak in the 1980s and 1990s, my late husband, Ami, often asked why people studied European languages instead of Chinese or Japanese. “Asia,” he said, “is where the future will lie.” If Ami were still alive, he would be justified in saying, “I told you so” (although Hindi, Korean and Indonesian would have been on his list now too!).

Even the US has cottoned-on now, shifting its gaze from the Middle East (where the Arab Spring is starting to look more like autumn) to Asia. The stable societies in our region continue to enjoy booming economic growth despite Europe and America’s financial crisis (which is not global at all, folks!).

That’s why US President Barack Obama hailed the decade-old “Asia-Pacific century” two weeks ago in Australia. He also announced that the US would establish a new foothold in the most dynamic part of the world by strengthening military ties with its longtime ally Down Under. It will deploy 2,500 Marine Air-Ground Task Force in Darwin by 2017 for the first time since World War II.

This generated speculation, controversy and anxiety. Some viewed it negatively, accusing the US of aggressive imperialist ambitions. They said that the move undermined efforts to make the region more peaceful and could tear ASEAN apart. Another analyst said the US had its sights on Timor Leste’s oil reserves and its troubled Freeport interests in Papua. Even our smooth-as-silk foreign minister, Marty Natalegawa, questioned American motives, hoping the deployment wouldn’t create tensions in the region. Given the US’ reputation as a bullying Globocop, these reactions were not surprising, but were they right?

The Darwin base seems to me to be more recognition of American weakness than a statement of ambition. Surely it is really about the US trying to maintain its dwindling power as China rises? It seems to me that if China thinks the US is trying to encircle them, they’d be dead right.

And you can see why: China is currently the second-largest economy after the US, contributing 30 percent of global wealth. Even by conservative estimates, it’s projected to overtake the US as world economic leader by 2027. China is also the US’ banker as well as the world’s factory floor, with global markets flooded with Chinese goods — and takeovers.

In 2005, MG Rover became the last domestically-owned mass-production car manufacturer in Britain, snapped up by the Nanjing Automobile group. Imagine — the quintessential British sports car is now Chinese, or half-Chinese at least. (Well, better Chinese than belly-up, like the eurozone.)

The point is that almost everyone else in Asia expects China’s financial invasion to be followed by military expansionism. Their shared heebie-jeebies are driving them to band together to contain the dragon. Even Vietnam is burying the hatchet of the Vietnam War and getting cosy with America. Politics do make for strange bedfellows, but is their China-phobia justified?

Maybe — history suggests that every rising imperial power has expressed itself with military force: the Greeks, the Romans, the Ottomans, Russia, Germany, Britain, Japan and America. Why would China be different?

As China builds its military and buys more of the world’s resources to fuel its growth, it is less willing to hear Americans telling it what to do (on the US’ quandary re China, read http://money.cnn.com/2010/05/06/news/international/china_america_full.fortune/). It continues to back its pariah buffer state, North Korea;
it continues to incarcerate dissidents; its threats to invade Taiwan have not been withdrawn. And now, it is making serious claims in the South China Sea.

But while China may be a rising power, the US is still a great power — in fact, for all its many faults and failings, still the dominant global power. It still has the stronger military as well as global reach, with allies and bases all over the world, particularly in regions surrounding China (Japan, Taiwan, Korea, India, etc.).

It is determined to keep China hemmed in if it can. So, like it or not, there is a real possibility of eventual conflict in the Pacific between the eagle and the dragon, as many fear.

Like Indonesia, Australians know that if an attack comes, it will be from the North as in World War II (invasion via Antarctica might be a bit tricky). This means that a “love triangle” between the US, Australia and Indonesia has its own natural geopolitical logic.

Indonesia is of increasing strategic importance to the US because it’s the obvious leader of a regional neutral block. It also controls three vital deep-water passages between the South China Sea, the Indian Ocean and the Pacific: the Lombok, Malacca and Sunda Straits.

Australia is also a natural ally of Indonesia because of the similarities between them — yes, that’s right, I did say similarities. Unlike China, both are multiparty democracies and both have open economies (and have signed free-trade deals with each other).

And whatever misgivings Indonesians and Australians may have about the US, it’s still an open society and a genuine democracy, and China is neither of those things. Shared anxieties about China will make these similarities matter more than differences.

My Chinese calendar says 2012 will be the year of the Dragon. By the looks of it, so will be many other years to come. So Ami was right — start learning Chinese, folks!

The writer (www.juliasuryakusuma.com) is the author of Julia’s Jihad.

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| | | | | | | | Post Comments | Comments (7)

Mauricio | Thu, 01/12/2011 - 10:12am

A reason that China has not asserted itself is that China is militarily weak. As Robert Kagan explained in his "Power and Weakness", a man living in the woods armed with only a knife may learn to live with the bears that live near his house, whereas the same man armed with a shot-gun might be more inclined and prepared to confront the bears.

China is not fundamentally different than any other country. It seeks power and influence with the tools at its disposal, taking stock of its own capabilities and the capabilities of its rivals.

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Paolo Scalpini | Thu, 01/12/2011 - 00:12am

Not very well researched this writing. Even after WWII with the French still clinging on to Vietnam and the Americans putting their nose in it, Ho Chi Minh already considered China as the biggest threat to Vietnam. No wonder. China occupied Vietnam for many centuries as a "southern province".
Unfortunately the rise on China is overrated. How much of the progress and wealth can still be found if you leave the coastal region and big cities?
Yes there is a lot of manufacturing due to artificially cheap prices. But what about real efficiencies, and innovation? Is it not a paper dragon with all this debt paper?
More worrying than Chinese expansionism is internal instability. Some day, I fear, China will face a new revolution. Hopefully China will thus start selling to their internal market and use the paper to import goods and services for their people instead of amassing capital.

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jennifer | Wed, 30/11/2011 - 21:11pm

The first half of this piece is great. I was with the author until she said 'everyone expects China's financial invasion to be followed by military expansionism'. Yes, true, everyone expects that. But the rest should have about how China has not acted militarily like the US or European nations have and there is no reason to think that they will. China has wielded financial might at certain points in history without the kind of militarization/conquest/world's police one conceives of according to the western model. I am so over the "China fearmongering beware of attack" theme that is so prevalent. Give us something else, please. The China-hegemon-not-a-free-society-smart-with-money-taking-over-the-world discussion is dead. The dragon has entered and is doing fine. Everyone else needs to stop their whining and bitching from below.

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Mario | Wed, 30/11/2011 - 15:11pm

So uh, any of you start learning Chinese? I do.

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Mauricio | Wed, 30/11/2011 - 13:11pm

What do you do wrong?

Well, for one, you engage in these tedious, ill-informed, paranoic diatribes about foreign intervention. This serves to not only to annoy and distract others, but more importantly it serves to distract Indonesians from the indisputable fact that the biggest threat to Indonesian security and stability comes, not from Australia or from the United States, but rather from your own government, your own military and your own people. That's what you do wrong.

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agus | Wed, 30/11/2011 - 12:11pm

Who needs the enemy when Australia and US make use every chance to badmouth Asia in every countries and continents?

Does Asia do anything wrong to receive negative treatment from former colonialists?

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Mauricio | Wed, 30/11/2011 - 12:11pm

Yankee, go home! Australia is a rich, developed country. I don't see why Americans should be subsidizing Australia's defense, or providing an insurance policy or defense shield of any king. Indonesians are fundamentally suspicious and ambivalent about getting entangled with the U.S. I don't see why the United States should partner with such potentially unreliable, paranoic and reluctant associates. Leave Indonesians to fend for themselves and defend themselves when and if the Chinese threat materializes. Good riddance, with "allies" like these who needs enemies!

I rather think the U.S. should strike a grand bargain with Russia and China, to divy up the world into exclusive areas of influence and dominance, and settle the issue once and for all. If China wants to be China, monggo mas...Silahken. They make our goods and bankroll the U.S., and the U.S. turns a blind eye. Yeah, that's the ticket...

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