Peaceful rise

Question 1

Formation of peaceful rise

Answer 1

• show China as non-threatening; where there is peace and stability, there are opportunities for investment
• 1st mention = 2003 Boao Forum
• has prereqs of superpowerdom; UNSC veto, nuclear weapons

Question 2

Issues around peaceful rise

Answer 2

Nationalism

• Sep 7, 2010 Chinese trailer collided with Japanese patrol boat near Senkaku Islands
• Chinese skipper detained
• Government responded by freezing exports of rare minerals to Japan, cancelling official visits
• Govt. facilitated protests on Sep 15-16; 100,00 people, 12 cities
• by Sep. 18, spread to 180 cities
• protests out of control; in Shanghai, troops brought in to protect Japanese, arrest rioters, mass SMS sent out warning not to protest
• protests stopped after Sep.19
• ‘…cannot play with nationalist fires without the risk of conflagration…’ (Economist Sept 2012

Human rights

• 30,000 rumoured web police
• 18,000 websites blocked
• thought to have highest number of political prisoners
• Falun Gong prisoners used for organ transplants (2/3ds can be traced back to prisoners)
• 13% of blocked websites are those for collective action

Support for pariah states

• North Korea: 61% of exports go to China
• China didn’t condemn sinking of SK warship in 2010 and subsequent shelling of SK territory

Question 3

Actions taken for peaceful rise/ perceptions of regional role

Answer 3

South China Sea

• China offered joint exploration with Phillipines
• January 2013

Cambodia and Thailand

• 2003 anti-Thai riots in Phnom Penh
• Cambodia and Thailand asked China to mediate
• representatives from both countries called to Beijing
• Deputy Foreign Minister Wang Yi told them to lay out grievances, in a private audience asked the two to normalise relations

Question 4

Outcome of peaceful rise

Answer 4

• 19% company trust in developed countries, 35% developiing (Germany 70%)
• Pentagon will deploy 60% of its overseas forces in Asia (up from current 50%), talks with Philippines about US troops and naval vessels for the “protection of the West Philippines Sea” (despite ordering US forces off territory in 1990)
• PEW research poll found China had a 50% positive rating, (US 63%)
• May 2012, Phillipines announced it was unilaterally bringing its Scarborough Shoal dispute with China to the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea following Beijing’s rejection of its call for the tribunal’s arbitration of the issue