China and the International Society by Adaptation & Self-Consciousness

Author:Adaptation & Self-Consciousness
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781938134524
Publisher: World Scientific Publishing Company

Figure 1: The number of articles which contain the concepts of “neighborhood”, “neighboring environment” and “neighboring security environment” in People’s Daily.

Source: Database of People’s Daily.

Emphasis on changes in international environment with a view to peaceful development did not start in the 1980s, but a creative contribution in the late 1980s came when China realized the need for a peaceful neighboring environment. As early as April 1975, in meeting with Carl Albert, Speaker of the House of Representatives and John J. Rhodes, Minority (Republican) Leader of the House of Representatives, Deng Xiaoping pointed out that We need a peaceful international environment to build our country.8 In October 1990, in his speech delivered at the Asia Society of America in New York, Foreign Minister Qjan Qjchen observed, China’s economic development needs a peaceful international environment .... China has always attached importance to the development of good-neighborly and friendly relations with Asian countries on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence.9 In December 1990, in reviewing the progress in China’s relations with ASEAN, Zhang Guocheng proposed that the two sides need to have a peaceful and stable surrounding environment. These determined that China’s emphasis on developing friendly and cooperative relations with the ASEAN countries is not an expedient measure, but a long-term basic principle that China will adhere to.10

In December 1990, Foreign Minister Qian Qichen said in an interview with People’s Daily journalists, Now is the best time in the 40 years of our relations with neighboring countries.11 In March 1991, at the outline report meeting of the “Eighth Five-Year Plan”, Chinese Premier Li Peng remarked, Chinese government vigorously develops good-neighborly and friendly relations with neighboring countries as the focus of foreign affairs, and now is one of the best periods in our relations with neighboring countries since the founding of our country.12 In May, in a speech delivered in Moscow during his visit to the Soviet Union, Jiang Zemin pointed out, China attaches great importance to the development of good-neighborly and friendly relations with neighboring countries.13 The term “neighborhood” then has clearly included Japan. On July 1, in commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the Communist Party of China, Jiang Zemin stressed, We want to continue adhering to the independent foreign policy of peace, actively develop friendly relations with all countries, in particular, maintain and develop good-neighborly and friendly relations with neighboring countries and strengthen unity and cooperation with the countries of the Third World.14 In December 1991, at the 46th session of the United Nations General Assembly, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qian Qichen stated, To develop good-neighborly and friendly relations with neighboring countries and to create a peaceful and stable surrounding environment is an important part of China’s independent foreign policy of peace.15 This is the first time that Chinese government announced to the world the importance of a good “neighboring environment” for China in a foreign country.

In analyzing the strategic situations China is faced with, Chinese academia uses “neighboring security environment” more often than “neighborhood” and “neighboring environment”.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.