As China's overseas interests and presence expand, so too will the range of foreign policy challenges Beijing faces. Addressing these challenges adeptly and successfully will require new ways of thinking about foreign policy priorities and new ways to implement them.
Earlier this month, China released its most recent defense white paper, an authoritative document that purports to reflect Beijing's official views. In this white paper, China claimed that it is actively seeking to integrate into global society, and, quote, "strives to build through its peaceful development a harmonious world of lasting piece and common prosperity."
Despite Beijing's claim to build a, quote, "harmonious world of lasting peace and common prosperity," its foreign policy actions in recent years are increasingly assertive and, in some cases, deeply troubling.
China's harassment of U.S. Navy vessels in international waters in March 2009, its labeling of the South China Sea as a "core interest" last year, and unilateral embargo on rare earth exports to Japan over territorial disputes are not the actions of a nation seeking to build a "harmonious world."
Instead it appears that China may be moving away from Deng Xiaoping's 1990s' advice of "hide your capabilities and bide your time," toward a policy that seeks to pursue China's interests in a more direct manner. In every trouble spot around the world, the United States and China are on opposite sides. The Communist Party press has called for China to lead the world "anti-interventionist" movement against "the Western supremacist interest."
One of Deng's most cited slogans---including by President Hu, is "Hide one's capacities and bide one's time; seek concrete achievements." Its origin goes back to ancient times and is a paraphrase of the advice from the great Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu, "Although capable, display incapability to them. When committed to employing your forces, feign inactivity." The notion of a "peaceful rise" is part of the "way of deception" at the core of this strategy. America must not become alarmed at Chinese ambitions or it will cease to send capital and technology to China to further help it expand.
