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Multilateral
Approach in

CHINA’S Foreign Policy

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Multilateral
Approach in

CHINA’S Foreign Policy
Joseph Yu-shek Cheng

World Scientific
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Zheng, Yushuo, 1949– author.
Title: Multilateral approach in China’s foreign policy / by Joseph Yu-Shek Cheng.
Description: Hackensack, N.J. : World Scientific, 2017.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017023329 | ISBN 9789813221109 (hc : alk. paper)
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b2912  Multilateral Approach in China’s Foreign Policy

This book is dedicated to my wife, Grace

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Preface
As I am now in retirement from academic life, I decide to consolidate
what I had written on multilateralism in Chinese foreign policy so as

to present a comprehensive analysis on the topic. It involved substantial re-thinking, updating and re-writing — and this book is the result.
The book hopefully offers a useful, informative and stimulating background for a better understanding of multilateralism in China’s foreign policy in the era of reforms and opening to the outside world.
China traditionally followed an orthodox bilateral approach in its
conduct of foreign policy. It began to accept the multilateral approach
with some hesitation through taking part in the ASEAN Regional
Forum in 1994. Soon it took the initiative to organize the “Shanghai
Five” group which formally became the Shanghai Cooperation
Organization in 2001. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization was
the first regional organization promoted by China, and its institutional-building represented the learning, experimentation and substantial efforts on the part of the Chinese leadership.
The China–Africa Cooperation Forum approach then emerged in
2000. It represented an economical way of approaching the over-fifty
countries in the African continent. The innovation worked and the
model then spread to, among others, Latin America, the Gulf region,
Central and Eastern Europe. At times, these mechanisms have not
been very effective, but the experiments have proved their value.
vii

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viii


Multilateral Approach in China’s Foreign Policy

In the Shanghai Cooperation and the BRICS group, while
exploring China’s superior financial strength, its leaders have been
prudent to respect the interests of the other major powers involved.
This prudence has been a significant factor for the survival and
development of these two groups. In sum, the study of China’s multilateral approach enables a student of foreign policy to go through its
leadership’s learning processes in the era of reforms and opening to
the external world. China’s efforts to establish and enhance international influence may be carefully examined; its limitations and frustrations are amply present.
As a researcher of Chinese foreign policy for 40 years and more,
I value opportunities of ideas exchange with people sharing my academic interest. I believe writing and publishing is the principal way of
participating in this enjoyable exchange; and this very thought gives
me the motivation to produce this volume.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have
assisted me in my academic career, and especially my wife Grace who
has been helping me in so many ways, so that I can have more time
to do research and write. She has given me the much-needed support
when I came under pressure, including that from my then line manager and the City University of Hong Kong, for my political activities
in the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong.

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Joseph Yu-Shek Cheng
July 2017

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About the Author
Joseph Yu-Shek Cheng is a retired Professor of Political Science and
was the Coordinator of the Contemporary China Research Project,
City University of Hong Kong. He is the founding editor of the Hong
Kong Journal of Social Sciences and the Journal of Comparative Asian
Development. He has published widely on the political development
in China and Hong Kong, Chinese foreign policy and local government in southern China. His recent publications include China’s
Japan Policy — Adjusting to New Challenges (2015), The Use of Mao
and the Chongqing Model (2015) and China’s Foreign Policy —
Challenges and Prospects (2016). He serves as the Convener of the
Alliance for True Democracy in Hong Kong from 2013 till now, and
is a trustee of the Justice Defence Fund in Hong Kong.

ix

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Contents
Prefacevii
About the Authorix
Chapter 1  Multilateralism — Theoretical Issues
and China’s Approach in Foreign Policy


1

Joseph Yu-Shek Cheng

Part I  China in Asia

41

Chapter 2  China’s Asian Policy: Adjusting to Its

Increasing Strength

43



Joseph Yu-Shek Cheng

Chapter 3   China’s Evolving Regional Strategy in East Asia


Joseph Yu-Shek Cheng

Chapter 4  China’s ASEAN Policy in the 1990s:
Pushing for Regional Multipolarity


171

Joseph Yu-Shek Cheng

Chapter 5  From the Path of Least Resistance to Increasing
Assertiveness: China’s Way of Engagement in
Southeast Asia


123

207


Joseph Yu-Shek Cheng and Huangao Shi
xi

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xii

Multilateral Approach in China’s Foreign Policy

Chapter 6  The ASEAN–China Free Trade Area — Updates
on the Treaty’s Econometric Evaluation

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Stefania Paladini and Joseph Yu-Shek Cheng

Chapter 7  China–ASEAN Economic Cooperation
and the Role of Provinces


267


301

Joseph Yu-Shek Cheng

Part II  China and the World

355

Chapter 8  The Shanghai Cooperation Organization:
China’s Initiative in Regional Institutional
Building357


Joseph Yu-Shek Cheng

Chapter 9  China’s Approach to SCO: Institutional
Development, Economic Cooperation, Security
and the Challenge from Afghanistan


Joseph Yu-Shek Cheng

Chapter 10 China’s Relations with the Gulf Cooperation
Council States: Multilevel Diplomacy in a
Divided Arab World


521


Joseph Yu-Shek Cheng

Chapter 13 China’s African Policy: Increasing Importance
and Active Adjustments


477

Joseph Yu-Shek Cheng

Chapter 12 Latin America in China’s Contemporary
Foreign Policy


437

Joseph Yu-Shek Cheng

Chapter 11  China’s Approach to BRICS


397

587

Joseph Yu-Shek Cheng and Huangao Shi

Bibliography647
Index673


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Chapter 1

Multilateralism — Theoretical
Issues and China’s Approach
in Foreign Policy
Joseph Yu-Shek Cheng

Introduction
John Ruggie and colleagues argued that multilateralism mattered in
1993 or so,1 and that was around the time when the Chinese leadership indicated its agreement and decided to participate in the ASEAN
Regional Forum (ARF) in 1994. It probably led to a more active
approach along the line articulated by Robert Cox that “Multilateralism
is not just a passive, dependent activity. It can appear in another aspect
as an active force shaping world order”.2 In 2001, China took the
initiative and formed the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
Robert O. Keohane defines multilateralism as “the practice of coordinating national policies in groups of three or more states, through ad

 John G. Ruggie (ed.), Multilateralism Matters: The Theory and Praxis of an Insti­

tutional Form (New York: Columbia University Press, 1993).
2
 Robert W. Cox and Timothy J. Sinclair, Approaches to World Order (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1996), p. 494.
1

1

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Multilateral Approach in China’s Foreign Policy

hoc arrangements or by means of institutions”.3 John Ruggie demanded
more and emphasized a “qualitative dimension”; and he chose to consider that multilateralism meant “co-ordinating relations among three or
more states … in accordance with certain principles” that ordered relations among them. It therefore involved a “generic institutional form”.4
James Caporaso sets even higher standards, and he perceives multilateral
cooperation as being regulated by certain general norms and indivisibility
of values.5 Finally, John Duffield observes that the highest level of multilateral institutionalization involves clear rules, compliance, commitment
and an institutionalized third-party mediator.6

Liberal institutionalists believe that multilateralism brings stability, reciprocity in relationships and regularity in behavior. It is seen to
be essential because all states encounter mutual vulnerabilities in an
increasingly interdependent world, and they all intend to share public
goods. Multilateralism can become a source of both international
and domestic legitimacy. A government which attempts to work
together with other governments is naturally in a better position to
argue that it is not in pursuit of particularistic national interests but
common interests. At the same time, leadership and status in multilateral institutions may also enable a government to enhance its
domestic appeal and support.7
Realism and neo-realism international relations theorists tend to
believe that international institutions have little influence on world
 Robert O. Keohane, “Multilateralism: An Agenda for Research”, International
Journal, Vol. 45, No. 4 (January 1990), pp. 731–764.
4
 John G. Ruggie, “Multilateralism: The Anatomy of an Institution”, International
Organization, Vol. 46, No. 3 (Summer 1992), p. 564 [pp. 561–598].
5
 James A. Caporaso, “International Relations Theory and Multilateralism: The
Search for Foundations”, in Ruggie (ed.), op. cit., p. 53.
6
 John Duffield, “Asia Pacific Security Institutions in Comparative Perspective”, in
Muthiah Alagappa (ed.), Asian Security Practice: Material and Ideational Influences
(Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1998), pp. 243–270.
7
 Arthur A. Stein, “Incentive Compatibility and Global Governance: Existential
Multilateralism, a Weakly Confederal World, and Hegemony”, in A. S. Alexandroff
(ed.), Can the World be Governed? Possibilities for Effective Multilateralism (Waterloo,
Canada: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2008), pp. 47–49.
3


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3

politics, even on “low politics” issues such as human rights and the
economy. John Mearsheimer bluntly states: “My central conclusion is
that institutions have minimal influence on stated behavior, and thus
hold little promise for promoting stability in the post-Cold War
world”.8 In contrast, Amitav Acharya argues that multilateralism
assumes five important roles in the promotion of normative changes
in international politics: increased global and economic interdependence; emergence of new transnational challenges; changes in the
global distribution of power, generation of opportunities for new
roles for multilateral institutions; global spread of democracy, offering
a more conducive climate for multilateral organizations to initiate
changes in member countries; and the global spread of civil society
among leading international norm entrepreneurs.9

It is therefore important to raise the issue of effective governance. Jochen Prantl attempts to analyze the problem of international
cooperation through the analytical framework of governance — formal and informal processes and institutions — that generates authority to promote collective action, enforce specific lines of collective
action outcomes and make those outcomes acceptable to a wider
international community.10
In the 1990s, when multilateralism began to spread in the AsiaPacific region (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) was
formed in 1989, and China participated in it in 1991), the international community shared a sense of acceptance of liberalism, and the
U.S. was seen as the sole superpower which would work hard to
establish a “liberal global order”. With the benefit of hindsight, however, it was a decade of huge normative ambition generating relatively
 John Mearsheimer, “The False Promise of International Institutions”, International
Security, Vol. 19, No. 3 (Winter 1994–1995), p. 3.
9
 Amitav Acharya, “Multilateralism, Sovereignty and Normative Change in World
Politics”, in E. Newman, R. Thakur and J. Tirman (eds.), Multilateralism under
Challenge? Power, International Order and Structural Change (Tokyo: United
Nations University Press, 2006), pp. 105–107.
10
 Jochen Prantl, “Introduction: International Cooperation under Order Transition”,
in Jochen Prantl (ed.), Effective Multilateralism: Through the Looking Glass of East
Asia (Basingstoke, Hampshire and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013), p. 4.
8

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Multilateral Approach in China’s Foreign Policy

weak institutionalization. The emerging states and rising powers too
wanted to challenge the basic norms of the system or to revise its
foundational principles.11
From a pragmatic point of view, governments do not want to
choose between bilateralism and multilateralism, especially in the
Asia-Pacific region. Brendan Taylor analyzes the options available.
According to him, there is the “bilateral or multilateral” approach
which treats either of them as mutually exclusive modes of international cooperation, and this line of thinking has a tendency to
assume a dichotomous and zero-sum attitude toward the bilateral–
multilateral nexus. Taylor thinks that the pronouncements of
Chinese leaders are good examples. The “bilateral–multilateral”
approach, however, accepts the potential synergies between the
bilateral and multilateral modes of international cooperation and
attempts to strengthen bilateral cooperation through the multilateral route. The annual Shangri-La Dialogue is given as an illustration. The “multilateral–bilateral” approach considers multilateralism
as the final objective and believes that bilateralism is a constructive
“stepping stone” or “building block” for realizing the ultimate goal.
Finally, the fourth approach suggests that these two modes can
coexist peacefully.12
Most governments at this stage probably accept the fourth
approach without studying Brendan Taylor’s framework and accord a
distinct priority to bilateralism. Kishan Rana, a former Indian diplomat, observed that in 1999 the “great majority of ambassadors on
full-time assignments resident abroad engage in classic diplomacy, at
bilateral posts”; he further stated that in the same year, there were


 Andrew Hurrell, “Effective Multilateralism and Global Order”, in Prantl (ed.), op.
cit., p. 25.
12
 Brendan Taylor, “Conceptualizing the Bilateral-Multilateral Security Nexus”, in
William T. Tow and Brendan Taylor (eds.), Bilateralism, Multilateralism and AsiaPacific Security (London and New York: Routledge, 2013), pp. 8–17.
11

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5

about 7,700 resident ambassadors, “an average of 41 ambassadors in
each of the world’s capitals”.13
In recent years, research on multilateralism has spread to cover
the issues of global governance and regional cooperation. Climate
change has often been selected as an important case study. Framing

climate change as a global governance issue is an attempt to consider
the significance of inclusive and flexible decision-making, involving
the roles of leadership and institutions, as well as the locus of authority and the issues of equity and justice. It is commonly recognized
that states alone cannot resolve the immense question of climate
change which is fragmented and highly politicized.14 In relation to
multilateralism, Frank Bierman has adopted the term “global governance architecture”, which is defined as “the overarching system of
public and private institutions that are valid or active in a given area
of world politics. This system comprises organizations, regimes and
other forms of principles, norms, regulations and decision-making
procedures”.15

Multilateralism in the Asia-Pacific Region
Some international relations scholars have argued that future developments in Asia may well be seriously affected by the region’s ability to
construct effective multilateral institutions for integration and cooperation.16 Bates Gill and Michael J. Green observe that since the late
1990s, multilateralism in Asia has been increasingly characterized by
 Kishan S. Rana, Asian Diplomacy: The Foreign Ministries of China, India, Japan,
Singapore and Thailand (Msida, Malta: Diplo-Foundation, 2007), p. 37.
14
 
Katherine Morton, “Responding to Climate Change in the Region: New
Partnerships and Chinese Leadership”, in Prantl (ed.), op. cit., pp. 254–256.
15
 Frank Biermann, P. Pattberg, H. V. Asselt and F. Zelli, “The Fragmentation of
Global Governance Architecture: A Framework for Analysis”, Global Environmental
Politics, Vol. 9, No. 4 (November 2009), p. 15 [pp. 14–40].
16
 Bates Gill and Michael J. Green, “Unbundling Asia’s New Multilateralism”, in
Michael J. Green and Bates Gill (eds.), Asia’s New Multilateralism: Co-operation,
Competition, and the Search for Community (New York: Columbia University Press,
2009), p. 1.

13

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Multilateral Approach in China’s Foreign Policy

its “Asianization” and the pursuit of an “East Asian community”.
Further, it has also witnessed the growth of “ad hoc” multilateralism
and the so-called minilaterals.17
Hatoyama Yukio, the first Prime Minister of the Democratic Party
of Japan (DPJ)-led government elected in August 2009, articulated
his vision of an East Asian community soon after his election. He
declared that the era of U.S. unipolarity was coming to an end and
that the age of Asian multipolarity had arrived.18 Earlier in 2008,
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd also articulated the idea of an
“Asia-Pacific Community” which would embrace “the entire AsiaPacific region — including the United States, Japan, China, India,
Indonesia and other states of the region”. Rudd believed that there
was a strong need for a multilateral Asia-Pacific institution to “underpin an open, peaceful, stable, prosperous and sustainable region”.19
These two proposals, however, did not attract a favorable

response; they were largely criticized as impractical. Critics tended to
treat the proposals as repetition of the “ASEAN way”, i.e., informal,
discussion-club approach that seldom leads to concrete results. They
wanted to see a European Union approach to Asia-Pacific multilateralism, which was obviously not possible at this stage. The U.S. has
substantial reservations concerning Asian community building, and it
wants to promote an inclusive multilateral approach to ensure its
major role in the region. Though it has not openly opposed the establishment of organizations like the ASEAN Plus Three (APT) and
SCO, it would presumably closely monitor their activities to ensure
that its interests would not be compromised.
 Ibid., pp. 8 and 10.
 Hatoyama Yukio, “Japan’s New Commitment to Asia: Toward the Realization of an
East Asian Community”, Address by H. E. Dr. Yukio Hatoyama, Prime Minister of
Japan, Singapore, 15 November 2009. Available at Accessed 15 January 2016.
19
 Kevin Rudd, “Prime Minister Rudd’s ‘Asia Pacific Community’ Proposal: Mr.
Rudd’s Speech on 4 June 2008”, in Frank Frost, Australia’s Proposal for an ‘Asia
Pacific Community: Issues and Prospects, Australia Parliamentary Library Research
Paper, December 1, 2009, No. 13. Available at />library/pubs/rp/2009-10/10rp13.pdf. Accessed 15 January 2016.
17
18

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7

The ad hoc or minilateral approach may well be illustrated by the
mechanisms aroused by the North Korean crisis. In 1995, the U.S.,
Japan, South Korea and the European Union formed the Korean
Peninsula Energy Development Organization to offer Pyongyang fuel
oil and light-water reactors so as to persuade it to abandon its nuclear
weapons program. Subsequently Beijing initiated the four-party talks
involving the U.S., South Korea and North Korea in negotiations to
tackle the nuclear crisis in the Korean peninsula between December
1997 and August 1999. The negotiations were expanded in August
2003 to include Russia and Japan as well.
In the early years of twenty-first century, the U.S., in response to
the exclusionary tendencies in Asian multilateralism, started to form
“coalitions of the willing” — examples included the Container
Security Initiative and the Proliferation Security Initiative as part of its
counterterrorism strategy in the first years of this century.
As reflected by the joint statements from the APEC forum and
the East Asia Summit (EAS), Asia-Pacific countries tend to embrace
an “open and inclusive” regional architecture. The U.S. would like to
strengthen this Asia-Pacific or trans-Pacific orientation and contain
the Asian regionalism approach. While engaging in the promotion of
ad hoc multilateralism, it has to consider its balance versus institutionalization too. Finally, the future role of its traditional bilateral alliances in Asia needs to be reassessed in the context of developing

multilateralism. The keen competition between the Trans-Pacific
Partnership (TPP) promoted by the U.S. Obama administration and
the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) articulated by China in recent years seems to suggest that the U.S. has
given up its previous “wait and see” attitude and has been engaging
in more active competition with China.
Japan has the ambition of assuming a leadership role in multilateral cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region too. Fukushima Akiko
argues that Japan is not interested in a top-down, institutionalized
integration; it prefers a continuous process of de facto regionalization
supported by deepening interdependence. Expansion of intraregional trade is perceived to be a significant factor. It considers that

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Multilateral Approach in China’s Foreign Policy

the future regional architecture should promote healthy cooperation
and competition.20
Japanese officials interviewed by Fukushima considered that it is
wise for Japan to let ASEAN assume leadership in East Asian regionalism so as to avoid rivalry with China and that Japan has been promoting ASEAN’s governorship of regionalism at the EAS.21 In fact, all
major powers in the region realize that it is difficult for anyone of

them to secure strong leadership in the region, and they all accept
ASEAN leadership as the best arrangement or a compromise. This
position is probably stronger for China and Japan.
Mutual distrust or rivalry between China and Japan has probably
been the most serious obstacle in regional cooperation in the AsiaPacific region. In view of rising nationalism in both countries and the
deteriorating territorial dispute, it is not expected that the bilateral
relationship will improve in any significant way in the foreseeable
future, which means that neither regional cooperation nor community
building in the Asia-Pacific can achieve any significant breakthrough.
Worse still, in the summer of 2014, there was a certain tendency for
Japan not only to strengthen its alliance with the U.S., but also to
improve ties with North Korea, while China and South Korea both
became closer partly because of their further alienation from Japan.
While trying to be more active in its leadership role in regional
cooperation and institutionalization, ASEAN attempts to avoid the
dominance of Southeast Asia or even of Asia by a single major power
through an inclusive balance-of-power strategy. It appears that the
ASEAN states have accepted U.S. military dominance of the Pacific,
including Southeast Asia. In view of China’s increasing assertiveness in
its territorial disputes with the Philippines, Vietnam, etc. since 2010,
this acceptance has become an eagerness to facilitate a strong military
presence of the U.S. in the region. In the eyes of most ASEAN states,
with the exception of those which are friendly with China, like Laos,
Cambodia and Myanmar, the U.S. is perceived as a “benign”
 Fukushima Akiko, “Japan’s Perspectives on Asian Regionalism”, in Green and Gill
(eds.), op. cit., p. 117.
21
 Ibid., p. 119.
20


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9

superpower and an offshore balancer. China, Japan and India, on the
other hand, would not be acceptable in assuming this role.22
ASEAN strongly supports the principle of open and non-exclusionary regionalism so as to retain its leadership role, but like China, it
insists on non-interference in the domestic affairs of other states. It
embraces the concept of cooperative security, that is, “security with”
rather than “security against” the potential adversaries. For all these
reasons, ASEAN is likely to remain the center of Asian regionalism in
the foreseeable future. However, its soft institutionalism approach may
arouse some impatience among those that are eager to promote a
stronger mode of multilateralism; the U.S. and Australia had informally
articulated this impatience before the end of the previous century.
There has been a bipartisan consensus in Australian foreign policy

regarding reinforced Asian engagement. The Tony Abbott Coalition
government elected in 2013, however, would further strengthen
Australia’s strong alliance with the U.S.; for example, it would probably adopt a more clear-cut position on the East China Sea situation,
as expressed in the Australian–U.S. Ministerial Consultations held in
November 2013.
In May 2013, the previous Labour government led by Julia Gillard
released a Defence White Paper which for the first time introduced the
“Indo-Pacific” concept. The White Paper reveals the perception of a
global shift of the center of gravity from the West, including North
America and Europe, to the East, a broad region covering the Indian
Ocean through Southeast Asia and East Asia to the Pacific Ocean. This
foreign and security policy orientation was obviously in line with the
“Asian Century” perception which the Gillard government had
adopted as one of its principal foreign policy parameters.23

 Amitav Acharya, “The Strong in the World of the Weak: Southeast Asia in Asia’s
Regional Structure”, in Green and Gill (eds.), op. cit., p. 183.
23
 
Australian Government Department of Defence, Defence White Paper 2013,
Canberra ACT, 2013. Available at />docs/wp_2013_web.pdf. Accessed 20 April 2016; The National Institute for
Defense Studies, Japan, East Asian Strategic Review 2014 (Tokyo: The Japan Times
Ltd., 2014), pp. 175–177.
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Multilateral Approach in China’s Foreign Policy

The White Paper indicates two perspectives which would have a
significant impact on the development of multilateralism in the AsiaPacific region. Australia perceives the regional order moving toward a
“complicated and competitive” system in view of the rise of China
and India and the relative decline of the U.S. Furthermore, the White
Paper articulates that it “does not believe that Australia must choose
between its longstanding Alliance with the United States and its
expanding relationship with China”.24 These two perspectives seem to
be prevalent in the Asia-Pacific region today. Regarding the latter,
there has been a debate in Australia in recent years among relevant
experts whether Australia would “have to choose” between a rising
China and its most important ally, the U.S., if relations between the
two should worsen. Obviously, the wise decision is to ensure the
avoidance of such a scenario, and this consideration will impact multilateral institution-building in the region at this stage.
Despite the change of government, Australia’s foreign policy line
has not been altered much. In August 2014, the U.S.–Australia Force
Posture Agreement was signed, providing a policy and legal framework and the financial principles for the implementation of the force
posture initiatives in Australia. These subjects, including the rotational deployment of the U.S. Marine Corps in Darwin, have been
discussed between the two governments since 2011.25
In response to China’s rise, the U.S. strategy so far avoids a simple
dichotomy of engagement versus containment. Instead, it has been

inducing China to develop in a way which is compatible with
American interests through encouragement and incentives as well as
making certain options extremely costly. This has been the consistent
orientation of the U.S.’s China policy in the past two or three decades, and it has been largely successful so far. Since 2009, the Barack
Obama administration’s rebalancing toward Asia and pivoting are
designed to demonstrate its commitment to maintain its predominant
 Ibid., pp. 178–180.
 
Australian Government Department of Defence, Defence White Paper 2016,
Canberra ACT, 2016. Available at: />2016-Defence-White-Paper.pdf. Accessed 20 April 2016.
24
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position in the Asia-Pacific region, and to confront China if

necessary.26
The U.S. has not been the only country exercising constraints on
China. The Soviet Union had a very significant impact on China’s
foreign and defense policies in the late 1960s and 1970s. Today, India
and Japan are important security players in the region. The opposition
from the U.S. and Japan to the lifting of the European arms sale ban
on China reflects that Europe is also a factor in the East Asian military
balance. But China certainly wants to maintain a peaceful international environment to concentrate on its modernization and has no
intention to confront the U.S. nor provoke the establishment of an
anti-China coalition in the region.27
South Korea, as a major trading nation, desires Asian regional
integration as a building block for global trade liberalization and economic integration. Like Australia, it does not want to have to choose
between the U.S. and China. While the conservative administrations
of Lee Myong-bak and Park Geun-hye intend to strengthen the U.S.–
South Korea alliance, the liberal administration of Roh Moo-hyun in
its initial years advocated a balancer role in the region. Rising nationalism in the country creates difficulties in Seoul’s relations with Japan
and even with the U.S., especially during the era of liberal administrations. In view of the deep mistrust between China and Japan and the
keener Sino-American competition in regional multilateral institution-building, South Korea’s role has become more constrained.28

 Ming Wan, The China Model and Global Political Economy: Comparison, Impact,
and Interaction (London and New York: Routledge, 2014), pp. 144–146.
27
 The National Institute for Defense Studies, Japan, “The United States: Challenges
for the Global Power”, in East Asian Strategic Review (Tokyo: The Japan Times Ltd.,
2015), pp. 251–260.
28
 The National Institute for Defense Studies, Japan, “The Korean Peninsula: A consolidated Kim Jong Un Dictatorship and South Korea’s Delicate Diplomatic
Wobbling between the United States and China”, in East Asia Strategic Review
(Tokyo: The Japan Times Ltd., 2015), pp. 75–80; Byong Moo Hwang, “Maneuvering
in the Geopolitical Middle: South Korea’s Strategic Posture”, Global Asia, Vol. 9,

No. 3 (Fall 2014), pp. 38–43.
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Multilateral Approach in China’s Foreign Policy

India has limited confidence in collective security arrangements
because of its experience with the United Nations (UN) with regard
to its handling of the Kashmir question. It repeatedly rejected Soviet
proposals regarding collective security in Asia when it was in a
de facto alliance with Moscow in most parts of the Cold War era. In
the recent decade, India is probably assertive enough to frame its
foreign policy in terms of a balance of power. In 2005, Indian
Defense Minister Pranab Mukherjee declared two basic principles:
first, the maintenance of an equitable strategic balance and the prevention of regional rivalries from destabilizing the region; second,
India would engage all players both bilaterally and collectively
through various institutions.29
While India would like to bring China “within the discipline of a

mutually agreed security paradigm for this region” to which both the
U.S. and India can contribute, India does not intend to abandon its
tradition of nonalignment and its strict concept of national sovereignty.30
C. Raja Mohan argues that the stronger India becomes, the more
eager it will be to establish a new balance-of-power system for Asia;
and Indian leaders probably hold the attitude of “multilateralism
where convenient, and unilateralism where necessary”.31

China’s Position on Multilateralism
According to Chien-peng Chung, the Chinese authorities’ attitude
toward regional security and economic multilateral organizations
changed from suspicion, to cautiousness, and to supportiveness,
 Pranab Mukherjee, Concluding Address at the 7 th Asian Security Conference, Institute
for Defence and Analyses, New Delhi, 29 January 2005. Available at http://www.
idsa.in/node/1554. Accessed 15 January 2016.
30
 Shyam Saran, “Address by the Foreign Secretary at the India Economic Summit, New
Delhi, November 28, 2005” in Avtar Singh Bhasin (ed.), India’s Foreign Relations,
2005: Documents (New Delhi: Geetika Publishers, 2005), pp. 139–143. Available at
/>Accessed 15 January 2016.
31
 C. Raja Mohan, “India and the Asian Security Architecture”, in Green and Gill (eds.),
op. cit., pp. 144 and 148.
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coinciding with the respective periods — before 1996, from 1996 to
2000 and after 2000. Chung also observes that in various multilateral
forums and institutions, China is much more eager to promote further institutionalization when the organization’s distribution of
power favors China and when issues dealt with by the organization
are significant for China.32
In the wake of the Tiananmen incident in June 1989, China
gradually recovered from its severe diplomatic setback. It established
diplomatic relations with Indonesia and Singapore in 1990, ended the
Japanese sanctions in 1991 with a visit to Beijing by the Japanese
prime minister, and then established diplomatic relations with South
Korea and Saudi Arabia in the following year. Meanwhile, China
joined the APEC forum in 1991, with the intention of using it as a
platform to secure membership of the General Agreement on Tariffs
and Trade (GATT), the predecessor of the World Trade Organization
(WTO). China’s role within APEC was defined as “active participation and adroit guidance of its development”.33
A considerably tougher test came in 1994 with the establishment
of the ARF. China’s first concern while considering to join the ARF
was whether the U.S., Japan and even Southeast Asian countries
might exploit the ARF to contain China; apparently, the Chinese

leadership had in mind the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization. The
Chinese leaders were also worried about the potential internationalization of the territorial disputes in the South China Sea.34
Beijing finally agreed to join because it acutely felt the need to
establish its image and credentials as a responsible actor, a force for
peace and a good neighbor. It realized that its absence in a pioneering
regional security organization would eventually be counterproductive; a better strategy would be to take part and influence its
 Chien-peng Chung, China’s Multilateral Co-operation in Asia and the Pacific
(Abingdon, Oxon and New York: Routledge, 2010), p. 2.
33
 Han Zhiqiang, “Dui APEC de Jidian Renshi yu Sikao (Some Understanding and
Thoughts on APEC)”, Guoji Wenti Yanjiu (International Studies), No. 2 (2003), p. 32.
34
 Wu Xinbo, “Chinese Perspectives on Building an East Asian Community in the
Twenty-First Century”, in Green and Gill (eds.), op. cit., pp. 56–57.
32

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