Opinion | The limits of Chinese parochialism
Philip Bowring says while Beijing must see itself as more than an Asian power and play a positive role in world affairs, Hong Kong must get over its fixation with mainland China and the West
Three events in recent days have focused needed attention on the international roles of China and Hong Kong: President Xi Jinping's high-profile visit to the US, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying's almost invisible visit to the US, and the case of ex-CIA operative Edward Snowden.
Xi's trip may have had little substance but confirmed the near equality with the US that China is now widely assumed to possess, if only because of its sheer size. But it was also a reminder that China has played almost no role in global theatres, where it might be able to play a positive one because of the assumption of its neutrality.
The prime example is the Middle East, on which its reliance for oil is increasing while that of the US is diminishing. It will need to be involved, and so the sooner it does so, while its hands in the region are seen as relatively clean, the better. No one would wish China to join the crowd of interlopers into Syria's messy civil war, but it does enjoy reasonable relations with the two key protagonists in the Middle East conflict: Iran and Israel.
The US pretence at being a mediator is belied by its de facto support for Israel's creeping expansion and ethnocentric system. US animosity towards Iran has been so unremitting as to bolster the position of Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his fascistic Revolutionary Guard while underwriting the Salafist monarchy in Saudi Arabia and giving birth to a Shiite sectarian regime in Iraq.
Europe lacks a coherent policy for the region and, due to its baggage of history, is unlikely to develop one. Trust in Russia is at a low ebb almost everywhere. So while China may not want to be involved in this convoluted region, neutral observers might well welcome it. It now also has economic influence to put at the disposal of diplomacy.
The more China is seen as a potential benign influence elsewhere, the more likely it is to behave responsibly in its own region. If China sees itself primarily as an Asian power, it will continue to obsess about the Diaoyus, dream of hegemony over its Southeast Asian neighbours and engage in border niggles with India. But a China with a wider global role, especially where it has an interest in limiting conflicts, will be inclined to better behaviour closer to home. As it is, China's diplomats must be painfully aware of the damage to its global image over the past year by its bullying of Vietnam and the Philippines.
