Out with zero-sum game and in with spirit of trust

Latest round of diplomatic overtures in asia augurs well for secure future

With perceptions regarding the full extent of the US commitment to Asia becoming more questionable - engendered by the conspicuous absence of President Barack Obama at the latest Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation gathering - the growing role of China as the new master "system integrator" in Southeast Asia could not have become more obvious.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang both provided ample evidence in words and deeds that China intends to play a major role in shaping Asian affairs, and that its purposes are anything but nefarious or necessarily antithetical to peace and stability in the region.

Recognizing Asia's increasingly pivotal role in world economic, financial and political affairs, China's leaders used their recent travels to ASEAN and to the APEC meeting to rally their regional neighbors and solidify regional ties - a task more easily accomplished by the fact that the US, perhaps unavoidably, seems more preoccupied with its own serious domestic problems and its continued tendency to make Middle East diplomacy its highest priority.

The US message to Asia continues to be, "be patient, you are important and we'll get to you eventually", while the messages coming out of Beijing are more "just in time" with positive vibes accompanied by multiple, tangible cooperative economic and financial initiatives, backed up by significant real investment commitments.

No doubt, some countries in the ASEAN region still remain uneasy about China's policies and intentions, particularly regarding the islands in the South China Sea. Sino-Japanese relations remain as tense as ever. That recognized, the Chinese posture in Southeast Asia this past 10 days has helped to relieve a great deal of anxiety across each of the ASEAN capitals.

Ironically, it also should relieve apprehensions in Washington. An ASEAN region marked by more constructive Chinese behavior and a more collaborative China overall is very much in alignment with US strategic objectives in the final analysis.

As Chinese leaders seem to have recognized, provocative, cantankerous behavior by China only raises the level of uneasiness in the US and across Southeast and Northeast Asia about Beijing's growing presence in the region.

So, while the US' stature in the region may have taken a bit of a hit recently, we nonetheless may be witnessing a turn of events that leaves everyone feeling a lot more secure and comfortable about evolving political, economic and security trends there. A rising China that is in name and in fact tangibly and seriously committed to enhanced regional harmony and cooperation would be a much-welcomed development, especially in light of previous views to the contrary.

In the final analysis, it is up to the US and its allies in the region to find the right package of political and economic incentives and to create the right array of messages regarding China. In this way, the game of regional diplomacy in Asia could conceivably shift in concrete ways from a largely zero-sum game to one where everyone can perhaps come out a winner.

The author is foundation professor of Contemporary Chinese Affairs, Arizona State University. The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

(China Daily Africa Weekly 10/18/2013 page13)