55th Pugwash Conference
Hiroshima, Japan, 22-27 July 2005

A Perspective of East Asia Security
Hiroshima, July 22, 2005
Yang Chengxu
Chair, China National Committee for Pacific Economic Cooperation

Today, on the occasion of 60th anniversary of the atom bomb explosion, we come to Hiroshima with a sense of profound condolences to the hundreds of thousands of innocent Japanese people who were mercilessly killed. The best thing to commemorate them for us the living ones to do is to draw lessons from history to prevent occurrence of a new war.

After 9.11 incident , a war in Afghanistan occurred, the war in Iraq has not ended, and turmoils have appeared from Caucasus to Central Asia. In contrast to this, positive changes have taken place as regards security situation in East Asia. A trend is developing for keeping steady and healthy growth of relations among countries in Asia and Pacific region; regional cooperation continues to expand in scale and scope; countries turn to emphasize dialogue and cooperation , and all this has exercised positive impact on relations among countries.

This is firstly demonstrated by emergence of more common points of strategic interests of East Asian countries, particularly major countries. This situation has led to common practice of establishing bilateral dialogue structure among major countries. China and the United States have further realized that strengthening cooperation is in favour of the interests of both countries. A strategic partnership between China and Russia is developing steadily. Only the relations between China and Japan have seen a trend turning for worse, but their relations of economic cooperation is nonetheless still developing. The North-South relations on the Korean Peninsula have been adversely affected due to the impasse of resolution of the Korean nuclear issue, however, North-South relations have recently seen an omen of turning for better. ASEAN which is becoming the only important force could be on good terms with China, the US and Japan. It plays an essential role in maintaining East Asia security. In a word, a format of greater mutual dependence and mutual balance seems to have been created among East Asian countries. Not a major country is in a position of being capable to harm other countries’ interest at will and to seek its own selfish interest and a hegemonic status.

While discussing positive development of security situation in East Asia, we cannot but turn our eyes from East Asia to the entire Asian and Pacific region. In recent years, the rate of economic growth in developing countries in East Asian and Pacific region has always ranked first in the world. Particularly, China with the largest population in the world and India with the second largest population have achieved drastical economic growth which has caught the world’s attention.

In Asia, there are economically developed Japan and Korea, as well as the Asian portion of Russia with rich oil resources. At the same time however, we cannot ignore the other aspect of the fact that there is unbalanced economic development among Asian countries. There are industrial countries with per capita GDP ranking in front in the world, but also countries with very low per capita GDP. Such gap undoubtedly is not in favour of developing East Asian and Asian regionalization. Politics and economy always affect each other. Relative political stability maintained in East Asia has created conditions for countries to be able to concentrate their efforts on developing economy, while the trend of augmented economic development has served to promote greater cooperation among countries, which has provided solid foundation for regional security and stability.
With the growing economic globalization of the day, East Asian countries still face numerous difficulties and harsh challenges. Historical frictions, territorial disputes, and other clashes of interests in real life affect mutual trust. Terrorism still presents real threat in East Asian region. Environment and ecology continue to deteriorate. From SARS to tsunami, spread of epidemics and outbreak of natural disasters have caused loss of human life in hundreds of thousands and loss of property in dozens of billions of US dollars. The Korean nuclear issue as one of hot issues in East Asia has still remained unsolved up till now . China’s basic position on this issue is as follows: (1) Safeguard peace and stability in the Korean Peninsula;(2) Realize non-nuclearization of the Korean Peninsula;(3)Resolve the Korean nuclear issue through dialogue. China is of the view that it is in the interest of all parties including Korea for Korea to give up nuclear weapons. But to achieve this, it is only for the United States to totally change its hostile policy towards Korea and make assured commitment for Korea’s security which is a question of Korea’s concern. The six party talks which catch the world’s attention have held three rounds in Beijing. Though no breakthrough progress has been made, a number of important points of consensus have been reached. They are(1) Peace and stability should be maintained in the Korean Peninsula and for the purpose the Korean Peninsula should be de-nuclearized. (2)The Korean nuclear issue could be resolved only through negotiation and consultation, and no means of pressure and sanction should be resorted to.(3) All six parties have expressed their willingness to make their best efforts to seek a peaceful solution of the Korean nuclear issue.
Since the conclusion of the third round of the six-party talks , at one time news came that relations between some parties involved deteriorated, and at another time good message came that the six-party talks would soon be resumed. The key knot to a solution of the Korean nuclear issue still lies in the fact that United States wants Korea to give up nuclear weapons absolutely and irrevocably while Korea wishes to do that step by step before it is assured of a requisite to the effect that full and reliable safeguard to be given to its security. Return to the negotiation table to seek an approach to resolve the Korean nuclear issue still remains a best choice.

In East Asia, how the triangle relationship of China, the US and Japan develops will have profound impact on peace and stability of the region . Seven or eights years ago, Ambassador Matsunaga , Professor Ezra Vogel of Harvard University of America and I myself together initiated to hold a seminar on China-US-Japan triangle relationship with the objective to promote better cooperation among the three countries, increase mutual understanding and enhance mutual trust. I recall, I put forward my view that if China-US-Japan triangle relationship keeps balanced development, it will surely bring positive impact in East Asia. I mentioned that it seems there is more common ground on the security issue between Japan and the US, while a strong trend keeps going in the economic field between China and the US. But US-Japan relations are obviously more friendly than China-US or China-Japan relations. This constitutes a sort of imbalance in the triangle relationship. Somebody reminded me at that meeting that China-US and China-Japan relations were in the process of developing and that consensus on the question of human rights between China and Japan may be more than with the US. Therefore, maybe there are different degrees of closeness in different fields in China-US , China-Japan and Japan-US relations. Compared to several years ago, I think that today’s situation has become even a little worse. It is my deep belief that mutual trust is very important for relations between major countries. Professor Joseph Nye of Harvard University said that “If you treat someone as an enemy, he will become your enemy.” This is a comment full of philosophical wisdom. Today China’s economy sustains high-speed development. Not a few people are wondering: When China becomes strong, will it be a threat to me? Some others predict that China’s drastical growth will definitely end up with collapse. But I often tell other that “Don’t overestimate China’s economic development. It is not possible for the national power of China to surpass that of the United States . It would also be difficult for China to surpass Japan in per capita GDP. China’s per capital GDP ranks way behind many developing countries. As time goes by, China may move to the front ranks of developing countries, but will all along remain as a developing country. At the same time, however, don’t underestimate China’s capacity of overcoming difficulties. China is a big nation with a large population and vast area which provide big room to maneuver. In the course of developing, China is bound to encounter endless difficulties, but however great difficulties may be , they will not possibly shake the foundation of China’s development.”

In East Asia, ASEAN is the only regional organization which is growing with strong force and is an organization full of vigor and vitality. Over the years, through such structures as ASEAN Regional Forum and 10+3 (ASEAN with China, Japan and Korea(ROK)), ASEAN has kept close touch with countries inside and outside the East Asian region, and is playing an important role in promoting mutual understanding and safeguarding the regional security and stability. In December this year, the first East Asia Summit is going to be held in Malaysia. In my view, ASEAN could play a leading role in handling issues involving security cooperation in this region. This point has been accepted by all parties concerned. No doubt, ASEAN may play a role which all other major countries may not be in a position to play.

Not long ago, a Chinese official made the following remarks at a meeting: On the question of regional security, China takes care to develop and maintain constructive relations with major countries inside and outside this region, in addition to giving importance to enhance dialogue and cooperation with all countries in the region. China does not seek exclusive strategic interest in the region, nor excludes other major countries’ strategic presence and strategic interest in the region. Our ultimate objective is to achieve common survival and all-win situation of all countries concerned. Based on this stand, China wishes to enter into cooperation with other major countries concerned on the question of regional security to the greatest possible extent; in case it is impossible to enter into cooperation due to difference in positions, we then seek coordination; in case even coordination is difficult to have , then we should work to avoid confrontation. This approach of following the above three “C”s to handle security relations among major countries concerned is extremely constructive. This fully demonstrates China’s sincerity in seeking peace and stability.
It is my deep conviction that no country can seek its own absolute security while ignoring other countries’ security, and that only through joint efforts to seek common security, can security and stability of the East Asian region be reassured.