China's crusade against Western imperialism

President Jiang Zemin: wary of Western imperialism

HONG KONG, China (CNN) -- Taking a leaf out of Chairman Mao Zedong's book, Beijing is laying the groundwork for a protracted war against imperialism.

The target of this diplomatic struggle is a kind of "new imperialism" that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership believes Washington is spearheading.

Beijing thinks that under the pretext of rooting out terrorism, President George W. Bush and his European allies are trying to impose a set of Western values on the rest of the world.

For the past week or so, President Jiang Zemin's top aides have drawn the attention of party cadres to the writings of British diplomat Robert Cooper, a top adviser to Prime Minister Tony Blair.

In a recent article entitled "Re-ordering the world: the long-term implications of September 11," Cooper contended that the world would benefit from some form of "liberal imperialism."

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"What is needed is a new kind of imperialism, one compatible with human rights and cosmopolitan values," he argued.

From the CCP's perspective, Cooper is but churning out a new justification to efforts by the U.S. and its allies to intervene in areas including Central Asia and the Middle East.

As Beijing sees it, particularly in light of Washington's soft reaction to Israel's military incursions in Palestine -- which are deemed quasi-terrorist acts by the Muslim world -- Bush's moral high ground cannot be sustained on fighting terrorism alone.

And Cooper's point about imposing values compatible with liberalism, cosmopolitanism and human rights on the rest of humanity could present the self-designated World Cop with a fresh mandate.

In a way of course, Cooper is but resuscitating Blair's famous point made just before NATO's bombing blitzes against Kosovo in early 1999, that global humanitarianism overrides national boundaries.

And China's opposition to this principle -- on the grounds that it could justify Western intervention in Tibet, Xinjiang or Taiwan -- was behind its obdurate support of the Milosevic regime.

However, at least until last February, Beijing went along with Bush's actions in Central Asia because Jiang and his advisers believed the anti-terrrorist campaign was essentially different from that of the Kosovo expedition.

Beijing claims to be a victim of terrorist plots by elements such as the Falun Gong spiritual movement

"Beijing has been telling the world China itself is a victim of terrorist plots perpetrated by elements including separatists in Xinjiang and Tibet, as well as the Falun Gong spiritual movement," said a Beijing-based Western diplomat.

"For this reason -- and the perception that Washington needs China's help in the anti-terrorist war -- Beijing is reassured that the country won't be targeted by Washington and its allies.''

In fact, a number of Chinese diplomats and scholars have pointed out in internal meetings that September 11 would serve to cool Chinese-U.S. tension because Washington has finally understood that China is not its Enemy No. 1.

However, disturbing signs the past month or so have alerted Beijing to the fact that the benefits that September 11 might have generated for Sino-U.S. relations were illusory and short-lived.

Human rights

Events such as an emerging U.S.-Taiwan military alliance -- and the rise of the Cooper doctrine -- have led the Jiang team to fear that after getting its way in Central Asia and the Middle East, Washington may pick up on its pre-September 11 agenda of containing China.

The CCP leadership secured a sizeable victory last week when the Geneva-based UN Commission on Human Rights failed to move a motion to condemn China's record in civil liberties.

However, Beijing is nervous that the Western Alliance may still be using loose -- and arbitrary -- definitions of human rights against China.

For example, Washington's backing for Taiwan would be couched in terms of offering protection to a land with full democracy and civil rights.

Conspiracy theorists in Beijing have also claimed that the U.S. and EU allies have funneled covert aid to underground labor unions as well as the Falun Gong.

Beijing is also unhappy that this same "anti-China alliance" is trying to exert influence on the Nobel Committee to give this year's Peace Prize to a Chinese dissident.

Harry Wu, one of several big-name dissidents who have been nominated this year, was denied permission to enter Hong Kong last Sunday.

Given these near-paranoiac suspicions, it is not surprising that National People's Congress (NPC) Chairman Li Peng said while touring Japan last week that American "hegemonism" constituted a "severe global threat."

Or as People's Daily commentator Gu Ping pointed out, U.S.-style unilateralism, particularly "the excessive reliance on military might to solve problems," had had a most negative effect on world affairs.

How is Beijing handling this challenge? In the 1950s, Chairman Mao pulled out the stops to stitch together a Third World revolutionary coalition against "American imperialism."

'Double-fisted'

Today, diplomacy is being conducted in what late patriarch Deng Xiaoping liked to call a "double-fisted" – both yin and yang – manner.

Jiang has made it clear that Beijing will continue to seek improvements in relations with the U.S. regarding areas in common such as trade and investments.

The president has insisted that his heir apparent Vice-President proceed with a scheduled trip to the U.S. later this month.

Beijing also signaled approval for a flotilla of U.S. naval vessels to make a port call on Hong Kong next week.

More importantly, the Jiang leadership is also aggressively garnering international support for a possible counter-crusade against U.S.-led imperialism.

In a departure from Deng's famous dictum -- "keep a low profile and never take the lead" -- Beijing is striking left, right and center to boost its diplomatic clout.

President Jiang is flagging China's friendship with the Muslim and African worlds in a global swing that is taking in Libya and Iran, two prime targets of "liberal imperialists."

In Tripoli last weekend, Jiang blasted the "double standards" in America's war on terrorism as well as the rise of "hegemonic" powers on the world stage.

Third world solidarity

And in Nigeria, the Chinese supremo said China and Africa should forge a special friendship based on their shared experience of "throwing off the colonial shackles" in the last century.

Solidarity with the Third World is also being celebrated by Premier Zhu during the on-going tour of Turkey, Egypt and Kenya.

Closer to home, Zhu worked hard in fostering a kind of pan-Asian unity at the just-finished Bo'ao economic summit on Hainan Island.

While Beijing has merely put regional economic cooperation on the table, there is little doubt that the CCP leadership wants to harness the diplomatic leverage that may accrue from an Asian bloc.

It is significant that Beijing is taking special efforts to woo Japan, perhaps with a view to prying Tokyo loose from its alliance with Washington.

During NPC chief Li Peng's Japan trip, officials from both sides smoothed over hiccups over issues ranging from trade disputes to the Japanese navy's sinking of a North Korean spy ship in China's exclusive economic zone.

Other diplomatic initiatives Beijing is contemplating include strengthening the UN Security Council, seen as a possible counter to American dominance.

It is in this context that Beijing is in favor of boosting the Security Council's clout by inducting major countries such as Germany -- and, should ties with Tokyo continue to improve, even Japan -- into the heavyweight body.