A respected Chinese scholar has given insight into official thinking on the impact Beijing’s maritime conflicts with the Philippines are having on China-ASEAN relations.
Philippine “provocations” in the South China Sea are undermining cooperation between China and ASEAN and could have a spillover effect on the stability and development of the Asia-Pacific, Zhang Jie, a researcher from the National Institute of International Strategy of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), said in an interview with official state news outlet Xinhua.
The remarks are notable for a number of reasons.
Zhang holds a respected position at CASS, a government think tank that is not so much an academic institution but a body to formulate party ideology to support the leadership, according to Chen Daoyin, a former professor at the Shanghai University of Political Science and Law.
“[President Xi] needs experts to reinterpret Chinese history to bolster his credibility,” Chen said of CASS.
The prominent placement of Zhang’s comments in Xinhua, whose mission is to publish and promote state policy, implies top leadership feels the issue needs more exposure.
Excerpts From Zhang’s Interview
- CHINA-ASEAN PROGRESS ‘DISRUPTED’: “In terms of the situation on the diplomatic stage, it is evident that provocations such as those from the Philippines could indeed disrupt the overall progress of China-ASEAN cooperation.”
- A HIT TO ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: “Given the current economic challenges worldwide, any conflict or major escalation, such as in the South China Sea, could significantly disrupt the trajectory of regional and global economic development.”
- ASEAN ‘CHOOSES’ CHINA: “So we can see that ASEAN countries refrained from outright endorsement of the Philippines’ provocations as they are perceived as potentially jeopardizing the collaborative efforts between China and ASEAN in these pressing issues.”
WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT? Zhang’s comments did not come out of the blue. Two days before, Xinhua published an article quoting a different prominent scholar who also warned of ASEAN being undermined, with unusually similar wording. Taken together, the messaging seems to reveal the high and possibly growing importance China places on ASEAN, whose support would confer a degree of outside legitimacy that Beijing desperately desires.
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