Deep-level clash of China-US antagonistic contradictions!
(Baonghean) - On July 10, the US Senate passed Resolution 412 affirming the US's support for freedom of navigation, the use of seas and airspace in the Asia-Pacific region in accordance with international law and the peaceful settlement of territorial claims and disputes. To understand the causes, purposes and potential impacts of Resolution 412 of the US Senate, Nghe An Newspaper interviewed Major General, Associate Professor, Dr. Le Van Cuong - Former Director of the Institute of Science and Strategy of the Ministry of Public Security. (Video Clip posted on Nghe An Electronic Newspaper, address: www.baonghean.vn).
Reporter:Dear Major General! Could you tell us the content of Resolution 412 that the US Senate wants to aim for?
Major General Le Van Cuong:The main content of Resolution 412 passed by the US Senate on July 10 is the first part of the Resolution listing a series of violations by China. The first is China's action of dragging the Haiyang Shiyou 981 drilling rig into Vietnam's sovereign waters, which is a violation of international law and the commitments China has signed. The second action is that China mobilized over 100 ships, including military ships, and dozens of patrol helicopters in the sky. They even used these ships to actively ram Vietnamese coast guard ships, fisheries surveillance ships, and fishing boats. And in fact, they have sunk them. Dozens of Vietnamese people have been injured. This is an act of threatening to use force and directly using force. This action has violated international law.
After recalling China's violations in the East Sea in the past two months, Resolution 412 of the US Senate mentioned three issues: First, the Resolution determined that the threat of force and direct use of force cannot be justified by international law. This is a unilateral action by China to use force to change the status quo. This action violates the 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea. Second, the US Senate requested China to immediately withdraw the Haiyang Shiyou 981 drilling rig and other forces from their current positions and restore the status quo as before May 1, 2014. This is a very rare thing. There are very few resolutions with such a strong character. I consider this to be the core of the Resolution. The third issue is that Resolution 412 clearly states that although the US does not participate in any dispute in the East Sea, the US has interests in the Asia-Pacific region in general and in the East Sea in particular. The United States has an obligation to encourage parties to resolve disputes peacefully, through negotiations, on the basis of international law. This contributes to maintaining regional stability in particular and maintaining world peace and stability in general, in which every country has interests. I consider these to be the three major contents that the US Senate has passed for the first time since the founding of the country.
Reporter:Major General, can you tell us why the US Senate passed Resolution 412 at this time? What does the resolution have to do with opposing China's use of force to carry out its plot to turn the East Sea and the East China Sea into its own lake?
Major General Le Van Cuong:First of all, it is necessary to realize that the US Senate's passing of Resolution 412 on July 10 is a very rare event. In fact, this is the first time the US legislative body has passed a resolution opposing China's aggression in the East Sea. The Senate of a leading world power has passed a resolution opposing China in an area far from the US, which is an extremely important issue in the diplomacy and legislation of the US Congress. It affects the second largest economy in the world, a rising power. Senator John Marken's objections, and senators and representatives' personal objections have happened many times before. But as a resolution of the legislative body, this is the first time.
Returning to the US-China relationship, regarding the East Sea issue, for the first time on July 23, 2010 at the ARF dialogue in Hanoi, Secretary of State Hilary Clinton declared that the East Sea dispute directly affects the national interests of the US. The US requires the disputing parties not to use force to change the status quo. Do not obstruct international shipping routes. The East Sea is one of the five busiest international shipping routes in the world. This is the first time the US has declared to the world and directly to China. By 2012, the US continued to have a clear statement on the issue of pivoting, or the issue of shifting from the Atlantic to the Asia-Pacific. Then a series of US actions regarding the implementation of actions in this region. Especially in the last two years, in June 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping had an informal meeting with President Obama in California. But in terms of content, they agreed and promoted each other's views. For the first time, President Xi Jinping presented his view to the United States that China and the United States need to build a new type of major power relationship. With three main contents: First, the United States and China do not confront each other.
Second, the two sides respect each other, do not interfere in each other's internal affairs, respect the independence and core, fundamental interests of both sides. Third, the United States and China cooperate to resolve bilateral disagreements through peaceful negotiations on the basis of international law. Cooperate to resolve hot international issues, current global issues. These are the contents that Chinese President Xi Jinping has raised, and it seems that US President Obama has accepted. Although there has been no official statement, it is implicitly understood that the two sides have agreed that China-US relations will slide on those three lines.
After such an informal meeting, international public opinion felt that the Sino-US relationship had entered a new chapter, leaning towards cooperation, not confrontation, and completely avoiding conflict. If so, it would be a healthy signal, and the world only hoped for that. Therefore, public opinion generally had a positive assessment of the Sino-US relationship. However, after the informal meeting in California mentioned above, reality took its own path and did not follow the set roadmap, mainly due to China. In the past year, China has done three things that are not in line with the new type of great power relationship with the US. On November 23, 2013, China established an air defense identification zone, including the Senkaku Islands, which China calls Diaoyu. The air defense identification zone covers 2,300 square kilometers of South Korea's airspace.
China also requires aircraft flying through this zone to maintain contact with RaZO and to report their identities. If they do not report RaZO contact to the ground, they will be dealt with. The air defense identification zone that China established violates both international law and international practice. On this planet, many countries have established air defense identification zones, but do not require civil aircraft passing through to declare. The second thing is that last April, US officials said that China's hacker system had penetrated the US national computer network - the center for storing personal information of US officials and civil servants. The US Department of Homeland Security is investigating this. In recent years, every year the US has accused Chinese hackers of penetrating the national defense network, stealing US defense secrets, US industrial and commercial secret systems.
This has created a rift in the Sino-US relationship. The third thing that the world is strongly protesting is that on May 1, China moved the Haiyang Shiyou 981 drilling rig into the waters under Vietnam's sovereignty. Therefore, the US Senate's opposition to the removal of the drilling rig is correct, but as a legislative body, such aggressive actions have threatened the interests of the US, not only in the Asia-Pacific region. Not only threatening the interests of US allies, but also threatening the national security interests of the US and its friends. This is the urgent context that puts the US legislative body in the position of having to pass Resolution 412.
Reporter:How does the Major General assess the international community's reaction to the US Senate Resolution 412, especially the Americans themselves, and then China?
Major General Le Van Cuong:On the US side, although there is no exact information yet, I believe that the US Senate Resolution 412 is supported by the vast majority of Americans. In the State agencies and officials, the President of the Senate fully supports it, Senator John Marken supports it, the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee supports it, the Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee supports it, the Head of the House Intelligence Committee supports it... it can be said that the US Senate's decision is supported by both the Senate and the House. I believe that the US Senate Resolution 412 correctly reflects the wishes of the international community. It fully reflects the interests of countries in and outside the region. The core of the Resolution is the request that China not change the status quo by force.
China is a great power, a permanent member of the Security Council, they must be responsible for implementing the Charter of the United Nations. That is the spirit of Resolution 412. And that is also the wish of the majority of countries on this planet. It also reflects the will of more than 8 billion people on this planet. Of course, on China's side, there will certainly be a negative reaction. And some other countries cannot avoid the opposite reaction. Because China is an economic power, they have economic influence on all 5 continents, so countries that have close economic relations and receive economic support from China will certainly have a different reaction. This is also a normal and easy to see thing.
Reporter:The US Senate Resolution 412 was passed just one day after the China-US dialogue. How does the Major General assess this event and what is his prediction for the China-US relationship in the coming time, especially in the remaining two years of the Obama administration?
Major General Le Van Cuong:We note that the 6th China-US Economic and Strategic Dialogue on July 9 in Beijing did not make any progress. Two issues could not be overcome: One is the issue of cyber security - like a rock separating the US and China; Two is the issue of maritime safety, China has used force to coerce and change the current order, this also created another abyss separating the China-US relationship. Therefore, the recent Beijing dialogue was only able to do its best to prevent the China-US relationship from going downhill, but could not resolve the deep-level conflicting issues. The recent US Senate Resolution 412 certainly affects the China-US relationship, and it can be said clearly that it will have a difficult impact on the China-US relationship.
In the remaining two years of the Obama administration, there will be an APEC conference in Beijing at the end of this year, and it is possible that President Obama will meet with President Xi Jinping, of course this is just a plan. If there is a meeting between high-ranking leaders of China and the US this November, they will only reiterate the views that have been discussed many times before, but in reality there is a different path. They will certainly continue to promote the views on new types of great power relations like the informal meeting in California last year, and they may have some agreements with each other on the North Korean nuclear issue, on combating climate change, and discuss the Iranian nuclear issue, the Syrian issue... All at a general level. But at a deeper level, the two countries' intentions are different. The US will do everything possible to fulfill its role as world leader. China will do everything possible to disrupt the order set up by the US.
The clash is at a deep level of antagonistic contradictions in strategic goals and value systems. While the strategic goals have not been resolved, they are temporarily looking for non-fundamental things to temporarily reconcile with each other, to keep the relationship stable. Therefore, the remaining two years of Obama's tenure will not have a breakthrough in Sino-US relations. They will pull together to maintain temporary stability. Because in fact, the US also needs China and China also needs the US. Without the US, how could there be China today? China's success is largely contributed by the US. Up to this moment, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization... The US still plays a leading role. And talking about the US is also talking about Japan, talking about the EU, talking about the developed capitalist world, so China really needs the US, through the US, it needs the EU and the world. The US also needs China in many issues. Therefore, when the deep-level conflicts are not resolved, they will find ways to reconcile with each other on political situational issues. Obama's mission in the remaining two years is to withdraw troops from Afghanistan by all means without letting the Taliban take power in the capital Kabul. That is Obama's historic mission. Those are Obama's core issues before leaving the White House. Resolving the issue of Sino-US relations will probably be a task for the following terms.
Reporter:Thank you very much, Major General, Associate Professor, Dr. Le Van Cuong!
PV(Perform)
