A Chinese diplomat's moderate view on the South China Sea issue

Despite being insulted by many extremists, veteran Chinese diplomat Wu Jianmin remained undaunted and still frankly stated his views on the East Sea dispute.

Mr. Wu Jianmin is a veteran Chinese diplomat who served as French interpreter for leaders Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai.

Mr. Ngo Kien Dan

At the end of March this year, he accepted an invitation to speak in the Nanfang Daily of Guangdong province about international issues, especially the issue of resolving disputes in the East Sea.

Mr. Ngo Kien Dan's interview was published under the title "Ngo Kien Dan: Solving the South China Sea issue cannot rely on force, the more we fight, the more chaotic the situation becomes."

Below is an excerpt from Mr. Ngo Kien Dan's speech about the policy of resolving the East Sea issue:Extreme nationalism is not possible!

From last year until now, inMaleHai (East Sea), incidents have occurred continuously..., China needs to respond to the increasingly complicated situation inMaleSea?

The key is to clarify what China's greater interests, the greater interests of the region, and the greater interests of the world are. Peaceful development and cooperation are the greater interests…

There are scholars and internet users who have a very harsh attitude towards the South China Sea issue, arguing that China needs to be tougher, and when necessary, use force. What is your view on this?

Does fighting solve the problem? Many people think that just waging war to win is fine. In fact, it is not, on the contrary, it will only cause chaos in the situation around China.

Two years ago, Premier Wen Jiabao told the UN General Assembly: “The time has passed when war is the last resort to resolve international disputes.”

Try watching warsAfghanistan,Iraq, Can the US-led Libya solve the problem?

No! A war with such a serious imbalance of power would not solve the fundamental problem, but would bring a whole bunch of problems to the US and Europe.

He once wrote an article called “DisputeMaleHai, China's restraint is confident", caused widespread attention, there are also people who oppose?

“If you can't bear small things, big plans will be ruined.” My point of view is: love your country, but you must also love humanity.

In the era of globalization and information technology that has brought the interests of countries so closely together, it is time we could no longer close our doors to propagate narrow-minded patriotism.

The Chinese have had a concept of the world since ancient times. That concept of the world should not be limited to China but should include the whole world.

Did Hitler love Germany? Of course he did, but he was a populist. Young people today need to have a broad vision and a heart that embraces the world. Populism, extreme nationalism, and narrow patriotism are unacceptable. A nation that only cares about its own interests will lose all friends and become isolated. Nowadays, isolation is a disaster.

How to lead against populism and extreme nationalism?

Actually, we need to believe that the vast majority of the Chinese people are rational, and the majority are silent. The majority of the people do not approve of extreme things… Currently, in our society, we have two types of populists.

They are a type of people whose thinking still stops in the past, not seeing that the world has entered a period of peaceful development. They still maintain a vision of the time of war and revolution, making mistakes of the times.

The second type is just looking for benefits, like in America there are people who like to incite tension. If relations between countries are tense, they will sell weapons.

Leading this type of person requires courage, as it can cause controversy, criticism, and even curses.

Isn’t the truth only obtained after enduring all kinds of insults? When China goes out into the world today, someone needs to stand up and say a few words. That is good for China, and also good for the world. If extreme nationalism is allowed to spread, it will ultimately only bring disaster to China./.

Diplomats have a sober view

Mr. Wu Jianmin is a veteran Chinese diplomat, born in 1939, graduated from the French department of Beijing Foreign Language Institute in 1959. He was a French interpreter for leaders Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai.

He was the first Chinese diplomatic staff member at the United Nations, Director of the Information Department and spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Chinese Ambassador to the Netherlands and France.

Upon returning to Vietnam, he held the positions of Director of the Diplomatic Academy, Deputy Director of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (Front), currently an Academician of the European Academy of Sciences, an Academician of the Eurasian Academy of Sciences, and Director of the Shanghai Center for International Studies.

As a diplomat who has held many important positions, Mr. Ngo Kien Dan has a positive and sober perspective on major issues related to China's foreign relations.

In June 2011, he wrote an article titled “South China Sea Dispute, China's Restraint is Confidence”, advocating against the use of force to resolve disputes with countries in the East Sea.

Since the beginning of this year, when the situation in the East Sea became tense due to aggressive actions, violations of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) and the increasing appearance of extremist words in Chinese media, Mr. Ngo Kien Dan continued to frankly express his views.

According to VOV-M