Power diplomacy must evolve towards harmony

diplomacy

www.chinaview.cn 2007-07-03 10:32:38

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By Francis C. W. Fung

BEIJING, June 3 (Xinhuanet) -- America as a young, dynamic, and

endowed nation earned its place as the leader of world democracy during
and immediately after the Cold War. The after effects of America winning
the Cold War remained today, good or bad. The good is that the world has
enjoyed unprecedented prosperity due to relative peace and stability. On
the other hand the American public is constantly being reminded by their
media and government that we are destined to be the leader of the world
because God is on our side. What we should do as world’s major is to
advocate Harmony Diplomacy.

This self defeating arrogance is in contrast to the universal harmony

principle that the more powerful we are, the more we need humility. The
damaging consequence of deviating from this all encompassing truism is
evident by the dilemma of our embroiled involvement in unilateral Iraqi war.
As a result of continuing our Cold War Power Diplomacy we have too often
infringed on the dignity of many disadvantaged nations in the world. After
9/11 we declared war against terrorism and were eager to launch the
unilateral war on Iraq without giving diplomacy a chance.

Our pride blinded us from seeing the need of dignity by the poor and
disadvantaged. We have become immune to other nation's needs for
development. Instead from our ethnocentric perspective, we continue to be
critical of other striving nation's efforts to modernize. This lack of
understanding of other nation's loss of dignity and desperate need of
modernization did not go without notice by America's elite, experienced in
foreign policy. In fact the extensive survey conducted by Pew Research
Center involving 45,239 people and 46 nations from April 6 to May 29, 2007
found majorities in many countries reject the main planks of current U.S.
foreign policy and express concern for forcing American style democracy.

According to the polled results, there is a wide spread perception that the
U.S. acts unilaterally in making international policy decisions. And
majorities in most every country polled, including 97 percent in France, 80
percent in Argentina, and 75 percent in Lebanon, said the United States

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promoted democracy mostly where it served U.S. interests. This, according
to Pew, helps explain why U.S. ideas about democracy are viewed as
unilateral by vast numbers around the globe.

Caution for change to a softer and more understanding American world

diplomacy is being sounded in unison by many notable and seasoned
formal high ranking diplomats such as Kissinger, Brezezinski, Albright and
Slaughter. New theories such as Faith Diplomacy, Value Diplomacy and
Diplomacy by Deeds are being advanced.

In today's multilateral world, Power Diplomacy as preached by the

bygone wisdom of "speak softly and carry a big stick" has lost most of its
relevance. The unpopular unilateral Iraq War makes it clear that "speak
loudly and carry a big stick" as practiced by the present administration has
not worked so far either. In fact there are signs that Harmony Diplomacy is
on the rise, witnessed by the softening of U.S. position in the Sixth Party
denuclearization talk. North Korea has just declared its willingness to
dismantle their nuclear facilities. US also removed North Korea from the
list of evil countries. Is this sign of Harmony Diplomacy is working?

On the other hand, in catering to the interest of the uninformed and

proud American public, the theme of Power Diplomacy is still echoed
among U.S. 2008 presidential candidates. In a July/August 2007 Foreign
Affairs Journal article titled "Renewing American Leadership," fore running
U.S. Democratic Party presidential candidate, Barack Obama expounded
Power Diplomacy as key U.S. foreign policy to revive American leadership.

According to Obama "we must harness American power to reinvigorate

American diplomacy. Tough minded diplomacy backed by the whole range
of instruments of American power-political, economic, and military-could
bring success even when dealing with long standing adversaries such as
Iran and Syria."

Through out Obama's foreign policy exposition, words such as "power,

pushing, pressure, aggressive, tough, tough minded, American leadership
and instrument of power" are used freely. Words such as dialogue, mutual
understanding, trust, tolerance are noticeably absent. Instead, proud of our
past Cold War confrontational expertise, the intensity of cold war diplomacy
is called on to deal with a small band of extreme radicals. The war on terror
advocated by Bush will certainly become an over kill that will unsettle world
diplomacy for years to come. The world certainly can not afford to have
another debilitating cold war. The over enthusiastic inclination to use
confrontation and ever increasing force without consideration of neutralizing
force with dynamic balance, totally neglects the first principle strategy in
counter terrorism or any warfare for that matter. In Art of War, by Suntze,

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the most desirable way to win to win is not to wage a war. Dynamic balance
of harmony is more fluid like in nature. Soft power can conquer hard power.

A harmonious future for Asia and Europe hinges on wisdom that can
steer the course of their interactions. So said delegates at the third annual
Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Interfaith Dialogue, which wrapped up June
23, 2007 in Nanjing, capital of East China's Jiangsu Province. In the
Nanjing Statement, issued at the conclusion of the event, participants from
the two continents vowed to deepen and broaden the dialogue process to
foster a peaceful and harmonious partnership. Building on the
achievements of the first two meetings, in Bali in 2005 and Cyprus in 2006,
the two-day dialogue co-hosted by China and Italy served as a platform for
religious and political leaders and academics to address their diversity and
commonality in faiths and deliberate on further tapping the potential of
interfaith talks in enhancing mutual understanding in an era of globalization,
a senior Chinese diplomats said.

"In Chinese culture, harmony is underpinned by diversity. Seeking

harmony while acknowledging differences means that a country or an
ethnic group, while preserving its own cultural heritage, should be open and
tolerant to other civilizations," he added. In a world wrought with
uncertainties, it is vital to pursue mutual understanding through dialogue,
and achieve harmony through tolerance, he said. If nations collide because
of different values, globalization may be giving a new spin to the multiple
values involved in international relations.

A way to avoid conflict has long been sought. A seemingly uncomplicated

approach is for nations to share peace and prosperity through dialogue and
tolerance. The recipe of dialogue entails not imposing one's values or faith
on others. It involves respecting different peoples' treasured values and
beliefs. It is necessary to understand and appreciate, or at least tolerate,
different cultures and religions. The ASEM (Asia-Europe Meeting) Interfaith
Dialogue, under the framework of the Asia-Europe Summit, is just such a
platform. It brings nations together from two continents to address their
diversity and commonality in faith and culture, with the hope of
convergence for the sake of humanity.

Attached is an excerpt of a recent article by WHO World Harmony

Diplomacy Watch quoting People's Daily. President Hu Jintao made the
speech on China's new foreign policy of building a harmonious world at the
United Nations Summit marking the 60th anniversary of the establishment
of the world body. The merits of his speech are self evident.

His words received wide approval and the policy is thought fruitful in
2005. The policy helped to lift China's international status, fundamentally

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because of its pursuit of balance. That is, to balance national development
against international responsibilities, economic benefits against political and
security interests, relations with world powers against those with various
countries, and reform against the maintenance of world order.

In the spirit of "performing great deeds" China has decided to take

responsibilities of a big nation. During his meeting with President Bush,
President Hu said explicitly that the China-U.S. cooperation will be on
global scale. For world harmony US and China must work together to
reach harmony consensus. This means cooperation on many fronts,
including environmental collaboration and energy common strategy. I hope
our next president will take the hint and play the lead role. That is how best
America can preserve our leadership.
Editor: Pan Letian