{"id":62786,"date":"2021-02-27T09:00:02","date_gmt":"2021-02-26T22:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=62786"},"modified":"2021-02-26T16:48:16","modified_gmt":"2021-02-26T05:48:16","slug":"criticism-of-five-eyes-points-to-flaws-in-chinas-strategic-thinking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/criticism-of-five-eyes-points-to-flaws-in-chinas-strategic-thinking\/","title":{"rendered":"Criticism of Five Eyes points to flaws in China\u2019s strategic thinking"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/figure>\n

This week, an editorial in the Chinese state-run newspaper the Global Times<\/em> alleged<\/a> that the almost 80-year-old Five Eyes alliance of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States is an \u2018axis of white supremacy\u2019. Such blatantly ridiculous statements beggar belief and most certainly do not warrant a response. More interestingly, though, the editorial is symptomatic of four critical flaws in the Chinese Communist Party\u2019s strategic thinking about China\u2019s future.<\/p>\n

The first is a fundamental confusion over hegemony. When discussing the Five Eyes, the Global Times<\/em> argues, \u2018We cannot allow their selfishness to masquerade as the common morality of the world, and they cannot set the agenda of mankind.\u2019<\/p>\n

That kind of thinking conflates dominance and leadership. While it is, of course, possible to be dominant, real power comes from leadership.<\/p>\n

Domestically, the CCP prefers to exercise its power to assert constrictive control over its population. Exercising this kind of absolute control or power in international relations is neither possible nor desirable.<\/p>\n

The global powerhouses in international relations are reliant not on coercion, threats or control but on leadership and influence. Attempts to challenge the rules-based order with soft power or coercive and divisive threats will not result in CCP hegemony and are not a zero-sum game. When it operates within the rules-based order, the CCP\u2019s penchant for division and dominance does little for maintaining peace, security and economic prosperity.<\/p>\n

Second, international relations is not an activity that lends itself to binary choices or generalisations. There\u2019s a strange irony to the Global Times\u2019<\/em> invoking of concepts of \u2018Anglo-Saxon civilization\u2019. Like the CCP\u2019s broader strategic thinking, this perspective has more in common with dated biblical questions like, \u2018Are you for us or for our enemies?\u2019\u2014an attitude largely abandoned in Western culture, let alone international relations. Let\u2019s not forget that US President George W. Bush tried a similar turn of phrase<\/a> in 2001, and it fell flat.<\/p>\n

Engagement in the rules-based order is not concerned with a series of simplistic black-and-white questions or a matrix consisting of shades of grey; it is a rich and complex endeavour more akin to a Jackson Pollock painting than a Mark Rothko. As argued by Czeslaw Milosz, \u2018The true enemy of man [humanity] is generalisation.\u2019<\/p>\n

Third, thinly veiled threats and coercive actions, economic or otherwise, are having less and less success. China\u2019s constriction of rare-earth supplies to Japan, and later the US, has led them to initiate all-new strategies to secure their supply chains. More than a year of the CCP\u2019s economic sanctions against Australia has hardened Canberra\u2019s resolve and tarnished Beijing\u2019s global reputation.<\/p>\n

Finally, and most importantly, divisive wedge strategies and identity politics, whether at the national, bilateral or regional level, do not create power.<\/p>\n

While the CCP\u2019s identity politics may have some traction domestically, it falls flat internationally. Stoking the fires of identity politics is by its very nature harmful. Narrative gestures that seek to link the governments of the Five Eyes countries with the increased \u2018transnational threat\u2019 of white-supremacist movements and pit their \u2018tiny\u2019 populations against the rest of the world along this fictional battleline are a homogenising tool that is counterproductive to the international diversity the CCP claims to champion.<\/p>\n

In 2018, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews\u2019s memorandum of understanding<\/a> with the CCP to be part of the Belt and Road Initiative surprised Canberra. Australia\u2019s federation makes foreign affairs a matter for the Commonwealth government. The BRI agreement is an egregiously manipulative CCP endeavour likely designed to force a divisive wedge between the Commonwealth and the states. But the federation is strong enough to survive this.<\/p>\n

Perhaps fear of Chinese economic retribution was behind recent ministerial suggestion from New Zealand that Australia should \u2018show respect\u2019 to China<\/a>. Little wonder that this latest Global Times<\/em> editorial tries to drive a wedge between the Five Eyes members. Australia and New Zealand have strong cultural and historical roots. And small New Zealand has expended blood and treasure for its allies.<\/p>\n

The CCP is anxious about effective multilateralism, as its advantages come from dealing bilaterally. It\u2019s much easier to exert control when you\u2019re the much bigger party in a two-way relationship.<\/p>\n

The Chinese state uses a divisive approach to multilateralism. Even the most casual observer can see this strategy playing out in the way the it engages with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and its member states.<\/p>\n

For decades, the economic development of ASEAN members was hindered by persistent shortages in\u00a0high-quality infrastructure<\/a>. The issue wasn\u2019t a lack of desire but a lack of access to equity and investment.<\/p>\n

Chinese direct investment was already flowing into the region before President Xi Jinping announced the BRI in 2013. Nonetheless, the introduction of the program was a watershed moment in ASEAN infrastructure development. It has also made most ASEAN members increasingly economically reliant on China.<\/p>\n

This investment, especially in Laos and Cambodia, has influenced not only these countries but also ASEAN\u2019s collective responses. Intense reactions to the CCP\u2019s actions in the South China Sea seem unlikely to be forthcoming.<\/p>\n

There is, however, an awakening across the region to the dependency that Chinese investment brings. This realisation is driving all new connections within and with the region. Symbolic projects like the Australia\u2013Vietnam friendship bridge in Dong Thap Province and the Vietnam\u2013Japan friendship bridge in Hanoi show that there are alternatives.<\/p>\n

The Global Times<\/em>\u2019 comical analysis is reminiscent of the 1950\u2019s propaganda produced by the Soviet Union. The editorial also illustrates that one of the essential strategies for responding to the CCP\u2019s attacks on multilateralism is a continued commitment to a rules-based order and the myriad possibilities it holds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This week, an editorial in the Chinese state-run newspaper the Global Times alleged that the almost 80-year-old Five Eyes alliance of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States is an \u2018axis …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":310,"featured_media":62792,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1383,52,928,1778],"class_list":["post-62786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-ccp","tag-china","tag-five-eyes","tag-propaganda"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCriticism of Five Eyes points to flaws in China\u2019s strategic thinking | The Strategist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/criticism-of-five-eyes-points-to-flaws-in-chinas-strategic-thinking\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Criticism of Five Eyes points to flaws in China\u2019s strategic thinking | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This week, an editorial in the Chinese state-run newspaper the Global Times alleged that the almost 80-year-old Five Eyes alliance of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States is an \u2018axis ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/criticism-of-five-eyes-points-to-flaws-in-chinas-strategic-thinking\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ASPI.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-02-26T22:00:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-02-26T05:48:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/GettyImages-51899596.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"632\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"John Coyne\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ASPI_org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ASPI_org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"John Coyne\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/\",\"name\":\"The Strategist\",\"description\":\"ASPI's analysis and commentary site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/criticism-of-five-eyes-points-to-flaws-in-chinas-strategic-thinking\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/GettyImages-51899596.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/GettyImages-51899596.jpg\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":632,\"caption\":\"BEIJING, CHINA - DECEMBER 29: Chinese men put a sign of Taiwan in a Chinese national map as they prepare a patriotism education on December 29, 2004 in Beijing, China. 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