Why China is becoming a friendlier neighbour in Asia

Deng Yuwen says Beijing sees the importance of cultivating good relations on its periphery, and is growing into its role as a global power on the rise. Warmer relations with a host of countries, including India, Japan and North Korea, are proof of it

Reading Time:4 minutes

Since the 19th Communist Party congress last year, China’s efforts to resolve or move past its disagreements with its neighbouring countries have resulted in warmer relations with many of them, including Japan, India and Singapore. Illustration: Craig Stephens

Published: 10:15am, 27 May 2018Updated: 9:40pm, 27 May 2018

Observers will note that China has been taking a different approach in its peripheral diplomacy this year, and the previously hostile relationships with some of its neighbours have become much friendlier.

Late last month, President Xi Jinping held an informal summit in Wuhan with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. On May 9, Premier Li Keqiang made his first visit to Japan, the first such visit in eight years by a Chinese premier, and reached agreement with Japanese leader Shinzo Abe on a number of cooperation deals. Sino-Japanese ties are getting back on track fast.

China’s relations with North Korea are also returning to normal, as seen by Kim Jong-un’s two recent visits to China in less than two months and now frequent high-level exchanges between the two countries. This is a far cry from a few years ago.

Watch: Kim meets Xi in surprise China summit

In fact, even before the 19th Communist Party congress last October, there were signs of a softer Chinese approach. Relations with South Korea have become warmer since July, and ties with Singapore – strained in recent years by the 2016 international tribunal ruling on South China Sea disputes and the impounding of Singapore’s armoured military vehicles in Hong Kong, en route from Taiwan – also rebounded soon after the party congress.

China’s ties with Myanmar have similarly improved, and its relations with the Philippines, which had deteriorated over territorial disputes in the South China Sea, became much friendlier after Rodrigo Duterte took power.

While all of this is happening, however, Sino-US ties have steadily deteriorated.