Shorthand

China in the World: Ad Hoc Committee

Security Council Simulation at Yale

Letter From the Dias

You have been summoned.

In 1955, a multitude of developing countries met in Indonesia for the Bandung Conference. There, in solidarity for “political self-determination, mutual respect for sovereignty, non-aggression, non-interference in internal affairs, and equality,” they anointed themselves as “the Third World.”

They vowed to band together to promote their own Asian-African interests on a global stage, and to oppose the international status quo of Western control.

This trend has continued such that in the most recent decade, Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa have been recognized as BRICS, a powerful group of newly industrialized countries. Their level of economic production and international influence mark a shift in the worldwide locus of power. They encompassed 42% of the world population as of 2015.

Of these five emerging powerhouses, China can easily be considered the most widely pertinent, and certainly causing the most complex conundrums for the foreign policy makers of other countries. Every move made abroad by Xi Jinping’s administration is heavily scrutinized. In this highly suspicious and unforgiving environment, China must establish itself for the incredibly important and influential nation that it is.

Xi Jinping has called a committee consisting of important representatives from nations around the world with valued relations with China. This conference is a part of a wider Chinese initiative to assert itself as the leader of the newly industrialized world. Xi Jinping’s goal in this conference is to create an economic alliance facilitating the development of BRICS and the countries of the Bandung conference. He is confident that in a climate initially friendly to Chinese global economic influence, the committee will end with new Chinese access to natural resources and trade routes. This committee brings together relevant members of the Chinese government and the many governments with which it shares close and growing ties, to find harmony in this new world order.

Incredible heights can be achieved from alliances forged in this committee, and everyone has her or his own reputation to consider. National prides at stake, this committee will be reacting to the most current of events, with delegates representing foreign countries and domestic Chinese interests. Delegates must communicate with their home governments, balance their own country’s interests with its partnership with China, all while monitoring their country’s standing on the world stage. Will you forge a strong alliance with the Middle Kingdom or will you test the dragon?

Current Situation: Southeast Asia

China’s growing economic clout is both a blessing and a curse to Southeast Asia. Chinese economic growth goes hand in hand with the growing numbers of Chinese tourists in the region. Southeast Asia is also happy to supply China to meet its growing demands for imported goods. However, a more competitive China also means an increasing amount of business and foreign direct investment being funneled away from Southeast Asia. Manufacturing in Southeast Asia must compete directly with China’s, which often leads to labor practices that are contrary to their goal of increasing per capita income.

Economic and political dependence on China often lead to divisions within ASEAN, and this has been most clear in ASEAN’s muddled response to China’s aggressive military actions in the South China Sea. ASEAN was unable to issue a unified response what was an advancement on member state’s territory due to a number of ASEAN countries wary of reprimanding a country so crucial to their economic goals. Southeast Asia thus consists of countries who feel politically and militarily threatened by Chinese advancement and countries that are jostling to embrace China for the economic support that is sure to follow. This scenario has led to a labeling of Chinese actions as “economic bribery” within the region. China has identified its claims on South China Sea worth 5 trillion dollars for its trade highways as “core” to its national military and economic interests and has shown to follow through with appropriate agency.

Chinese economic impact in Southeast Asia is felt more close to home than in other regions, as the region hosts more overseas ethnic Chinese than any other region in the world. The migration of Chinese to Southeast Asia have persisted ever since ethnic Chinese have first begun settling in the region at the beginning of maritime trade in the 1400’s. And since then, Chinese businessmen have dominated domestic markets to such an extent that some Southeast Asian countries are setting quotas to favor native ethnic groups over the Chinese in all levels of society (education, housing, and employment).

Current Situation: Latin America

Latin America increasingly counts on China for a boost in its exports and foreign investment. China usually imports raw materials and primary products such as metals and agricultural goods. Demand for these products help drive up commodity prices of Latin America’s exports but also give rise to the concern that its economy will be stuck in the exportation of raw materials rather than manufactured materials or services. Mexico and Brazil being exceptions, most of Latin America did not see a rise in competition with the rise of Chinese activity in the world markets due to their dissimilar export structures.

It is said that as China becomes a bigger creditor in the region, Latin American governments and businesses are relying on Chinese investment that at one point came from the IMF. Venezuela’s president Nicolás Maduro and Ecuador’s Rafael Correa have both recently traveled to China for loans and both have walked out with billions in Chinese credit. Unlike early China’s investments in the region however, Chinese creditors currently hit by multiple shocks in the stock market have grown more cautious about debt default and corruption of funds. As such, Chinese creditors have shown that they are willing to invest in only particular business and political climates. Venezuela has been marked as a country with poor energy reliability and money management, and has seen its foreign investment from China shrink considerably. Even countries known to Chinese investors as solid politically and managerially has produced difficulties. Recently, protests at mining operations in Peru have forced Chinese-backed companies to make concessions to local activists groups. Chinese investors, skilled at communication with government organizations and business groups, have yet to skillfully manage complaints from indigenous groups that are vital to the workings of their operations.

In 2015, Chinese billionaire Wang Jing purchased the rights to build an enormous canal in Nicaragua. While the level of backing from the Chinese government was unclear, it was supposed to be the largest movement of earth in history. However, little progress has be seen yet in this country of volcanoes and lakes. Additionally, as the national elections near, there is growing local protect--albeit stifled by the government--against the incumbent president, Daniel Ortega. Local movements have begun to question his unchecked power to expatriate peasants from their land. Ortega had promised many new jobs and economic progress from this deal, but he found enemies in “environmentalists, human rights advocates and economists” alike.

Current Situation: Africa

More than anywhere else, China’s recent involvement in Africa has set the world abuzz. Western analysts frequently talk of Africa becoming “China’s second continent,” and the level of commercial investment is certainly unprecedented. The American media in particular portrays China as ‘menacingly’ expanding into Africa so as to secure oil and mining concessions to fuel its own growth. Rather, Africa is a land of opportunity for Chinese entrepreneurs and investors. $160 billion worth of goods pass between the two regions yearly, as China is by far Africa’s largest trading partner. Beijing reported about $15 billion in official aid between 2010 and 2012. In 2014 alone, over $70 billion in Chinese contracts were dedicated to construction projects. Chinese banks are loaning about $10 billion in the continent annually.

Furthermore, Chinese aid here is special in a way that no Western country has managed yet:

It comes with no political strings attached. Chinese investment does not require human rights advances and democratic promises of its recipient countries. Although some theorize this fosters increased political corruption, violence, and human rights abuses, it is also true that Chinese aid has a “diverse portfolio of development initiatives to include health, educational, agricultural, as well as infrastructural projects.

It is a myth that China is trying to shed excess population or grab land in Africa, or that it trying to grow food to export back home. However, over one million recent Chinese immigrants to the region have caused some social stir and subsequent international pushback. Many jobs within Chinese companies are reportedly reserved for expats, and native laborers complain of unequal wages and poor working conditions. The most outspoken of the local leaders, in Zimbabwe for example, have been calling for more commitment to developing the skills of local African workers. The higher up politicians, on the other hand, are more concerned with keeping the contracts at all costs. Some Chinese firms have responded; Huawei, a global information and communication technology company, runs a training institute in Abuja, Nigeria. Another example of this tension is that President Obama of the United States pointed fingers during his visit to Ethiopia, saying that “economic relationships can’t simply be about building countries’ infrastructure with foreign labor,” yet the Chinese company in charge of completing Ethiopia’s urban light rail hired nearly 4,800 Ethiopians for the project.

Current Situation: Middle East

China has begun to involve itself in the Middle East in a way that could mark a new era for this rising superpower. Xi Jinping has hosted peace talks between Syrian leaders. He passed a new anti-terrorism law, coming down hard not only on domestic disturbances by the the Uighurs in Xinjiang but also demonstrating an official enmity with ISIL. He is no longer willing to watch passively as an economically important region is tossed around by political waves of other countries. China, to some extent, is dependent on resources from the area to fuel its own economic growth. In addition to Central Asia being in China’s very own backyard, there is that added imperative of protecting the infrastructure of oil, gas, uranium, gold, and copper.

The Middle East is also the site of China’s One Belt One Road plan, the “hallmark of its foreign policy in the 21st century.” China is determined to connect itself to Europe and, in order to do so, will kickstart the economies of all the countries in between. $900 billion has been devoted to the Silk Road Economic Belt, which means infrastructure and development projects, like a high speed railway between Xinjiang and Tehran, an Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline, and tunnels and power lines in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Similar to in Africa, issues have arisen with too few of the jobs going to locals, but multiple countries, including Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, have enforced quotas on foreign businesses’ hiring practices. China is slowly wresting local influence away from Russia, at least economically if not yet politically. It is hoping to build up Central Asia as a route for its own economic expansion. The region will hopefully be a budding market for consumption of Chinese goods, in a time when Chinese exports are starting to slow. This future rests on a tranquil Middle East, and China must sacrifice its status as political bystander for the sake of its economic goals.