Both China and the Philippines have mishandled their dispute over Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal in the West Philippine Sea, a leading British scholar said Monday, noting Beijing’s obstinacy about its sovereignty claims and Manila’s ill-advised decision to send a naval vessel to confront Chinese fishing boats last April.
This developed as the Philippines vowed to keep speaking out on the global stage about its territorial row with China, as an effort by Southeast Asian nations to forge a united stance at the ASEAN Summit in Cambodia crumbled.
In a television interview Monday, Martin Jacques, author of the best-selling book “When China Rules the World: The End of the Western World and the Birth of a New Global Order,” said China could have opted for “joint development” with the other claimants of the resource-rich Spratlys region instead of asserting its sovereignty over it.
The ensuing cordon by Chinese ships around Panatag Shoal after a war of words with the Philippines raised the specter that the title of Jacques book was a fast-approaching reality.
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MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines must realize American decline in Asia and should mend its ties with China if it has any hope of resolving territorial disputes in the South China Sea, a British academic and journalist said on Monday, November 19.
“It doesn’t serve the Philippines well to think, well maybe the Americans will give us some support,” renowned scholar and China expert Martin Jacques explained during a lecture sponsored by The Center for Philippine Futuristics Studies.
Jacques, author of bestseller When China Rules the World: The End of the Western World and the Birth of a New Global Order, stressed that Manila should not expect results from a policy of assisting Washington in its so-called re-pivot towards Asia in exchange for help on the South China Sea.
“It’s a short-sighted game, because the wind is not blowing in this direction. The wind is blowing somewhere else,” he said in reference to China’s growing influence compared to America’s decline in the region.
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MANILA, Philippines – British economist, Cambridge University graduate and scholar Dr. Martin Jacques, author of the global bestselling book “When China Rules the World” and speaker at a lecture on Nov. 19 Monday 12:30 p.m. at Hotel Intercontinental in Makati City, said the United States needs to adjust to a new world order with a resurgent China becoming an equal and no longer a subordinate. He said the Philippines should “positively engage and benefit from the rise of China.”
When asked to comment on the South China Sea disagreements, Dr. Jacques urges Philippine government leaders “to de-escalate the territorial dispute with China” and follow the example of Malaysia which also has Spratley Islands disputes with China but both countries enjoy “good diplomatic and economic relations.”
Dr. Martin Jacques is a columnist for Britain’s The Times, The Sunday Times, The Guardian and New Statesman. He is visiting fellow at London School of Economics Asia Research Center, visiting professor at Japan’s Aichi University, at China’s Renmin University and a visiting fellow at the Asia Research Institute of the National University of Singapore (NUS).
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China is unique among the world’s most populous nations in that it considers itself ethnically near-homogenous, Martin Jacques writes in an essay at the BBC News Magazine. “[M]ore than nine out of 10 Chinese people think of themselves as belonging to just one race, the Han,” he says. But it wasn’t always so. As Jacques explains, the history of ethnicity in China is far more complicated than this suggests, with lessons for both how that makes China unique and what it means for the country today.
The history of China, he suggests, is in some ways a story about ethnicity.
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I DROPPED by Diliman a few days ago to leave a copy of the book “When China Rules the World” for political science professor Dr. Clarita Carlos. She had kindly accepted my invitation to be one of the four-member Panel of Reactors to the lecture of the same title by Martin Jacques, author of the book, which will be held at the Hotel InterContinental on November 19.
(If you happen to be interested in understanding China more, and in the process understanding better how we as a country should deal with the Peoples’ Republic, then I hope you’ll find time to attend. There is a minimal lecture fee, and to get more details contact Pilipinas 2020 through the email pilipinas2020@ymail.com.)
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Martin Jacques presents a highly successful series of programmes on how best to understand the unique characteristics and apparent mysteries of contemporary China, its development and its possible future. In this new series, he sets out the building blocks for making sense of China today.
19/10/12 – BBC News Magazine and Radio 4
26/10/12 – BBC News Magazine and Radio 4
19/10/12 – BBC News Magazine and Radio 4
12/10/12 – BBC News Magazine and Radio 4
Norwegian historian says China must develop closer, stronger relations with its neighbors
Odd Arne Westad insists those who claim China has been inward-looking for much of its recent history are making a serious error.
The Norwegian historian believes it is a major fallacy that often leads to a completely false view of the former Middle Kingdom.
“Anyone in East Asia in the mid-18th century who said the Qing Empire (1644-1911) was particularly inward-looking would have been sent off to have their heads examined,” he says.
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