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| September 29, 2005 | Thursday | Sha'aban 24, 1426 |
US out to contain China, says Haq
ISLAMABAD, Sept 28: Former minister of state for foreign affairs Inamul Haq on Wednesday observed that the United States was trying to contain China.
Speaking at the concluding session of a two-day international conference on “China and the Emerging Asian Century” organized by the Institute of Strategic Studies (ISSI) here, he said all countries of the world prepared contingency plans to promote their perceived interests.
He said China was taking counter-measures to deal with the situation and had the support of the other members of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) including Russia. He said the demand to the US to move out of the Central Asian republics was one such example.
He, however, said he did not see any reason for China to undermine its relationship with the United States due to its competitive edge in trade.
Referring to the Indo-US relations, he described the civil nuclear cooperation pact as the most important development. He said the US had established a long-term strategic relationship with India.
Inamul Haq said the US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had recently stated that the US will help India emerge as a super power. He said the civil nuclear cooperation agreement with India while denying others was a subversion of Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and could lead to an arms race in the region.
He said India had vocally spoken against taking Iran to the United Nations Security Council, but it changed its horses in the midstream and voted in favour of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). “We have to see if India is going to become a surrogate of the United States in this region,” he added.
Alluding towards Russia-China-India triangle, he said India was playing both sides of the coin and added that it seemed that it was not yet fully ready to play the US game in the region.
He was of the view that the uni-polar world was not going to break up quickly and said the United States was expected to remain the sole super power for a long time. “The future shape of the world is still something in progress,” he remarked.
Mr Haque emphasized that China did not pose any threat to its neighbours. History shows that China is not an expansionist power. Today, it has resolved its border issue with its neighbour peacefully. Adherence to multilateral arrangements has been a corner stone of the Chinese foreign policy.
About the issue of Taiwan, Mr Haque said China was dedicated to a peaceful solution of the issue, however, if Taiwan asserts its independence, China might be compelled to use military means.
He, however, expressed the hope that good sense will prevail and Taiwan would not take such a step.
Director-General Institute of Strategic Studies Dr Shireen Mazari presented a paper titled “China, Multilateralism, International Institutions and Global Agendas” in the preceding session.
Dr Mazari said that transformation of China was a remarkable achievement. However, certain Western analysts had created a false notion of China threat for strategically motivated reasons.
She said China was a strong supporter of the UN. It welcomed the proposed UN reforms and remains committed to the Millennium Development Goals, principles of UN Charter, sovereign equality of all nations, rule of law, and a more representative UN Security Council against all odds.
Later, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed by the ISSI Director-General Dr Shireen Mazari and Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS) Director-General Abdul Matin.
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