By Li Hongmei People's Daily Online

If Singapore's Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew enraged the Chinese media as well as the online readers not long ago by his remarks appealing for the U.S. Asian presence to balance China's growing military and economic clout in the region, it is now the right time for the whole thing to cool down so as to leave some space for more reflection on China's complicated neighborhood.

As a matter of fact, what Mr. Lee has said is to be anticipated. Singapore, as a tiny country in Southeast Asia, has long served as the initiator for a balanced diplomacy with the world powers in an effort to position itself as a regional weight measured equally both to U.S. and to China. Now that the U.S. is currently mired in the worst ever slowdown, its influence as the forerunner in the international community as well as in the Asian-Pacific Region has been shrinking, and hence, the notable figures like Mr. Lee would come out calling the U.S. to be back remaining a prominent stay in the region, and acting as a counterweight to the rising China.

Only on this basis, and built upon the well-accepted structure, can the Asian countries like Singapore feel a secure neighborhood. That also explains why they would inevitably keep a vigilant eye on China's rise in national strength and international influence. Even the more frequent people-to-people contacts and cultural exchanges, and closer and more fruitful trade ties with China all these years can hardly remove the cloud of doubts they cast upon China, which has somewhat not only estranged but at times embarrassed China. Lying close at hand, adhering to the diplomacy of good neighborly relations, and making an increasingly significant contribution to the regional economic growth, China should have been rewarded rather than finger pointed.

So complicated the context proves to be, the bilateral relations would be more subtle and brittle if the border disputes were involved. Currently, China's neighboring countries including Japan, the Philippines, Vietnam and Malaysia all hold more or less dispute with China over the sovereignty claim to the territorial lands or waters. Accordingly, these countries have for decades developed military cooperation with the U.S. seeking shelter in the American wings. Among them, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, the Philippines and Thailand have even entered into military alliance with America.

Even DPRK, labeled by George W Bush as part of "evil axis" and taken as one of the arch foes threatening American interests, has been attempting to create chances to normalize its relations with the U.S., despite war of words and exchange of barbs on almost all the visible occasions. The U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's high-pitched announcement of being "back in Asia" made in her July's Asian trip has generally been applauded by foreign ministries of Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN members.

Perhaps, the prevailing pro-U.S. mindset amid the neighbors is something that would upset China, but what is more vexed a problem facing China is how to assuage their baseless fears about China's rise and ease their undue worries brought about by China's galloping growth in its national strength. Under such circumstances, even if they are fully aware of the fact that China's development will in return benefit the whole region, and they thereby would have no intention to contain China, they will never let go the U.S. inclination in a bid to create the so-called balance and a secure community as they see fit.

For China, the dilemma of being encircled by the suspicious neighbors is uncomfortable and unbearable. As a matter of fact, China has long been conscious of this phenomenon ever since the end of the Cold War, and therefore it has pursued a good-neighborly policy. On the one hand, it gives way on the disputes over territorial lands and waters to avoid trouble and stay on good terms with the neighboring states. On the other hand, China also pins its hope onto the construction of China-ASEAN Free Trade Zone, to be completed in 2010 as expected, convincing its neighbors that they will greatly benefit from developing friendship with China.


Lamentably, however, all the efforts made by the Chinese side have thus far yielded little sweet fruit. What is reflected from these ASEAN countries' mentality, that insists on forgoing what is close at hand but seeking what is far afield, is that China has yet to present itself as constructive and trustworthy enough to its neighborhood. In this view, they would prefer to reach out one hand to China, while clasping the other tightly with the U.S.

Admittedly, China's rise in strength would by no means signal the retreat of the U.S. clout in the Asian-Pacific region, as China and the U.S. are not playing a zero-sum game, or going mano a mano with each other in the region. But if any tangible improvement is expected in China's neighborhood relations, the root cause of the ailment must be traced first, and then the remedy to suit the particular case would be soon found. At present, what is striking the nerves of the neighboring states is nothing more than where China's future development is pointing to and what is about China's blueprint in its policies and proposals. In one word, they need to see a positive result from the Chinese side to salve their bruised feelings.

By this analysis, only slogans and calls for advocating harmonious and peaceful coexistence with all the neighbors will gain little in building a realistic good neighborliness as expected. To break the neighborhood curse, China needs to stage more comprehensive and more workable regional strategies which should prove conducive to both China and its neighbors and gear for a more stable future.