China: The Uninvited Guest
June 8, 2004
It’s difficult these days not to mention China when talking about the state of the global economy. But the leaders of the world’s top nations appear to be trying to do just that at their annual G-8 summit currently underway in Georgia in the southern United States. Despite the fact that China has grown into the world’s sixth largest economy, surpassing G-8 members Russia and Canada, Beijing doesn’t have a representative at the meeting.
China feels it rightly belongs at the gathering of the world's richest and most influential countries. No other nation drives the world's market for natural resources more than China with its insatiable appetite for oil, gas and steel; and no other nation can boast a record of imports and exports that are growing at such staggering rates. A revaluation of the Yuan would send waves through financial markets worldwide, an indicator of how closely watched the Asian giant is.
It therefore comes as a surprise to many Chinese that their country still hasn’t been invited to become a member of the G-8 or at least attend the summit as a guest such as the European Commission.
A new foreign strategy
The Chinese state media once derided the G-8 as a "club of the rich" and said it competed against the United Nations for global influence. Today, however, the desire to join the club is more prevalent than ever, says Beijing professor for international relations Zhang Xizhen.
"This altered interest is part of China’s new strategy of foreign policy," he says. "Everyone knows that China was once a closed country that the West in particular couldn’t trust. But recent reforms and more experience with the West have begun to change things here."
Beijing has realized that it can only deal with today’s challenges of globalization by cooperating with the world's biggest economies. "This is why China is trying to play a more international role, and it’s only natural that it wants to be included in the G-8," says Xizhen.
But China’s failure to live up to promises it made when it joined the World Trade Organization compounds the Group of Eight's hesitation about admitting it into the circle of top industrialized countries. Beijing's continuing poor human rights record also weighs against China being classified as an exemplary democracy. The Chinese, however, counter such skepticism by claiming their country can only get on the proper track with the aid of the international community.