2006/09/03

New York Times interviews Wang Guangya, Chinese ambassador to United Nations

"The World According to China" by James Traub, New York Times Magazine, 3 September 2006. This interview reminds readers the change in how Communist China conducts diplomacy in the United Nations. From Traub: It’s a truism that the Security Council can function only insofar as the United States lets it. The adage may soon be applied to China as well. Quotation of the last few paragraphs: Wang told me he believed that blunderbuss diplomacy is the American way “because America is a superpower, so America has a big say.” China would appear to have a big say of its own, but that’s not Wang’s view. At the end of our second conversation, he returned to a favorite theme. “The Americans have muscle and exercise this muscle,” he said. “China has no muscle and has no intention of exercising this muscle.” I said that, in fact, China had a great deal of muscle but punched below its weight. Wang smiled at the expression and said, “It’s not good?” Well, I said, that depends. And then Wang said something quite startling: “China always regards itself as a weak, small, less powerful country. My feeling is that for the next 30 years, China will remain like this. China likes to punch underweight, as you put it.” Why was that? Why did China want to punch underweight? Wang spoke of China’s peaceful rise, of the need to reassure all who fear its growing clout. “We don’t,” he said, “want to make anyone feel uncomfortable.”

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