Active participation
Sun Jinzhong

China’s multilateral diplomatic activities in 2006 were numerous. They ranged from Chinese leaders’ attendance at the Asia-Europe Meeting, the Dialogue Between Leaders of the G-8 and Developing Countries and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum meetings to China’s active participation in resolving the North Korean and Iranian nuclear issues and its hosting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) meeting, the China-Africa Cooperation Forum and the China-ASEAN Commemorative Summit. All of these activities demonstrate that China has been actively engaged in multilateral diplomacy it has performed with growing maturity.
In the past, bilateral diplomacy was China’s major approach to foreign relations. Since the mid-1990s, China has participated in activities in a multilateral context, but the scale, level and frequency of those practices cannot match the country’s multilateral activities this year. In this sense, 2006 is a milestone in China’s multilateral diplomatic efforts. China’s multilateral diplomacy is based on its need to develop comprehensive strength. Compared with nearly 30 years ago, when it launched the economic reform, China’s strength today has gained quick enhancement. The country is now the fourth largest economy in the world with foreign exchange reserves exceeding $1 trillion. It is also influential in international affairs.
Under these circumstances, China has become more interdependent with the rest of the world, and its relations with the international community have changed a lot. With the rise in China’s international status, its interest has extended to the global sphere. China’s diplomacy is facing complicated challenges, as well as new opportunities.
Against the background of globalization, international problems that affect the existence and development of human beings, such as population expansion, resource and energy shortages, rampant terrorism, global warming and the growing gap between the rich and poor, will not be resolved by bilateral means. Some local or regional problems will also have a worldwide impact. At the same time, a country’s internal problems or bilateral issues can become multilateralized.
As a developing country that has risen rapidly, China has clearly realized that its national interests are closely related to global interests. Apart from considering the harmonious progress of mankind or its own sustainable development, China needs to participate in wider and deeper international cooperation to deal with international problems. It also needs to participate more actively in setting new international political and economic orders. Only in this way can China better maintain and realize its own interests when it joins in international cooperation to deal with global issues.
Thus, multilateral diplomacy has become a natural choice for China to cope with a complicated situation and safeguard its national interests. It has also played an important role in boosting China’s sustained economic development and stabilizing the regional and international environment.
China’s active multilateral diplomacy this year is also a new probe for building a harmonious world. Although the country has been involved in multilateral diplomacy soon after the People’s Republic was founded in 1949, its activities in this area were rather limited due to a lack of understanding of this approach. But after reform and opening up began in the late 1970s, and especially after the end of the Cold War, China’s understanding of multilateral diplomacy changed: In order to create a favorable strategic environment and enhance China’s comprehensive national strength, multilateral diplomacy is a must.
Expanding multilateral ties
Guided by the principles of cooperation, dialogue and avoidance of confrontation, China has been further involved in the international community and its multilateral activities are more and more robust. The Chinese Government has clearly stated that the country will continue to participate in multilateral diplomatic activities and play its due role in the United Nations and other international or regional organizations.
With the changing domestic and international situation, Beijing also came up with the diplomatic target of building a harmonious world, which means to persist in multilateralism and realize common security; pursue cooperation and realize common prosperity; adhere to a spirit of tolerance and create a harmonious world through joint efforts.
The adherence to an independent foreign policy of peace was stressed at a meeting on foreign relations convened in Beijing this year. The meeting indicated that China would stick to a peaceful development path, deal with foreign affairs in an overall manner and make its own contribution toward advancing the construction of a harmonious world with lasting peace and common prosperity. The meeting is of strategic significance to China’s multilateral diplomatic activities.
The three summits that China hosted this year are of positive historical significance to China and the world. The China-Africa Summit is the highest level of dialogue between leaders of one big country and all countries that have established diplomatic relations with it on one continent. It is an important event in the development of contemporary international relations. The largest developing country is developing harmonious and friendly relations with a continent made up largely of developing countries, which has contributed to the construction of a harmonious world.
In the relations between China and Africa or ASEAN, mutually beneficial economic relations have dominated, providing helpful experience for worldwide South-South cooperation. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit this year released a declaration on the fifth anniversary of the organization’s formation, as well as cooperative documents and a joint communiqué. This shows that the SCO has withstood the test of a changeable international situation during that period and has become an important factor in maintaining regional and world peace and stability, promoting democratic international relations and advancing the building of harmonious regions and world.
The “Shanghai Spirit” of mutual trust and benefit, equality, consultation, respect for the diversity of civilizations and the pursuit of common development has not only enriched the theory and practice of contemporary international relations and embodied the general demand of the international community for democratic international relations, but is also of great reference value to the international community in building new international relations. These multilateral diplomatic activities hosted by China not only have a practical impact in creating the structure for future international relations but also enrich the theory of a harmonious world.
China has hosted multilateral meetings and actively participated in some international activities, such as the dialogue with G-8 countries, the Iranian and North Korean nuclear issues and APEC meetings.
Those multilateral activities also have a wide geographic coverage. They are either regional meetings or trans-regional activities. A number of countries are involved in these multilateral activities, developed and developing, big and small. But all of these activities have their keynote of peace, development, cooperation, openness and nonalignment. The relations among the SCO members and relations between China and ASEAN members are close and without alignment, which indicates that China’s diplomacy has developed from a traditional bilateral mode to a new multilateral mode.
Two major focuses
In China’s multilateral diplomatic activities this year, security and the economy are two major themes. China has long been engaged in resolving the North Korean nuclear issue, and its current role is indispensable in realizing a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula through multilateral diplomatic efforts.
After North Korea conducted its nuclear test, the UN Security Council passed the Resolution 1718 on October 14 imposing sanctions on North Korea in nuclear-related areas. Based on the efforts of China and some other countries, the resolution embodied the principles of being “forceful” and “moderate.” After that, through China’s continuous efforts and shuttle diplomacy, the stalled six-party talks on the North Korean nuclear program show hope of resumption.
On the Iranian nuclear issue, China hopes all relevant parties will calm down, be patient and continue contact and dialogue with Iran, make efforts to seek an effective resolution and provide the conditions for the resumption of negotiations. Through the documents that were endorsed at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit, China-Africa Summit and China-ASEAN Summit, people can also see the emphasis on security and the economy.
Whether in the regional or global sphere, China has played a satisfactory and constructive role. Its multilateral activities have provided a good external environment for China’s peaceful rise but also laid a good foundation for China’s future development. The successful development of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization shows that different civilizations in Asia and Europe and nearly half of the world’s population are united by the Shanghai Spirit, and all countries expressed their will to strengthen bilateral and multilateral cooperation and to seek common development to maintain regional peace and stability.
An expert on China-ASEAN relations at the City University of Hong Kong holds that from a wider perspective, China has successfully reduced the influence of the “China threat” theory in the minds of ASEAN members. In the 15 years since China and ASEAN established a dialogue, the relations between the two sides have developed quickly in a short time and cooperation in various fields has increased the confidence and mutual trust of the two sides. The China-ASEAN Summit will boost relations further.
The China-Africa Forum Summit in Beijing this year will greatly enhance the influence of China’s soft power and make China win more reliable friends. China has demonstrated with its own practices that its relations with Africa are built upon mutual understanding, benefit and cooperation and that the allegations that China represents a threat to Africa are groundless.

(The Daily Mail-Beijing Review Articles Exchange Item)


Who attacked the Indian Parliament?
A. Siddique

Five years have passed since that bleak December Day when five unidentified gunment attacked the Indian Parliament and triggered a chain of manipulated responses by the Indian Government which, during the course of next ten months, saw the two countries inching perilously close to the brink of a nuclear conflagration. On 13 Dec 2001 the environment was already crackling with tension in the aftermath of the September Eleven attacks and consequently Afghanistan, in our close neighborhood, was shuddering under the impact of ‘Daisy Cutters’. One could even then clearly read the Indian mindset; 9/11 had blurred the lines separating freedom struggles from the acts of terror in the lexicon of the greatest power in the unipolar world. Global environment was ripe for India to jump onto the anti-terror bandwagon and settle the Kashmir Issue by holding Pakistan hostage to threat of aggression or even launch one to cut Pakistan to size for good, by raising the bogey of cross-border-terrorism. For all purposes and intent, by that fateful day the blueprint for aggression against Pakistan stood deliberated requiring only a trigger to set the ball in motion. Attack on the Indian Parliament was, ostensibly to serve as a valid and justifiable act of war.
In hindsight the attack bore all the hallmarks of a fake encounter. The attackers entered unchallenged in the Parliament’s parking lot in an Ambassador car and started indiscriminate shooting, killing eight security personnel and a gardener. While it should have been of paramount importance to capture at least one of them alive to break the conspiracy, they were all shot dead by the security forces. Unlike trained terrorists, who would have wiped out all traces of their identity and origin, this bunch left behind a thick trail of incriminating evidence - weapons, mobile phones, telephone numbers of their contacts - even identity cards, to save the sleuths of the Special Cell of Delhi Police undue effort. It should be of interest to note that the Special Cell has earned ignominious distinction in many cases for conducting fake encounters and fabricating evidence to provide basis for the Indian propaganda machinery leveling charges of terrorism on Pakistan.
Within days the Indian Government declared that it held evidence that Pakistan was behind the attack on the seat of democracy in India and treating the episode as an act of war, It recalled its High Commissioner from Pakistan, banned over flights and truncated all existing means of communications linking the two countries. It is amazing that India started the mobilization of its entire gamut of forces within ten days of the incident; indicating that its war machine had already been put on alert for this contingency. It is indicative of the financial and human stakes involved that by the time the ensuing deployment of foces , code named ‘OPERATION PARKARAM’, came to its ultimate end in October 2002, it had cost the Indian exchequer Rs 10,000 crores and resulted into the deaths of around a thousand soldiers caused by various accidents , mostly involving mines.
All the attackers were dead but some scape goats were needed to fabricate a case involving Kashmiris and Pakistan. Delhi Police arrested four collaborators of the attackers; S.A.R. Geelani - a lecturer of arabic literature in Dehli College and allegedly the brain behind the conspiracy, Shaukat Guru - a fruit vendor, his wife Afsan Guru and Afzal - a renegade who had longstanding experience of working with infamous counter insurgency outfits like the Special Task Force. To short circuit normal channels of judicial process, Indian Government enacted POTA (Prevention Of Terrorism Act) within days of the attack. This is how the case was heard by special fast-track trial court empowered by POTA provisions and headed by judge N. Dhingra who had earned for himself the notoriety of being a “hanging judge” for blindly sending under-trials to gallows over trumped up charges.
The facade of POTA and speedy trial was only meant to fabricate a case as per the wishes of the agencies orchestrating the charade. It speaks of the ‘alacrity’ attached to the court proceedings that fast-track trial court began its proceedings in May 2002 and delivered its verdict in Dec when the million strong armed forces of India had returned to their barracks after participating the high tension drama with nuclear overtones . As expected, Dhingra promulgated death sentences for all the male accused while slapping five years’ rigorous imprisonment for Afsdan Guru. Judges speak through their verdicts and the ingrained malice of Dhingra is manifestly obvious through scrutiny of the court proceedings whereby he unquestioningly accepted accumulation of lies, fabrications and highly questionable evidence presented by Delhi Police in the court.
All of the accused challenged their punishments in the High Court, whose verdict of 29 Oct 2003, absolved Geelani- the alleged master-mind of the plot and Afsan Guru of all charges while retaining the death sentense for Afzal and Shaukat. The ensuing appeal to the Supreme Court led to commutation of death sence for Shaukat to 10 years’ imprisonment on August 4, 2005 while the death sentence was retained for Afzal who stands out to be the ultimate fall guy in this eminently faked judicial farce. He was to be hanged on 20 Oct 2006 in the Tihar Jail but his life currently hangs with the proverbial thread as his mercy appeal is pending with the Indian President.
With the wrapping up of judicial process by the Indian Supreme Court, the case involving attack on the Indian Parliament has come to a formal conclusion yet fundamental questions remain unanswered. When India’s mobilization for war commenced on 21 Dec 2001 the Indian Government said that it had “incontrovertible evidence” of Pakistan’s involvement in the attack. The culmination of judicial process has offered no Pakistani Connection to the episode and if there were no linkages to “cross - border- terrorism”, then what exactly was the conspiracy and who was behind the attack? It is important not only for India but for the rest of the world as well to know as to what was the evidence considered and the political process involved that prompted the then in power NDA Government to take the country close to a nuclear war with Pakistan.
With the acquittal of three accused out of the four of the charges of conspiracy, it is obvious that there was a deliberate effort by the Delhi Police to frame innocent people . High Court and Supreme Court have pointed to grave irregularities committed by the Police in their investigations and fabrication of fake evidence - without administering a reprimand to the erring individuals or institutions. A strong impression emerges that those responsible for the investigative work were callous because they felt secure in the official backing at the highest political levels .Astonishing as it may seem but there has been no public inquiry into the attack on the Indian Parliament; neither by a parliamentary committee nor media, which could independently establish and verify the chain of events as presented by the Police. This is highly probable because a string of cases involving fake encounters with an eye on calibrating India’s foreign policy has unequivocally established as to how the largest democracy in the world functions to shape hegemonic urges against its hapless neighbors.

universal lessons of Haj
Faisal Kutty

Millions of pilgrims from all over the world will be converging on Makkah in the coming days. They will retrace the footsteps of millions who have made the spiritual journey to the valley of Makkah since the time of Adam. Haj literally means, “to continuously strive to reach one’s goal.” It is the last of the five pillars of Islam (the others include a declaration of faith in one God, five daily prayers, offering regular charity, and fasting during the month of Ramadan). Pilgrimage is a once-in-a-lifetime obligation for those who have the physical and financial ability to undertake the journey.
The Haj is essentially a re-enactment of the rituals of the great prophets and teachers of faith. Pilgrims symbolically relive the experience of exile and atonement undergone by Adam and Eve after they were expelled from Heaven, wandered the earth, met again and sought forgiveness in the valley of Makkah. They also retrace the frantic footsteps of the wife of Abraham, Hagar, as she ran between the hills of Safa and Marwa searching for water for her thirsty baby (which according to Muslim tradition, God answered with the well of Zam Zam). Lastly, the pilgrims also commemorate the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son for the sake of God. God later substituted a ram in place of his son. Yet, the Haj is more than these elaborate rituals. The faithful hope that it will bring about a deep spiritual transformation, one that will make him or her a better person. If such a change within does not occur, then the Haj was merely a physical and material exercise devoid of any spiritual significance.
As all great religions teach, we are more than mere physical creatures in that we possess an essence beyond the material world. Indeed, this is why all great religions have a tradition of pilgrimage. In the Islamic tradition, Haj encapsulates this spiritual journey toward this essence. The current state of affairs — both within and outside the Muslim world — greatly increases the relevance of some of the spiritual and universal messages inherent in the Haj. As Islamic scholar, Ebrahim Moosa, asks rhetorically: “After paying homage to the two women Eve and Hagar in the rites of pilgrimage, how can some Muslims still violate the rights and dignity of women in the name of Islam? Is this not a contradiction?”