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An Interview with Cai Wu, Vice Minister of the
International Department of the CPC Central Committee
June 21, 2005
Recently, a reporter from the journal The Contemporary World
interviewed Cai Wu, Vice Minister of the International Department of
the CPC Central Committee, on the need to study the decision adopted
at the Fourth Plenary Session of the Sixteenth CPC Central Committee
to adhere to the independent foreign policy of peace and to
continually become better able to respond to international
developments and deal with international affairs.
Reporter: Vice Minister Cai, first of all, I would like to thank you
for giving me an interview despite your tight schedule. Could you
tell me what requirements the decision adopted at the Fourth Plenary
Session of the Sixteenth CPC Central Committee to strengthen the
Party¡¯s governance capacity has set for the continuous improvement
of the ability to respond to international developments and deal
with international affairs?
Cai: The Decision of the CPC Central Committee Concerning Strengthening
the Party¡¯s Governance Capacity states, ¡°To lead the people in
grasping opportunities, meeting challenges, achieving the grand
objective of establishing a moderately prosperous society in all
respects, and helping safeguard world peace and promote common
development in the current complex, ever-changing international
situation, the Party needs to correctly respond to events, handle
its international affairs and relations well, and strive for a
favorable international environment both globally and in our own
neighborhood.¡± Focusing on this point and taking into consideration
the actual conditions of the whole Party, especially its senior
leaders, the decision stresses three areas for strengthening the
Party¡¯s governance capacity. First, we should continue to look at
the world with a broad outlook and improve our ability to
scientifically judge the international situation and think in
strategic terms. Second, we should unswervingly implement the
principles and policies concerning foreign relations and keep the
initiative in our own hands in handling international affairs.
Third, we should fully understand how international factors
influence China and constantly improve our skills in interacting
with the international community.
Linking the efforts to understand the world situation and deal with
international affairs and relations with the efforts to improve the
Party¡¯s governance capacity and making the former an important task
of the latter involves a completely new perspective. First, this
perspective represents one of the two historic shifts the CPC has
made as a ruling party from leading socialist development in
relatively closed conditions to leading the modernization drive when
China is trying to open to the outside world fully. This shift has
set forth new demands on the Party¡¯s governance capacity. Second, it
fully reflects that the interaction between the Party¡¯s governance
and international factors is becoming increasingly close, frequent
and deep, and that it places greater demands on the Party¡¯s
self-development. Third, it demonstrates the fact that China¡¯s
overall national strength has increased and its international
standing has improved. It requires that in responding to
international developments and coping with international affairs,
the ruling party should take a broad outlook on the world, have the
initiative, and improve its skills in interacting with the
international community.
The Decision concisely sets these three requirements from a strategic
perspective. They are not just ordinary requirements for the
diplomatic work of the Party and the state. On the contrary, they
are put forward for the ruling party to develop itself and improve
its governance capacity, and they stress epistemology, rational
thinking, and the need to have an overall command of the
international situation and make an all-round plan for our
diplomatic work. They are not just a general reiteration of the
foreign policy of the Party and the state, but an explanation of the
ideological and theoretical foundation, and basic concepts and
values of the ruling party¡¯s principles and policies for its foreign
relations. They emphasize the concepts of taking the road of
peaceful development, holding high the banner of peace, development,
and cooperation, never seeking hegemony, determining China¡¯s
position and policy on the basis of the basic interests of the
Chinese people and the common interests of the world¡¯s people, and
upholding justice and impartiality. They do not stress work style
and working methods in an ordinary way, but in order to strengthen
the Party¡¯s governance capacity, emphasize the need to understand
the close relations between domestic and foreign affairs, and
achieve a mastery of the profound changes occurring in the world and
their natures. That means it is necessary to grasp the laws and
direction of development, size up and make the best use of the
situation, attach equal importance to domestic and foreign affairs,
seek advantages and avoid disadvantages, and avoid our weaknesses
while exploiting our strengths. The Decision emphasizes the need to
study hard, adapt to the times, and become more familiar and better
able to operate with international standards and practices. All
these explanations and statements are novel, target-oriented and
important. They deal with both objective and subjective issues and
both understanding and practice, and they are very logical and
highly instructive.
Reporter: How would it be possible to make an accurate judgment of the
international situation and face various risks and challenges with
ease?
Cai: The Decision points out that it is necessary to understand deeply
the close relationship between the overall domestic and
international situation and that between domestic and foreign
affairs; scientifically understand and grasp the world¡¯s profound
changes and their characteristics; have the initiative to keep in
line with the trend of the times, that is, to safeguard peace and
promote development; and correctly cope with the development trend
of the world¡¯s multipolorization, economic globalization and
scientific progress. This also includes strategic judgment on the
overall international situation and the world¡¯s situation.
A correct judgment of the current international situation is a
prerequisite for us to determine our domestic and foreign
strategies, principles and policies. Since the beginning of the new
century, the international situation has continued to undergo
profound and complex changes, and world multipolarization and
economic globalization remain the two main trends of changes in the
international landscape. Peace and development are still the themes
of our era, and achieving peace and development is an aspiration
shared by the people of all countries and constitutes an
irresistible historical tide. However, the world is not tranquil
because the old international political and economic order, which is
unfair and inequitable, has seen no fundamental change, and
uncertainties and factors causing instability and insecurity that
affect world peace and development are on the rise. Internationally,
political, economic and security factors are intertwined. Conflicts
over strategic areas, resources and dominance have cropped up from
time to time. Regional, religious and cultural conflicts exacerbate
political and economic contradictions, resulting in the occurrence
of major disturbances. Hegemony and power politics remain the main
threat to world peace and stability and pose a serious challenge for
the current international mechanisms and the generally recognized
principles of international relations. Although successes have been
achieved in the international campaign against terrorism, the roots
of international terrorism have yet to be eradicated completely. In
addition, the North-South gap continues to widen, and developing
countries are facing increasingly grave challenges.
Overall, the international situation is developing in a way
favorable for our reform and modernization. In general, the world
situation is relaxing, the scientific and technological revolution
is developing vigorously, and an upsurge of economic globalization
is sweeping across the world. These three trends are all favorable
for China¡¯s drive to modernize and to build a moderately prosperous
society in all respects. The overall relaxation of tension in the
world and the prospects of the overall situation remaining peaceful
mean that it is not likely that there would be a world war for a
rather long period of time to come or there would be an all-out and
serious confrontation between big powers. All this provides the
foundation for a long-term peaceful and stable international
environment China needs to build a moderately prosperous society in
all respects. Although bringing greater pressure on developing
countries, the vigorous development of the world scientific and
technological revolution and economic globalization provide new
opportunities and make it possible for most of these countries,
including China, to rapidly develop their science and technology and
accelerate their modernization drives. Throughout the first half of
this century, there will be many uncertainties and all kinds of
emergencies could occur, but it is not very likely that the three
trends would be reversed. In the light of this situation, it is
quite possible for China to fully exploit the numerous opportunities
and favorable factors presented by the main trends in the world and
achieve a deeper and more comprehensive integration into the course
of world modernization. It will help us achieve the strategic goals
of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and
rejuvenating the Chinese nation by pursuing peaceful development in
cooperation with other countries.
The main challenges China faces at present and will face for a long time
to come are the international competition that is becoming
increasingly fierce, and finding a way for China to win in the
competition. If we say the 20th century was a century of
confrontation, then the 21st century will be one of competition. The
leading countries in the world all believe that the early part of
the 21st century will provide them opportunities to achieve their
strategic goals, so they are making strategic adjustments and trying
to seize them to accomplish something significant. As the big powers
try to seize and exploit the international strategic opportunities,
keen competition has arisen among them in a wide range of areas such
as politics, economics, security, science and technology, culture,
and society. The competition is becoming increasingly sharp, in
which one either makes progress or lags behind, though there may
also be a win-win situation. The performance of all countries in the
competition and the results a country achieves in the competition
will exert a decisive influence on the destiny the country in the
21st century. Although China¡¯s overall national strength is
considerably strong, its level of development remains low, and for a
long time to come the country will be subject to the pressures
brought about by the advantageous power of the developed countries,
so it should not overlook the risks and challenge it will faces. To
win in the competition or gain the upper hand in it, China still has
to make long-term and arduous efforts. We should become more aware
of the dangers, respond to them soberly, exploit the advantages and
avoid the disadvantages, and keep the initiative in our own hands.
Reporter: What are the relationships that we need to handle well so that
we can keep the initiative in diplomatic work firmly in our own
hands?
Cai: The Decision stresses the need to deeply understand the close
relations between the overall domestic and international situations
and between domestic and foreign affairs, to study the laws
governing the development of the international situation, and our
judgments concerning the international situation should be more
strategy-oriented, future-oriented and guidance-oriented. This means
the Decision has set important tasks for the entire Party: to uphold
the world outlook and methodology of dialectical materialism and
historical materialism, make a sober-minded and scientific analysis
of the developments of the international situation, correctly
understand and willingly apply the laws governing the development of
the international community, bear in mind the overall international
and domestic situation, and formulate scientific principles,
policies, strategies and tactics for our diplomatic work, so as to
keep the diplomatic initiative firmly in our own hands.
Marxist dialectical materialism is a scientific world outlook and
methodology and a good weapon that guides us toward a correct,
scientific judgment of the situation. At this new stage in the new
period, the complicated international situation presents us with
rare opportunities as well as unprecedented challenges. In dealing
with international affairs and diplomatic issues, we should
correctly understand and handle the following relationships in the
light of dialectical materialism.
The relationship between unipolarization and multipolarization. The world
is becoming multipolarized; this is an outstanding feature of the
current international situation. The trend toward multipolarization
is developing both globally and regionally and both politically and
economically. The evolution of history shows that compared to
unipolarization, multipolarization is more conducive to bringing
about a peaceful and stable situation and can better help
underdeveloped countries make progress. As a large socialist
developing country, China, naturally, should support the trend
toward world multipolarization. Although it is irresistible, the
general trend toward world multipolarization will meet with
difficulties that could be greater and more complicated than
expected. The contradiction between unipolarization and
multipolarization and the struggle against hegemony will be a focus
of international political struggle long into the 21st century.
During this time, complex situations could arise and the trend
toward multipolarization will suffer different kinds of difficulties
and setbacks ¨C we should always bear this in mind.
The relationship between safeguarding the basic interests of China and
the Chinese people and promoting the common interests of the people
of all countries. We will continue to make the basic interests of
our country and people the starting point and goal of our diplomatic
work and always give top priority to safeguarding our national
sovereignty and security. We will focus on the central task of the
Party and the state in all our work and staunchly safeguard and
develop China¡¯s basic interests. We need to keep firmly in mind the
overall task of safeguarding the interests of the country based on
the features of the times and the conditions of China. First of all,
we need to protect the economy and pursue our interests. This means
we should strive to make sure that development is not interrupted by
outside pressure or coercion, make sure the availability of
strategic resources, both tangible and intangible, that are needed
for ensuring steady and sustained economic development, play a
normal role in international economic activities, and maintain a
sound international market. We also need to staunchly safeguard our
political interests by ensuring that China¡¯s socialist system with
Chinese characteristics, its current system of government and our
basic values will remain unchanged in the face of outside threats,
and by preventing outside political and ideological infiltration and
influence from undermining our basic social stability. We need to
vigorously safeguard our national security by protecting our
sovereignty from being violated, safeguarding territorial integrity,
opposing secessionist activities, guarding against the danger of
involvement in local wars, and ensuring the country¡¯s political,
economic, cultural and information security. In this era of economic
globalization, all countries are closely connected to each other and
highly interdependent. As its integration into the course of
economic globalization deepens, China will face numerous and more
complex world problems affecting the common interests of the people
of all countries or human society in general, including such
nontraditional security threats as proliferation of weapons of mass
destruction, the scourge of international terrorism, environmental
pollution and ecological deterioration, imbalanced population
growth, and communicable illnesses threatening people¡¯s health and
the existence of all kinds of organisms. These questions break down
the traditional line differentiating domestic affairs from foreign
affairs, and they can quickly and readily result in catastrophic
consequences. This makes it all the more necessary for China to
strengthen its cooperation with all other countries and their
peoples. We should continue to safeguard world peace, promote common
development and strive to integrate efforts to safeguard China¡¯s
interests with those to promote the common interests of all
countries.
The relationship between seeking domestic development and making
international contributions. We need to unswervingly uphold the
policy of observing events cool-headedly, bide our time, accomplish
something significant, and correctly balance long-term and
short-term objectives, partial and overall interests, and ideals and
reality. We often say that if China handles its own affairs well by
solving the problems of the survival and development of its 1.3
billion people and ensuring they have a moderately prosperous life
in all respects, it will have made its greatest contribution to
world peace and development and human progress. We say this not out
of modesty but because it is an indisputable fact. China is
currently at the primary stage of socialism and will remain there
for a long time to come. We should be soberly aware of this, and we
should try to do what is objectively possible on this basis and
refrain from bypassing current conditions and struggling to do what
will be possible only in the future. With regard to major issues
concerning China¡¯s interests and world peace and development, we
should uphold our principles but not take the lead or be a
standard-bearer. We should accomplish something significant, but we
should not exaggerate, overreact, cause trouble for ourselves purely
for reputation, or allow ourselves to be drawn into conflicts that
we can avoid. In this new historical period, accomplishing something
significant means concentrating on developing ourselves,
accelerating development, improving China¡¯s overall national
strength; keeping the initiative to open up to outside world firmly
in our own hands; actively participating in the formulation and
revision of international rules and standards to safeguard China¡¯s
interests; making contribution to the progress of human civilization
through China¡¯s development; and implementing the concepts of
promoting democracy in international relations, encouraging peaceful
coexistence of different social systems and diversified and
independent ways of development, and promoting exchanges and sharing
of the fruits of various civilizations.
The relationships between different aspects of our diplomatic work:
taking our relations with big powers as essential, our relations
with our neighboring countries as primary, and our relations with
developing countries as basic. The fundamental tasks of China¡¯s
diplomacy are to safeguard the period of important strategic
opportunities for China¡¯s development and to strive for a peaceful
and stable international climate, friendly and good-neighborly
relations with neighboring countries, an environment of equality and
mutual benefit, and objective and friendly public opinion.
Diplomatic work must be planned to accomplish these tasks. Handling
the relations with big powers, neighboring countries and developing
countries is the core of China¡¯s diplomatic work, and the work
concerning the three relations promotes each others; all are
interdependent and act on each other. We should take the initiative
in responding to the thorough adjustments to relations between big
powers and handle our relations with them from an overall strategic
perspective. We need to continue to improve and strengthen our
relations with big powers, seek or broaden the converging points of
common interests, gradually bridge the differences we have with them
through dialogue and negotiations on an equal footing, and promote
the healthy and stable development of our relations with them on the
basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence. We need to
continue implementing the foreign principle of seeking friendship
and partnership with neighboring countries and make it our foreign
policy to develop good-neighborly relationships with them and
contribute to their stability and prosperity. We should promote
friendship and good-neighborliness with all our neighbors and, in
addition, promote the healthy development of cooperation in Asia and
in the Asia-Pacific region to raise its quality and to broaden and
deepen it. We need to further strengthen our unity and cooperation
with other developing countries to reinforce the foundation of
China¡¯s diplomacy. On the basis of the principles of equality and
mutual benefit, complementing each other¡¯s weaknesses, and common
development, we should broaden and deepen our economic cooperation
with other developing countries and do our work relating to them
better. We should discuss international and regional issues with
other developing countries whenever possible, support their just and
equitable demands and proposals, work with them to safeguard their
rights and interests, and contribute to the establishment of a new
international political and economic order that is more just and
equitable. We will persevere in mutual respect and equal treatment
and oppose the tendency toward great-nation chauvinism.
We need to properly handing diplomatic situations involving both
bilateral and multilateral relations. As the international situation
develops and changes, multilateral diplomacy is becoming
increasingly important, and multilateral mechanisms have become
important means for handling international affairs and adjusting
international relations. We need to participate in multilateral
diplomatic activities more extensively and thoroughly, make full use
of multilateral diplomacy and multilateral mechanisms, make
multilateral diplomacy an important arena for safeguarding China¡¯s
interests, and play our proper role in it. In September 2004, the
CPC sponsored the Third International Conference of Asian Political
Parties, the first of its kind ever hosted by China. The conference
was a landmark event and produced important influence over the whole
Asia-Pacific region. China should play its role as a permanent
member of the UN Security Council to the fullest, actively
participate in various UN activities, and safeguard the UN¡¯s leading
role in promoting international peace and security. We will take a
greater part in UN peacekeeping operations. For the first time China
sent its peacekeeping police to participate in the UN peacekeeping
operations in a country (Haiti) that does not have diplomatic ties
with China, thus extending China¡¯s influence. We should urge the UN
to be more concerned about development and development-related
issues. We should actively participate in the activities of regional
and interregional organizations and strengthen our cooperation with
international organizations such as the World Bank, the
International Monetary Fund, and the World Trade Organization. We
should promote South-North dialogue, and actively promote and take
part in South-South cooperation. We will actively and steadily
participate in international cooperation to fight terrorism and
prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. We should
also learn to use the international standards currently in effect,
participate in the formulation of new standards, and work to help
improve those aspects of the current international order that are
unjust and inequitable.
Reporter: What new requirements do the study and implementation of the
Decision make on people dealing with diplomatic and foreign affairs?
Cai: As a matter of fact, the Decision states that we must improve our
knowledge of the international economy, politics, law, science and
technology, culture and military affairs and study the laws
governing the development of international situation. We need to
increase our understanding of world history and current events and
our judgments on international situation should be more
strategy-oriented, future-oriented and guidance-oriented. These are
requirements set for the whole Party, especially senior leaders. I
believe that they are particularly important for people dealing with
diplomatic and foreign affairs. In short, they require us to
diligently study international affairs, cultivate a broad global
vision, master the laws of development, improve our future-oriented
strategic thinking, identify our historical position, willingly
subordinate ourselves to the overall interests of the whole Party,
improve our skills in responding to international affairs and keep
the initiative in our own hands.
I would like to elaborate on the requirement to cultivate a global
vision. Only by observing the situation from a global perspective
will we be able to properly define the position of a region and an
undertaking and formulate and implement correct strategies. History
abounds with examples of countries that fail to take the overall
world development into account and result in spinning a cocoon
around themselves, leading to their decline and fall. In fact, if we
fail to judge China from a global perspective, but examine it only
from our own experience, we will not have a full and correct
understanding of ourselves. Only by resorting to a sharp global
vision to correctly identify the features of our era and
scientifically analyze the international situation will we be able
to make a scientific judgment of the complex and volatile situation,
exploit advantages and avoid disadvantages in the face of fierce
international competition, and formulate correct development
strategies and foreign policies. Only by so doing will we be able to
hold fast to the precept that development is of overriding
importance and keep distractions from deflecting us from our central
work and primary task. Only by so doing will we be able to do what
we want and keep from doing what we don¡¯t in the complex
international environment, keep the strategic initiative in our
hands while being tactically flexible, and accomplish our work well.
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