POWER DIPLOMACY MUST EVOLVE TOWARDS HARMONY

DIPLOMACY

Power diplomacy must evolve towards harmony diplomacy

http://www.chinaview.cn/index.htm 2007-07-03 10:32:38
http://www.worldharmonyorg.net/
By Francis C. W. Fung, PH.D.
BEIJING, June 3 (Xinhuanet) -- America as a young, dynamic, and
endow ed nation earned its place as the leader of world democracy
during and immediately after the Cold War. The after effects of
America winning the Cold War remained today, good or bad. The good
is that the world has enjoyed unprecedented prosperity due to relative
peace and stability. On the other hand the American public is
constantly being reminded by their media and government that we are
destined to be the leader of the world because God is on our side.

This self defeating arrogance is in contrast to the universal harmony

principle that the more powerful we are, the more we need humility.
The damaging consequence of deviating from this all encompassing
truism is evident by the dilemma of our embroiled involvement in
unilateral Iraqi war. As a result of continuing our Cold War Power
Diplomacy we have too often infringed on the dignity of many
disadvantaged nations in the world. After 9/11 we declared war
against terrorism and were eager to launch the unilateral war on Iraq
without giving diplomacy a chance.

Our pride blinded us from seeing the need of dignity by the poor and
disadvantaged. We have become immune to other nation's needs for
development. Instead from our ethnocentric perspective, we continue
to be critical of other striving nation's efforts to modernize. This lack of
understanding of other nation's loss of dignity and desperate need of
modernization did not go without notice by America's elite, and those
experienced in foreign policy. In fact the extensive survey conducted
by Pew Research Center involving 45,239 people and 46 nations from
April 6 to May 29, 2007 found majorities in many countries reject the
main planks of current U.S. foreign policy and express distaste for
American style democracy.

According to the polled results, there is a wide spread perception that

the U.S. acts unilaterally in making international policy decisions. And
majorities in most every country polled, including 97 percent in
France, 80 percent in Argentina, and 75 percent in Lebanon, said the
United States promoted democracy mostly where it served U.S.
interests. This, according to Pew, helps explain why U.S. ideas about
democracy are rejected by vast numbers around the globe.

Caution for change to a softer and more understanding American world

diplomacy is being sounded in unison by many notable and seasoned
formal high ranking diplomats such as Kissinger, Brezezinski, Albright
and Slaughter. New theories such as Faith Diplomacy, Value Diplomacy
and Diplomacy by Deeds are being advanced.

In today's multilateral world, Power Diplomacy as preached by the

bygone wisdom of "speak softly and carry a big stick" has lost most of
its relevance. The unpopular unilateral Iraq War makes it clear that
"speak loudly and carry a big stick" as practiced by the present
administration has not worked so far either. In fact there are signs that
Harmony Diplomacy is on the rise, witnessed by the softening of U.S.
position in the Sixth Party denuclearization talk.
On the other hand, in catering to the interest of the uninformed and
proud American public, the theme of Power Diplomacy is still echoed
among U.S. 2008 presidential candidates. In a July/August 2007
Foreign Affairs Journal article titled "Renewing American Leadership,"
fore running U.S. Democratic Party presidential candidate, Barack
Obama expounded Power Diplomacy as key U.S. foreign policy to
revive American leadership.

According to Obama "we must harness American power to reinvigorate

American diplomacy. Tough minded diplomacy backed by the whole
range of instruments of American power-political, economic, and
military-could bring success even when dealing with long standing
adversaries such as Iran and Syria."

Through out Obama's foreign policy exposition, words such as "power,

pushing, pressure, aggressive, tough, tough minded, American
leadership and instrument of power" are used freely. Words such as
dialogue, mutual understanding, trust, tolerance are noticeably absent.
Instead, proud of our past Cold War confrontational expertise, the
intensity of cold war diplomacy is called on to deal with a small band of
extreme radicals. The war on terror advocated by Bush will certainly
become an over kill that will unsettle world diplomacy for years to
come.

The world certainly can not afford to have another debilitating cold
war. The over enthusiastic inclination to use confrontation and ever
increasing force without consideration of neutralizing force with
dynamic balance, totally neglects the first principle strategy in counter
terrorism or any warfare for that matter. Dynamic balance of harmony
is more fluid like in nature.

A harmonious future for Asia and Europe hinges on wisdom that can
steer the course of their interactions. So said delegates at the third
annual Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Interfaith Dialogue, which
wrapped up June 23, 2007 in Nanjing, capital of East China's Jiangsu
Province. In the Nanjing Statement, issued at the conclusion of the
event, participants from the two continents vowed to deepen and
broaden the dialogue process to foster a peaceful and harmonious
partnership. Building on the achievements of the first two meetings, in
Bali in 2005 and Cyprus in 2006, the two-day dialogue co-hosted by
China and Italy served as a platform for religious and political leaders
and academics to address their diversity and commonality in faiths and
deliberate on further tapping the potential of interfaith talks in
enhancing mutual understanding in an era of globalization, a senior
Chinese diplomats said.

"In Chinese culture, harmony is underpinned by diversity. Seeking

harmony while acknowledging differences means that a country or an
ethnic group, while preserving its own cultural heritage, should be
open and tolerant to other civilizations," he added. In a world wrought
with uncertainties, it is vital to pursue mutual understanding through
dialogue, and achieve harmony through tolerance, he said. If nations
collide because of different values, globalization may be giving a new
spin to the multiple values involved in international relations.

A way to avoid conflict has long been sought. A seemingly

uncomplicated approach is for nations to share peace and prosperity
through dialogue and tolerance. The recipe of dialogue entails not
imposing one's values or faith on others. It involves respecting
different peoples' treasured values and beliefs. It is necessary to
understand and appreciate, or at least tolerate, different cultures and
religions. The ASEM (Asia-Europe Meeting) Interfaith Dialogue, under
the framework of the Asia-Europe Summit, is just such a platform. It
brings nations together from two continents to address their diversity
and commonality in faith and culture, with the hope of convergence for
the sake of humanity.

Following is an excerpt of a recent article by World Harmony

Organization's World Harmony Diplomacy Watch quoting People's
Daily. President Hu Jintao made the speech on China's new foreign
policy of building a harmonious world at the United Nations Summit
marking the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the world body.
His words received wide approval and the policy is thought fruitful in
2005. The policy helped to lift China's international status,
fundamentally because of its pursuit of balance. That is, to balance
national development against international responsibilities, economic
benefits against political and security interests, relations with world
powers against those with various countries, and reform against the
maintenance of world order.

In the spirit of "performing great deeds" China has decided to take

responsibilities of a big nation. During his meeting with President
Bush, President Hu said explicitly that the China-U.S. cooperation will
be on global scale.
Editor: Pan Letian

About Me
Francis Fung
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