China cool on idea of 'G2' with US: Beijing envoy
TOKYO — China's ambassador to Japan said Thursday his country does not favour the idea of a 'Group of Two' or G2 that would place the United States and China at the helm of international affairs.
Beijing instead supports the "democratisation of international relations" over the "dominance of the world by a few countries," China's ambassador to Japan, Cui Tiankai, said in a Tokyo address on Thursday.
The idea of a special US-China relationship, dubbed the G2, has been floated in American academic circles since 2006.
It was raised again in January by former US national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski in Beijing as the world's largest and third-largest economies celebrated 30 years of diplomatic ties.
The concept has attracted interest, particularly since the G20 meeting in April in London where US President Barack Obama and China's Hu Jintao launched an annual strategic dialogue and agreed to "strengthen ties at all levels."
But Cui, a graduate of John's Hopkins University in the United States, said China did not favour the concept of a G2 if it meant Washington and Beijing sharing the role of world leader.
"China doesn't have the capability to control one hemisphere of the globe. China is still a developing country which will have to face complicated and serious domestic problems for its social and economic development," he said.
He added that "China has coherently argued that we don't approve of the dominance of the world by a few countries."
"When the Group of Seven or Eight countries cannot genuinely solve global issues, it's impossible to think of global governance by only two countries," he said, referring to the G7 and G8 groupings of rich nations.
He added that "democratisation of international relations is what China has long promoted.
"If we are strengthening our power now, we will use it to promote democratisation of international relations. We won't do anything that goes against it," he said.
Cui also said he sees no contradiction between the goals of the incoming Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) government to boost ties with China and the Asian region, and maintaining close relations with the United States.
"In my impression, the DPJ's policy is that, while it stresses the importance of Japan's ties with China, it does not mean it downplays its ties with the United States," he said.
"It's possible that Japan can strengthen ties with China and ties with the United States simultaneously."
