I went to attend the 17th Asian Security Conference in New Delhi, India, before the 2015 Spring Festival. Barry Buzan, emeritus professor in the Department of International Relations at the London School of Economics, argued at the conference that we are now living in a world without superpowers but with several regional powers that decide the world order. He claimed that the US is gradually degrading to the level of a regional power. Of course, this does not mean regional powers only focus on affairs within their region, but means they exert most of their clout upon the region.
Though Buzan's idea may be disagreed with by many, I found it quite reasonable because an increasing number of regional issues will be resolved or controlled in regional ways.
At present, Europe is trying to sort out two conundrums: the Ukraine crisis and the economic quagmire in Greece and other eurozone countries trapped in a similar plight. I call on people to link the Ukraine crisis and the Greek issue together because in this way we will see how European powers, like Germany and France, settle their regional issues.
The EU and the eurozone are now engaged in arduous negotiations with Greece. They aim at seeking a way out for the eurozone and preventing the possible "exit" of some members from affecting the overall situation of the zone.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is also making efforts to help work out the debt crisis sprawling across the whole of Europe. This is because the IMF has served as a global economic governing tool for Europeans over the past 70 years. Now it attempts to deter Greece-like debtors by employing concerted effort with the European Commission and European Central Bank.
In order to win bargaining chips with the Troika in negotiations, Greece is looking for various approaches to its debt crisis, including through negotiations with China and Russia. Nonetheless, in my view, all non-European solutions to the unfolding Greek debt crisis will be futile. China will not offer direct assistance to Greece at the risk of worsening its relations with the Troika, let alone Russia. Moreover, as a member state of the IMF, China is involved indirectly in figuring out the conundrum.
When the Minsk agreement on the Ukraine crisis was inked in mid-February, people noticed that Washington was not among the signatories, which sent a strong signal that the Ukraine crisis is a European issue and therefore should be solved by Europe.
Similarly, Asian issues should be solved by Asia. The foreign policy elite from certain countries have always been asking external countries to intervene instead of seeking Asian solutions. Consequently, issues that could have been resolved easily become complicated. Such elites argue that they are afraid that China will grow stronger so that they turn to external powers to counter the rising Middle Kingdom and strike a balance in Asia. They think problems can be solved in this way, but as a result, they only mess things up.
In the current stage, Greece has made concessions in its negotiations with the EU and the European Central Bank, in hope of addressing its crisis under the European framework. Ukraine has finally realized that there will be no cease-fire or even peace with the interference of the US. This perhaps shows that paying the price has woken it up. The White House is considering providing lethal weapons to Ukraine, obviously to escalate the prolonged conflict instead of mitigating it.
Can Asian issues be solved by Asia alone? Some Asian people bent on acting as Washington's proxies just turn a deaf ear to the advice. Nevertheless, though they reject applying localized solutions to Asian problems, China must support and promote the use of Asian approaches.
Global governance in the 21st century lies in local issues being solved by local means. The US remains the greatest power in the world. However, with its declining strength, the more it interferes in other regions, the more terrible the situation will become and the more disorderly the world will be. Washington should recognize the reality as early as possible, accept and even encourage regional solutions.
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