US aggression and China's stance

The US-Israel duo continues its attacks on Iran. Following the US's banditry in Venezuela and the kidnapping of the country's elected president, the situation emerging in Iran also demonstrates the dimensions of US imperialist aggression and the limits of its power. The US does not hesitate to say that it will attack Cuba after Iran. Beyond the geopolitical, strategic, economic, and military aspects of these US attacks, it is clear that they also send a message to China. This is because, no matter what it does, it cannot prevent China's rise. Considering Venezuela's close relations with China, the importance China places on the Panama Canal, the fact that China is one of the largest customers for Middle Eastern oil, Iran's close relations with China, and the importance of the Strait of Hormuz in China's foreign trade and energy supply, the world is very justifiably curious about China's stance on these issues. 

China believes that time is working in its favor. It trusts in its immense economic power and production capacity. With strategic patience, it watches the US wear itself out. Known as the factory of the world, China is not only the country that attracts the most direct investment, but it is also known as the country that invests the most and allocates the most resources to advanced technology, artificial intelligence, and renewable energy. China's most sensitive point is its high dependence on foreign energy, as it imports roughly three-quarters of the energy it uses. As the world's largest energy-consuming country (followed by the US and India), China is making large-scale investments in both nuclear energy and renewable energy to reduce its high foreign dependence on energy.  

CHINESE ECONOMY and THE BELT AND ROAD INITIATIVE 

China constantly emphasizes sustainable development, social justice, and planning. It is calculating to become a healthy and strong middle-class society. Chinese leaders say they are focused on becoming a strong state that the Chinese nation will be proud of by 2049, the 100th anniversary of the country's founding. On the economic plane, they are taking measures to ensure that the country's resources are used with a frugal, effective, efficient, and productive approach. While accelerating opening up to the outside world, they are trying to tackle bribery and corruption—a significant problem not only for China but also for foreign investors—with strict measures. 

China has ambitious goals and programs in the economy. Working to replace the abundant use of natural resources and cheap labor with innovation, efficiency, qualified labor, and high-quality production, China aims for the service sector to come to the fore, and even surpass heavy industry, over time. Technological innovation, branding, and full employment are targeted in the economy. China has one of the world's most ambitious poverty alleviation programs, such as ensuring no one remains below the poverty line. 

Another ambitious goal of the state is to prevent air pollution in large cities. The slogan is: A beautiful China where the sky is blue, the soil is green, and the water is clean. Among the 10 industrial sectors of the future that are given great importance, new generation communication technologies, numerical control tools and robots, space and satellite vehicles, ocean engineering and high-tech ships, materials and tools used in energy production, medical and health tools, new materials, new energy turbines, railway vehicles, and agricultural vehicles stand out. China is the country with the highest installed capacity in the world for wind and solar energy, the largest user of coal, and the world leader in electric public transport systems. 

China defends the market economy, free trade, and commercial competition on a global scale. It is proud of the number of wealthy people in the country. It develops relations with both the few countries that have benefited from the globalization process in the world and the many countries that have been victims of this process. It trades with Japan, with which it has political and diplomatic tensions, as well as with Australia, which is in the wake of the US and the UK. In other words, it compartmentalizes its relationships. It pursues a multi-faceted, multi-dimensional foreign policy. It is trying to expand the use of its currency, the Yuan (officially known as the Renminbi), as a reserve currency in global trade. 

China, the world's largest automotive market, has surpassed the US and Japan in automobile production. In addition to its own brands, it also produces many brands such as Volkswagen, Audi, General Motors, Hyundai, Nissan, Honda, and Toyota together with local partners. 55 percent of the vehicles produced are foreign brands. It ranks first not only in automobile production but also in shipyard capacity. 

Beyond the classic elements of power, the first institution that comes to mind when talking about China's soft power and public diplomacy is the Confucius Institutes, of which there are about 550 in approximately 160 countries around the world. Half of these institutes are located in countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative. Since China has made a breakthrough in education, science, and technology in parallel with its economic power, just as the number of Chinese companies in the top 100 and top 500 worldwide has been increasing in recent years, the number of Chinese universities in the top 100 and top 500 has also been increasing. The fact that China, which constantly increases its budget for science and technology, has taken the top spot in the number of patents proves this reality. 

The scale of the Belt and Road Initiative, led by China, is very large. No matter what the US did, it could not prevent the progress of this project. Moreover, many of the US's allies have joined the project. Therefore, the Belt and Road Initiative covers approximately one-third of the world economy, two-thirds of the world's population, and three-quarters of the world's energy resources.

CHINA'S PRIORITIES IN FOREIGN POLICY 

China provides high amounts of loans to developing countries, especially in Africa. So much so that the loans provided by China in many countries exceed the loans provided by the World Bank. Furthermore, China also supports the alliances that these countries have established among themselves. It encourages foreign trade with the Chinese currency. China sees Africa's potential. Its relations with the African Union, which has 55 members, are strong. It knows that this large, poor continent with many problems possesses one-fifth of the world's minerals and two-fifths of its groundwater resources. It should also be remembered that China is the number one foreign trade partner for many countries in a very wide geography, not only in Africa but also from Latin America to Central Asia, and from Europe to the Middle East.   

While China is becoming more visible in foreign policy with the influence of its economic and political power, strong army, defense industry, and technology, it also stands out with its mediation activities, the summits it hosts, and the alliances it leads. In this sense, different schools and approaches regarding the field of international relations and the country's foreign policy are also noteworthy in Chinese academia. In this regard, a comprehensive doctoral thesis recently written by one of the young and bright names of Turkish academia, journalist Dr. Elif İlhamoğlu Akkoç, under the supervision of Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hasan Duran from Istanbul University Faculty of Political Sciences, on China-centered international relations theories, provides important information about the studies conducted in this field in China. 

Studies by experts such as Prof. Dr. Peter Gries (at the University of Manchester in the UK) and Prof. Dr. David Shambaugh, who have signed important works on this subject in the US, also overlap on the rise of China and the fact that this will continue, despite some academic and political disagreements between them. It should be noted that there is no consensus in the world on the policy that China will follow. While many experts say that China wants to change the international status quo and is moving quietly and deeply, those who oppose this thesis argue that China is not expansionist, that it respects the regimes and territorial integrity of countries, and that it knows the limits of its power. According to those who defend this thesis, China knows that it cannot be as successful as the US in using its language, culture, taste, cinema, music, entertainment style, lifestyle, educational institutions, and sports clubs as soft power elements and in globalizing them. These experts argue, for example, that Chinese will never replace English, that China's fast-food concept and soft drinks cannot compete with McDonald's or Coca-Cola, and that Chinese culture cannot form an alternative to Western culture. 

Prof. Dr. David Shambaugh states that there are 7 schools of thought in Chinese foreign policy. He lists these schools as: 1- Globalists, 2- Selective multilateralists, 3- Global South supporters, 4- Asia-first supporters, 5- Great power supporters, 6- Realists, 7- Nationalists. He emphasizes that the realists are the most influential movement, that they overlap with the nationalists on many issues, that they are absolutely against US hegemony, that they think it is necessary to have a strong army, and that they are jealous regarding sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity. 

It is known that China, the world's second most populous country after India, the world's second-largest economy after the US, and with a surface area of 9.5 million square kilometers, has grown by an average of roughly 10 percent for nearly a quarter of a century. The reflection of this growth rate, industrialization, urbanization, and middle-class formation on the country's economy and political structure is inevitable. This, of course, makes China more visible not only in foreign policy but also makes Chinese investors more visible in the business world, Chinese tourists in many countries of the world, and Chinese students in universities in different countries of the world. Today, about 55 percent of the Chinese population lives in cities. According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, this rate was 20 percent in 1980. The number of active personnel in the Chinese People's Liberation Army exceeds 2.3 million, and the number of members of the Communist Party of China exceeds 100 million. 

In summary, China openly opposes the US-centered Atlantic system. It advocates for a multipolar order. It leads organizations that are alternatives to the institutions led by the US. It provides aid and invests in countries that the US puts pressure on. It attaches great importance to its relations with Russia in every respect. It watches with satisfaction as the US weakens economically, anti-Americanism increases in the world, the US loses reputation, and cracks form between the US and its allies and within important institutions of the Western alliance (such as NATO).