China is losing friends worldwide because of its aggressive posture,Indias envoy to Beijing along with those from Japan,EU and some African States,complained to the US,according to a secret cable from the US embassy here released by WikiLeaks.
A new set of leaked cables published by Londons Observer newspaper Sunday showed that US Ambassador to Beijing,Jon Huntsman,in a secret despatch on Chinas newly pugnacious foreign policy,said Beijing is losing friends worldwide.
The European diplomats were most vocal about Chinas aggressive posture in recent years,while Indian and Japanese envoys voiced similar complaints, Huntsmans cable said. Numerous third-country diplomats have complained to us that dealing with China has become more difficult in the past year, the US envoy said in his February report,quoting among others Indian Ambassador to China,S Jaishankar.
In his cable entitled Stomp around and carry a small stick: Chinas new global assertiveness raises hackles,but has more form than substance,Huntsman accused Beijing of muscle-flexing,triumphalism and assertiveness.
He said a British diplomat complained saying that Chinese officials behaviour at the Copenhagen climate change summit last year was shocking and so rude and arrogant that the UK and French complained formally.
Jaishankar requested closer cooperation with the US because of Chinas more aggressive approach, Huntsmans cable said,adding Japanese diplomats complained that Chinese officials were aggressive and difficult during climate summit preparations.
Reacting to references to Jaishankars remarks in Huntsmans cable,the Indian embassy here declined to comment.
A Japanese official described rising tensions in the East China Sea,saying that the increased aggressiveness of Chinese coastguard and naval units… had provoked many dangerous encounters. The cable referred to another dispute between Norway and China over Oslo’s allegation of human rights violations in China. The ties between the two countries worsened following the awarding of Nobel peace prize to Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo recently. In several cables,US diplomats noted Chinas growing influence in Latin America and Africa. Juliu Ole Sunkuli,the Kenyan envoy,claimed that Africa was better off thanks to Chinas practical,bilateral approach to development assistance and was concerned that this would be changed by western interference. But other cables suggested some African diplomats felt a degree of suspicion and resentment about Chinas role. A Nigerian official suggested poorer countries were coerced into aid-for-resources deals.