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29.11.2010

TURKEY-CHINA INTERRELATIONS

   

Artashes Ter-Harutyunyan

On November 8-14 joint Chinese-Turkish maneuvers of land forces took place. Though that was not large-scale maneuvers (the maneuvers were arranged on the level of special mission units in the mountain terrain and were directed to the elaboration of anti-terror actions), such an unprecedented military cooperation between Beijing and Ankara attracted the attention of the observers.

Previously, from September 20 to October 6 in Turkey less than 10 SU-27 and MIG-29 Chinese planes together with the Turkish air forces hold maneuvers for the first time in history. By the way, the maneuvers were held at Konia airbase which is of great importance for the US and NATO and they were criticized by official Washington.

Against the background of tense relations between China and Turkey which came forward in 2009 because of the Uighur issue, such developments, of course, come to prove that the contradictions between Beijing and Ankara have been not only smoothed over but that Turkey and China try to shift their relations to a new level.

However, this does not mean that the question is closed. Both Beijing and Ankara have very important similarity; shaking off the long-lasted geopolitical slumber they have now undertaken pursuing active foreign policy, thus tending to rise their influence in the world (in case with China) and adjoining regions (in case with Turkey). If the countries with such programmes and capabilities begin to develop their relations in the military and political sector, which is of strategic importance, most probably their purposes will not be restricted to bilateral format.

Situational observations

The official relations between the People’s Republic of China and Turkish Republic were established on August 5, 1971 when Ankara officially recognized the PRC. Up till now Turkey stands by the so-called policy of “one China”, according to which Ankara recognizes the PRC as the only legal representative of China1.

The relations between China and Turkey strained last year in summer when on July 5, 2009 the mass protest actions, which later turned into encounters, took place in Urumchi, the administrative center of Xinxjang-Uighur Autonomous Region. As a result, according to official data, 184 people were killed and about one thousand people were wounded. The events in Urumchi received rather harsh reaction on behalf of Turkey. The Minister of Trade and Industry of that country Nihat Ergun called Turk consumers to boycott Chinese products. The prime-minister Erdogan went to even greater extremes: at first, he threatened to put Uighur issue to the agenda of the UN Security Council, then he promised to issue entry visa to Rebiya Kadir2, the leader of the Uighur World Congress which struggles for the independence of Uighurs, in case he wanted to visit Turkey and finally on July 10, 2009, during his TV address he called the events in Urumchi “genocide”. In response, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of China Zhai Jun characterized Erdogan’s statement as “irresponsible”.

However, Turkish-Chinese relations had not remained in such conditions for a long time. One of the reasons was the global economic crisis. In a consequence of it many traditionally important for Turkey markets – European, Russian, American – have been shrinking and China was one of the few economies which was growing over the crisis period and continues to grow today. This fact had its impact on Ankara.

Today China is a big trade partner for Turkey. According to the latest data issued by the Institute of Statistics of Turkey which covers the first 9 months of 2010, at present Beijing is the third biggest trade partner of Ankara (after Germany and Russia) and the second one in import.

The new relations between China and Turkey were initiated after the visit of the prime-minister of China Wen Jiabao to Turkey. On October 8 in Ankara after the talks between Erdogan and Jiabao and conclusion of 8 Chinese-Turkish agreements it has been stated that those two countries pass to the “relations of strategic partnership”, which implies “deepening of political relations and broadening of economic ties”. It was mentioned that their goal is to bring bilateral trade to $50 billion in 2015 and to $100 billion in 2020.

Conclusions

By developing new relations with Turkey China tends to solve several issues.

At first, let us speak about the Uighur issue. Deepening relations in the security sector Beijing aspires to demonstrate that Turkey no more supports Uighur movement. This issue is considered important for China because after the disturbances in March 2008 in Tibet, Beijing does not want to have the same situation in the neigbouring region which allows exerting additional international pressure on China.

Most probably, “relations of strategic partnership” with Ankara acquire great geopolitical significance for Beijing. According to western sources, during their trip to Turkey the aircrafts of the Chinese Air Forces passed over Pakistan and Iran and stopped in both countries to refuel, which was an unprecedented “expedition” for the Chinese militaries. Here there are two circumstances to be distinguished. Firstly, by that step China demonstrates its possibilities to make military movements in Eurasia and this is another step by China to provide access to the sources and markets necessary for the Chinese economy by the land where the capabilities of the American militaries are restricted. Secondly, neither Pakistan, nor especially Iran, where the Chinese planes landed, is distinguished by friendly relations with the US and its allies. Taking into consideration the aforementioned as well as the continuing difficulties in the US-Turkey relations, western observers mention that the expedition of the Chinese Air Forces can be perceived as Beijing’s attempt to create some kind of geopolitical line which comes through Pakistan, Iran and Turkey, especially when the relations between those three states have improved for the recent three years.

On the other hand, this initiative of China must be considered in the context of the steps in foreign policy taken by Beijing which are directed to increasing its influence in the world after the global financial and economic crisis. It is not a mere chance that the visit of the Chinese prime-minister to Turkey and their agreements almost coincided in the time with the other remarkable and in some cases unprecedented initiatives by Beijing in foreign policy. Thus, on October 2, during his visit to Athens, Chinese prime-minister promised to buy out national debt stocks of Greece which will have a considerable impact on the Greek economy. On November 6 the same promise was given in Lisbon by the Chinese president Hu Jintao to Portugal. Earlier, on November 4 in Paris Jintao and Sarkozi concluded a number of trade and economic agreements with total value of $22.8 billion. And on November 9 during the visit of the prime-minister of Great Britain David Cameron to China a $1.2 billion value contract was concluded, according to which British Rolls-Royce Company will produce engines for 16 Airbus 330 airplanes which belong to the China Eastern Airlines. It is obvious how important are the steps made by China for the European economies which are in poor economic conditions.

In case with Turkey such agreements with China can have at least two reasons.

Firstly, the circumstance is distinguished by the fact that such a breakthrough in the relations with Beijing is made Ankara by during the NATO Summit which took place on November 19-20 in Lisbon. Against the background of the continuing Turkish-American military and political discrepancies, this initiative of Ankara was taken by the American and European expert community as another step which estranges Turkey from the west. In this aspect another report concerning the membership of Turkey to the EU issued by the European commission on November 9 and, according to which Ankara is not ready yet to enter the EU, seems to supplement it. The report caused negative reaction in Ankara.

Secondly, it is remarkable that even in terms of military and political cooperation with Russia (again as an alternative to the West) Ankara and Moscow have not reached the point which would allow implementing, e.g. such military maneuvers. It is possible that here the well-known contradictions between two countries, which are absent in the Turkish-Chinese relations, act part.

All the aforementioned allows supposing that in case of the positive development of the Turkish-Chinese “military and political partnership”, Beijing may outstrip Moscow in becoming the alternative to the US and NATO military and political partner for Turkey. In this aspect the information of the Israeli sources that during the meeting between the president of Syria Bashar Asad and Turkish prime-minister Recep Tayip Erdogan the issue of cooperation in the military and intelligence sectors with China was discussed is remarkable. This cooperation will include Turkey, Syria and Iran. On November 8 Asad received the vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission of China3 Hu Caihou and during their meeting bilateral military ties were discussed.

1It is known that the Chinese Republic or Taiwan dispute People’s Republic of China’s right with to represent China legally.

2Rabiya Kadir lives in the US. As in case with Dalai-lama in case with Mrs. Kadir China strive to make so that her visits to different countries were prohibited. In 2006 and in 2007 Turkey refused to issue entry visa to the leader of the Uyghur World Congress.

3The commission is a part of the Communist Party of China which controls the armed forces.


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