Yearender: Marked changes in world's political, economic
landscape
Special Report: Yearender
2008
by Sun Ruijun and Bao
Erwen
BEIJING, Dec. 28 (Xinhua) -- The
world has undergone remarkable changes this year, but international
security situation on the whole remained stable with "peace" and
"development" prevailing as the themes of the times.
In 2008, the world has continued
moving toward multi-polarization, resulting in a distinctive shift
of international forces. Globalization is developing in depth and
regional cooperation is gathering momentum.
The world has been confronted with
one hotspot issue after another and non-traditional threats are
increasing. The world economic growth took a turn for the worse due
to the outbreak of the global financial crisis.
WORLD MULTI-POLARIZATION
STRENGTHENED
In recent years, the international
political structure has transformed gradually from "one superpower
coexisting with several other powers," formed after the Cold War,
to multi-polarization.
The transformation picked up speed
this year, with significant changes in the balance of international
forces.
The United States has been acting
as the world's only superpower in 2008, but the financial turmoil,
which broke out in Wall Street in September, showed its
vulnerability.
In addition, the country is still
deep in trouble with its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which has
undermined its international image.
Some analysts attributed the
waning U.S. strength to its policy of unilateralism and
expansionism on international issues, and its practice of a
laissez-faire free market economy at home. It remains to be seen
what consequences of these policies will have on U.S. national
strength.
By contrast, Russia's flexing of
strong muscles in the international political arena in the outgoing
year indicated a marked recovery of its strength.
After sending troops to Georgia in
August, Moscow announced itsrecognition of the independence of
South Ossetia and Abkhazia and established diplomatic ties with
them.
Furthermore, the Russian military
forces also carried out operations in Latin America, which has long
been considered the "backyard" of the United States.
Washington, which has been pushing
NATO's eastward expansion and trying to deploy anti-ballistic
missile systems in East Europe, seemed to have no effective
measures to deal with Russia's counterattack.
The growing strength of Russia has
something to do with its leaders' strong will to make their country
regain world power status. Over the past years Russia had seized
the favorable opportunities by pursuing a pluralistic and pragmatic
diplomatic policy, reviving its national economy and safeguarding
its national interest.
Also in 2008, after standing the
test of natural disasters following the Wenchuan earthquake in May,
China succeeded in hosting the "truly exceptional" 29th Olympic
Games in August. In October, the country sent Shenzhou-7 spacecraft
into orbit, accomplishing its first ever space walk.
China has showed to the world its
overall national strength is on constant increase following 30
years of reform and opening-up. China has become one of the major
engines for world economy and contributed significantly to world
economic growth.
Moreover, China has played more
important roles in international affairs, such as the financial
summit and the informal meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic
Cooperation (APEC) this year.
Meanwhile, the European Union (EU)
continued to enhance its independence and influence in
international affairs.
In March, British Prime Minister
Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy said their
countries share a vision of a "global Europe."
"We need Britain and France at the
heart of Europe, a global Europe, that is reforming, open,
flexible, outward-looking," the two leaders said in a joint
statement.
The outgoing 2008 has also seen a
large number of developing countries rise with increasing
momentum.
From a geopolitical perspective,
the center of world power is shifting from both sides of the
Atlantic to the western Pacific region, as the emerging countries
are mostly located in Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia
and the Middle East.
This shows that the existing
international system is undergoing readjustment with new reshuffles
and restructuring profoundly changing the balance of power in the
world.
GLOBALIZATION, REGIONAL
COOPERATION
The in-depth development of
economic globalization has made economic ties and interdependence
between countries even closer, boosting the sustained growth of
world economy, and benefiting many countries.
The Doha Round of talks of the
World Trade Organization, aimed at furthering global trade,
remained deadlocked this year. However, the financial summit and
the 16th Leaders' Meeting of APEC in November sent out a strong
signal for boosting the talks and gave them fresh
impetus.
Yet, economic globalization has
not been plain sailing this year.
Some developed nations, out of
their selfish interest, asked too much of their developing
counterparts, leaving the Doha Round of trade talks in an
impasse.
After the outbreak of financial
crisis, trade protectionism gained ground in some developed
nations. However, economic globalization will continue despite
twists and turns, as it is the inevitable outcome that corresponds
to the development of productive forces of today's world, and
constitutes the general trend of world economic growth.
It is hoped that developed nations
would establish an equal, mutually-beneficial and win-win
partnership with developing nations, so as to advance economic
globalization toward balanced development, shared benefits and
win-win progress.
Regional integration is another
highlight in 2008, with regional and sub-regional cooperation
further strengthened.
The EU continued to boost the
process of its integration. Except Ireland, the Czech Republic and
Poland, all EU member nations have ratified the Lisbon Treaty,
signed by EU heads of state and government in December 2007 and
designed to reform EU institutions and streamline decision-making
in the ever-enlarging union.
A charter of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN),which was ratified by parliaments
of 10 members of the regional bloc and formally entered into force
on Dec. 15, clearly set the strategic goal of setting up an ASEAN
community.
In Africa, the Southern African
Development Community (SADC) inaugurated a free trade area in
August.
In October, the SADC and two other
regional blocs, the East African Community and the Common Market
for Eastern and Southern Africa, held a summit in the Ugandan
capital of Kampala to discuss Africa's economic integration.
COMPLICATED SECURITY
SITUATION
International security situation
remained stable on the whole this year despite sporadic traditional
threats.
The U.S.-led NATO continued to
take "containment" measures against Russia. Meanwhile, Washington
has reinforced its military strength in East Asia.
The armed conflict between Georgia
and Russia in South Ossetia took the world by surprise. Observers
noted however, the root cause of the conflict lies in Russia's
perceived threat to its strategic security posed by NATO's
continued eastward expansion that will recruit Georgia and Ukraine
as new members and Washington's insistence on deploying
anti-ballistic missile systems in Poland and the Czech Republic,
rather than the apparent differences over South Ossetia's
sovereignty.
The year 2008 has also seen new
changes in some old hotspot issues, and the emergence of some new
hotspot issues.
The nuclear issue on the Korean
Peninsula achieved a breakthrough, but also encountered new
obstacles.
After the Democratic People's
Republic of Korea (DPRK) formally submitted a declaration on its
nuclear program, Washington removed the country from the "list of
state sponsors of terrorism."
But the two countries were far
apart on the issue concerning verification of the DPRK's
declaration.
Iran's nuclear issue remained
deadlocked. Tehran refused to halt its sensitive uranium enrichment
activities, while Western nations threatened to launch a new round
of sanctions against the country.
Iraq's security situation has
improved, with violent attacks on decline as compared with last
year. Washington and the Iraqi government reached a deal on the
status of the U.S. forces stationed in the country. But sectarian
conflicts, political confrontation, terrorist activities and the
U.S. military presence were still threatening Iraq's
stability.
As insufficient U.S. and NATO
troops were unable to deal effective blows to Taliban insurgents,
Afghanistan underwent the most turbulent year in 2008 since the
fall of the Taliban regime, with at least 5,000 people killed in
violent attacks this year.
In the Middle East, Israeli and
Palestinian leaders failed to honor their commitment of a peaceful
deal made at an international meeting in the U.S. city of Annapolis
last November.
Meanwhile, Fatah and Hamas, two
major factions in Palestine, were locked in frequent clashes due to
different political views.
In November, the Sudanese
government announced an immediate ceasefire in the war-torn western
region of Darfur to pave the wayfor the Arab-sponsored peace
negotiations with the rebel movements. But in July, a prosecutor of
the International Criminal Court (ICC) demanded an arrest warrant
for Sudanese President Omeral-Bashir, accusing him of "genocide"
and other war crimes committed in Darfur.
The ICC move set a precedent for
an institution transcending states prosecuting the incumbent leader
of a sovereign state, causing grave concerns among Middle Eastern
and African nations, as the move threatened the current
international order based on the UN Charter.
In February, Kosovo's declaration
of independence drew mixed reactions from the international
community, with Washington voicing support and recognition for
Kosovo's independence, EU nations holding different views on the
issue, and Serbia and Russia expresses strong opposition to
Kosovo's independence.
Moscow maintained that Kosovo's
independence would endanger the system of international law and
leave negative consequences for the Balkan region and the world at
large.
In Thailand, Pakistan and
Zimbabwe, different political factions, as representatives of
different interest groups, got into furious disputes over election
issues.
The year 2008 has also witnessed
increasing non-traditional security threats, including terrorism,
climate change and piracy.
On Nov. 26, more than 200 people
were killed and some 300 others injured in terror attacks in
Mumbai, India's largest city. Afghanistan and Pakistan also fell
victim to terror attacks.
As for climate change, a disaster
caused by freezing rain and snow hit a large area in southern
China. Hurricanes pounded Central America and the Caribbean. More
than 77,000 people were killed and nearly 56,000 people went
missing in a severe tropical storm in Myanmar.
Since the beginning of 2008, more
than 120 cases of piracy occurred off Somalia, a war-torn country
in Africa, with more than 30 ships hijacked and some 600 sailors
held hostages.
As rampant piracy is posing
increasing threats to maritime trade and shipping, some countries
were forced to use military force to ensure the safety of their
commercial vessels.
FINANCIAL
CRISIS
In September this year, a
financial "tsunami" that broke out in Wall Street, quickly turned
into the most serious global financial crisis since the Great
Depression in the 1930s.
According to the U.S. company
Goldman Sachs & Co., global financial institutions would suffer
a loss of 1.4 trillion dollars in the U.S. subprime crisis. Global
financial crisis had already plunged the United States, the euro
zone and Japan into recession, and slowed down the growth of
emerging economies.
The International Monetary Fund
has predicted a 3.7 percent growth rate for world economy this
year, lower than the 2007 figure of 5.0 percent.
The global financial crisis is
blamed on the laissez-faire economic policy adopted by the U.S.
government and its failure to exercise effective financial
regulation amid the dramatic expansion of financial derivative
products since early this century.
People expect the international
community to draw lessons from the crisis and undertake necessary
reform of international financial system in a comprehensive,
balanced, incremental and result-oriented way, so as to establish a
new international financial order that is fair, just, inclusive and
orderly and fostering an institutional environment conducive to
sound global economic development.
As long as it joins forces, the
international community will be able to tackle all political,
security and economic challenges and continue to advance the world
further toward justice, peace and prosperity, observers
said.
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