'Envoys of India, Japan complained of China's muscle-flexing'

A new set of leaked cables published by London's 'Observer' newspaper today showed that US Ambassador to Beijing, Jon Huntsman, in a secret despatch on China's 'newly pugnacious' foreign policy, said Beijing is "losing friends worldwide".

The European diplomats were "most vocal" about China's aggressive posture in recent years, while Indian and Japanese envoys voiced similar "complaints," Huntsman's 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: China's new 'global assertiveness' raises hackles, but has more form than substance", Huntsman accused Beijing of "muscle-flexing, triumphalism and assertiveness", but added that some observers saw it as a rhetoric designed to appeal to Chinese public opinion.
He said a British diplomat complained saying that Chinese officials' behaviour at the Copenhagen climate change summit in December last year was "shocking" and so rude and arrogant that the UK and French complained formally.

The Indian Ambassador to Beijing requested closer cooperation with the US because of "China's more aggressive approach," Huntsman's cable said, adding Japanese diplomats complained that Chinese officials were "aggressive and difficult" during climate summit preparations.

Another 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' with Japanese civilian and self-defence force ships".
Reacting to references to Jaishankar's remarks in Huntsman's cable, the Indian embassy here declined to comment.

The secret cable said that the main tensions appeared to be with China's neighbours or established western powers.

On the recent crisis between Japan and China following detention of the Chinese skipper of a fishing trawler, the leaked paper showed that Japan had not reported all incidents involving aggressive posturing by China before the incident.

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.
A Norwegian diplomat said Oslo was unhappy with the trend of bilateral relations, citing the lack of progress in human rights discussions.