Russia 'violated a norm'
2008-08-28 09:51
Washington - While Western countries and Russia are courting Asian nations amid escalating tensions over Georgia, experts say Moscow may find few supporters in a region grappling with competing territorial claims.
After sending tanks and troops into neighbouring Georgia this month and then raising the stakes by recognising the rebel Georgian provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev discussed the crisis with his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao on Wednesday.
The two leaders spoke on the sidelines of a six-member Shanghai Co-operation Organisation summit in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe, according to the Kremlin.
Before the talks, China said it was "concerned" about Medvedev's decision to recognise the rebel Georgian provinces, but otherwise refrained from criticism. The move was condemned by the United States and the other Group of Seven (G7) industrialised nations.
Officials said Japan, the only Asian G7 nation, could play a key role in shaping response from the region over the conflict, which could see the rich nations using the financial and economic levers on the Russians.
The conflict in Georgia is expected to be a key topic at the UN General Assembly in September as well as at the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec) summit, which includes the United States and Russia, in Peru in November.
West wields greater influence
The West wields greater influence in Asia than Russia despite its bountiful oil and gas resources, its diplomatic efforts to end North Korea's nuclear ambitions, and its drive to wean the region away from dependence on US weaponry, experts said.
"The Russians don't bring a full playbook to Asian issues the way the other powers do," said Michael Green, an Asian expert at the Washington-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
"It's true Russia has energy exports and it's true that China, Japan and South Korea are vying for ownership of a pipeline from Russia," said Green.
"But the nature of Asian economic integration and development is much more about manufacturing and high technology, and the Russians don't bring very much into that discussions," he said.
Furthermore, the principle that Georgian-like territorial disputes should not be resolved by force "is very important because there are so many post-colonial stakes and unresolved territorial issues" in Asia, said Green, a top White House Asia hand in the first four years of the George W Bush administration.
"Russia's attacks on Georgia has essentially violated a norm which a lot of Asian governments are trying to reinforce in their own region," he said.
'A new era is dawning'
While it has close ties with Russia, China is facing its own problems with groups pushing for independence in its Buddhist region of Tibet and Muslim Xinjiang.
In addition, China together with Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Brunei and Taiwan claim in full or in part the Spratlys, a chain of islands and atolls believed rich in oil and gas deposits in the South China Sea.
Despite India's historic ties with Russia, experts also cannot imagine it taking a positive view of the Russian declaration of independence for the rebel Georgian regions, given all of the territorial integrity challenges New Delhi faces domestically.
Dmitri Trenin, an expert with Washington-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said countries such as China were watching with keen interest the current conflict as US dominance comes under threat.
"The present conflict is about the geopolitics of the former Soviet space, which Moscow seeks to free from US power, and about the world order, which Russia wants to rid of US domination," he said.
"The gauntlet is down. Even as America is scrambling to react, and Europe is torn, China, Iran and many others are watching with a keen interest. A new era is dawning," he said in a report.