China's rise is opportunity for developing countries
Yuba Nath Lamsal
China's spectacular economic growth is world's miracle. This is a miracle
because Beijing has achieved this feat in three decades what other countries
could not do even in one century. In the period of three decade, China has
been transformed from a poor agrarian economy into world's economic and
industrial powerhouse, thanks largely to Deng Xiaoping's sweeping reform
programmes.
There are three key stages of China's development and modernization. The
first phase was the Chinese Revolution in 1949 that laid a foundation of
modern China. The revolution under the banner of Communist Party of China
established the People's Republic of China. Standing in the podium in the
Tiananmen Square in 1949, Mao Zedong had declared the victory of the Chinese
Revolution and said, "China has stood up".
True to Mao's words, China has stood firmly and confidently. The revolution
liberated China from foreign invasion and domestic exploitation. The
revolution made the people of China masters of their own destiny, which
paved the way for the people to take part in the political and developmental
process of the country in a spontaneous manner. Due credit, thus, goes to
Mao and his colleagues, who trekked a long and arduous journey to create an
independent and strong China. Had the Chinese Revolution not taken place,
China may not have been as it is today.
While Mao laid the foundation of modern China, Deng came in to change the
face of the country. The 1978 marked a turning point in the history of
China. Deng Xiaoping, who was often called as the tiny giant of a man, came
to the political stage for the second time in China. Deng was elected
chairman of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the
powerful organ of the Communist Party, in March 1978, which proved to be a
historic event for China.
Deng vowed to break from the old policies especially in the economic sector.
He introduced massive but cautious economic reforms to ensure that China
could cope with the modern pace of development and reap the benefit of
development. China had enormous resources, the most important of which was
its huge human resource. What China lacked was adequate fund. Deng realized
that China needed money to invest and mobilize the resources for the overall
benefit of the Chinese nation. The architect of economic reforms decided to
bring in foreign investment so that the enormous potentials of China could
be duly tapped to the best interest of the country and the people. And he
succeeded in it.
When Deng rose to power and opened up China's doors to the outside world, he
had, at all, no clue where to start and what to do. He often repeated the
phrase "China has to cross the river by feeling the rock by feet on the
riverbed". This is a reference to lack of experience and knowledge among the
Chinese leaders and the people how to cope with the new environment and
carry the process of reforms and economic development to the right
direction. In the beginning he was not sure whether his reforms would be
successful. He was completely unaware what course China would head for. But
he was certain that the old style and mentality would not work and a new
mechanism and approach are a must for the survival and development of China.
Deng said in public that there was no alternative to opening up and reforms
in order to catch up the changes taken place in the world. If China had to
survive, it had to change and keep with the change taking place in the
world. Thus, Deng was determined to pursue reforms and this determination
paid well for China.
China needed investment from outside. But brining foreign investment was not
an easy task especially in a communist country. The mere rhetoric of change
and reform does not appeal to investors. There are many countries in the
world that have opened up their economy and introduced reforms. But these
efforts have not been able to yield desirable results in terms of attracting
investment from outside. What China needed were pragmatic and investment
friendly laws and policies.
China had strictest laws on foreign investment, labour policy and trade and
currency dealing. Deng realized that simplification of laws and procedures
were urgently needed to bring in foreign investment. He was convinced that
investment does not come alone but comes with modern management and new
technology.
Market is magnet for investors. But market alone does not bring external
investment in the absence of necessary infrastructure. Along with investment
friendly laws and policies, infrastructure is equally important to attract
fund from outside. China's infrastructures were poor. Roads, communication,
power are some of the key infrastructures which are required for foreign
investment. The infrastructure building needed huge fund which China did not
have. Its national coffer was virtually empty. The first job, therefore, was
to create necessary fund to build infrastructure. The Chinese government
leased out public land and other public properties including some
state-owned enterprises. This yielded good results and China collected money
needed for development works. Armed with investment friendly policies and
laws as well as good infrastructure, China could convince the world that
investment in China is profitable and returns are lucrative. As a result,
China could achieve such a remarkable progress in 30 years what other
countries could not do in a century.
China's march to development and modernization is peaceful. Unlike other
Western countries that prospered and thrived on exploiting the developing
countries, China mobilized its own resources and sought investment and
technology from other countries. Most Western industrialized countries had
colonized and exploited the developing countries of Asia, Africa and Latin
America for the benefit of the colonial powers. As country that believes in
mutual cooperation, respect to one another's sovereignty and territorial
integrity, China never tried to exploit any other countries but focused on
the mobilization of its own people. Although China has risen so fast and
formidably, it does not want coercive policy with any other countries in the
world. This is China's long-cherished policy which continues even today.
China wants to share its experience with the developing countries and extend
selfless cooperation to the needy states. This is China's peaceful diplomacy
and soft power image.
China's fast pace of development is a global subject of debate and analysis.
The speedy growth and development of China has impacted the global economy
as well as world order. Some in the Western countries especially in the
United States take China's rise and development as a threat to their
security and economic interests. But China has repeatedly made its position
clear that it has no ill will against any country and its rise would by no
means threat to any country in the world. One thing is sure that China's
rise has broken the monopoly of certain Western powers in the global
affairs. In fact, many in the developing world have taken China's rise and
development as an opportunity to reshape the world order, which would
benefit the hitherto oppressed and backward countries.
China's peaceful rise is both its choice as well as compulsion. The peaceful
development which is marked by harnessing its own capability as well as
cooperation from other countries was what China needed to lift the tens of
millions poor people from poverty and transform China from a impoverished
agrarian economy to a industrial power. Now China stands as a second largest
economy and has developed strong industrial base. Even the Western world
that has been reeling under the history's worst recession is pinning its
hope on China. The future of the world now rests upon China's role and
course.
In view of present uni-polar world marked by inequalities and imbalance, the
peaceful rise of China has definitely great significance. China's growth and
development as a soft power is, indeed, in the broader interest of the
developing countries. The approach of China is peaceful in nature and wants
to cooperate for the mutual benefit of all countries in the world. This is
what the objective of China's peaceful growth, which is based on the
principle of ' win-win cooperation'. This model of cooperation which China
has adopted benefits Beijing and all developing countries.
With the rise of China as an economic power accompanied by military strength
and international clout, China has realized its international obligation.
Motivated by this spirit, China has adopted the policy of pursuing its soft
power image in the world. The soft power image is a policy that shuns
coercive diplomacy but pursues cooperative approach through which the world
can benefit from China and vice versa. It is against this background, the
Beijing Consensus was mooted which is viewed as a counter move against the
Washington Consensus.
As the developing world is cheering over the China's rise and economic
miracle, its neighbours should be more enthusiastic and jubilant. This is
more so for Nepal because the world's economic superpower is its next-door
neighbour. China is coming up more generously for the development of it
neighbours. Nepal can extract maximum benefit from China's progress and its
generous attitude as Beijing has expressed willingness to do everything
possible for the development and progress of Nepal.
China's spectacular economic growth is world's miracle. This is a miracle
because Beijing has achieved this feat in three decades what other countries
could not do even in one century. In the period of three decade, China has
been transformed from a poor agrarian economy into world's economic and
industrial powerhouse, thanks largely to Deng Xiaoping's sweeping reform
programmes.
There are three key stages of China's development and modernization. The
first phase was the Chinese Revolution in 1949 that laid a foundation of
modern China. The revolution under the banner of Communist Party of China
established the People's Republic of China. Standing in the podium in the
Tiananmen Square in 1949, Mao Zedong had declared the victory of the Chinese
Revolution and said, "China has stood up".
True to Mao's words, China has stood firmly and confidently. The revolution
liberated China from foreign invasion and domestic exploitation. The
revolution made the people of China masters of their own destiny, which
paved the way for the people to take part in the political and developmental
process of the country in a spontaneous manner. Due credit, thus, goes to
Mao and his colleagues, who trekked a long and arduous journey to create an
independent and strong China. Had the Chinese Revolution not taken place,
China may not have been as it is today.
While Mao laid the foundation of modern China, Deng came in to change the
face of the country. The 1978 marked a turning point in the history of
China. Deng Xiaoping, who was often called as the tiny giant of a man, came
to the political stage for the second time in China. Deng was elected
chairman of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the
powerful organ of the Communist Party, in March 1978, which proved to be a
historic event for China.
Deng vowed to break from the old policies especially in the economic sector.
He introduced massive but cautious economic reforms to ensure that China
could cope with the modern pace of development and reap the benefit of
development. China had enormous resources, the most important of which was
its huge human resource. What China lacked was adequate fund. Deng realized
that China needed money to invest and mobilize the resources for the overall
benefit of the Chinese nation. The architect of economic reforms decided to
bring in foreign investment so that the enormous potentials of China could
be duly tapped to the best interest of the country and the people. And he
succeeded in it.
When Deng rose to power and opened up China's doors to the outside world, he
had, at all, no clue where to start and what to do. He often repeated the
phrase "China has to cross the river by feeling the rock by feet on the
riverbed". This is a reference to lack of experience and knowledge among the
Chinese leaders and the people how to cope with the new environment and
carry the process of reforms and economic development to the right
direction. In the beginning he was not sure whether his reforms would be
successful. He was completely unaware what course China would head for. But
he was certain that the old style and mentality would not work and a new
mechanism and approach are a must for the survival and development of China.
Deng said in public that there was no alternative to opening up and reforms
in order to catch up the changes taken place in the world. If China had to
survive, it had to change and keep with the change taking place in the
world. Thus, Deng was determined to pursue reforms and this determination
paid well for China.
China needed investment from outside. But brining foreign investment was not
an easy task especially in a communist country. The mere rhetoric of change
and reform does not appeal to investors. There are many countries in the
world that have opened up their economy and introduced reforms. But these
efforts have not been able to yield desirable results in terms of attracting
investment from outside. What China needed were pragmatic and investment
friendly laws and policies.
China had strictest laws on foreign investment, labour policy and trade and
currency dealing. Deng realized that simplification of laws and procedures
were urgently needed to bring in foreign investment. He was convinced that
investment does not come alone but comes with modern management and new
technology.
Market is magnet for investors. But market alone does not bring external
investment in the absence of necessary infrastructure. Along with investment
friendly laws and policies, infrastructure is equally important to attract
fund from outside. China's infrastructures were poor. Roads, communication,
power are some of the key infrastructures which are required for foreign
investment. The infrastructure building needed huge fund which China did not
have. Its national coffer was virtually empty. The first job, therefore, was
to create necessary fund to build infrastructure. The Chinese government
leased out public land and other public properties including some
state-owned enterprises. This yielded good results and China collected money
needed for development works. Armed with investment friendly policies and
laws as well as good infrastructure, China could convince the world that
investment in China is profitable and returns are lucrative. As a result,
China could achieve such a remarkable progress in 30 years what other
countries could not do in a century.
China's march to development and modernization is peaceful. Unlike other
Western countries that prospered and thrived on exploiting the developing
countries, China mobilized its own resources and sought investment and
technology from other countries. Most Western industrialized countries had
colonized and exploited the developing countries of Asia, Africa and Latin
America for the benefit of the colonial powers. As country that believes in
mutual cooperation, respect to one another's sovereignty and territorial
integrity, China never tried to exploit any other countries but focused on
the mobilization of its own people. Although China has risen so fast and
formidably, it does not want coercive policy with any other countries in the
world. This is China's long-cherished policy which continues even today.
China wants to share its experience with the developing countries and extend
selfless cooperation to the needy states. This is China's peaceful diplomacy
and soft power image.
China's fast pace of development is a global subject of debate and analysis.
The speedy growth and development of China has impacted the global economy
as well as world order. Some in the Western countries especially in the
United States take China's rise and development as a threat to their
security and economic interests. But China has repeatedly made its position
clear that it has no ill will against any country and its rise would by no
means threat to any country in the world. One thing is sure that China's
rise has broken the monopoly of certain Western powers in the global
affairs. In fact, many in the developing world have taken China's rise and
development as an opportunity to reshape the world order, which would
benefit the hitherto oppressed and backward countries.
China's peaceful rise is both its choice as well as compulsion. The peaceful
development which is marked by harnessing its own capability as well as
cooperation from other countries was what China needed to lift the tens of
millions poor people from poverty and transform China from a impoverished
agrarian economy to a industrial power. Now China stands as a second largest
economy and has developed strong industrial base. Even the Western world
that has been reeling under the history's worst recession is pinning its
hope on China. The future of the world now rests upon China's role and
course.
In view of present uni-polar world marked by inequalities and imbalance, the
peaceful rise of China has definitely great significance. China's growth and
development as a soft power is, indeed, in the broader interest of the
developing countries. The approach of China is peaceful in nature and wants
to cooperate for the mutual benefit of all countries in the world. This is
what the objective of China's peaceful growth, which is based on the
principle of ' win-win cooperation'. This model of cooperation which China
has adopted benefits Beijing and all developing countries.
With the rise of China as an economic power accompanied by military strength
and international clout, China has realized its international obligation.
Motivated by this spirit, China has adopted the policy of pursuing its soft
power image in the world. The soft power image is a policy that shuns
coercive diplomacy but pursues cooperative approach through which the world
can benefit from China and vice versa. It is against this background, the
Beijing Consensus was mooted which is viewed as a counter move against the
Washington Consensus.
As the developing world is cheering over the China's rise and economic
miracle, its neighbours should be more enthusiastic and jubilant. This is
more so for Nepal because the world's economic superpower is its next-door
neighbour. China is coming up more generously for the development of it
neighbours. Nepal can extract maximum benefit from China's progress and its
generous attitude as Beijing has expressed willingness to do everything
possible for the development and progress of Nepal.
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