China’s goodwill should be read fairly
At the New Economy Forum 2018 in Singapore on Tuesday, Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan said that both China and the US will gain from working together and lose from confrontation. “We are ready to discuss and work for a solution on trade that is acceptable to both sides,” he said.
Washington has recently sent complicated signals on the ongoing trade war, but many people doubt the US is readjusting its stance with the midterm elections that start Tuesday. The US still lacks sincerity in reaching a fair agreement with China.
Wang expressed China’s goodwill to resolve disputes in a fair manner, which is consistent as much as Beijing’s insistence on its core interests.
The China International Import Expo and the central government’s symposium on private enterprises signaled China’s launch of higher-level reform and opening-up. New measures such as lower tariffs and broader market access are being implemented or planned. The Chinese economy is further integrating with the world.
China has its own reality, development plans and pace, which it manages to connect with WTO rules. China regards reciprocity as the principle of globalization and should disputes arise, is willing to improve its understanding of the principle from other countries’ viewpoints.
China is the calmest and most restrained country among those coming under US pressure and has been listening to the US and others’ complaints about trade.
Even with US tariff attacks, China has still been thinking which US demands are reasonable and acceptable.
But China has to defend and adhere to its development rights.
China can’t abandon its industrial upgrading. This is a human right. All families worldwide care about education in the hope that their children will have jobs with handsome pay and lead a better life. Likewise, a country has the right to promote its industrial progress.
Will China change its economic system? The two tasks of China’s economic system are safeguarding the political system and promoting efficiency to support economic and social development. China will keep reforming its economic system without hindering the two tasks. It’s unacceptable if other countries demand China reorganize its economy in a Western way.
China’s rise is not driven by geopolitical ambition or historical revenge, but its people’s goodwill to live better lives. It has taken place naturally without any scheme.
China shouldn’t be misread as dominating a geopolitical change or carving up the world’s interests. Nor should others misperceive China’s building of social cohesion as global ambition made manifest. Western politicians often use far more evocative words in election campaigns than the Chinese narrative designed to inspire the public. It makes no sense to accuse each other.
In an era of economic globalization, it’s impossible for one side to be the only winner. In China’s trade relations with other countries like the US, the imbalance will be gradually rectified, but it will never become a rule that one side’s interest always comes above others.