Building a social system based on yuan standard

Zheng Hailin, director of Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies

The US’ political and economic success after the end of World War II mainly lies in its powerful navy, the post-war global security system, a US dollar-centered global financial system, and a value system built on freedom, democracy and human rights.

But the US’ excessive use of force and unilateral expansionism across the world in recent years have resulted in people gradually losing trust in the US-style of social and value system. The US is also facing major challenges that it cannot overcome alone — the conflict between Islam and Christianity, the severe challenge to the dollar standard, and the challenge to the US-proclaimed value system.

Is China’s rise on the same lines as the US’? China, to be sure, has chosen the correct development road. At present, China’s systematic design strives to strike the right balance between efficiency and fairness because they help raise productivity of the whole country.

And the fact that only China can efficiently mobilize the maximum resources to complete a big task is a reflection of the superiority of the socialist system. In addition, if China promotes an organic combination of universal value and traditional Chinese culture while trying to establish a common value system widely acceptable to the international community, its civilization and culture will forever remain strong.

China has put forward two goals — the building of a community of shared future for humankind and the Belt and Road Initiative. If the British Commonwealth system was built on the “gold standard”, and the postwar US society is built on the “dollar standard”, China should build a yuan-standard-based social system. Currently, China’s national strength continues to rise and the yuan remains strong and popular across the world. So China should try to establish a yuan-standardbased social system and become a strong maritime country.

Some countries’ maritime activities, such as marine research, tourism, transportation, fishing, exploration and development of deep-sea minerals and carbon sequestration, pose potential environmental risks. So the relevant international agencies and industrial associations should consider issuing permits for conducting such activities by, for example, formulating relevant conventions and accords. China, as an active participant in these activities, has already made major contributions to the existing conventions and accords.

In January, China published a white paper on its Arctic policy, saying the country is one of the important stakeholders in the Arctic. The goal of its policy is to protect and utilize the resources in the Arctic, participate in the region’s governance, and safeguard the common interests of all states and the international community, as well as promote sustainable development in the region.

As far as Antarctica is concerned, China inked the Antarctic Treaty in 1983 and was unanimously acknowledged as a consultative party at the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting in 1985. Antarctica is an area of frozen sovereignty, and of the 29 consultative states, only China, India, Ecuador and Poland have not formulated their Antarctic legislation. Once China formulates such legislation, it can better protect its interests in the Antarctic and take an important step toward boosting its status as an important consultative party to the Antarctic Treaty.