AGGRESSIVE FIRST WORLD ECONOMIC DIPLOMACY
THE President of the Republic of Zambia, Mr. Hakainde Hichilema, is on the right path to advance economic diplomacy, for the country. There is no any other alternative, to economic diplomacy, at this time. All He needs, is the support of all Citizens and a credible team, to advance this robust agenda to the optimization of economic development, in national interests. Everything of significance on earth, is always done by collaboration, (Shimunza, 2023).
President Xi Jinping, Presents a robust Vision for China’s development, having risen through the ranks in leadership from Zhejiang, (2019:1-443,) to the transformative Presidency of China Now!
The greatness of any Presidency, is the team around the leader, elected by the People. Zambia must be transformed, from a backward third world Country, to first world, in our lifetime. This transformation, is now! Furthermore, in his book, “Up and Out of Poverty”, he has removed over 1.3 Billion people out of Poverty (Xi Jinping, 2016:1-223). This is a remarkable demographic feat.
The foreign policy of a country can build, or disrupt national existence. The foreign and domestic policies, are critical to the balance of any Country. The Foreign Policy of any nation, is the windowoverview abroad of the sovereign strength of a Country at home or its weaknesses, respectively, (Shimunza, 2023). The overall domestic policy, is the funded capital of what the foreign policy of a State will entail. In a globalized world, no nation must play a local game,diplomatically. The economic branding of a country at home, fosters effective marketing abroad (Chibwa, 2023).
The war of nations ideally, is a healthy competition between sovereignty and globalization. Can Zambia be among the great powers of the earth, in the 21st Century? It is prudent not to be polarized, by either extremes of sovereignty or globalization, but in a balanced approach,undertake both aggressively. ‘Aggressive’, means in this sense, “a forceful determination, to confront backward third world diplomatic practices, for first world transformation in national interests”. What you tolerate, you cannot change”, (Shimunza, 2023).
What is diplomacy?
According to Qingmin, (2019:17), in his book on: “Contemporary China’s Diplomacy” contends that ‘diplomacy’; “is the theory and practice of international order and relations. It is the conduct of adjustment and management of interstate relations. It is the bond that connects a nation, to the world. It is the peaceful exercise of a sovereign state. It is the process of implementing foreign policy. It is an overall national strategy. It is characteristic of official action, within the context of time. It is the extension of domestic policies and politics. It is economic sharing abroad”.
The foreign policy of any Country,
is a reflection of the Sovereign will of a nation. Diplomacy, is the reflective will of any nation state. Africa has been playing a third world game, for the last over fifty decades, in so far as global diplomacy is concerned. Zambia, is still a developing third world country, but we need a First World transformation, from third world potentiality. The speed at which we are moving, is rather very slow and requires confronting all rigidities, and contradictory voices in national interests.
The following considerations, must be advanced and contextualized, to make Zambia’s foreign policy more effective and first world, from third world, respectively, namely:
IDEOLOGY.
“There exists no such thing as a perfect political system, but constant; adaptation, adjustments, and changes, where necessary” is the norm, (Jian, 2019:85). Political ideology, informs political diplomacy, at home and abroad. The collective ideological agreement of a nation, is the fundamental concept that can drive foreign policy. A nation must never differ with itself, on key fundamental political ideology, in spite of a multiparty character of our democracy. Ideas, rule the world.
If Zambia continues with toxic politics of; “name calling, misinformation, dis-information, or Propaganda”, it delays both development and the effective outlook to domestic and foreign policy implementation. We must never differ on ‘fundamentals’, but minor variations of political ideology. Political ideology, must foster economic development and human development. We must be result oriented in this quest. Models that do not work, must be discarded. Practicality, is everything. Results, transcend methods, politically. We must re-think, and change our tools, periodically. Routine, is the enemy of progress, unless it’s positive routine.
POLICY.
Xuemei, (2019: 1-2), contends for ‘culture,’ as a criterion for China’s growth and development.
Policy formulation and implementation, is the work of any government. Policy must shape the overall direction of any government, therefore, its clarity and robust implementation is critical for making Citizens happy in all. Since government exists to make Citizens happy, any policy that counters the aspirations of the people, is detrimental to national; order, development, and security.
ECONOMY.
Wenli, (2019:1-7), contends that the, “In dominatable will of a nation’s leadership to; reform, innovate, and develop their economy, is the key to economic transformation of China”. Zambia needs high-speed- growth, to high-quality-growth, by new patterns of innovation and development agenda. The economy of any nation, is how it is judged, at home and abroad. Human civilization, must be a new normal, for a modern Zambia. We must build a more humane reformed democratic open economic Society.
The political economy of any nation, is the basis upon which government is; formed, sustained, and remains relevant. Backward economics of begging, entails that inward-looking policies, must be championed to bring the dignity of national and human development. What Zambia needs, is a first world economy. Economic diplomacy, is the criterion from which international relations by;state, non-state, and multinational corporations exist, respectively, in national interests. Backward third world economics, require transformative leadership.
First world, has eluded many thus far.
The concept of economic diplomacy, is about building international coalitions, to help countries recover from financial crisis. It is about convincing host government leaders, to apply the policies and measures most likely to strengthen their economies and provide jobs for their people, even if the reforms have political costs. It is a bi-lateral or multilateral use of government resources, to promote the growth of a country’s economy, by increasing; trade, promoting investments, collaboration by agreements, within the framework of foreign policy objectives.
DEVELOPMENT.
The concept of development, is about bringing a new stage of; progress, state, change, or holistic improvements, in a country. Every government, is voted to bring a certain level of developmentand happiness to the populace and entire citizenry. It is sad to note that in the last sixty years, we have been on the “snail’s -pace” to aggressively develop our economy to first world. Piece-meal approaches of development, will not hold water. We must be aggressive at both domestic and foreign policy implementations, by transformative leadership. Transactional leadership will not.
Transgressional leadership, by corruption will never change Zambia. Zero tolerance to corruption, is the only order and only way.
Sustainable Goals are minimums, not the maximum benchmarks of national development. We must advance aggressively, with speed towards moving out of backward third world status. How
long will it take to get there? Every Citizen must answer that question. Democracy, without results is not superior to any ideology, but transformation of society is. Zambia needs a society that is advanced and first world in all aspects ( Wen, 2019:1-3).
MODERNISATION.
Our modernization, has taken so long, and so slow, in the last six decades. We now need acceleration and aggressive radical transformation. This must be well-planned and intentional, but not at the expenses of our people. We must not break houses for our people, without planning where to take them. Our rural under-development and urban shanty compounds, still scream in our faces daily, with backwardness and poverty. Cholera, is a disease of third
world nations, because of lack of proper sanitation. It is a shame to even be talking about cholera, in the 21st Century.
Come on guys!
A minimalist approach, is not desirable to modernize Zambia. It must be a law, to advance, not a relative convenience. It is a human right, and a requirement of every government worth its sorts.
Zambia needs a green economy, and ecologically friendly development, urgently. Technology, and the internet of things, must be the new normal, for building a modernized and transformed Zambia.
Ecology, is the foundation for humans to survive and thrive, and building a civilized future, for national holistic well-being ( Juan, 2019:1-6). Health, is a national security issue first. Prevention, is better than cure. Public health, is the escape of diagnostic health treatments. That why first world domestic and foreign diplomacy, is critical going forward. Zambia cannot continue to wallow in poverty, and backwardness.
CONTEXTUALISATION.
Our foreign policy, and economic diplomacy, must have Zambian Characteristics. To contextualize, is to adapt diplomacy in the local contexts. Contextualization diplomatically, entails, the process of considering; spiritual, political, economic, historical, cultural, investments, modern and future contextual realities of diplomacy, holistically, in both theory, practice, and local conditions, for global relations.
This is diplomatic universality and relevant consideration, to changes of time and space. Routine and rigidity, is counter-productive, to effective first world development and diplomacy. Why keep outdated diplomatic practices? Zambia must build a; transformed, comprehensive, multinational, multi-cultural, and multi-dimensional, strategic first world country, by reform and open economy, for holistic development (Bo, 2019:1-7). UNIVERSALITY.
While endeavoring to keep the international diplomatic; norms, values, practices, and standards, our own diplomatic uniqueness, must be crafted as a nation. The Geneva and Vienna Conventions on Consular and International relations, must be observed, as well as the United Nations Charter.
However, within the framework of these regulatory legal frameworks and practices, we must brand our own diplomatic foreign policy that is universally acceptable, with local features in branding.
Time, is of essence to change! We must be urgent about national development, and transformation.
GLOBALISATION.
The globalists, are pushing an agenda that is causing a lot of alarm, about; global economic postulations, Climate Change, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Homosexuality, undue announcements for Global Pandemics preparedness, diabolical quests for human de-population and extermination, all which point to the fact that Sovereignty is under threat, now more than ever. However, it is the position of this author that the strength of our global participation, is based on locally informed sovereign strength, as a nation. Zambia must be a global power house, with all the super- power characteristics in all.
BI-LATERALISM.
How Zambia fits in the geo-political spectrum, with other states, is critical going forward. Stateto State-relations, are supposed to be intentional, not clumsy. They must be by; mutual respect, equality, fairness, and not subjugative and exploitative connotations. With a non-aligned position, Zambia
must engage both the east and the west that promotes our own national interests. Charity begins at home.
China and America, both present challenges and opportunities, bi-laterally, although, China stands a better chance, to help Zambia in many ways, because of their non-interventionist approach, and friendly relations. The mutual respect, equality, respect for sovereignty, fairness, and a willingness to help is more of China’s diplomatic policy that is attractive in the Sino- Zambian relations, going forward. Diplomacy, is neither for mere Cadres, nor unintelligent diplomats. Economics, is very serious! Therefore, economic diplomacy, is no child’s play.
MULTILATERALISM.
How Zambia engages, the global community at a multilateral global system, is very important in the modern global order. The World Bank (WB), International Monetary Fund (IMF), the United Nations (UNs), the African Union (AU), the Southern African Development Community (SADC), and the Common Markets for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), all Present numerous opportunities for economic development, but what is the intentional values, we have gotten thus far? Unilateralism, is not advisable, but diplomatic multilateralism that is economically and developmentally useful for Zambia, is required.
CONCLUSION.
Ideology, policy, economy, development, modernization, contextualization, universality,
globalization, bi-lateralism, and multilateralism, are essential components in Zambia’s diplomatic foreign policy. Each of them, creates a step required in our State-to State and Multilateral relations, for effective economic diplomacy. What we need now, is an advanced robust aggressive transformative economic diplomacy agenda, by economic intelligence, to develop to first world, from third world backwardness. Can we do it urgently? Yes, we can!