Re: China
Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2023 3:52 pm
NATO tricks require high vigilance
By WANG XU/ZHAO JIA | China Daily | Updated: 2023-02-02 07:12
Flags fly outside NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, November 16, 2022. [Photo/Agencies]
Western military bloc chief's Asia visit seen as hyping up Cold War mentality
Beijing urged NATO on Wednesday not to clamor about the "China threat" and instigate regional confrontation, as the Western military alliance's chief sought to expand the bloc's sphere of influence in Asia.
"The Asia-Pacific is not a battlefield for geopolitical competition and bloc confrontation, and the Cold War mentality is not welcome in the region," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told a daily news conference.
The remarks came as NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg concluded a four-day trip to South Korea and Japan, during which he hyped up the so-called China threat and Cold War mentality while calling Seoul and Tokyo to increase armaments and step into the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
"They need the weapons, that's the reality," Stoltenberg said at the Chey Institute for Advanced Studies in Seoul.
In response, Mao said NATO's moves require high vigilance among countries in the region as the bloc claims its regional defensive alliance position remains unchanged, though it has continuously broken traditional defense zones and scopes, and continues to grow military and security ties with Asia-Pacific countries.
Noting that China has always been an upholder of peace and stability in the region and beyond, Mao said China actively facilitates peace talks and promotes de-escalation on hot spot issues.
"NATO should carefully reflect upon the role it has played in safeguarding the security of Europe," she said.
Firm rebuttal
Mao also rebutted a joint statement issued by Stoltenberg and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Tuesday regarding Russia's growing military cooperation with China, saying that the parties concerned should not hype the so-called China threat.
Japan's moves in the military and security spheres have always drawn high attention from its Asian neighbors and the international community, she said.
"Japan should earnestly learn the lessons of history, stick to a path of peaceful development, and not do things that undermine the mutual trust of countries in the region, as well as harm the peace and stability of the region."
Stoltenberg's trip is not just unwelcomed in Asia, but also in Europe.
Croatian President Zoran Milanovic criticized the visit on Monday. "I see that the chief of NATO is in South Korea and Japan," he said. "He does not represent me and my country there. It is not a NATO area, but it is in the neighborhood of China. It has nothing to do with Croatia."
Shigeki Nagayama, a law professor at Tokai University in Japan, said the Japanese government's welcoming of NATO's involvement in the Asia-Pacific region is to enhance its own defense capability, and will only bring new factors of instability to the Asia-Pacific.
Yoichi Komori, an emeritus professor at the University of Tokyo, said the United States and NATO are using Japan as a shield in case of conflict.
"That's what the US and NATO want," Komori said. "That's very dangerous for Japan to give full play to its self-defense forces in East Asia, which is also contrary to Article 9 of the Constitution of Japan. We, as the people, must not allow it."
http://global.chinadaily.com.cn/a/20230 ... ac64d.html
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U.S. Marines open new base on Guam to prepare for future war with China
Originally published: Antiwar.com on January 26, 2023 by Dave DeCamp (more by Antiwar.com) (Posted Jan 30, 2023)
The U.S. Marine Corps on Thursday formally opened a new military base in the U.S. territory of Guam as part of Washington’s military buildup in the Asia Pacific that is aimed at China.
The base is still under construction but will eventually house 5,000 U.S. Marines, likely by the end of 2024. According to The Wall Street Journal, the purpose of the base is to prepare for a potential war with China in the islands of the western Pacific Ocean.
David Berger, the commandant of the Marine Corps, said that U.S. Marines would be the first to be deployed in the event of a war with China. “We don’t want to fight to get to the fight. We want to already be inside, so if there’s a conflict, the stand-in forces are already forward,” he said.
The Marine Corps has been revamping to better prepare for war with China by creating units that are more mobile and can quickly move around islands in the region. The U.S. is deploying one of these units, known as a Marine Littoral Regiment, to Okinawa by 2025, which will be armed with anti-ship missiles.
According to Kyodo News, the new base in Guam will host 4,000 U.S. Marines that will be transferred from Okinawa. The U.S. and Japan agreed to reduce the military burden on Okinawa, which hosts over 70% of U.S. bases in Japan, over local opposition to the U.S. presence. But the plans to deploy the Marine Littoral Regiment further entrenches the military presence in the Okinawa prefecture.
There is also local opposition to the expansion of the U.S. military presence in Guam, as Kyodo reported anti-base demonstrators protested against the opening of the new Marines Corps facility. An activist said that the military buildup will make Guam “a target for a war that we didn’t want to be part of.”
https://mronline.org/2023/01/30/u-s-mar ... ith-china/
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The Chinese path to modernization provides a reference for other developing countries
Chinese modernization is modernization of a huge population. If China achieves modernization and becomes a high-income country, it will more than double the percentage of the world’s population living in high-income economies from the current 16 percent to 34 percent.
Chinese modernization is modernization of common prosperity for all. While Western modernization has created huge amounts of wealth after the Industrial Revolution, the process has also resulted in growing polarization between the rich and the poor.
Chinese modernization is modernization of both material and cultural-ethical advancement. While enormous material wealth was generated in the process of Western modernization, the cultural-ethical life lagged behind. China aims to fundamentally solve the problem.
Chinese modernization is modernization featuring harmony between humanity and nature. The West has inflicted great damage to nature during its modernization, a tragedy China tries to avoid on its road to modernization.
Chinese modernization is modernization of peaceful development. China will not tread the old path of war, colonization and plunder taken by Western countries.
Then, how can China achieve modernization with the above-mentioned five characteristics?
In my view, except the first characteristic — the huge population — which is the historical legacy of the nation, all the four other characteristics of Chinese modernization are the results of the pursuit of development by the CPC.
According to the dialectical materialism view of the world, material is primary. Therefore, governments in developing countries should play a facilitating role in the development of industries in a market economy based on the country’s comparative advantages, which are determined by the endowment structure — the material base of the country — at a given point of time and changeable over time.
Developing the economy based on comparative advantages can help realize both efficiency and fairness in the primary distribution of income. An efficient economy could create wealth rapidly, and fair income distribution could lay a solid foundation for common prosperity. Moreover, developing the economy based on comparative advantages can help increase the government’s tax revenues, and as a result, the government will have more financial resources to support vulnerable groups, reduce wealth gaps among regions, and solve other issues in the process of redistribution. The government could also encourage charity and public welfare activities through tax incentives (third distribution) to promote common prosperity.
When common prosperity is achieved, a society will have a solid material foundation to promote cultural-ethical progress. Development in line with comparative advantages will lead to common prosperity. The people will then have more aspirations for a better life, such as a sound natural environment. If a country develops based on comparative advantages, enterprises will be variable, and have greater willingness to use green technologies in production. As such, a coexistence between humanity and nature can be realized.
Instead of plundering the wealth of other nations, China has been developing its economy based on comparative advantages, and by tapping the resources of both domestic and international markets and competing in an open, fair global economic environment. Therefore, China’s development not only generates wealth for itself, but also brings more development opportunities to other countries by opening to them its huge market, thus promoting the peaceful development of the world.
Modernization is the common pursuit of all mankind. In the past, it was widely believed that the only path to modernization was the one undertaken by Western countries. But the practices after World War II have shown that there is barely any developing country that has achieved modernization by following the Western path. The few developing countries that have realized modernization did not copy the Western model.
After World War II, all countries have been pursuing modernization. However, the gap between developing countries and a few developed Western countries has widened over the years. The Eight-Nation Alliance that invaded China in 1900 were the most powerful nations at the time, accounting for 50.4 percent of the global economy measured in purchasing power parity terms.
A century later, the Eight-Nation Alliance turned into the G8 — with the Austro-Hungarian Empire replaced by Canada. In 2000, the G8 represented 47 percent of the global economy on PPP terms, only 3.4 percentage points lower than the figure of 1900. In other words, after a century of catching up with these eight most industrialized countries, all the other countries’ weight in the global economy gained by only 3.4 percentage points.
In addition, the population in the industrialized countries has been growing at a slower pace than in the developing world, and as a result, the gap of per capita GDP between the developing world and the developed world has been growing. The majority of developing countries have not achieved modernization or joined the ranks of developed countries, and people living in these countries have become poorer relative to their counterparts in developed countries.
Why have most developing countries failed to achieve modernization? We used to believe that the only path to modernization was that taken by the West, and most developing nations have chosen to follow this path. Copying the Western model of modernization is the result of a wrong perception of modernization. According to Marx’s historical materialism, what Western nations possess, what they are good at doing, and what matters to them are all determined by their economic bases. Developing countries that don’t have the same economic bases as those of the Western developed countries are doomed to fail in their pursuit of modernization by copying the Western model.
In comparison, the Chinese path to modernization provides a reference for other developing countries that are exploring their own paths to modernization. China’s experiences have proved that developing countries should cultivate industries based on their comparative advantages, that is what they can do well based on what they have (their endowments), and properly handle the relation between an efficient market and an effective government so as to achieve stable and rapid development in the long run.
https://socialistchina.org/2023/02/01/t ... countries/
Martin Jacques: China embraces new post-Covid era while the West lives in the past
The Western reaction to China’s move has emphasized the negative. This is not surprising. Ever since January 2020, the West has sought to denigrate China’s approach to COVID-19, a strategy of distraction designed to divert attention from how well China handled COVID-19 in 2020-2021 and how abysmally the West performed. More than any other issue, COVID-19 served to poison the relationship between China and the West. It became inextricably bound up with the so-called new Cold War. The West is finding it difficult to come to terms with China’s emerging post-COVID strategy because its mindset is still rooted in the COVID era, as illustrated by the speed with which many countries chose to impose new requirements on Chinese travelers.
There are growing signs that China’s abandonment of its COVID controls is the first act in a major shift of policy. The West has been slow to grasp the economic implications of China’s opening up. The term opening up, of course, is synonymous with China’s rise after 1978: COVID-19, alas, became all too symbolic of its opposite, closing down and partial isolation. Once more China is now opening up and the effects will be huge. Its growth rate in 2023 is likely to be in excess of 5 percent; its enormous domestic market is returning to growth as Chinese consumers start spending again; global tourism will receive a huge boost; blocked supply lines will be freed; Chinese entrepreneurs can once more travel the world in search of new business. China has long been the engine of global growth. It can now resume that role in a post-COVID context.
Important policy shifts are underway. There is a commitment to reboot the property market. The strict regulation of big tech, the other major economic driver, looks as if it is reaching its end. China’s economy suffered greatly during the pandemic, partly because of lockdowns and partly as a result of a weakened commitment to economic growth. China cannot afford to continue along this path if it is to realize its ambitions for the future. We can expect a new emphasis on economic growth. And there are wider signs of new thinking beyond the economy. When Qin Gang, the new Chinese foreign minister, was ambassador to the US, he sought to find common ground with the US, to find bridges, to acknowledge the country’s singular historical achievements. This is a far cry from wolf warrior diplomacy. The world should not be surprised if China seeks to emphasize areas of agreement and in the process offer a more benign face of China to the world in the post-COVID era.
This would be a far cry from those dispiriting years when COVID-19 dominated everyone’s thinking, governments and individuals alike. There is as yet not much sign that the West is ready for such a rather different Chinese approach. Indeed, the West has baked into its thinking on China that the latter is unbending and dogmatically committed to a particular course. That, of course, ignores the flexibility China has shown on major issues over a long period of history, most notably in the extraordinary historical shift from Mao Zedong to Deng Xiaoping. China’s decision to abandon the dynamic zero-COVID policy in December similarly speaks to this kind of flexibility. Do not believe too much in your own propaganda: it can be thoroughly misleading.
There is a deeper reason why the West finds it difficult to think afresh in the post-COVID era. The West is in long-term historical decline, and this tends to engender a hardening of the intellectual arteries, an inclination to think fondly of the past and prefer familiar ways of thinking. There are two factors that reinforce this. The Western economic outlook is dominated by concerns about inflation and the need for strongly deflationary and anti-growth policies. While Europe, for the first time since 1945, finds itself at war in the Ukraine.
It is time for the West to rethink. China’s decision to abandon its dynamic zero-COVID policy means that – barring the emergence of another dangerous variant – the world can now move into a new post-COVID era. There are strong signs that China is embracing this. In contrast, the West is behind the curve, still living in a COVID-dominated era of international relations.
https://socialistchina.org/2023/01/30/m ... -the-past/
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Is the trip of the secretary general of NATO aimed to instigate the creation of the Asian version of NATO?
Originally published: Al Mayadeen on February 2, 2023 by Kim Hoon (more by Al Mayadeen) | (Posted Feb 03, 2023)
It was reported that the secretary general of NATO embarked upon his trip to South Korea and Japan.
The high-ranking chief of the military organization which turned Ukraine into a theatre of proxy war is flying into the Asia-Pacific region of the eastern hemisphere across the sea and land, which is not even part of its operational sphere. This fact itself gives rise to concern.
It is well known that NATO has long made persistent attempts to expand its sphere of influence, limited to European defense, to the Asia-Pacific region, which rose to be the strategic center of the world.
NATO stages bilateral and multilateral joint military exercises under various titles by introducing armed forces of its member states, including aircraft carriers and fighters, under the pretext of opposing the so-called “change of status quo by force”. It is also mulling extending its influence to the Asia-Pacific region by expanding and strengthening cooperation with such exclusive security allies as AUKUS, Quad and Five Eyes.
In particular, NATO has put unprecedented spurs to the strengthening of bilateral relations with South Korea and Japan in recent years, regarding them as a key link in realizing its ambition for hegemony.
This is proved by the fact that the chairman of the military committee of NATO visited South Korea and Japan, respectively in April and June last year, to discuss closer partnership and military cooperation and, at the end of June, South Korea and Japan participated in the NATO summit in Madrid of Spain for the first time ever.
Meanwhile, in May last year, the Cooperative Cyber Defense Centre of Excellence under NATO registered South Korea as its full memberو and in October a delegation of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly was dispatched to South Korea to discuss the strengthening of bilateral cooperation.
South Korea signed a huge sales contract for arms including heavy tanks, self-propelled guns, and fighters valued at tens of billions of U.S. dollars with Poland, a member state of NATO, and Japan agreed to jointly develop the next generation fighters with Britain and Italy. This clearly proves to what extent NATO’s sinister intention to use South Korea and Japan for expanding its influence has reached.
NATO, which specified Russia as the “greatest and direct threat” and China as a “systematic challenge” in its new “strategic concept” last year, is now openly stretching its long arm to South Korea and Japan. Its aim is quite clear.
It is the general orientation sought by the U.S.-led NATO to cook up an Asian version of NATO to serve the maintenance of its hegemonic position and order in collusion with its vassal forces.
Over the recent worrying moves of NATO, it is quite natural that countries in the region have warned that NATO seeks to apply the method of collective confrontation in Asia-Pacific, which had already been used in Europe, and South Korea and Japan should not introduce NATO forces into the Asia-Pacific region.
It is as clear as noonday that the secretary general of NATO flying to south Korea and Japan, at a time when the Ukrainian crisis has entered a new critical stage with the U.S. and Western decision on supplying tanks, will shore up the “theory of threat from China” to emphasize again the need to build Asian version of NATO and put pressure on them for their passive military support to Ukraine.
Thus, it’s only a matter of time before the military hardware of South Korea and Japan flowing into NATO is seen in the Ukrainian battlefield.
South Korea and Japan trying to attend to their own business by inviting unbidden guests to the region should be well aware that they are getting closer to the extreme security crisis, far from defusing security uneasiness.
It will be nothing good if NATO, a synonym for war and confrontation, puts its military boots on the region.
The trip of the NATO secretary general to South Korea and Japan is a prelude to confrontation and war as it brings the dark clouds of a “new Cold War” to the Asia-Pacific region.
Regional countries and the international community should remain highly vigilant against the frequent footsteps of NATO toward Asia-Pacific.
https://mronline.org/2023/02/03/is-the- ... n-of-nato/
By WANG XU/ZHAO JIA | China Daily | Updated: 2023-02-02 07:12
Flags fly outside NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, November 16, 2022. [Photo/Agencies]
Western military bloc chief's Asia visit seen as hyping up Cold War mentality
Beijing urged NATO on Wednesday not to clamor about the "China threat" and instigate regional confrontation, as the Western military alliance's chief sought to expand the bloc's sphere of influence in Asia.
"The Asia-Pacific is not a battlefield for geopolitical competition and bloc confrontation, and the Cold War mentality is not welcome in the region," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told a daily news conference.
The remarks came as NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg concluded a four-day trip to South Korea and Japan, during which he hyped up the so-called China threat and Cold War mentality while calling Seoul and Tokyo to increase armaments and step into the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
"They need the weapons, that's the reality," Stoltenberg said at the Chey Institute for Advanced Studies in Seoul.
In response, Mao said NATO's moves require high vigilance among countries in the region as the bloc claims its regional defensive alliance position remains unchanged, though it has continuously broken traditional defense zones and scopes, and continues to grow military and security ties with Asia-Pacific countries.
Noting that China has always been an upholder of peace and stability in the region and beyond, Mao said China actively facilitates peace talks and promotes de-escalation on hot spot issues.
"NATO should carefully reflect upon the role it has played in safeguarding the security of Europe," she said.
Firm rebuttal
Mao also rebutted a joint statement issued by Stoltenberg and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Tuesday regarding Russia's growing military cooperation with China, saying that the parties concerned should not hype the so-called China threat.
Japan's moves in the military and security spheres have always drawn high attention from its Asian neighbors and the international community, she said.
"Japan should earnestly learn the lessons of history, stick to a path of peaceful development, and not do things that undermine the mutual trust of countries in the region, as well as harm the peace and stability of the region."
Stoltenberg's trip is not just unwelcomed in Asia, but also in Europe.
Croatian President Zoran Milanovic criticized the visit on Monday. "I see that the chief of NATO is in South Korea and Japan," he said. "He does not represent me and my country there. It is not a NATO area, but it is in the neighborhood of China. It has nothing to do with Croatia."
Shigeki Nagayama, a law professor at Tokai University in Japan, said the Japanese government's welcoming of NATO's involvement in the Asia-Pacific region is to enhance its own defense capability, and will only bring new factors of instability to the Asia-Pacific.
Yoichi Komori, an emeritus professor at the University of Tokyo, said the United States and NATO are using Japan as a shield in case of conflict.
"That's what the US and NATO want," Komori said. "That's very dangerous for Japan to give full play to its self-defense forces in East Asia, which is also contrary to Article 9 of the Constitution of Japan. We, as the people, must not allow it."
http://global.chinadaily.com.cn/a/20230 ... ac64d.html
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U.S. Marines open new base on Guam to prepare for future war with China
Originally published: Antiwar.com on January 26, 2023 by Dave DeCamp (more by Antiwar.com) (Posted Jan 30, 2023)
The U.S. Marine Corps on Thursday formally opened a new military base in the U.S. territory of Guam as part of Washington’s military buildup in the Asia Pacific that is aimed at China.
The base is still under construction but will eventually house 5,000 U.S. Marines, likely by the end of 2024. According to The Wall Street Journal, the purpose of the base is to prepare for a potential war with China in the islands of the western Pacific Ocean.
David Berger, the commandant of the Marine Corps, said that U.S. Marines would be the first to be deployed in the event of a war with China. “We don’t want to fight to get to the fight. We want to already be inside, so if there’s a conflict, the stand-in forces are already forward,” he said.
The Marine Corps has been revamping to better prepare for war with China by creating units that are more mobile and can quickly move around islands in the region. The U.S. is deploying one of these units, known as a Marine Littoral Regiment, to Okinawa by 2025, which will be armed with anti-ship missiles.
According to Kyodo News, the new base in Guam will host 4,000 U.S. Marines that will be transferred from Okinawa. The U.S. and Japan agreed to reduce the military burden on Okinawa, which hosts over 70% of U.S. bases in Japan, over local opposition to the U.S. presence. But the plans to deploy the Marine Littoral Regiment further entrenches the military presence in the Okinawa prefecture.
There is also local opposition to the expansion of the U.S. military presence in Guam, as Kyodo reported anti-base demonstrators protested against the opening of the new Marines Corps facility. An activist said that the military buildup will make Guam “a target for a war that we didn’t want to be part of.”
https://mronline.org/2023/01/30/u-s-mar ... ith-china/
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The Chinese path to modernization provides a reference for other developing countries
Modernization is an important historical process that was initiated by the West since the Age of Discovery in the 15th century, especially after the Industrial Revolution in the 18th century. It features a shift from the traditional agricultural society to a modern industrial one, rapidly developing science and technology and booming the economy with increasingly improved livelihoods. The modernization which first started in a few Western countries spread all over the world, becoming the common aspiration of people in all countries. Chinese modernization is socialist modernization under the leadership of the Communist Party of China. It contains elements that are common to the modernization of Western countries, and also boasts features unique to the Chinese context.The following article, which was originally carried by China Daily, was a keynote speech delivered by Justin Yifu Lin at the Third Think-Tanks Forum on National Governance in Developing Countries. Originally from Taiwan Province, Lin is one of China’s leading economists. Currently the Dean of the Institute of New Structural Economics and Honorable Dean of the National School of Development at Peking University, he was Chief Economist and Senior Vice President at the World Bank, 2008-2012.
Noting how modernization was initiated by the West so as to shift from a traditional agricultural society to a modern industrial one, Lin notes that China’s modernization is a socialist modernization under the leadership of the Communist Party. It therefore combines features common to those of modernization as undertaken by the western countries along with its own unique features. These latter include the modernization of a huge population, of common prosperity for all, of harmony between humanity and nature, and of peaceful development.
Having summarized the key features of Chinese-style modernization, as first elaborated by President Xi Jinping, Lin advances the idea that governments in developing countries should facilitate industrial development, based on the country’s comparative advantage. “An efficient economy,” he notes, “could create wealth rapidly, and fair income distribution could lay a solid foundation for common prosperity.”
Whilst China’s development not only generates wealth for itself, but also brings more development opportunities to other countries, thereby promoting global peaceful development, “the practices have shown that there is barely any developing country that has achieved modernization by following the Western path. The few developing countries that have realized modernization did not copy the Western model.”
“Copying the Western model of modernization is the result of a wrong perception of modernization. According to Marx’s historical materialism, what Western nations possess, what they are good at doing, and what matters to them are all determined by their economic bases… In comparison, the Chinese path to modernization provides a reference for other developing countries that are exploring their own paths to modernization.”
Chinese modernization is modernization of a huge population. If China achieves modernization and becomes a high-income country, it will more than double the percentage of the world’s population living in high-income economies from the current 16 percent to 34 percent.
Chinese modernization is modernization of common prosperity for all. While Western modernization has created huge amounts of wealth after the Industrial Revolution, the process has also resulted in growing polarization between the rich and the poor.
Chinese modernization is modernization of both material and cultural-ethical advancement. While enormous material wealth was generated in the process of Western modernization, the cultural-ethical life lagged behind. China aims to fundamentally solve the problem.
Chinese modernization is modernization featuring harmony between humanity and nature. The West has inflicted great damage to nature during its modernization, a tragedy China tries to avoid on its road to modernization.
Chinese modernization is modernization of peaceful development. China will not tread the old path of war, colonization and plunder taken by Western countries.
Then, how can China achieve modernization with the above-mentioned five characteristics?
In my view, except the first characteristic — the huge population — which is the historical legacy of the nation, all the four other characteristics of Chinese modernization are the results of the pursuit of development by the CPC.
According to the dialectical materialism view of the world, material is primary. Therefore, governments in developing countries should play a facilitating role in the development of industries in a market economy based on the country’s comparative advantages, which are determined by the endowment structure — the material base of the country — at a given point of time and changeable over time.
Developing the economy based on comparative advantages can help realize both efficiency and fairness in the primary distribution of income. An efficient economy could create wealth rapidly, and fair income distribution could lay a solid foundation for common prosperity. Moreover, developing the economy based on comparative advantages can help increase the government’s tax revenues, and as a result, the government will have more financial resources to support vulnerable groups, reduce wealth gaps among regions, and solve other issues in the process of redistribution. The government could also encourage charity and public welfare activities through tax incentives (third distribution) to promote common prosperity.
When common prosperity is achieved, a society will have a solid material foundation to promote cultural-ethical progress. Development in line with comparative advantages will lead to common prosperity. The people will then have more aspirations for a better life, such as a sound natural environment. If a country develops based on comparative advantages, enterprises will be variable, and have greater willingness to use green technologies in production. As such, a coexistence between humanity and nature can be realized.
Instead of plundering the wealth of other nations, China has been developing its economy based on comparative advantages, and by tapping the resources of both domestic and international markets and competing in an open, fair global economic environment. Therefore, China’s development not only generates wealth for itself, but also brings more development opportunities to other countries by opening to them its huge market, thus promoting the peaceful development of the world.
Modernization is the common pursuit of all mankind. In the past, it was widely believed that the only path to modernization was the one undertaken by Western countries. But the practices after World War II have shown that there is barely any developing country that has achieved modernization by following the Western path. The few developing countries that have realized modernization did not copy the Western model.
After World War II, all countries have been pursuing modernization. However, the gap between developing countries and a few developed Western countries has widened over the years. The Eight-Nation Alliance that invaded China in 1900 were the most powerful nations at the time, accounting for 50.4 percent of the global economy measured in purchasing power parity terms.
A century later, the Eight-Nation Alliance turned into the G8 — with the Austro-Hungarian Empire replaced by Canada. In 2000, the G8 represented 47 percent of the global economy on PPP terms, only 3.4 percentage points lower than the figure of 1900. In other words, after a century of catching up with these eight most industrialized countries, all the other countries’ weight in the global economy gained by only 3.4 percentage points.
In addition, the population in the industrialized countries has been growing at a slower pace than in the developing world, and as a result, the gap of per capita GDP between the developing world and the developed world has been growing. The majority of developing countries have not achieved modernization or joined the ranks of developed countries, and people living in these countries have become poorer relative to their counterparts in developed countries.
Why have most developing countries failed to achieve modernization? We used to believe that the only path to modernization was that taken by the West, and most developing nations have chosen to follow this path. Copying the Western model of modernization is the result of a wrong perception of modernization. According to Marx’s historical materialism, what Western nations possess, what they are good at doing, and what matters to them are all determined by their economic bases. Developing countries that don’t have the same economic bases as those of the Western developed countries are doomed to fail in their pursuit of modernization by copying the Western model.
In comparison, the Chinese path to modernization provides a reference for other developing countries that are exploring their own paths to modernization. China’s experiences have proved that developing countries should cultivate industries based on their comparative advantages, that is what they can do well based on what they have (their endowments), and properly handle the relation between an efficient market and an effective government so as to achieve stable and rapid development in the long run.
https://socialistchina.org/2023/02/01/t ... countries/
Martin Jacques: China embraces new post-Covid era while the West lives in the past
When China announced on December 7 that it was abandoning most of its COVID controls, it took the West by surprise. It never expected such a dramatic shift. Many had speculated that a crackdown would follow the protests against the COVID controls. There was no sign of it. There was a tsunami of predictions that there would be a huge death toll, 1 million, perhaps many millions. It is too early to say how many there might be. At the weekend, the latest official figures indicated around 60,000 so far, no doubt with many more to come.China’s adjustment of its policies for dealing with Covid-19 have led to considerable debate, including among friends of China. In this context, we are republishing this article by Martin Jacques, author of ‘When China rules the world’, which originally appeared in Global Times.
Martin does not shy away from controversy and his article suggests that China’s new policies to deal with Covid are part of a pattern that, in his view, also includes adjustments to both economic and foreign policies.
The Western reaction to China’s move has emphasized the negative. This is not surprising. Ever since January 2020, the West has sought to denigrate China’s approach to COVID-19, a strategy of distraction designed to divert attention from how well China handled COVID-19 in 2020-2021 and how abysmally the West performed. More than any other issue, COVID-19 served to poison the relationship between China and the West. It became inextricably bound up with the so-called new Cold War. The West is finding it difficult to come to terms with China’s emerging post-COVID strategy because its mindset is still rooted in the COVID era, as illustrated by the speed with which many countries chose to impose new requirements on Chinese travelers.
There are growing signs that China’s abandonment of its COVID controls is the first act in a major shift of policy. The West has been slow to grasp the economic implications of China’s opening up. The term opening up, of course, is synonymous with China’s rise after 1978: COVID-19, alas, became all too symbolic of its opposite, closing down and partial isolation. Once more China is now opening up and the effects will be huge. Its growth rate in 2023 is likely to be in excess of 5 percent; its enormous domestic market is returning to growth as Chinese consumers start spending again; global tourism will receive a huge boost; blocked supply lines will be freed; Chinese entrepreneurs can once more travel the world in search of new business. China has long been the engine of global growth. It can now resume that role in a post-COVID context.
Important policy shifts are underway. There is a commitment to reboot the property market. The strict regulation of big tech, the other major economic driver, looks as if it is reaching its end. China’s economy suffered greatly during the pandemic, partly because of lockdowns and partly as a result of a weakened commitment to economic growth. China cannot afford to continue along this path if it is to realize its ambitions for the future. We can expect a new emphasis on economic growth. And there are wider signs of new thinking beyond the economy. When Qin Gang, the new Chinese foreign minister, was ambassador to the US, he sought to find common ground with the US, to find bridges, to acknowledge the country’s singular historical achievements. This is a far cry from wolf warrior diplomacy. The world should not be surprised if China seeks to emphasize areas of agreement and in the process offer a more benign face of China to the world in the post-COVID era.
This would be a far cry from those dispiriting years when COVID-19 dominated everyone’s thinking, governments and individuals alike. There is as yet not much sign that the West is ready for such a rather different Chinese approach. Indeed, the West has baked into its thinking on China that the latter is unbending and dogmatically committed to a particular course. That, of course, ignores the flexibility China has shown on major issues over a long period of history, most notably in the extraordinary historical shift from Mao Zedong to Deng Xiaoping. China’s decision to abandon the dynamic zero-COVID policy in December similarly speaks to this kind of flexibility. Do not believe too much in your own propaganda: it can be thoroughly misleading.
There is a deeper reason why the West finds it difficult to think afresh in the post-COVID era. The West is in long-term historical decline, and this tends to engender a hardening of the intellectual arteries, an inclination to think fondly of the past and prefer familiar ways of thinking. There are two factors that reinforce this. The Western economic outlook is dominated by concerns about inflation and the need for strongly deflationary and anti-growth policies. While Europe, for the first time since 1945, finds itself at war in the Ukraine.
It is time for the West to rethink. China’s decision to abandon its dynamic zero-COVID policy means that – barring the emergence of another dangerous variant – the world can now move into a new post-COVID era. There are strong signs that China is embracing this. In contrast, the West is behind the curve, still living in a COVID-dominated era of international relations.
https://socialistchina.org/2023/01/30/m ... -the-past/
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Is the trip of the secretary general of NATO aimed to instigate the creation of the Asian version of NATO?
Originally published: Al Mayadeen on February 2, 2023 by Kim Hoon (more by Al Mayadeen) | (Posted Feb 03, 2023)
It was reported that the secretary general of NATO embarked upon his trip to South Korea and Japan.
The high-ranking chief of the military organization which turned Ukraine into a theatre of proxy war is flying into the Asia-Pacific region of the eastern hemisphere across the sea and land, which is not even part of its operational sphere. This fact itself gives rise to concern.
It is well known that NATO has long made persistent attempts to expand its sphere of influence, limited to European defense, to the Asia-Pacific region, which rose to be the strategic center of the world.
NATO stages bilateral and multilateral joint military exercises under various titles by introducing armed forces of its member states, including aircraft carriers and fighters, under the pretext of opposing the so-called “change of status quo by force”. It is also mulling extending its influence to the Asia-Pacific region by expanding and strengthening cooperation with such exclusive security allies as AUKUS, Quad and Five Eyes.
In particular, NATO has put unprecedented spurs to the strengthening of bilateral relations with South Korea and Japan in recent years, regarding them as a key link in realizing its ambition for hegemony.
This is proved by the fact that the chairman of the military committee of NATO visited South Korea and Japan, respectively in April and June last year, to discuss closer partnership and military cooperation and, at the end of June, South Korea and Japan participated in the NATO summit in Madrid of Spain for the first time ever.
Meanwhile, in May last year, the Cooperative Cyber Defense Centre of Excellence under NATO registered South Korea as its full memberو and in October a delegation of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly was dispatched to South Korea to discuss the strengthening of bilateral cooperation.
South Korea signed a huge sales contract for arms including heavy tanks, self-propelled guns, and fighters valued at tens of billions of U.S. dollars with Poland, a member state of NATO, and Japan agreed to jointly develop the next generation fighters with Britain and Italy. This clearly proves to what extent NATO’s sinister intention to use South Korea and Japan for expanding its influence has reached.
NATO, which specified Russia as the “greatest and direct threat” and China as a “systematic challenge” in its new “strategic concept” last year, is now openly stretching its long arm to South Korea and Japan. Its aim is quite clear.
It is the general orientation sought by the U.S.-led NATO to cook up an Asian version of NATO to serve the maintenance of its hegemonic position and order in collusion with its vassal forces.
Over the recent worrying moves of NATO, it is quite natural that countries in the region have warned that NATO seeks to apply the method of collective confrontation in Asia-Pacific, which had already been used in Europe, and South Korea and Japan should not introduce NATO forces into the Asia-Pacific region.
It is as clear as noonday that the secretary general of NATO flying to south Korea and Japan, at a time when the Ukrainian crisis has entered a new critical stage with the U.S. and Western decision on supplying tanks, will shore up the “theory of threat from China” to emphasize again the need to build Asian version of NATO and put pressure on them for their passive military support to Ukraine.
Thus, it’s only a matter of time before the military hardware of South Korea and Japan flowing into NATO is seen in the Ukrainian battlefield.
South Korea and Japan trying to attend to their own business by inviting unbidden guests to the region should be well aware that they are getting closer to the extreme security crisis, far from defusing security uneasiness.
It will be nothing good if NATO, a synonym for war and confrontation, puts its military boots on the region.
The trip of the NATO secretary general to South Korea and Japan is a prelude to confrontation and war as it brings the dark clouds of a “new Cold War” to the Asia-Pacific region.
Regional countries and the international community should remain highly vigilant against the frequent footsteps of NATO toward Asia-Pacific.
https://mronline.org/2023/02/03/is-the- ... n-of-nato/