Xi Jinping can take lessons from Kublai Khan in reaching out to the West
- In the 13th century, Kublai Khan reached out to the West. Can Xi Jinping do better?
The legendary Italian merchant Marco Polo built his name on extensive travel in the East and particularly China. However, history has not given enough credit to his father Niccolo and uncle Maffeo who took the Silk Road to China in 1266 when Marco was only 12 years old. Only on a trip to China in 1271, did the brothers bring the then 17-year-old with them.
When the Polo brothers met Chinese emperor Kublai Khan, the grandson of founding emperor Genghis Khan, the ruler of the middle kingdom liked the exotic foreigners. He asked them to deliver a letter to Pope Clement IV in 1267 requesting the Pope send 100 priests to teach Chinese people Christianity and Western science, among others. The letter also contained a gold tablet which stated that the brothers represented the Khan himself and it guaranteed their safety and all the necessary help throughout the lands controlled by the emperor.
According to the Italian newspaper Il Foglio, a Chinese diplomat told its reporter covering Xi’s visit: “You have to stop saying bad things about China.” Refusing to shake her hand, the diplomat added: “I know very well who you are.”
The incident aroused as much ire as suspicion in Europe and the ripples are still spreading. Is the belt and road plan mainly an economic initiative or part of China’s efforts to subject the world to authoritarian rule? Can the West save its troubled economy with help from Beijing without sacrificing principles like free speech?
However, Chinese diplomats should not let arrogance and rudeness get the better of them. Fighting diplomacy should give way to respect and professionalism, no matter how big the business deal is. If Chinese apparatchiks do not understand the complexities of modern international politics, just remember that the international media is not CCTV.
And there are other issues. According to the Washington-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies, Chinese companies got 89 per cent of the transport projects financed by China in the belt and road plan. Let’s be fair: Chinese companies do have an edge on low cost, high speed and lucrative financing schemes for infrastructure projects. However, the initiative should not be an overseas playground to consume China’s domestic overcapacity.
Elaine Yi Lu, director and professor of City University of New York and an expert on public budgeting and finance, suggested China set up a working body to handle procurement of high-value belt and road projects.
“Contracts without national security implications should be awarded to companies that are best suited to execute them, regardless of whether they are Chinese companies or not,” Lu said in an interview.
Italian politicians need to remember the West can also give something as they tried with Kublai Khan. He had asked the Polo brothers to bring something from the Pope – oil from the lamp at the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Now, Italy and its partners in the West should work to infuse China with a “new oil” of international standards and good practice. The lamp of hope, fairness and mutual prosperity will light China’s journey to national rejuvenation. Xi and his Western counterparts should outdo their ancestors in the 1200s. China can start by giving foreign media their own “gold tablets” with assurances not to intimidate and threaten reporters.
Billy Huang has served media outlets in Beijing, Hong Kong, Singapore and the United States for more than 20 years
