Advertisement
Letters | Will the West be better off with an isolated China?
- By making life difficult for China at every step, the West runs the risk of locking itself out of future growth opportunities
- While China could benefit from better public relations, the West should be careful about not throwing out the baby with the bathwater
Reading Time:2 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
7
What we are observing is a China incapable of credibly explaining its intentions of creating an open, multipolar world. Each of its very moves is interpreted as a violation of human rights or a disguised grab for international influence or power.
On the Hong Kong situation, Western complaints of human rights violations seem quite hilarious, after Western countries reportedly covertly financed local anti-government protests, which the new national security law finally put to rest to the satisfaction of many Hong Kong residents. This has been ignored by the Western media.
The situation in Xinjiang is indeed bad, from what is known. One has to ask, though, why China with its more than 50 ethnic minority groups and decades of efforts at integration, including quotas in universities for its minorities, would single out 12 million people, or less than 1 per cent of its population?
Advertisement
Then there are the complaints about the Belt and Road Initiative. The reality is that neither the United States nor Europe invested in building infrastructure in developing countries in Asia or Africa because the revenues from infrastructure projects did not justify their investment. However, they make sense because they will generate a higher GDP in the country.
Making an investment and getting assurances from the local government that it will repay the loan when the economy has grown is the nature of the beast of infrastructure investment in developing countries, not a sinister Chinese plot to take over these countries. The world should be grateful China is willing to play this role of infrastructure banker.
01:25
Xi sets tone for future Belt and Road development at Beijing forum
Xi sets tone for future Belt and Road development at Beijing forum
By making life difficult for China at every step, the West runs the risk of China turning substantially inward. Its current trade-to-GDP ratio is only about 35 per cent – well below the world average of 55 per cent – and shrinking as the domestic economy grows. Forcing China into self-reliance could result in Western companies not being welcome to take advantage of the huge opportunities in the Chinese market.
Advertisement
Select Voice
Choose your listening speed
Get through articles 2x faster
1.25x
250 WPM
Slow
Average
Fast
1.25x