On 4th May, ambassador Dai Qingli attended the webinar hosted by Zhivargo Laing, executive director of the Government and Public Policy Institute of the University of The Bahamas and made a speech entitled “Understanding the rise of China and its significance for The Bahamas”. The full text of the speech is as follows:
President Rodney D. Smith,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is my great pleasure and honor to attend today’s webinar. I would like to thank the Government and Public Policy Institute of the University of The Bahamas and Mr. Zhivargo Laing for this kind invitation. My thanks go to President Smith for his presence and warm welcome. I also wish to thank Ms Archer for her kind introduction. Thank you, too, to our Guardian Radio listeners for joining us today.
It has become conventional wisdom that the rise of China has become one of the defining events of our times. Never before in human history have we witnessed over 9% average annual growth sustained over three decades among 1.3 billion people.
No other country in human history has lifted nearly 100 million people from poverty in such a short span of time.
My generation lived through all these changes and improvements in our lives that we would never have thought possible.
Not surprisingly, the progress of China and its impact on the world has triggered heated debates, particularly in the West. The spectrum of views and emotions about China reminds one of the story of the blind men feeling the elephant, with each one getting a different impression of the giant animal.
Why understanding China has been so challenging to the West?
China is an entire civilization all by itself. Its political, economic, and social systems and way of life evolved parallel to the West, from its own historical and cultural traditions and socialist journey. If you judge China from a purely western perspective, you will misread the country in many ways.
Today let me highlight three unique factors behind China’s progress. I’ll then explain why the West often gets China wrong. I’ll conclude with China-Bahamas relations and why our relationship will remain strong and beneficial for both countries.
What are some of the factors underlying the China story? First, strong and consistent leadership by the Communist Party of China (CPC).
The sources of legitimacy of the CPC are at best poorly understood in the West. The CPC, which turned 100 last year, was born in 1921 when China had fallen prey to a swarm of invading imperialist powers, 11 of them at the most.
It was the CPC and CPC alone who were able to rally the long-suffering people of China to defeat the aggressors and win national liberation.
The founding of the People’s Republic in 1949 put an end to the century of humiliation for the Chinese people since the British invasion of 1840. The CPC distributed farmland for free to 300 million farmers in China, who for the first time in China’s 5,000-year history became masters of their own destiny.
The CPC oversaw a socialist transformation in the early years, introduced reforms and opening-up in 1978, made China the 2nd largest economy in 2010, and has been building a strong nation in the new era.
Like all other responsible political parties, the CPC always put the well-being of the people front and center, from improving lives and livelihoods to popularizing universal education and health care, and building the world's largest social security system. And it works hard every day to address the people’s concerns in order to prove itself worthy of the people’s trust.
A 13-year study by the Kennedy School of Government from 2003 to 2016 saw the people’s satisfaction with the Chinese government rise from 86% to 93%.
The second factor that makes the rise of China unique is China’s commitment to peaceful development.
This ideal of peace has been deeply embedded in Chinese culture. As ancient adages go, 'peace is most precious', 'even a big and powerful country will perish, if it’s battle-hungry.
In the early 15th century, Zheng He, a Chinese official in the Ming Dynasty, led the largest and most powerful fleet in the world on seven voyages, which took him to about 30 countries in Asia and Africa.
Zheng He’s voyages preceded Christopher Columbus by 87 years. Yet his discoveries never led to conquest and colonization. The only things he brought back for the emperor were a few giraffes from Africa as giraffes resembled a lucky animal in Chinese mythology.
China has been secular and tolerant all through its history. China was never known to have waged any religious wars.
President Xi repeatedly made the pledge to the world that no matter how strong China becomes, it will never seek hegemony, expansionism or spheres of influence. This is a pledge no other major country has ever made.
China is probably the only major country that has written peaceful development into both its Constitution and the CPC Charter. When I joined the foreign service 26 years ago, our leaders always described China’s foreign policy objective to be the fostering of a peaceful and stable regional and international environment for China’s development at home. All through these years, these talking points have never changed.
And they have been matched by actions. In the past 40 plus years, China has never fought any war with anyone. We never occupied an inch of other countries' land. China preferred to address territorial and maritime disputes with its neighbors through peaceful negotiations. China never sought to export its development model or remake other countries in its own image.
China’s overriding objective remains to deliver a better life for its people and realize the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
Having said this, China’s commitment to peace should never be taken as a sign of weakness. China will never flinch when it comes to safeguarding its sovereignty, territorial integrity and national dignity.
On the crisis in Ukraine, we stand for safeguarding the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine and upholding the purposes and principles of the UN charter. We are deeply saddened by the human toll on the Ukrainian people and have provided several batches of humanitarian assistance to Ukraine. At the same time, we believe that Russia’s legitimate security concerns should be respected.
We have endeavored to encourage peace talks and a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine through President Xi and Foreign Minister Wang’s multiple online meetings with their counterparts in Russia, Ukraine, US and European countries. We support the UN SG’s mission and are ready to use our good offices whenever possible.
To achieve long-term peace, there should also be a wider dialogue to build a balanced, effective and sustainable security architecture in Europe, which is the fundamental solution.
In the face of a turbulent world and rising security concerns among countries, China has proposed the Global Security Initiative. China’s conception of security is common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security. This approach to security calls for respect for sovereignty, territorial integrity, non-interference, and upholding the UN charter. We don’t see security as a zero-sum and winner-take-all game. The legitimate security concerns of all parties should be respected and all disputes should be resolved peacefully.
The third factor behind China’s development has been its commitment to win-win cooperation.
The rise of great powers in history had almost always been achieved through war, conquest, and expansion. In contrast, China's rise has been taking place in an era of economic globalization. China has opted for win-win opening-up and deeper integration with the global economy.
China’s accession to the WTO in 2001 has been a watershed moment, which saw double-digit average annual growth of China’s foreign trade for two decades. China became the largest trading partner of more than 130 countries and the biggest outward investor in non-financial assets.
Besides China’s main trading partner in the West, fellow developing countries have benefited from the growth of China, not just in trade, investment and job creation, but also in sustainable development and assistance in times of need.
Since 2008, China has been the leading importer for least developed countries, absorbing more than a quarter of their exports.
China introduced the Belt and Road Initiative in 2013 to alleviate the under-funding in infrastructure and spread economic prosperity in the developing world.
From 2013 to 2020, China's trade in goods with countries along the Belt and Road increased more than 57 billion US dollars annually on average. Chinese companies have invested close to 40 billion US dollars in overseas economic and trade cooperation zones alone in partner countries.
To re-energize the implementation of UN Sustainable Development Goals, China proposed the Global Development Initiative last year. Focusing on the most urgent issues facing developing countries, from fighting the pandemic, to food security, and tackling climate change, this initiative has attracted extensive support in the developing world.
China extended a helping hand to other countries in fighting the pandemic. We provided 350 billion masks, 4 billion coveralls, and 6 billion test kits to 153 countries, and 2.2 billion vaccine doses to 120 plus countries, including close to 400 million vaccine doses and 40 million pieces of anti-epidemic goods to Latin America and the Caribbean.
If China’s progress has benefited the world, why is China often portrayed negatively in some Western media?
Along with increasing positive views and good will towards China in the world, there has been a marked rise in fears and anxieties, and even paranoia about China in some quarters in the West.
Some misjudge China's strategic intentions and try to depict China as a threat. Based on their own logic and experience, they tried to fit China into the narrative of a rising hegemon trying to replace the old one. They look at everything from the lens of geo-strategic rivalry and assign sinister intentions to whatever China does.
Some misread China’s economic system and wish for the coming collapse of China.
Some misunderstand China's foreign policy and accuse China of being assertive, blaming China for any differences and disputes China has with other countries.
Some misinterpret China's governance model and slander China’s political system. They fail to see that China’s socialist democracy allows the broad participation of the Chinese people in state affairs. Their narrative of democracy v authoritarianism is nothing but a dangerous attempt to provoke ideological confrontation.
These misperceptions by some in the West have only exposed their own sense of desperation about China's rise and their loss of self-confidence, which are putting blinkers on their understanding of China.
On the other hand, Chinese views of the West have also been hardening. Many Chinese are less and less receptive of Western preaching and finger pointing. Many became convinced the West is out there to keep China down.
Such a perception gap is making constructive cooperation even more difficult exactly when we need it the most.
Here in the Caribbean, it is a much more positive picture. At the foreign ministers’ meeting between China and Caribbean countries having diplomatic relations with China last Thursday, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi stressed that China sees the Caribbean as important players and equal partners on the world stage. China supports the strengthening of Caribbean countries through unity and their greater role in international affairs.
State Councilor Wang announced initiatives such as the setting up of the China-Caribbean disaster prevention and mitigation fund, making full use of the China-Caribbean Development Center, more scholarships for Caribbean students and greater support in medical supplies.
May 23rd this year marks the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between our countries.
Looking back, we can draw some valuable experience from the smooth progress of China-Bahamas relations. First, solid political foundation. Over the past 25 years, China and The Bahamas have treated each other with equality, mutual respect and non-interference. The Bahamas’ adherence to the one-China policy has put our relations on a solid footing.
Second, mutual need and mutual benefit. China has become an important source of foreign trade and investment for The Bahamas. According to Chinese statistics, in 2021, China-Bahamas trade reached 492 million dollars, an increase of 40% year on year.
Together we have achieved a lot in the past quarter-century, from Thomas Robinson Stadium, Airport Gateway, the port in North Abaco and Freeport, Baha Mar and the Pointe. These projects have facilitated tourism and economic development and job creation in this country.
China is proud to have offered more than 200 government scholarships for talented Bahamian young people to study in China and hundreds of training opportunities for Bahamian officials.
Third, mutual support. We have been friends in need for each other. We received messages of sympathy and support from The Bahamas during the pandemic and more recently when we had a terrible plane crash. We supported The Bahamas when hurricanes struck. So far we have delivered to The Bahamas eight batches of medical supplies and equipment.
We are also aware of the challenges in China-Bahamas relations: such as the lack of direct interactions and mutual knowledge. Geography has not helped. And the pandemic has further limited our contacts.
We are yet to take full advantage of our economic complementarity. More networking among companies and greater familiarity with each other's markets are needed if we are to tap into the cooperation potential.
Furthermore, we are diverted from time to time by negative comments and sentiments about China-Bahamas relations.
Looking to the future, I truly believe we could accomplish much more by working together. The need for cooperation has never been greater in the post-covid era.
We hope to resume exchanges and mutual visits as soon as conditions permit. We hope Bahamian students could study in China in person.
Let me take a moment to advertise our scholarship here. Every year, there will be a number of scholarships to study in China. We welcome greater interest and application by UB students and the wider community in The Bahamas.
Secondly, we aim to create a solid platform for business cooperation. We will continue to hold trade and investment forums, build up direct channels for business interactions, and seek to increase direct trade, including among SMEs, by sorting out the logistics.
Thirdly, we hope to tap into the potential of cooperation in key areas, such as tourism, agriculture, health, and renewable energy. And we must continue to deepen the friendship between the two peoples through educational and cultural exchanges.
With joint efforts of the two sides, I’m sure we can look forward to even stronger and closer relations between our countries in the next quarter-century, to the benefit of both our peoples.
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