China Daily Weekly - 09.08.2019

Itnow wantstobringinmore

partnersandcreatetradedeals

withcountriesnearandfar,includ-

ingEcuadorand SouthKorea,Aus-

tralia,Canada,N ewZealandand

Singapore.

Justas significantly,thePacific

Allianceisconsideringmerging

withanotherregionalblocinLatin

America—Mercosur.Aneconomic

andpoliticalblocfoundedin 1991 ,

MercosurincludesArgentina,Bra-

zil,ParaguayandUruguay.

AmergerofthePacificAlliance

andMe rcosurwouldcreateamuch

largerblocthatwouldaccountfor

about86percentofLatinAmerica’s

economyandfour-fifthsofitspopu-

lation.Thatisabouthalfabillion

peopleandeconomicoutputof$4.

trillion.Theeconomicoutputalone

wouldmakeitthefourth-largest

economyintheworld,aheadof

Germany.

Amergerofthesetwogroups,

iforwhenitcomestopass,would

beaboonfortheglobaleconomy.

Itshouldbesupportedandeven

encouraged.

DuringthefirstsummitinJuly

lastyear,thetwogroupsagreed

tostrengthentheirintegration

andreaffirmedacommitmentto

preservingandstrengtheningthe

multilateraltradingsystem.

Inmanyways,thecurrentpush

f greaterintegrationmarksaor

remarkableturnaroundforLatin

America,aturnaroundthathas

playedoutoverthepasthalf-

century.

TheleadersofthePacificAlliance

andMercosurhaveonlytolookat

theirpotentialpartnersinAsiafor

reasonstopushforgreaterglobal-

ization.Withoutglobalizedtrade,

thealmostmagicalriseofAsian

economieslikeSouthKorea,Japan,

SingaporeandChinaoverthepast

fewdecadeswouldnothavebeen

possible.

AsAsianeconomiesweretailor-

ingtheireconomiesforglobaltrade

startinginthe196 0 sand’7 0 s,Latin

Americancountriesweretoying

withprotectionistpoliciesofimport

substitution,inessencelookingto

manufacturegoodsdomestically

ratherthanimportingthem.They

didthisthroughtariffsthatmade

importsveryexpensive.

Thoseeffortsdidnotwork

welloverthelongrun.AsAsian

economiesexpandedbyleapsand

bounds,LatinAmericaneconomies

stalled.

Hopefully,thecurrentleaders

pushingforwardthePacificAlli-

anceandMercosurhavelearned

theirlessons.

Still,thechallengesaheadare

notsmall.Onehurdleisthatthe

twoblocshaveverydifferenttariff

structures.

Asecondhurdleislikelyto

emergefromthedomesticrealities

ofthevariousmembercountries.

Forexample,Colombiaispartof

negotiationsforanewtradeagree-

mentwithNewZealand.Onthe

otherhand,around 500 ,000 fami-

liesinColombiadependondairy

farmingfortheirlivelihood,andthe

governmentwantstoprotectthem.

Eachcountryhassomekindof

similarchallengetoaddress.

Workingthroughtheseissues

willrequirededicationandcom-

mitment,thetypeofcommitment

thatcanseethisgroupofoften

overlookedeconomiesemergeas

globalleadersandthenewchampi-

onsofglobalization.

Theauthor,basedinBogota,

Colombia,isalawyerandadirector

a teditorialconsultancyBahatiLtd.

Theviewsdonotnecessarilyreflect

thoseofChinaDaily.

PacificAlliance,MercosurmovesforgreaterintegrationmarkaturnaroundforLatinAmerica

Globalization:

ByZHANGWEIWEI

O

verthepastdecades,

Chinahasadheredtoits

owndevelopmentpath

andintheprocessithas

brokenthecenter-peripherysystem

ofdependencyamongcountriesto

createanewthree-partinteraction

system.

Thissystemconsistsofthree

typesofrelations—China’srela-

tionswith“periphery”countries

(thenon-Westernworldanddevel-

opingcountries),China’srelations

with“central”countries(major

Westerncountries),andinterac-

tionsbetweenthetwoaforemen-

tionedrelations.

Inthenewpattern,Chinaisin

auniquepositiontoinfluencethe

evolutionoftheworldorderasit

ismorecapableofsubstantially

promotingthecommoninterestsof

allcountriesthananyothercoun-

tryintheworld.Hence,China’s

peacefulriseisofepoch-making

significance.

Tostartwith,China’srelations

withthe“periphery”countriesare

betterthanever,asevidencedby

thestrongsupportfromdeveloping

countriesforChina’sBeltandRoad

Initiative.SinceChinesePresident

XiJinpingproposedtheinitiative

in2 0 13,atotalof126countries,

mostofwhicharedevelopingones,

and29internationalorganizations

havesignedcooperationagree-

mentswithChinaontheBeltand

RoadInitiative.From2 0 13to2 0 18,

thevalueoftradeingoodsbetween

ChinaandtheBeltandRoad

economiesexceeded$6trillion,an

averageannualgrowthof4percent,

higherthantheoverallgrowthof

China’sforeigntrade.

TheBeltandRoadInitiative’s

popularityamongdevelopingcoun-

triescomesfromthefactthatChina

istheonlycountrythatcanprovide

products,servicesandexperience

relatedtothefourindustrialrevo-

lutions.

Forthedevelopingcountries,

China,withasenseofrealism,

providesproductsandservices

cateringtotheirdevelopmentstage

andinthemeantimereservesthe

possibilityofupgradingsuchprod-

uctsandservicesinthefuture.Take

theChina-aidedMombasa-Nairobi

Railwayasanexample.Currently,

therailwaysystemusesdieselloco-

motives,whicharemoresuitable

forKenya’spresentconditionsthan

otheroptions.However,prepara-

tionshavebeenmadeforitsfuture

electrification.

AnotherexampleisChina-Africa

trade.Tenyearsago,theUnited

StateswasAfrica’slargesttrading

partner.NowChinahastakenthat

position,andthevolumeofChina-

Africatradeistwicethatof -US

Africatrade.Similarchangesare

takingplaceinSoutheastAsiaand

LatinAmerica.

InMay,Malaysia’sPrimeMin-

isterMahathirMohamadoffered

aforcefuldefenseofChinesetech

giantHuawei.HesaidHuaweicur-

rentlyboasted“thebesttechnology

intheworld”,andthattheUShad

toacceptthenewstatusquo.“We

havetoacceptthattheUScan-

notforeverbethesupremenation

(with)thebesttechnology...(The

West)mustacceptthatthiscapabil-

itycanalsobefoundintheEast.

Buttheywanttohaveasituation

wheretheyarealwaysahead,andif

not(they)willbanyou,(they)will

sendwarshipstoyourcountry;that

isnotcompetition;thatisthreaten-

ingpeople.”

China’speacefulrisehasended

many“periphery”countries’blind

beliefintheWesternpoliticaland

economicmodel.China’ssuccess

hassetanappealingexamplefor

“periphery”countries.Thisisan

importantpartofChina’ssoft

power.Chinadoesnot“export”its

developmentmodel,butitssuccess

meansmoreandmore“periphery”

countriesareturningtoChinawith

thehopeoflearningfromChina’s

experience.Thisisconduciveto

increasingtheirglobalinfluence

andacceleratingglobalgovernance

reforms.

Second,China’srelationswith

“central”countrieshavesig-

nificantlyimprovedoverthepast

decades.Theprogresshasbeen

sloweddownbytheresurgenceof

protectionismandunilateralismof

someWesterncountries.Despite

that,theEuropeanUnionisChina’s

largesttradingpartner,whileChina

isthelargestcreditorcountryofthe

USanditssecond-largesttrading

partner.

Upholdingtheprincipleofwin-

wincooperation,Chinahasacceded

tomanyinstitutionalarrangements

asexemplifiedbytheWorldTrade

Organization,integratedwiththe

globalproductionsystemandtrad-

ingsystem,andformeddeeply

intertwinedinterestswithmajor

economiesintheworld.Chinahas

becomeanindispensablepartof

theglobalindustrialchain,thus

significantlyreducingtherisksof

militaryconfrontationsbetween

greatpowersandpromotingworld

peace.

China’sascenttobeinthefirst

rankleadingthefourthindustrial

revolutionhasshockedmanyWest-

erncountries.Althoughthereare

someforcesintheUSthatwantthe

countrytodecouplewithChina,

theyareincapableofdoingthat.

Mostmade-in-Chinaproductsare

irreplaceableinordinarypeople’s

lives.Despitefrictionswithsome

“central”countries,Chinahas

anenormousmarket,themost

completeindustrialchainand

upholdstheprincipleofwin-win

cooperation,makingitimpossible

fortheUStorallyitsalliestojointly

obstructChina’sdevelopment.

Finally,withregardtointerac-

tionsbetweenthetwoaforemen-

tionedrelations,thecloser“periph-

ery”countriesarewithChina,the

moreleewaytheywillhavewhen

dealingwithconflictswith“central”

countriesandthemorelikelythat

theUSwilllosethetradewarit

wagedagainstChina.Theimproved

relationsbetweenChinaandthe

“periphery”countrieshavealso

expeditedtheprocessofdecentral-

izationintheworld,bringingtoan

endthemodelofthe“periphery

feedingthecentral”andprofoundly

changingtheinternationalland-

scape.

So,inthisnewpatternwiththree

elements,Chinaisinauniqueand

advantageousposition.Asoneof

theworld’slargesteconomiesanda

peace-lovingcountry,Chinaisgenu-

inelycommittedtothepathofwin-

wincooperation,atthesametime

withastrongcapacitytodeterwars.

Chinacanthussubstantiallypro-

moteworldpeaceanddevelopment

asitismorecapablethananyother

countryofsubstantiallypromoting

allcountries’commoninterests.

Chinahasaccumulatedrich

experienceinpromotingbothpeace

anddevelopment,makingitpos-

sibleforthecountrytobecomea

majorguidingforceintheworld.

Theauthorisdirector oftheChina

InstituteatFudanUniversity

andaboardmemberoftheChina

NationalThinkTanksCouncil.The

authorcontributedthisarticleto

ChinaWatch,athinktankpowered

byChinaDaily.Theviewsdo not

necessarilyreflectthoseofChina

Daily.

>>FROMPAGE

Chinaismorecapablethananyothercountryofpromotingthecommoninterestsofall

Anepoch-makingpeacefulrise

Chinaisgenuinely

committedtothe

pathofwin-win

cooperation,atthe

sametimewitha

strongcapacityto

deterwars.

20 COMMENT August 9- 1 5, 2019 CHINA DAILY GLOBALWEEKLY