A rational approach to China's development, Comment

The "China threat" theory, first appeared in the early 1990s, chiefly targets China's high-speed economic development and has been on and off for more than a decade. In recent years, the theory has been extended to fields such as military security and energy.

Just as what Professor Joseph S.Nye said on today's People's Daily, the rising of a new power will inevitably cause anxiety to existing powers. (full text of Joseph S.Nye's interview, in Chinese). This is a psychological reality in international relations, as well as the psychological background of the "China threat" theory. Viewed from the modern history of international relations, a new power invariably asks for a re-distribution of power and interests, which frequently results in war. This is probably a conceptual background of the "China threat" theory.

However, what mentioned above is no more than a mindset based on a summary of the past 60 years. A new, realistic background analysis is probably needed here regarding China's development or rising.

China's economy began to take off in the 1980s along with the reform and opening-up, a time of rapid-moving economic globalization. The country's internal potential and learning capability merged into the globalization trend, gaining a huge momentum for the economy. Such a developing mode gives the following features to China's advancement.

First, it is a process of gradually merging into world market, a process of adapting oneself to international rules and playing games peacefully within them.

Second, it contains various interest entities and activities of various economies, forming win-win and multi-win relations with the economic activities of other countries. China's advancement has actually become a part of world development.

Third, China displayed a certain degree of imbalance between eastern and western regions during its development process, but policy coordination and the "spillover effect" in economy have begun to appear. Similarly, the nation's development apparently activated its economic relations with its neighbors, with "radiation" and "spillover" effects beginning to emerge.

It is due to these reasons that more and more nations looked upon China's development as an opportunity instead of threat, and more and more countries established complete free trade relations with China. In the United States, Japan and other places, those clinging to "China threat" fall into three main categories. First, interest groups who lost competitive advantages under free trade conditions. Second, people who have lost their physiological balance and are unable to treat China in an equal way. Third, those caught in traditional mindset.

Most people playing up "China threat" in the filed of military security are Americans. Actually, Americans are the least expected to do so considering the nation's military spending, which is about a dozen times higher than China's. Given China's vast land and population, even the inflated US estimations are at a low and very limited level. Viewed from history, China cherishes no tradition of expansion, but focuses more on cultural exchanges and radiation.

In today's world, security and economy also bear a global feature. Nuclear, for example, has increasingly become an issue concerning the life and death of all human beings. Terrorism also stands out as a global concern. China is perfectly aware of that, while some Americans are still indulged in the old dream of dominance by one.

Old mindset can only deal with past realities. A Newsweek column on August 15 criticized the US "awkward handling" of China's rise and its "misunderstanding" over contemporary China. This is absolutely true. Today, if one fails to look on China's development with an equal, open and rational attitude, he is bound to make "awkward" mistakes.

This article by Huang Qing, senior editor of People's Daily, is carried on the seventh page of People's Daily, August 19,and is translated by People's Daily Online