Riding the tide of the times

Increasing economic interdependence and globalization are in common interest of all and outweigh ideological differences

Deng Xiaoping began a tour of southern China on Jan 18, 1992, just after the collapse of the former Soviet Union, delivering speeches that gave fresh impetus to the country's reform and opening-up. Two decades have passed since then and new challenges have emerged. It is time to learn from the past and adapt to the new circumstances.

The world has completed a transition - from war and revolution to peace and development. A country can now source its resources from across the world to expedite its development if it succeeds in adapting to the new circumstances, but it will decline and be marginalized if it fails to do so. Unfortunately, many countries are having problems adapting to the new situation.

Some Western countries, despite their close ties with China, regard it as a threat and attempt to contain its peaceful rise and thus maintain their huge military spending. This harms their economic and social development.

Even some people in China question the wisdom of reform and opening-up, clinging to the old rhetoric of resisting the "peaceful evolution" plotted by the West, and hence, politicize and bestow ideological color on economic problems.

Such outdated views can be attributed to some people's inability to see the changes that have taken place over the past two decades and their inability to relinquish a Cold War mentality. They fail to understand that they should move beyond ideological confrontation to seek common interests and confront common challenges.

The world experienced two world wars and one Cold War in the 20th century and there have been regional wars and conflicts since 1992, including the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and the Libyan civil war, but none of the regional wars and conflicts represent an all-out confrontation between capitalism and socialism.