China’s multidimensional global cooperation has been a game-changer. — AFP
THOUGH I disagree with many of the policies taken by China and by President Xi Jinping over the last few years, I still believe that China can be a force for good not only for the Asia-Pacific but also for the whole planet.
Living in a country that borders it, I realise first-hand how China’s financial might and spirit of cooperation and friendship can benefit emerging and developing nations.
While it is true that there are shortcomings in the way China has pivoted to the world, including some aspects of its Belt and Road Initiative, China’s multidimensional global cooperation has been a game-changer.
A multipolar world in which China plays a key role can be good for humanity.
If China, together with a more vigorous European Union (EU), a more democratic Gulf, a stronger Japan and South Korea, a more developed India, an integrated South-East Asia with a dynamic Brazil and the United States, can get rid of its internal problems, it can solve the most intrinsic problems we face.
China, despite the strategic and geopolitical rivalries with some of the aforementioned players, should foster cooperation on essential issues.
The coming months could become a source of tension and destabilise some positive developments that have recently occurred; therefore I wrote this letter.
Dear President Xi, As you know, the world has plenty of problems from climate change to conflicts raging in many parts, starting from Myanmar, Sudan, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the war in Gaza.
Like many observers, in the last few months, I have noticed a change of approach in the foreign policy of your country and this was a welcome development.
Not only did you have a positive meeting with US President Joe Biden, but you also had a meaningful engagement with the EU leadership. Moreover, China, South Korea and Japan are finally again sitting at the same table and talking.
I do understand that your decision to more proactively reengage with the world is also coming from a need, the fact that China’s economy is not doing as well as expected.
Yet this rapprochement, if I can call it that, can mark a new era where our humanity can thrive, achieve the Agenda 2030 and truly and unequivocally “transition away” from fossil fuels.
The differences among the key players must be managed extremely carefully.
There are many challenges beyond trade and the economy ahead. Some of the potential tipping points are the Straits relationship, the long-term prosperity of Hong Kong and the South China Sea issue.
The presidential election in Taiwan in a few weeks will represent a challenge for you and China. No matter the result of it, the world rejects a change in the status quo.
Taiwan will remain, from the perspective of the vast majority of the international community, a self-governed territory, not an independent nation.
I have quite a bit of admiration for the island’s democratic practices. To be clear, it is not that liberal democracy is perfect.
Still, when more political freedoms exist, when people can speak freely, then the true best of them can emerge.
China has a complex political system that few in the West truly understand.
Certainly, it does not meet many benchmarks in terms of democratic openness, but at the same time, China has been experimenting with deliberative democracy.
There is a vast untapped potential in these practices. Yet, without more personal freedom, even such a democracy that thrives at the grassroots level can flourish only nominally, in a tokenistic way.
I sincerely wish that China will build on its own experience of practicing what people often refer to as “village democracy” while also opening up a bit of its political space.
Threatening to invade Taiwan does not seem to be a smart move.
This would further alienate the citizens living there, pushing them further away from any process of reunification to which you attach so much importance.
The stark reality is that the vast majority of citizens across the Strait do not want to share a common destiny with China.
Even if you dislike this, only a win-win situation might change the way people in Taiwan perceive Beijing. The same can be said for Hong Kong.
I agree that, back in 2019 several red lines were overshot by locals and youths in this autonomous region.
The invasion of the legislative building was a huge mistake.
Recently you even met the leader of Hong Kong and he might have told you that the recent local elections were far from being successful despite the narrative being forged that turnout does not count. Yet also in this case, overwhelmingly tough policies toward those who dissented can backfire.
Many multinationals are leaving Hong Kong and this is not accidental. In the long term, this can be a problem, a sign of weakness.
I wish a process of reconciliation, centred on a sort of amnesty could be rolled out in Hong Kong. If carried out, China would gain legitimacy and admiration across the world.
Hong Kong’s people, especially the young generations, would start re-bonding with China and perhaps, one day, see it as the land with whom they can forge a common and shared destiny.
Like other governments, China must do whatever it can to fulfill the aspirations and dreams of its citizens.
When it comes to the South China Sea, no one can really challenge the current status quo that China has created.
It is an indisputable reality that many in the West dislike to admit but it is the irrefutable truth.
The relationships with the Philippines could be brought back to a normal phase and confrontations, even those of minor dimensions as those happening these days, could be avoided.
In this regard, you do not need to recognise the ruling of the arbitral tribunal constituted under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea but abstain from what the international community perceives as aggressive behaviour.
I am fully aware that human rights, political freedom and a less adversarial but no less ambitious foreign policy are only to be decided by the government of China and its people.
The coming year, 2024, will be the year of the dragon, which represents authority but also prosperity and good fortune.
The world can gain from a strong and self-confident China, a power that not only can flex its muscles and defend its strategic interests but also shows magnanimity, fairness and farsightedness and tonnes of pragmatism. — The Jakarta Post/ANN
Simone Galimberti is a freelance columnist on regional integration, development and human rights in the Asia-Pacific. The views expressed here are the writer’s own.
