Perhaps many people have found that with the improvement of China’s comprehensive national strength in recent years and the significant achievements made in economic construction, fighting the COVID-19 epidemic and international cooperation, the accusations and attacks from the United States and some Western countries have been greatly increased, which are mostly focused on the issues of fighting the epidemic and related to Hong Kong and Xinjiang. This situation naturally reminds me of a Chinese idiom, “Accusations are never short of excuses.”
The United States and Western countries do not want to see a stable and prosperous China. This may be what the ancient Greek historian called the “Thucydides trap”. The United States’ fear from China’s rise is more disturbing than the actual threats that China could bring. Therefore, they will take all necessary means to obstruct China’s development, and even create some internal or external troubles for China maliciously. The spokesperson of Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has made a formal and clear statement that China’s goal has never been to surpass the United States, but to constantly surpass itself and become a better China.
What I would like to ask you to think about is, does the world need a turbulent China, or a stable and prosperous one? If China becomes turbulent and poor, who could feed the 1.4 billion Chinese people?
From the historical view, China has never launched a war of aggression, nor colonized overseas during the strong periods, like Han and Tang Dynasties. In 138 BC, the envoy of the Han Dynasty Zhang Qian departed from Chang’an, the capital of China at the time, and arrived in Central and Western Asia, including now Afghanistan, and created the world-famous Silk Road. More than 1500 years later, Ming Dynasty official Zheng He led a fleet of ships on 7 overseas missions, and the farthest place he has been to was East Africa. When China was strong but never sought hegemony, and what it transmitted to the outside world was peace and friendship. In modern times, when China was poor and weak, it suffered from aggression and plunder by Western powers. China has a vast territory and abundant resources. Without a strong government and the ability to protect itself, it is tantamount to a lamb waiting to be slaughtered by the United States and the West. As the Chinese saying goes, “Lessons learned from the past can guide one in the future.” The Chinese pretty cherish the happy life now.
By the current view, China has a large population and its development tasks are considerably heavy. Many years ago, Western scholars questioned who would feed the Chinese. Now, China has not only solved the basic food and clothing problem, but also has achieved the goal of poverty alleviation on schedule under the dual pressure of the COVID-19 epidemic last year and the suppression of the United States. After eight years of hard work, nearly 100 million people in China have been lifted out of poverty, which is also a huge contribution to the cause of poverty reduction in the world. While solving its own development problems, China has unreservedly shared development experience with other countries in the world, and done its best to provide material and human assistance to the vast number of developing countries. As the Chinese saying goes, “We all hope our relatives and neighbors to stay happy and safe which would benefit us, too.”
From the view of future, China’s steps on the road of peaceful development are firm, China’s position of supporting globalization and multilateralism is clear, and China’s determination to maintain world peace, fairness and justice is immense. “the Belt and Road Initiative” proposed by China is aimed at international cooperation for mutual benefit and win-win results. Chinese president has repeatedly emphasized that all countries in the world, especially developing countries, are welcome to take the free ride of China’s economic development. Is there anything wrong with being a neighbor and company with such a China? What is said, “A single flower does not make spring, while one hundred flowers in full blossom bring spring to the garden.”
In a word, the United States has not fed Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, nor will it feed a turbulent and poor China. Almost everyone understands this truth, so do the Chinese. A stable and prosperous China is the good fortune for the Chinese people, and even more for the world.
