Exploring joint development amid globalization

People's Daily, September 20, 2011

"If Brazil recognizes China's market economy status, it will be good news for the ASEAN countries," an expert on the ASEAN affairs asserted, which shows a prominent characteristic of the current world: joint development is needed amid the economic globalization.

According to the views of those who are worried about the global expansion of "Made in China," because there is competition between China and the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) in trade, China will pose somewhat pressure on the ASEAN in terms of the exports to Brazil, if Brazil recognizes China's market economy status. This view has neglected a major aspect: the cooperation behind the competition.

The rise in China's exports will surely boost China's imports from the ASEAN. Similarly, the continued market expansion by the ASEAN in other regions across the world has also promoted China's exports from the ASEAN. The cooperation between China and the ASEAN has continued to progress amid the interactivity of cooperation and competition, which has produced better-than-expected effects.

Adhering to the understanding based on past experiences will generally lag behind the development and change of the times. Some Westerners still like to use the word "replace" to forecast China's development and are likely to discuss "RMB will replace the U.S. dollar over the next decade" and "China will overtake the United States to become the world's superpower by 2030."

U.S.-based Pew Research Center recently conducted a survey regarding the word "replace", a majority of people surveyed believe that "China either will replace or already has replaced the United States as the world's leading economic power." The "China threat theory" is on the rise again during the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Some assert that the United States has missed the opportunity to "contain China" over the past 10 years, enabling China to replace the United States as a major power in Asia.

Those who think the rise of a great power will inevitably lead to the fall of another great power should abandon their zero sum game mentality, because this outdated mentality will limit their understanding of globalization and multi-polarization.

Certain Western scholars said that the shift from a unipolar to a multipolar world order means that the world is entering a new age characterized by worldwide disorder and conflict. According to European media reports, former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice once described multi-polarity as a theory of rivalry and an evil.

The increasingly interdependent world is facing the challenge of establishing a new world order. The increasing interdependence of nations has boosted the development of developing countries, and is paving the way for a new world order.

The cooperation among BRICS countries, the coordination among the G-20 nations, and the growing role of international organizations such as the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund show that a new world order is beginning to take shape, and the world will not fall into a dark age. Lionel Barber, editor of the Financial Times, recently wrote that in economic terms, multi-polarity spells a new order in which interdependence is the norm and the United States, while still overwhelmingly the most powerful, no longer occupies the role of global domination.

The shift in global power is no longer a zero-sum game as the world is becoming increasingly multipolar. China is taking a path of peaceful development, which is different from the violent development path of previous great powers, and is willing to work with other countries to pursue common development.

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