1. China's approach of the people-first
In early November, the Chinese government stopped the IPO of Alibaba's Ant Group which would have been the largest IPO in the history with as mush as $34.5 billion worth. This incident indicates that, in China, the government is stronger than private companies however large they are. In China, the communist government represents the people's interests, not the interests of big companies.
[Xi Jinping at his inspection in Yangzhou City, Jiangsu]
Market economy is the engine of development. It releases people's energies and ideas to craft innovative businesses, which leads to the wealth of the nation and better living standards of the people.
However, market economy creates the inequality between the haves and the have-nots. The wealthy people become even more wealthy while economically-impoverished people remain impoverished.
Also, fierce competition under market economy pressures each business entity to take extreme measures. Seeking for maximum profits, some companies ignore safety and welfare of people in the process of manufacturing and selling their goods.
That's the reason why a government representing people's interests needs to govern market economy by setting up regulations and redistributing tax revenues. Without the government control, market economy leads to disorder and social conflicts, which ultimately destroy societies.
In China, the communist government represents the people's interests. The communist government drafts and implements 5-year plans to guide the nation's economic development. The Chinese government setts up regulations to protect people's interests and redistributes tax revenues. Especially, the Chinese government has been making an effort to alleviate poverty in the nation.
As a result of that, China has already succeeded domestically in getting as many as 800 million people out of poverty over the last decades. And, today (November 23rd, 2020), China who has 1.4 billion population finally achieved Zero Poverty. China eliminated absolute poverty one month before self-imposed deadline. This is unprecedented great accomplishment in the history of the mankind.
This people-first approach of China has been clearly and decisively implemented in tackling the COVID-19 virus. The Chinese government imposed the strictest lock-down over Wuhan area and conducted nationwide mass testing for the virus. Putting people's lives and health first, China has succeeded in containing the corona virus and her economy has strongly recovered.
In contrast, the western countries such as the U.S., Japan and Europe are still ravaged by the corona virus because their governments put the interests of big businesses over the interests of the people. Especially, the US and Japanese governments are so concerned about stock prices of their markets that they promoted going outside and starting normal lives too soon before the epidemic ceased. The number of corona cases in the U.S. and Japan has surged.
[Inside the ICU unit at Brooklyn's Maimonides Hospital, New York]
In representative democracy, elected officials are oftentimes snatched by big businesses after elections and start working for their interests.
Moreover, in the U.S. and Japan, the president and the prime minister abused the governments for their own personal interests. They promoted policies and legislation that would benefit themselves and their close friends.
The difference of governments' attitude is stark regarding vaccine against the corona virus. China's President Xi Jinping pledged, "COVID-19 vaccine development and deployment in China, when available, will be made a global public good, which will be China's contribution to ensuring vaccine accessibility and affordability in developing countries." On the other hand, in the western countries, vaccine development is conducted by big pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer and AstraZeneca whose vaccines are to be purchased and distributed primarily by the governments of developed rich countries, contributing to the companies' big profits.
2. China's people-first approach to be applied regionally
China is expected to apply the methods of the people-first to Asia and Africa to alleviate poverty, based upon sophisticated planning and the vitality of market economy. China's economic and financial support and infrastructure construction in Asia and Africa are creating and will continue to create new middle classes and new markets there.
On November 15th, China and ASEAN 10 member countries, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand have singed RCEP agreement (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement) through which China is expected to enhance the region's economy and alleviate poverty.
Accordingly, on November 19th, Xi Jinping announced in his address at APEC that China would host a seminar on poverty reduction through digital technologies in 2021 to facilitate poverty eradication in the Asia-Pacific region.
Also, in the same address, Xi Jinping announced that China is positive to joining Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
CPTPP is a modified version of TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership). TPP was promoted by the Obama administration of the U.S. Originally, the TPP agreement included a notorious ISDS clause (investor-state dispute settlement clause) which would have given multinational big companies the power to alter member nations' regulations if the regulations had been deemed contradictory to the interests of multinational big companies. In other words, TPP would have given multinational big companies the superior power over member nations' governments and sovereignty.
Although the U.S. withdrew from TPP under the Trump administration, remaining 11 countries singed CPTPP where the ISDS clause is temporarily suspended. But, the new Biden administration of the U.S. may return to CPTPP and revive the ISDS clause again.
China, by joining CPTPP, would try to eliminate the ISDS clause forever so that CPTPP would never return to the former agreement that would benefit multinational big companies at the sacrifice of the people of member nations. The member nations except Japan would welcome and support China's people-first attitude. This is a battle between nations' people vs multinational big corporations. Market economy needs to be controlled regionally.
3. China's people-first approach to be applied globally
Further, China is trying to reform the United Nations so that the organization would represent interests of all nations especially developing nations. Currently, the power of the United Nations is concentrated upon so-called Big 5 of victorious nations of the Second World War, i.e., the U.S., Britain, France, Russia and China. Together with Asian and African developing nations and with the support of the UN Secretary General, China is trying to reform the United Nations to be more democratic and people-first.
Market economy tends to form nation states armed with military weapons which, without control, repeat wars and conflicts, seeking for profits of big businesses endlessly. Multinational defense corporations such as Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and BAE systems want regular military conflicts to maintain their revenues and profits.
Thus, the United Nations should be empowered to play a more vital role to promote peace and reconciliations between nations. Peaceful conditions are indispensable for economic growth and poverty alleviation. Market economy needs to be controlled globally.
[The Chinese peacekeeping force during the UN Peace Medal of Honor awarding ceremony held by MINUSMA on March 7, 2019]
One of the most important reforms would be a change of decision making process of the National Security Council. Presently, Big 5 nations have the power of veto which oftentimes hampers peaceful settlement of conflicts. Together with Asian and African peace-loving nations, China is expected to make the Security Council more democratic and peaceful.
And, WTO (World Trade Organization) could be reformed to protect and promote free and fair trade more effectively. Protectionism and Unilateralism should be abandoned. Open markets and Multilateralism should be promoted because that would benefit the people of nations. China would play a vital role in this area.
Also, climate change is a global challenge against which the world people need to unite and work together. As the No.1 producer of solar power and wind power, China is expected to lead the world nations in this area too.
Thank you.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect nor represent the policy or position of any government, party, or organization.
In early November, the Chinese government stopped the IPO of Alibaba's Ant Group which would have been the largest IPO in the history with as mush as $34.5 billion worth. This incident indicates that, in China, the government is stronger than private companies however large they are. In China, the communist government represents the people's interests, not the interests of big companies.
[Xi Jinping at his inspection in Yangzhou City, Jiangsu]
Market economy is the engine of development. It releases people's energies and ideas to craft innovative businesses, which leads to the wealth of the nation and better living standards of the people.
However, market economy creates the inequality between the haves and the have-nots. The wealthy people become even more wealthy while economically-impoverished people remain impoverished.
Also, fierce competition under market economy pressures each business entity to take extreme measures. Seeking for maximum profits, some companies ignore safety and welfare of people in the process of manufacturing and selling their goods.
That's the reason why a government representing people's interests needs to govern market economy by setting up regulations and redistributing tax revenues. Without the government control, market economy leads to disorder and social conflicts, which ultimately destroy societies.
In China, the communist government represents the people's interests. The communist government drafts and implements 5-year plans to guide the nation's economic development. The Chinese government setts up regulations to protect people's interests and redistributes tax revenues. Especially, the Chinese government has been making an effort to alleviate poverty in the nation.
As a result of that, China has already succeeded domestically in getting as many as 800 million people out of poverty over the last decades. And, today (November 23rd, 2020), China who has 1.4 billion population finally achieved Zero Poverty. China eliminated absolute poverty one month before self-imposed deadline. This is unprecedented great accomplishment in the history of the mankind.
This people-first approach of China has been clearly and decisively implemented in tackling the COVID-19 virus. The Chinese government imposed the strictest lock-down over Wuhan area and conducted nationwide mass testing for the virus. Putting people's lives and health first, China has succeeded in containing the corona virus and her economy has strongly recovered.
In contrast, the western countries such as the U.S., Japan and Europe are still ravaged by the corona virus because their governments put the interests of big businesses over the interests of the people. Especially, the US and Japanese governments are so concerned about stock prices of their markets that they promoted going outside and starting normal lives too soon before the epidemic ceased. The number of corona cases in the U.S. and Japan has surged.
[Inside the ICU unit at Brooklyn's Maimonides Hospital, New York]
In representative democracy, elected officials are oftentimes snatched by big businesses after elections and start working for their interests.
Moreover, in the U.S. and Japan, the president and the prime minister abused the governments for their own personal interests. They promoted policies and legislation that would benefit themselves and their close friends.
The difference of governments' attitude is stark regarding vaccine against the corona virus. China's President Xi Jinping pledged, "COVID-19 vaccine development and deployment in China, when available, will be made a global public good, which will be China's contribution to ensuring vaccine accessibility and affordability in developing countries." On the other hand, in the western countries, vaccine development is conducted by big pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer and AstraZeneca whose vaccines are to be purchased and distributed primarily by the governments of developed rich countries, contributing to the companies' big profits.
2. China's people-first approach to be applied regionally
China is expected to apply the methods of the people-first to Asia and Africa to alleviate poverty, based upon sophisticated planning and the vitality of market economy. China's economic and financial support and infrastructure construction in Asia and Africa are creating and will continue to create new middle classes and new markets there.
On November 15th, China and ASEAN 10 member countries, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand have singed RCEP agreement (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement) through which China is expected to enhance the region's economy and alleviate poverty.
Accordingly, on November 19th, Xi Jinping announced in his address at APEC that China would host a seminar on poverty reduction through digital technologies in 2021 to facilitate poverty eradication in the Asia-Pacific region.
Also, in the same address, Xi Jinping announced that China is positive to joining Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
CPTPP is a modified version of TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership). TPP was promoted by the Obama administration of the U.S. Originally, the TPP agreement included a notorious ISDS clause (investor-state dispute settlement clause) which would have given multinational big companies the power to alter member nations' regulations if the regulations had been deemed contradictory to the interests of multinational big companies. In other words, TPP would have given multinational big companies the superior power over member nations' governments and sovereignty.
Although the U.S. withdrew from TPP under the Trump administration, remaining 11 countries singed CPTPP where the ISDS clause is temporarily suspended. But, the new Biden administration of the U.S. may return to CPTPP and revive the ISDS clause again.
China, by joining CPTPP, would try to eliminate the ISDS clause forever so that CPTPP would never return to the former agreement that would benefit multinational big companies at the sacrifice of the people of member nations. The member nations except Japan would welcome and support China's people-first attitude. This is a battle between nations' people vs multinational big corporations. Market economy needs to be controlled regionally.
3. China's people-first approach to be applied globally
Further, China is trying to reform the United Nations so that the organization would represent interests of all nations especially developing nations. Currently, the power of the United Nations is concentrated upon so-called Big 5 of victorious nations of the Second World War, i.e., the U.S., Britain, France, Russia and China. Together with Asian and African developing nations and with the support of the UN Secretary General, China is trying to reform the United Nations to be more democratic and people-first.
Market economy tends to form nation states armed with military weapons which, without control, repeat wars and conflicts, seeking for profits of big businesses endlessly. Multinational defense corporations such as Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and BAE systems want regular military conflicts to maintain their revenues and profits.
Thus, the United Nations should be empowered to play a more vital role to promote peace and reconciliations between nations. Peaceful conditions are indispensable for economic growth and poverty alleviation. Market economy needs to be controlled globally.
[The Chinese peacekeeping force during the UN Peace Medal of Honor awarding ceremony held by MINUSMA on March 7, 2019]
One of the most important reforms would be a change of decision making process of the National Security Council. Presently, Big 5 nations have the power of veto which oftentimes hampers peaceful settlement of conflicts. Together with Asian and African peace-loving nations, China is expected to make the Security Council more democratic and peaceful.
And, WTO (World Trade Organization) could be reformed to protect and promote free and fair trade more effectively. Protectionism and Unilateralism should be abandoned. Open markets and Multilateralism should be promoted because that would benefit the people of nations. China would play a vital role in this area.
Also, climate change is a global challenge against which the world people need to unite and work together. As the No.1 producer of solar power and wind power, China is expected to lead the world nations in this area too.
Thank you.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect nor represent the policy or position of any government, party, or organization.