China growing, lacks America's creativity

Nov. 30, 2011
A. Gaffar Peang-Meth
PACIFIC DAILY NEWS (Guam)

As an educator at the University of Guam, I taught my students that learning is an ongoing developmental process involving the acquisition and synthesis of new information.

In the course of discussing how China's "paramount leader," Deng Xiaoping, transformed the country from economic backwardness to a more modern economy, I referenced Deng's famous slogan: "It doesn't matter whether a cat is white or black, as long as it catches mice" -- a metaphor for Deng's belief that it doesn't matter whether the political economy is capitalist or socialist, so long as there is economic stability and growth.

Through guided discussion, my students were encouraged to consider whether the principles of individual freedom and rights are necessary components of the economic stability and growth Deng sought to achieve in China, an exercise in the acquisition and synthesis of new information.

Last month, Singapore's former minister, Lee Kuan Yew, spoke in Washington, D.C., on the "rise of China" and "America's Edge." It caused me to dust off a copy of a speech Lee made two years ago on "The Fundamentals of Singapore's Foreign Policy: Then and Now."

Lessons from an analysis of both speeches may be useful to Southeast Asian democrats in their fight for rights and freedom.

Singapore example

Lee's April 2009 speech contains a lesson Cambodian democrats in particular should remember: "Friendship, in international relations, is not a function of goodwill or personal affection." Actions in international politics are dictated by national interest.

In Lee's words, Singapore "is of no intrinsic interest to any developed country when it can invest in our larger neighbors endowed with more land, labor and natural resources." Therefore, "We must make ourselves relevant so that other countries have an interest in our continued survival and prosperity as a sovereign and independent nation" through creating a political and economic space.

Lee noted that in the 1960s and 1970s, the Chinese media berated Singapore as a "lackey of the American imperialists," but this changed after Deng personally saw how China "had fallen behind" the supposedly backward cities of Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur. So, when Deng visited Singapore in 1978, he saw that Singapore had exceeded even Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur, those cities he had thought were the most economically vibrant in the region.

According to Lee, when Deng toured southern China in February 1992, the Chinese leader said, "There is good social order in Singapore. They govern the place with discipline. We should draw from their experience, and do even better than them."

Lee recounted that exchanges between Singaporean and Chinese delegations then began to increase. "Hundreds of Chinese officials continue to be trained in Singapore," Lee affirmed, and "since 1996, we have trained over 16,000 Chinese officials."

In his 2011 speech, Lee told the same Deng story to an American audience in Washington, D.C., as he spoke about the China-U.S. relations.

America's edge

With a current average economic growth rate of more than 10 percent per year, China is on the rise as a "heavyweight," hence, the U.S. will need to "adjust" its posture and policies, advised Lee. "Equable relations between the two are most important for peace and stability in the Asia Pacific, and indeed the whole world."

For the last two years, said Lee, China has become more assertive on the world stage. But Lee believes China is "in no hurry to displace the US as the No. 1 power in the world and to carry the burden that is part and parcel of that position."

"To grow, China needs American markets, American investments and, with it, American technology," and China wants to send thousands of its students to U.S. universities and research institutions "to work and learn the kind of intellectual milieu that enables Americans to be so innovative and creative."

"The Chinese have a large talent pool. But they lack diversity, talented people from other cultures and other systems to enrich the mix of their own talents," asserted Lee.

Chinese civilization dictates China must maintain a "strong center" to keep the provinces and the warlords from drifting into chaos, and to keep the country prosperous, explained Lee. "There is unity and uniformity of thought at the highest levels of Chinese leaders," said Lee. "This is their cultural heritage."

Noting that change already is under way in China as its citizens are exposed to previously foreign methods and cultures, Lee said, "One thing is for sure: The present (Chinese) system cannot remain unchanged for the next 50 years."

"America's advantage is in its diversity of centers of talent," Lee declared. "The different schools of thought contend and, out of that contention, come new ideas, innovations and creations," while "Chinese tradition and culture tend to produce a more uniform Mandarinate."

"America started with waves of immigrants from Western Europe followed by more waves of migrants from other parts of the world. Each wave brings fresh inputs of ideas and energy." In comparison, "China's population" is home grown and 90 percent Han; "There has been little or no immigration."

Competitiveness

Lee admits to America's "tremendously difficult economic times," but expresses his confidence that "America's innate creativity, resilience and innovative spirit will allow it to confront its core problems, overcome them and regain competitiveness."

He urged that the U.S. not view China's rise as a "zero-sum game," but to find a way to work together through "dialogues, hard negotiation and mutual reassurances."

A. Gaffar Peang-Meth, Ph.D., is retired from the University of Guam. Write him at peangmeth@yahoo.com.