Experts join a discussion session during a book launch event in Beijing on June 12, 2023. Photo: Courtesy of the Center for China and Globalization (CCG)
It is very dangerous for all the world that large numbers of people in the US have closed their minds and are blind and deaf to the immense changes impacting the world. These Americans have also influenced some Europeans to share this approach, warned Alistair Michie, secretary general of the British East Asia Council.
“These attitudes have a great impact. This comes from the reality that the nations of Europe and the US have a dominant grip on global governance. Yet together the US and Europe add up to less than 14 percent of the global population,” he said.
Michie, who is also the “Friendship Award” winner, made the remarks at a book launch event hosted by the Center for China and Globalization (CCG) in Beijing on Tuesday.
He noted that Chinese people have the habit of using “history as a mirror” so that they can dwell on periods of their long civilization. As the world is facing increasing uncertainty and many issues including climate change, pandemic threats and global regulation of AI, Michie called for “consensus,” not “conflict” to solve these problems.
“Through understanding Chinese historical patterns, the people of China can see the value of not being provoked by those that display closed minds in the US and Europe. Chinese readers can learn how many outside China have open minds and seek an intelligent dialogue with all of China,” he said with hope.
At Tuesday’s event, Davey Blair, vice-president and senior economist at the CCG, recalled his experience. Born in the mid-1950s, he saw the end of the Vietnam War in the US.
“Once that ended, I thought we’re never gonna be stupid enough to do something like that again. But we were stupid enough to do it, certainly. So we've gotten into various wars in the Middle East, all over the place. When the Cold War ended in the late 1980s, I thought we’re never gonna get into the danger of a big power conflict again in Europe or in Asia. But we proved ourselves, or our leaders have proved themselves to be stupid enough to do that again.”
“And some of it's not just stupidity. It's cupidity. There's money to be made from doing this. There's power to be gained from doing it. So I'm very afraid for the future,” he said.
He warned that there's a sort of consensus in the US to push hostility with China which is dangerous.
According to Blair, it is important to build a consensus. But it’s difficult to do it right now in the US as the US press has become more biased than it was ten or 15 years ago.
“I listen to many of the US major news organs, and it's just empty propaganda most of the time, without facts and no desire to find the facts, so it's hard to get the information to American citizens,” he said.
He pointed out that inequality in the US has become much worse and in the last 30 years, the income of the middle class in the US has dropped sharply. In comparison, China has witnessed wages growing in most years in the last 20 years and Chinese people are getting better off.
As for the evolution of geo-politics, he pointed out that the situation is dangerous now. “I think it's important to ameliorate the situation and to make it better so people can talk to each other and not be victims of this kind of empty propaganda, which they are seeing in many cases both in the US and in Europe,” he suggested.
At Tuesday’s event, several Chinese experts also shared the view that it’s highly important to build consensus now in the world to avoid conflicts.
The book launch event featured two books:
Consensus or Conflict: China and Globalization in the 21st century, and
Insight: China in a Changing World. The books include opinions from renowned global dignitaries and experts. The publication of the two books aims to let the international community hear more “Chinese voices” and also allow more “world voices” to enter China.
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