Chapter 23 China's Overseas Interests in the New Era

With the gradual advancement of globalization, China has more and more overseas interests in the world.In today's international environment, how should China's overseas interests be interpreted?What are the important inspirations for China from the development of globalization in different periods?How should China protect its overseas interests? ◎Reporter: How to judge the government's foreign policy from a global perspective? Chen Zhiwu: China's foreign policy has gradually become more pragmatic over the years, which is very good for the national economy and people's livelihood.China's foreign policy should be further changed to focus on economy and foreign trade, and serve to solve China's employment problems and increase people's income.We might as well regard the country as a large company, and understand the issue of national governance from the perspective of large company management.In today's globalized world, there is more and more trade among countries, and other countries are like "customers" of a "big company" like China. Therefore, the job of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is to do a good job in "customer service" first, so as to ensure the largest market in each country. To maximize the opening up to Chinese products, to find the broadest world market for Chinese products, and to ensure the resource services needed by Chinese enterprises.

To understand the positioning of foreign policy from this perspective, it is necessary to clarify who China's main trading partners are.Overall, the United States, Japan, and the European Union have long been China's top three trading partners, and their total direct and indirect trade with China has exceeded 50% of China's total foreign trade.From the general sense or the perspective of "customer service" we just mentioned, these countries are China's largest "customers", and they should be the most important targets for China to establish good relations with.However, these countries are the targets of China's current strategic competition, especially the United States and Japan.At present, there are strong anti-Japanese and anti-American sentiments, and this sentiment must be guided, otherwise it will affect the orientation of China's diplomatic strategy and development strategy.These sentiments will only encourage China to confront, rather than cooperate with, Japan and the United States.

◎Reporter: Many people think that the manufacturing industry only accounts for a small part of the Chinese economy, and its employment is only about 80 million, which is about 10% of the total employment.Therefore, they feel that it is not important to have a large export market.What do you think? Chen Zhiwu: We know that the entire economy is an interconnected system, and the impact of the export market on the Chinese economy is much higher than it appears on the surface.We imagine that if the U.S. economy is in recession or the U.S. export market is interrupted due to some kind of conflict, the first people who will be directly affected are the people in the manufacturing industry, but almost all walks of life in Chinese society will be greatly negatively affected, making them Either lose your job or lose your income.For example, we may think that the legal industry is not a manufacturing industry, so it will not be affected, but in fact their legal service business will soon decrease.Seeing the prospect of reduced income, lawyers may reduce consumption in all aspects. For example, they may eat 10 times a week at a good restaurant, but now they may only eat 5 times or order less dishes, so the catering industry will be affected; There are already 20 shirts. If the income prospect is good, it may not matter to buy another 5 or 10 shirts, but if the prospect is not good, it may not buy any more, so the clothing industry will also be negatively affected.The same is true for other industries. Even education and research funding will be affected, and the unemployment rate will naturally rise.Therefore, in the final analysis, the relationship with the United States and Japan involves the employment and employment of each of us.

◎Reporter: China currently has huge differences with Japan and the United States, such as historical identity and values. In this regard, what changes or adjustments need to be made in China's way of thinking? Chen Zhiwu: The reconciliation experience between the Germans and the Jews is worth learning from for China and Japan, and even the solution for conflicts between the Americans and the British is also worth considering.If China and Japan are more rational in dealing with issues such as history and energy sharing, and focus more on the future, it will maximize the economic development of the two countries.So don't get too overzealous on both sides.Japan is China's second largest investor and second largest trading partner. The quality of the relationship between the two sides will directly affect the development of China's economy and China's employment.Now, China's economy is increasingly dependent on international trade, which directly affects employment opportunities and people's living standards.Therefore, we should neither forget history nor be overly impulsive in policy choices.

◎Reporter: Looking back at the development of leading countries in different periods of globalization, what important inspirations do you think China can draw? Chen Zhiwu: China's current and future economic challenges are very similar to those faced by Britain two hundred years ago. Before the industrial revolution at the end of the 18th century, Britain had already occupied a considerable market in the Americas. Those colonies not only provided Britain with spices and various agricultural products, but also became the most important export market for British handicrafts.However, with the advent of the industrial revolution, the production capacity and efficiency of various industries headed by the textile industry in the country increased greatly. By the end of the 18th century, the population of the United Kingdom was close to 20 million. serious imbalances in industrial output.This forced the UK to find larger markets overseas to sell its products.At the same time, these industries required more raw materials, so another challenge for Britain at the time was to secure a stable source of raw materials.These two aspects—export markets and resource supply—are exactly the challenges China's economy faces today.

Because the British textile industry needed a large amount of cotton at that time, this prompted Britain to open up a large area of ​​land to grow cotton in the southern part of the North American colonies and Spain's Latin American colonies such as Mexico.However, because planting is a labor-intensive industry that requires a large amount of labor, trading companies in Britain, Spain, and France sold a large number of black slaves from Africa to plantations in the Americas.With the increase of manpower.The output of British cotton planting in North America and Central America has greatly increased, which has laid a solid source of raw materials for the continued development of the British textile industry.In order to maintain the stability of the source of raw materials and to expand on a larger scale, Britain did not hesitate to fight many wars with Spain and France to compete for colonies.

In the 18th century, a large number of industrial products produced by Britain were mainly exported to the colonies, especially North America.However, after the United States became independent in 1776 and established a relatively comprehensive industrial system in about 30 years, the demand for British goods in the North American market began to decline.Take textiles as an example. Before the independence of the United States and in the early days of independence, British companies rarely exported advanced textile technology and machinery to the colonies in order to curb the development of the local textile industry.But after 1800, the United States' own textile technology has been greatly improved. First, Americans began to develop textile machines and textile enterprises in Massachusetts, followed by Connecticut and other states in New England.By around 1830, the United States had a textile industry as complete as the United Kingdom, which was a great threat to the United Kingdom, and overseas sales were greatly restricted.This made British companies consider expanding overseas markets on a larger scale in other parts of the world, but at that time the industrial level of continental European countries was already comparable to that of the UK, which forced the UK to focus on expanding in the Far East.Therefore, the British first occupied India, and then went to war against China twice in 1840 and 1860, in order to maximize the opening of the Far East market.By setting up a treaty port in China, the United Kingdom sent a large amount of domestically produced textiles to China, which also greatly impacted the development of China's local textile and handicraft industry.

◎Reporter: Can you talk about how the UK opened up the Asian market?How does the UK safeguard its overseas interests? Chen Zhiwu: Our past history of British overseas expansion is almost all told from the perspective of victims. Based on our experiences in the past two hundred years, these are of course understandable, and it is a painful experience.However, today China is also facing the problem of how to expand overseas, develop overseas markets, and find resources overseas. Facing the same challenges faced by the United Kingdom, the United States, and Japan, we need to look at those worlds from a different perspective. In terms of history, it is necessary to study and understand how and why they did it from the perspective of overseas trade and the operation of multinational companies, so as to help Chinese companies "go global" more constructively.

Before 1707, the international order was basically maintained by a powerful army. The reason was that before Columbus discovered the American continent in 1492 and for about two hundred years after that, there were very few exchanges between countries, especially between continents. There is no recognized order and law, and that is the origin of the international order in the modern sense.Things improved in the 18th and 19th centuries, but there was no order structure as we see today.Once disputes over foreign trade interests or property rights arise between countries, they must be resolved by force.In order to find overseas markets for its industrial products, Britain often had to face a strange or even "barbaric" world. Every time it went to a country, it encountered a different culture, a different political system, and a different order. Most countries outside of China do not yet have a reliable legal order, and the local people and local culture often have great rejection of the products and culture brought by the British, so it is conceivable that it is difficult to expand overseas markets.Especially in those days.

However, expanding the market was a must, so in an environment where there were no international legal norms at that time, we could only use force to force the local area to open to the UK and accept British products.Against this background, forcibly establishing colonies may be the most convenient way for Britain and other Western countries to expand overseas trade. It is an open place for trade, which greatly reduces the cost of overseas trade in Britain and greatly expands its market.However, doing so violated the rights of the colonial people as we understand it today. I am not saying that China should also follow the British development model, but knowing the past history can help us understand today's international structure, and also see the difference between today's structure for protecting overseas property rights and the past.China currently benefits from the international trade system and the international political and legal order under the framework of the WTO and the United Nations, which greatly reduces the necessity for China to build a large navy for overseas trade.Of course, we must also realize that in today's information world centered on the Internet and television, whether it is the United States or other countries, their military can be powerful and their hard power can reach the pinnacle, but they cannot always do whatever they want.Because even like the United States, its economy depends on the international market, and the United States must rely on its soft power. If its overseas image is not good, then its overseas trade and service exports will be hit.In other words, in the era when countries in the world were isolated from each other, Britain and other Western European countries did not need to care too much about their hegemonic image overseas, but today, every move of any country is immediately displayed in the eyes of the world, which makes any hegemony impossible. You have to restrain yourself.

◎Reporter: In today's international environment, how to interpret China's overseas interests? Chen Zhiwu: In 2004, 10 Chinese laborers were shot and killed in Afghanistan, and 7 Chinese workers were kidnapped in Iraq, coupled with the violence against Chinese or Chinese companies in other countries, these facts remind us that similar situations will continue happening, and will only increase as China's participation in the global economy deepens.Assuming that Haier's factory in South Carolina was suddenly shut down by the local government of the United States, and the Chinese managers were detained, what would China do at that time?If CNPC’s overseas oil companies are suddenly confiscated—we must think ahead, study coping mechanisms and countermeasures, and re-understand the important role of international dispute resolution mechanisms from a constructive perspective. At present, many Chinese enterprises have invested or will invest overseas, and especially the investment locations of Chinese energy and resources enterprises are mainly concentrated in Asian, African and Latin American countries with relatively backward legal environment, which implies high property rights and trade risks.In addition, Chinese-funded enterprises not only invest in those countries, but also send a large number of staff. How to guarantee their lives and properties? This increasingly important issue has never been encountered by the Chinese government at any time.Today's Chinese government has to face four major problems in an increasingly complex international environment.First, to maintain and expand the interests of overseas investment as much as possible; second, to protect the safety of Chinese lives and properties overseas; third, to make good use of the existing international trade order to ensure the supply of resources for Chinese enterprises; market expansion.When the government thinks about how to safeguard China's overseas interests, it should first clarify the definition of China's overseas interests.China's overseas interests include four major aspects, namely, personnel safety, property safety, resource supply, and overseas market expansion. ◎Reporter: Specifically, how should we protect China's overseas interests? Chen Zhiwu: Fortunately, China is in an international order based on legal norms. It is not necessary, nor should it expand its colonies like the United Kingdom.One of the ways to protect overseas interests is to train more lawyers, not just those who understand Chinese law and practice in China, but also many lawyers who understand the laws and policies of different countries.This is the first line of defense for the protection of overseas interests, and it is also the line of defense that can be effective in mainstream countries in today's international order. The most fundamental framework for protecting overseas interests is naturally the international order itself.Obviously, China is continuously benefiting from the international political and economic order dominated by the United States.But what has China contributed to the establishment and maintenance of this order?The international order that we see and make full use of today was gradually established in the past few hundred years. In the 1940s, China participated constructively in the preparation of the United Nations, the World Bank and the IMF. Outside the mainstream of the world.During this period, China not only missed opportunities for development, but also did not make a proportional contribution to the establishment of the international order based on a quarter of the world's population. Deng Xiaoping's reform and opening up was epoch-making in many ways.He reversed China's policy of non-participation or passive participation in the international community, to actively participate in the mainstream of the world, and actively use the international market to develop China.Today is the time for China to contribute to the maintenance and improvement of the world order.Using practical actions to maintain the development of the existing international order is also tantamount to safeguarding China's own overseas interests. ◎Reporter: In what ways can China better integrate into the current international order? Chen Zhiwu: I think China should think more about the cultivation of soft power.This includes the convergence of cultural values, as well as institutional advantages.It is very important to pay attention to these issues.China must let the societies of the United States, Japan, the European Union and other countries and regions better accept China and understand China more deeply.This kind of acceptance and understanding is based on the understanding of friends.Why do you have to do this?We can take the relationship between people as an example.If you and I are good friends, it must be because "heroes see the same thing". Although we may have different opinions, you and I have similar ways of looking at problems and have similar understandings of the world. In the future, the orientation of values ​​and cultures will converge.If there are problems or disputes between good friends, for example, you accidentally damaged my car by driving, it will definitely be resolved without much effort, and the resolution cost will be very low. If you and I are not friends, we don’t talk too much about speculation, there is a huge gap in ideology and values, and we always doubt each other, then even if you just touch me, we are likely to fight, and a lot of things that should not be born will arise. The problem occurred.From this we can see that it is very necessary to use soft power as much as possible to communicate with the world, and the convergence of cultural values ​​and ideology will be very beneficial to China's better integration into the international order and benefit from it.We are all discussing oil and resource security issues today. In fact, the best and safest solution is to increase China's soft power.The convergence of cultural values ​​I am talking about here does not mean that we have to change ourselves too much, but in fact, we are much more similar to people in other countries in the world than we feel.I have lived in the United States for more than ten years, met people from all over the world, and deeply found that the understanding of morality, friendliness, values ​​and other human issues in all countries in the world is very similar, and there are many common elements among people. This is also the basis for communication between China and foreign countries.What the government can do is to properly adjust its public relations policy abroad to highlight common values.In terms of ideology, China should think more about whether ideology or trade development is more beneficial to the country and the people.This should also be the criterion for judging whether a certain ideology is appropriate. ◎Reporter: With such a goal, is it more important for China to propose a peaceful rise? Chen Zhiwu: The concept of peaceful rise is very worth advocating.However, this is a promise, and just because any country can make various promises, whether people believe it or not depends on the country's soft power and subsequent actions.China must do a better job of soft power to convince the world that its commitments are trustworthy.In order for more countries to believe this, China must have further recognition and communication with relevant countries to maximize mutual understanding. If foreigners judge China as an alternative country, they will be considerate when using Chinese products, and will not be moved by the promise of peaceful rise.If foreigners are attracted by China's soft power and feel that China is also a responsible big country like them, then the possibility of them buying Chinese products will be greatly increased, so that even if they don't mention peaceful rise, they don't have to worry about China's rise. A sense of identity is the basis for eliminating misunderstandings.We might as well imagine that if one of the two neighboring countries can do irrational things at all costs for ideological satisfaction, while the other focuses on the national economy and people's livelihood and improving people's lives, then The latter of course feel threatened.In order to reduce the suspicion of neighboring countries on China's military development, it is necessary to communicate more with them on values ​​and ideology. ◎Reporter: If China does have conflicts with certain countries in the process of promoting overseas interests, how can the two sides balance their interests?Specifically, what should companies do, what role should the government play, and how should companies and the government interact? Chen Zhiwu: When encountering such a problem, China should send lawyers to solve it like Western countries do, at least officials with lawyer thinking.Enterprises have corporate lawyers, and the government also has government lawyers.The professional principle of a lawyer is that there is no conflict that cannot be resolved.Both parties to the conflict calmly elaborated their respective demands, and then looked for a point of convergence of interests.We should put aside our old thinking, and stop everything from being a "class struggle", a "life and death", and a struggle between our own country and foreign countries, otherwise we will shoot ourselves in the foot.For entrepreneurs, once a problem occurs overseas, they should realize that the first step to solve the problem is to find a lawyer. Chinese entrepreneurs must know how to hire and use local lawyers.The government should provide a protective framework for enterprises to go global in terms of the external environment.On the one hand, strive to maximize the recognition of the Chinese government and enterprises from different parties such as foreign governments, the public, the media, and enterprises; affairs.The Ministry of Foreign Affairs should also change in some aspects. The original Chinese diplomacy completely served ideology, but the current Chinese diplomacy should serve more economically—foreign trade.The Ministry of Foreign Affairs should increase the training of economic and trade knowledge and the history of international trade and globalization. At the same time, the allocation of diplomatic personnel should also strengthen the personnel in business law.If there are not many economic and trade-related personnel in embassies and consulates abroad, it will not be easy for Chinese companies to expand overseas.