Pentagon

You may call it strange coincidence of the five: the day I received the invitation to take part in the competition, asking where China stands in five years, I received an email from the US-oriented journal The Economist — a daily overview, suggesting headlines of articles of special interest. It had been the 9th of June 2021, and the headlines that caught my attention had been the following:

• The West is passing up the opportunity of the century. There could be no better advertisement for democracy and free markets than a rapid global vaccination drive

• Soaring factory prices in China add to global inflation fears. Long a source of cheap goods, is China now exporting higher prices?

• What could break Hong Kong's property market? Protests and a pandemic have barely made a dent

But also:

• A parallel society is developing in parts of Muslim Britain.

• Ain't easy being green — the bottlenecks threatening the energy revolution

Of course, nothing is so far about where China will be within five years; still, I think these headlines are clearly marking the way we are heading — and with this: where China will be in five years. However, a crucial part of the answer can only be found by looking at the geo-political dimension, or in other words: What are the global parameters, that provide a framework for the development of the country, and with this a set of standards needed to be addressed.

And then, another magic five is coming to mind — the geometrical figure with five corners is a pentagon, and Pentagon is also the name that accommodates the US-military force. This exactly brings me to the point of departure of my reflection: The previous US-government of the United States of Northern America declared an open war against China, later joined by the EU. And while it is trade war, it is nevertheless a hot war where the weapons are as sharp as they are lacking any rational argument.

Looking at the first three headlines we can easily find a common denominator: shed crocodile's tears when you are sinking in the morass you had been piling up for yourself. We may reformulate the headlines in this light as follows:

• Development and distribution of vaccines is not a matter of serving humankind but a matter of a war to save US-hegemony

• When China's economy claims the right to develop, aiming to act on equal par, it neglects the claim of the West to continue unquestioned its exploitative politics

• When problems, emerging from the heritage of the West, are answered by policies that are defending the right of the Chinese people, the West interprets the loss of privileges as breach of human rights.

Looking then at the other two headlines, there are some homemade Western problems, the reformulation may look as follows:

• Allowing people of different faith systems to benefit from exploiting others, allows uniting people against a supposed common enemy; however, if the united bond breaks away, the various tensions become visible

• If money is the only guidance, used to solve the globally pressing questions like that of energy, failure is written into the birth certificate.

Having mentioned the Pentagon as reference, marking the current situation of war, we may then look at the 'weapons' used by China, again reformulating the headlines — now making explicit what had been suggested already, and now moving the arguments to the future:

• China's politics and policies to handle the pandemic had been geared towards cooperative advantage, aiming on leaving nobody behind and this is a pattern that guides global politics, also becoming manifest in projects like the One Belt One Road Project

• Soaring factory prices are part of a policy towards a sustainable economic development, that does not put China first, but that puts people first, aiming on overcoming the status of a cheap servant to the West

• Policies in Hong Kong, a hot topic, should not forget that that are part of a heritage, going back to the oppressive policy the West imposed since the opium wars not only on Hong Kong but the entire region

• Unity will only be gained by accepting 'the other' on equal par — building together communities instead of building fortresses directed against imagined enemies

• Common challenges will not be solved by money-based competition — they need to be geared towards cooperative advantage, accepting the right of to develop according to the principle: everybody according the own needs and everybody according the own capabilities.

When chairman Mao said that "the Chines people have stood up" and Xi highlights the importance of walking on the Road Toward Rejuvenation (see https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2012-11/30/content_15972687.htm; 30/06/2021). I am confident, that in five years' time China will be able to walk confidently on a way to global partnership and cooperative advantage, being well able to face the weapons directed against its policies and being strong enough to answer the ongoing war mongering by suggesting a peaceful alternative. Having said so, I am also suggesting that it needs a careful policy, balancing in an attentive way the problem of acknowledging the individual without relying on individuals only but with acknowledging those who contribute in the background, delivering the pillars on which the entire system stands.

Globally working academic with a professional background in sociology, political science, economics and law, currently Research Fellow at the Human Rights Center.

Law School at the Central South University, Changsha

The opinions expressed here are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of China Daily and China Daily website.