FROM EIR DAILY ALERT
Chinese Vice President Uses Davos Speech To Give a Sense of China’s History
Jan. 24, 2019 (EIRNS)—Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan gave a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos yesterday. Taking as his point of departure President Xi Jinping’s address to Davos two years ago, he re-emphasized the Chinese policy that President Xi had laid out on Jan. 17, 2017. Wang tried to give a sense of China’s history since the founding of the People’s Republic 70 years ago, depicting first the 5,000-year history of China which moved from a position of great prestige until the closing of its doors in the 18th century.
During the course of that history, Wang explained, “China has been buffeted by many wars and catastrophes.” With the founding of the P.R.C., China regained its independence and its unity. Without referring specifically to the more difficult periods for China since then, he emphasized that China has in this process “freed minds from utopian thinking.... Four or five generations have gone through many difficulties since that time, but have succeeded in transforming an agricultural nation into the world’s largest industrial producer.... The advances in China in the past 70 years are not a godsend, nor a gift from others. Rather, they are made by the Chinese people through vision, hard work, courage, reform and innovation. We want to see China regain its rightful position in the world.”
But while “developing itself, China wants to work with others,” he said. Instead of fighting over a limited pie, “we should work together to make the pie bigger and find new ways to share it more equitably. Trying to blame others won’t solve any problems.” Wang also stated that China faced many challenges in raising the level of its people to a “moderately prosperous society. We reject the practices of the strong bullying the weak and self-claimed supremacy.” While developing itself, China also wishes to work with all countries for common development and a community with a shared future for mankind.
He declared that China’s plan is to expand economic opportunities. “What we need to do is make the pie bigger while looking for ways to share it in a more equitable way,” he insisted. “The last thing we should do is to stop making the pie and just engage in a futile debate on how to divide it.”
As for the ongoing U.S.-China trade conflict, the Jan. 24 Asia Times quoted Wang that “the Chinese and U.S. economies are mutually indispensable, so their relations must be mutually beneficial and win-win.”
