On March 5, 2021, CCG Director Wang Huiyao was interviewed by a reporter from Independent Television (ITV) on the occasion of the two sessions, and was interviewed by a senior reporter of INDEPENDENT TELEVISION in China on issues related to the "two sessions" and China's development and international relations.
ITC: China's "two sessions" are being held, and the new "Five-Year Plan" is also undergoing final research and evaluation.
Wang Huiyao: Yesterday, the Chinese Political Consultative Conference opened, and today, the National People's Congress also successfully held the opening ceremony. Premier Li Keqiang also released a government work report to the Conference today. Unlike in the past, this report summarizes China's achievements in the past five years, for example, in the past five years, China has maintained a relatively high growth rate overall, China has provided about 60 million new jobs, and China's total GDP has grown from ¥70 trillion to ¥1100 trillion. China has grown rapidly over the past 55 years. But more importantly, Premier Li Keqiang continues to set new development goals for this year, including the recovery of the epidemic. Then he proposed that China's GDP would grow by 6% this year. In last year's government work report, he did not put forward accurate figures. So I think the government is already determined to achieve this goal, and I believe that China will certainly achieve this goal. At a press conference jointly organized by the CCG and the World Bank a few years ago, the World Bank actually predicted that China's GDP growth this year will reach 7.9%, so China's proposed GDP development target is a good signal, which is also a confidence-boosting pill for the world economy. And even more important is the next five-year plan, which was discussed a lot at the end of last year, but this time the government will come up with more specific targets. So I think that means that through the implementation of the 14th Five-Year Plan, China will continue to develop with high quality, and the results of all these reforms will be improved. More notably, a development vision for 2035 was also proposed. By 2035, China's GDP will double. I think a lot of things will happen, especially last year, China successfully won the battle against poverty and achieved the goal of building a moderately prosperous society in an all-round way, so in the past four decades, China has achieved 800 million people out of poverty. All of this symbolizes that this year is a turning point, China is entering a new era, and will become a new important pillar of the world economy.
ITB: Your mention of the 6% figure shows the government's confidence in its continued growth?
Wang Huiyao: Yes, I think the prime minister has actually made it clear in this speech that the GDP growth this year is a target of 6%. Until then, many people are speculating that this year may not give a clear number, because the new crown epidemic is not completely over. But you can see that the government is very confident now, because we have maintained a 2.3% growth last year under the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. So, now the government is confident and capable of predicting China's GDP growth rate of %6 this year. I think that's also a positive sign for the world economy. Every year, China contributes 30% of the world's GDP growth. It even contributed about 50% last year. Therefore, China's economy maintains a growth rate of 6%, which is not only good for China's economy, but also good for the world.
ITB: You just mentioned China's contribution to the world, and it is also what we are looking forward to seeing. During China's "two sessions", we also learned a lot about relying on ourselves to continue to develop. Why? Is it because China is facing a more hostile external environment and a trade war, which is a legacy of the Trump presidency, what has led China to pursue self-reliance, especially in technology?
Wang Huiyao: I think we may need to think about this from two aspects. First of all, China is not launching a trade war, China is just being forced to respond, China does not want to decouple from the world, perhaps the former US President Mr. Trump wanted China to do so. But, on the other hand, it's also a wake-up call for the Chinese government and the general public that we have to be prepared. We've seen the sanctions imposed on Huawei, Douyin, and some other Chinese companies in the past, and I don't think that's a very healthy sign for the economy. So I think actually China may be being forced to become more independent, if the U.S. continues with that policy. But, on the other hand, China has also said it will continue to open up. China is expanding its free trade area, and we are also increasing the use of foreign capital, and China has made a lot of positive progress in this regard.
So I think The attitude of China is that we still want to work with the world. This is also the reason why China should adhere to the domestic and international "double cycle". China has a middle class of 400 million, and 800 million people who have just been lifted out of poverty, so we must expand domestic demand and stimulate domestic consumption, of course, China also needs to have an international cycle, because only in this way can China truly develop together with the world and promote each other. So China will still remain open. That's what I think, because now we're in a world that's completely intertwined, and no one can really be completely isolated from others. We live in the 21st century and we must cooperate. I hope that this US administration will be more pragmatic and more realistic. As German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said, China is a competitive country, but we must also work with China. French President Emmanuel Macron said something similar at the Mouan conference.
ITC: In some ways, is the trade war sparked by President Trump counterproductive? Because, as you can see, it did sound the alarm for China. Although the epidemic has caused recessions in many other countries, China's growth has not been contained, and China is still on track to catch up with the United States. Do you think the trade war has really benefited China in some ways?
Wang Huiyao: Not necessarily, I don't think it helps much. For example, China's GDP growth rate last year was only about 2%, which may be the lowest level in recent years. The U.S. economy has also taken a big hit. We just saw a new report from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that basically says that a trade war could lead to a 1 percent drop in U.S. GDP. So I don't think China wants to fight a trade war, but I think all the stuff that China has developed in the past, for example, we have 5G networks, China now has nearly 5 million 4G base stations, 5G base stations now china has nearly 1 million. China has 70% of the world's high-speed rail network, 1 billion smartphone users, etc. As a result, China has built a very large infrastructure network that can provide a sustained and strong impetus to China's GDP growth. China has become a large independent economy and can continue to develop on its own. That's where I think the world needs to discover to understand and collaborate. Because they should see China's development as an opportunity, I think for the world, because, first of all, China has one-fifth of the world's population, secondly China is the engine of the world economy, especially in the post-epidemic era, and third, I think that although China has some different systems, China's five-thousand-year culture has never been interrupted. The current epidemic, China's rise against the trend, should make the world think about how to cooperate with China, seek common ground while reserving differences, and develop together. Otherwise, if we all regard the other side as opponents and keep too many enemies, the consequences are unimaginable. So we may also have to face the reality that this is not the end of history, so we have to take into account the multipolarity of the world, the different cultures and ways of life, the diversity of the world. China is actually very good. I think it also embraces globalization, the system of the Bretton Woods system led by the United States and seven other countries. In the post-pandemic era, we can build a new world system. We need to strengthen global governance, the World Trade Organization, climate change, and of course infrastructure and other issues that need to be urgently addressed. I think one of the success factors in China is the infrastructure revolution that is happening in China. We can promote it to the whole world. So I think we might have a world infrastructure investment bank. Why don't we promote the AIIB to the status of the World Investment Bank? The United States, the European Union, China, the United Kingdom, and so on, can all work together to discuss these issues. So for the next 75 years, after the pandemic is over, we're going to bring people together for a common goal, not to think about who took what. Let's make the bread a little bigger so we can share more.
ITB: President Trump has done a good job of portraying China as a country that threatens the world. He portrays China as a globally dominant or seeker country. He also raised a lot of human rights issues, and in global forums, he talked a lot about Hong Kong and Xinjiang, which has attracted global attention, and I think on these issues, people question The different systems in China. Do you think China needs to fix its reputation now?
Wang Huiyao: I certainly think that former President Trump and his advisers have really changed that narrative dramatically. Although in the past exchanges, there were inevitable complaints and so on, but I remember that when Hillary Clinton visited China as Secretary of State, the slogan was to seek common ground and let us reduce our differences. We are in the same boat. We have to help each other. That was the spirit of the time. But it is very unfortunate that when President Trump took office, his national security adviser, McMaster, presented a U.S. National Security Strategy Report. For the first time in the history of U.S.-China relations, they have portrayed China as a strategic adversary. Like Peter Navarro, there was a time in the United States where representatives who were very anti-globalist, very marginalized, very hawkish and populist essentially hijacked President Trump's agenda, and President Trump rarely went to China, except for the president's visits. So I've gradually linked this rhetoric to a trade war, which of course spreads negatively on China, especially in the Western world. But you'll find that even in a trade war, the outcome is not good for the U.S. economy or for U.S. businesses. That's why you'll see all sorts of reports coming out. That's what happens. But on the other hand, I think China should do better explanations, more communication, more dialogue, more track two. I don't think COVID-19 has helped that. No communication, no visitors. I think anyone overseas who has visited China will say that China looks different from what we thought before we came. So they'll give a fairly accurate or probably mostly real picture of China. I think the fictional stuff, and the media attention, there's trade tensions, and then there's geopolitical tensions, plus Hong Kong and Xinjiang. Then the U.S.-led criticism of China in the West is becoming snowballing, and China has explained it as best it can. But now what you see in Hong Kong is basically that everything is back to normal, and the stock market is now very stable. Now think about it, so why are those people's behavior called terrorists in the United States and in Hong Kong should be liberal fighters fighting for democracy? Of course, I think people may see more and more a stable Hong Kong because all the multinationals do business there. So now is the time to reduce interference with Hong Kong's autonomy. Because if you think about every 4 years, you change the so-called democratic model of the government, and now there are a lot of problems. Now look at the Chinese model, it actually works very well. , fully respecting its long history, unique culture, allowing it to implement a unique system. So I think Xinjiang is the same. I don't know how this 1 million figure came from, sometimes 2 million, sometimes 3 million. But Xinjiang has never experienced any terrorist incidents in the past 57 years, and perhaps never. There are also those who now think China is right, with about 2,000 foreign government official journalists and United Nations officials visiting Xinjiang. We welcome more people to visit. So I think the West's bias against China is also complicated. So I think there's communication on both sides to improve that. In terms of the global economy, the major economies, but China is not getting old, all the criticism is here. I think that's the problem.
ITB: Is that what we're going to be talking about next week at this critical juncture in China's history? To showcase the successes that China has already achieved and the role that the system is playing?
Wang Huiyao: This is the Chinese system. Now it's getting more attention, especially in developing countries, especially when we look at globalization, because the Chinese system, you see, the reason they lifted 800 million people out of poverty is largely due to the efforts of the government. The central government has coordinated effectively in this regard, with state-owned enterprises such as China Telecom, China Unicom or similar companies actually giving some free Wi-Fi to rural areas. These are all government guidance. However, at that time, the Wenchuan earthquake, each province provided counterpart support to help Wenchuan reborn. Of course, there is Wuhan, the central government quickly mobilized all provinces to support Wuhan, and 50,000 medical personnel quickly assembled to help Wuhan. So, when faced with a catastrophe, a great crisis, this system is very effective. Of course, all systems will have shortcomings. For example, 1 percent of wall Street's wealth is equivalent to 50 percent of the population's wealth. Over the past few decades, the gap between rich and poor has not narrowed, or even widened. That's why populism is here. That's the problem, but China can't be a scapegoat for all of this, it can't be the reason President Trump has come to power. But President Trump holds power. Due to the large internal gap. That's why I think the Chinese government is smart. On the one hand, market reform, private sector growth. But on the other hand, they can also regulate the market. And most importantly, they brought 800 million people to the poverty. Western governments distribute taxes, while the Chinese government may do so in another way, for example, by farmers who don't pay taxes. But the government must spend a lot of money to help them build roads, bridges and infrastructure. So you see the way Western governments deal with it and the Way the Chinese government handles it is different. But fundamentally, the Chinese government seems to be better able to solve problems, such as poverty, social equity, etc., so we don't have the populism that gets out of control like in the West. So it does show that the world really needs diversity, and China needs more inclusion. Now that China's "two sessions" are being held, they will sum up the past 5 years. They'll summarize the right things they've done in response to COVID-19. Then they will come up with another grand goal for the future. This is another factor in China's success, after a 5-year plan, a 5-year plan is being developed. All leaders, their goals are the same. We do not want to see a new Government come to power and abandon the policies of its predecessor altogether. You can also see a lot of waste. So I think there are pros and cons to both models. Especially in the post-pandemic era, we will find that a new world system is being built. Now we need to think about some new additions to the existing system. We need to do more.
ITB: When China joins the WTO and talks about opening up and reform, do you think Western governments will take this as a sign that we want to open up and reform and become a democracy? There was an assumption at the time that China would adopt the same system of government and economy.
Wang Huiyao: I think they may indeed have expectations, because they definitely think that if you have a free market, if you have a market economy, market reform, then you can build a huge middle class, the middle class is going to need more freedom, more votes and so on. But in fact, China now has 400 million middle class, probably the largest middle class in the world. Probably because of the culture, because Chinese used to thousands of years of tradition. The West has found that China is not one of us, but it is still one-fifth of the world's population. We have always been residents of the global village, so we must cooperate. Since China's accession to the WTO, China's GDP has grown more than 10 times, but we see that China is the largest trading partner of many countries, such as Australia, Japan, etc. Tesla almost became the largest company in the world because they have factories in China, because only factories in China are profitable. So you have to think about all the good things that China brings to the international community, instead of saying, well, they don't have the same model as we do. I think this may be a very narrow idea. We must therefore think seriously about the future and how to find a way to live together in peace. Of course, China is not perfect, and we also face many problems and many challenges. So we also need to work with the international community. I think so, and I'm glad to see President Biden call President Xi and express his Chinese New Year greetings to the Chinese. I think next, Sino-US relations will develop in a more rational direction.