Forget Trump, what is Xi saying to us?

While the rest of the world stumbles over itself to offer coverage to the crass genius of the Trump administration and its manipulation of eyes and ears at home and abroad, Pakistanis may want to turn to another leader for some stark contrast.

President Xi Jinping, who may be one of the few leaders in the world that Pakistanis will make sincere efforts not to criticise, has spoken frequently at a range of fora, most recently at the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting at Davos. Perhaps a quick stroll through some of his most important addresses can help us understand the juncture of history he believes his country occupies, and what signals Pakistanis may want to deduce from it all.

On November 15, 2012 upon being named as leader of the Chinese Communist Party, and therefore, the undisputed leader of China, President Xi said:

“Our people are a great people. During the long process of history, by relying on our own diligence, courage and wisdom, Chinese people have opened up a good and beautiful home where all ethnic groups live in harmony, and fostered an excellent culture that never fades. Our people love life and expect better education, more stable jobs, better income, more reliable social security, medical care of a higher standard, more comfortable living conditions, and a more beautiful environment. They hope that their children can grow up better, work better and live better. People’s yearning for a good and beautiful life is the goal for us to strive for. Every bit of happiness in the world has to be created by diligent work and labour.”

In January 2014, he spoke about China’s efforts to stem corruption. He said:

“State-owned assets and resources belong to all the people of China. Officials should be truthful in their lives and faithful in their duties. (Government officials) must shoulder their responsibilities and carry out supervision (on corruption) while remaining loyal, honest and responsible.”

“Our determination will not change. Our courage to rid our bones of poison will not diminish. We will also continue to hold the sharp sword of counter-corruption high.”

On October 15, 2014 he spoke on the role of the arts in China, saying:

“Our nation’s writers and artists should become the savants, the pioneers, the early advocates of their era. Through more substantial, moral, warm-hearted artistic work, they should write about and document the people’s great path, the era’s requirements for progress, highlight the beauty of convictions and integrity, carry forward the Chinese spirit, bring together China’s might and inspire all of the nation’s people of every ethnicity to vigorously march towards the future.”

On November 28, 2014, President Xi spoke at the Central Conference on Work Relating to Foreign Affairs, which is the Chinese equivalent of our ambassador’s conferences. In this meeting, attended by every senior Chinese diplomat on the planet, President Xi laid out his vision for China’s foreign policy as follows:

 “We have advocated the building of a new type of international relations underpinned by win-win cooperation, put forward and followed a policy of upholding justice and pursuing shared interests and championed a new vision featuring common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security. We have endeavoured to build a new model of major-country relations, and put forward and practised a neighbourhood policy featuring amity, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness as well as the guideline on China’s relations with Africa featuring sincerity, real results, affinity and good faith.”

In the same speech he also articulated his view of Chinese mutual interdependence with other countries: “China’s relations with the rest of the world are going through profound changes; its interactions with the international community have become closer than ever before. China’s dependence on the world and its involvement in international affairs are deepening, so are the world’s dependence on China and its impact on China.”

He also stated his views about the neighbourhood: “China must turn its neighbourhood areas into a community of common destiny, continue to follow the principles of amity, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness in conducting neighbourhood diplomacy, promote friendship and partnership with our neighbours, foster an amicable, secure and prosperous neighbourhood environment, and boost win-win cooperation and connectivity with our neighbours.”

Last week, at the WEF Davos summit on January 17, 2017 he made perhaps one of the biggest splashes of all, essentially assuming the baton for globalisation from an America too fatigued by domestic failures to have any residual interest in advocating open borders and free trade anymore. The three most pertinent things he said at Davos were:

First, that “All countries enjoy the right to development. At the same time, they should view their own interests in a broader context and refrain from pursuing them at the expense of others.”

Second, that “No country should view its own development path as the only viable one, still less should it impose its own development path on others.”

Third, that “We Chinese know only too well that there is no such thing as a free lunch in the world. For a big country with over 1.3 billion people, development can be achieved only with the dedication and tireless efforts of its own people. We cannot expect others to deliver development to China, and no one is in a position to do so.”   

This last statement may have been written with specifically Pakistan in mind. At Davos, the on-the-spot translator had said, “There is no such thing as a free lunch, and there is no pie about to fall from the sky. Countries must be dedicated to putting in the effort for their own growth and development”.

Since spring 2015, when President Xi visited Pakistan to announce the $46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), Pakistanis have spared no effort to sing the praises of China, and the relationship between China and Pakistan. This is as it should be. Efforts to poison the relationship are largely motivated by countries for whom any progress by Pakistan is seen as a reduction of their own ambitions. Pakistanis should be very careful in processing news items that attempt to minimise the Pakistani relationship with China.

At the same time, Pakistanis should pay close attention to China and its behaviour. China has robust disagreements with the US, but is its biggest trade partner. In 2013, China-US trade totalled over $521 billion. China has gone to war with India, but is also its biggest trading partner. In 2015, total trade was worth over $70 billion.

Pakistanis are rightfully proud of the partnership with China that produces things like the Karakoram Highway, the JF-17 fighter jet, and the highway and energy infrastructure of the CPEC, but concrete and metal are not exclusive to China. China’s unique proposition to the world (and to Pakistan) is hard work, self-reliance, trade and mutual benefit. Until Pakistan and Pakistanis start to pay better attention to the things China says, instead of the things China gives us, we risk wasting the golden opportunity of taking advantage of China to the fullest. This is a mistake we have made before with other countries. We should be learning from our failure, and from China’s success.

The writer is an analyst and commentator.