Opinion
Respect development rights
By Guo Jiping (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-07-30 14:08
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Developed countries must stop blaming China for their economic woes even while urging it to help them climb out of recession
While the world is slowly starting to recover from the worst economic recession in over half a century, China, one of the chief contributors to the rebound, is once again being targeted by the politicians and media outlets of some Western nations.
The criticisms have been aplenty - that the Chinese save too much and lend even more to the United States at low interest rates, which they say results in a consumption spree by Americans, and property bubbles.
They say the yuan is substantially undervalued, by as much as 40 percent.
China's mammoth holdings of US Treasuries will enable Beijing to interfere in its domestic as well as foreign policies, they insist.
China will gobble up scarce energy sources; it was China that wrecked a binding deal on climate change at Copenhagen and is the biggest obstructer of sustained action to combat it; and last, that the world economy cannot rebalance growth unless China takes resolute steps - these are some of their unjust allegations.
According to these critics, China is considered the root cause of all global economic troubles, even as, curiously, they insist that the economic turnaround depends on the nation's policies and actions.
China must not only own up for causing the global economic imbalance, but must also act to salvage it, that is their ill-informed view.
In fact, the nation is facing a hostile international environment that presses it to assume more responsibility on issues as diverse as the currency exchange rate, its trade surplus, credit, savings, energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions.
Those who point fingers at China have vested interests. They want to force the nation to adapt to their process of adjustment during the economic recovery, abide by their own standards and undertake more responsibility, in order to preserve their dominant status in the international economic and financial system.
So long as China doesn't act in line with their demands, they will accuse it of being an irresponsible player.
It is clear that the hardest time is past and that the world at large is seeking a new international financial governance framework. The expected and ongoing reform initiatives have seriously eroded the interests of these once-dominant economies.
Yet, it is unfair to attribute all the world's economic troubles to China and urge it to resolve all the contradictions inherent in the global economy, which led to the crisis in the first place.
The chief causes of the global financial crisis lie in the unfair and unreasonable economic and financial order, and the irresponsible fiscal and financial policies followed by some countries.
The international financial system, which was tailored to the needs of the developed countries post World War II, is undergoing a transition.
Although several G20 summits have indicated the need for reform of the international economic governance framework, the interest distribution pattern has not yet been fundamentally overhauled.
By abusing the dollar's hegemony in cross-border financial transactions, the US economy has been effectively virtualized. This virtual economy became bloated and created large bubbles.
Massive over consumption, a debt-ridden fiscal policy and excessively loose financial supervision in the US meant the financial crisis finally spread beyond Wall Street.
The institutional flaws and systemic risks inherent in the international economic and financial framework haven't been removed.
It is the shared responsibility of both developed and developing nations to establish an impartial international economic system and promote a more balanced global economy.
China's development has brought numerous opportunities for the world, especially in the form of profits for enterprises in developed nations and greater global economic progress.
Those who enjoy the dividends from China's development, even as they criticize its perceived lack of effort, are in fact disregarding the development rights of its 1.3 billion populace.
The world must respect China's development rights, and take an objective and reasonable view regarding the accountability that China must assume for global economic failures. It must also seek to understand the difficulties faced by the nation. The Chinese economy too suffered during the financial crisis, so it is irresponsible to simply describe it as the "biggest winner" from the crisis.
Even though China took the lead in recovering from the recession, the achievements are due to the government's timely and capable responses and the collective effort of the Chinese people.
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By closely cooperating with other major economies, China has made an important contribution to world economic stability and recovery, and projected the image of a responsible global power.
The countries that have a lead role in the reconstruction of the international economic and financial system must seriously reflect upon and take concrete action rather than dodge their rightful responsibilities.
The foundations of the ongoing economic recovery is not solid as yet, and greater cooperation among all the key powers is needed to push for a sustainable and balanced development of the global economy.
The author is an editorial writer with People's Daily. It was originally published in People's Daily.