by Zhang Haisen
BEIJING, July 26 (Xinhua) -- The world is facing some common problems, such as slow economic growth, regional conflicts, and lack of international development resources.
In response to the great restructuring in the post-pandemic era, some Western countries, including the United States, are promoting a "de-risking" approach based on their own interests and values. This will not help solve the global challenges, but will seriously hinder the realization of the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Taking one's own interests and values as the prerequisite for open cooperation represents a closed and limited mindset, which will lead to more confrontation and division on a larger scale. It goes against the basic principle of equal exchanges and mutual learning among different civilizations and nations and is not conducive to the development of a multi-polar world and long-term peace and stability. It also distorts the core concept of multilateralism, and undermines public support for win-win cooperation.
Global political, economic, and social development is required for a community with a shared future. It is not only contradictory, but also ineffective, to politicize economic issues and weaponize industrial and supply chains while on the other hand, to fantasize about cooperation in addressing global challenges such as public health and food security. The beggar-thy-neighbor approach to development will creat new obstacles for developing countries to benefit from the international trading system, further aggravate the international political and economic imbalance, fragment development resources, slow down North-South cooperation, deviate from the development issues, and widen the development gap.
Economic growth is the foundation of realizing the SDGs. De-risking or decoupling will damage this foundation. China has become the world's second-largest economy. As the largest developing economy and a responsible major country in the world, China plays an important role as a "stabilizer" in the global economic growth. As the world's largest manufacturing and trading country, China's commodity output and demands have injected a steady stream of impetus into global trade. In recent years, China's average annual GDP growth rate has been significantly higher than the world average, and its contribution to global economic growth has remained at around 30 percent. One of the biggest challenges facing the world today is weak economic recovery, and viewing China as a risk rather than an opportunity will only continue to hinder world economic recovery.
China played an important role in responding to the Asian financial crisis and the international financial crisis. Over the past decade, China has put forward the Belt and Road Initiative, the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, and the Global Civilization Initiative. China has been a well-recognized force of stability, a source of certainty, and a predictable factor in South-South cooperation and global common development. China shares development opportunities and helps other countries achieve sustainable development to the best of its ability by actively carrying out international poverty reduction exchanges and cooperation, deepening international development cooperation, and promoting the construction of an open world economy.
To conclude, if the United States and other Western countries continue to adopt the "de-risking" approach, the global economy will face risks in greater numbers and scale. "De-risking" hinders global development and seriously dampens the efforts of countries around the world to shore up growth momentum. "De-risking" from China will impact the existing trading framework, and bring uncertainties to the global economic order. "De-risking" actually decreases opportunities, cooperation, stability, and development, and is creating and spreading risks, from which no one can benefit.
The real risk that the international community should be vigilant against and jointly resist is the push for "de-sinicization" in the name of "de-risking." International Monetary Fund Chief Economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas has warned that "de-risking" could see countries turn inward at the expense of global growth. "There is a danger that (the) global economy could fragment into blocks."
The key to solving global problems and realizing sustainable development is to build consensus, focus on development, and strengthen cooperation under the vision of a community with a shared future for mankind. Enditem
(Editor's note: Zhang Haisen is deputy dean of the School of International Development and Cooperation, University of International Business and Economics in Beijing. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of Xinhua News Agency.)
