Understanding a Bit of China
                          Surya Nath Upadhyay1  Upendra Gautam2

 

The People's Republic of China has always been a land of many curiosities for people of other countries not only because of its rapid progress but also because of its vastness in terms of population, natural resources, unique structure of governance, ancient culture, combination of varied ethnic groups of population and the amazing beauty of nature. One wonders to find the mechanism of governance3 in a country of 1.38 billion populations which could be tuned to the commonly shared goal and vision of nation building.  As China has successfully transformed itself in many ways from what it was some decades ago, it has rightly pursued the policy of openness to know others and to make itself known to others.

 

In the given context the Chinese Association for International Understanding (CAFIU) has been established in 1981 with a view to "letting the world understand China, and letting China understand the world." This organization serves as a platform for dialogue and communication between Chinese people and people of other countries for enhancing mutual understanding and friendly cooperation with a view to safeguarding world peace and attaining common prosperity. CAFIU is registered as a non-profit civil society organization. Its Executive Council, an elected body of 150 persons, is composed of representatives of political party and government organs, academic institutions, cultural and art circle, media, business and other NGO sectors. It is evident from its constitution that this institution is special in many ways and represents in a non-partisan manner the wide spectrum of Chinese society and governance.

 

In one of the programs of CAFIU that was designed for representatives of some NGOs from the countries of South and South East Asia we had the opportunity of being part of that program.  The program was scheduled from 19 to 28 July 2016 inclusive of the travel time from the respective countries.

 

In this program altogether 17 participants from Bangladesh, Nepal, Indonesia, the Philippines and Brunei participated. The 10-day program was tailored in a way that it could give us opportunities to interact with people from important organizations which represented the overall Chinese aspirations. These meetings and interactions were held with authorities from China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, CAFIU, Chinese Academy of Governance, Yunnan Academy of Social Sciences, Yunnan Commerce Department, Yunnan Energy Investment Group, a visit to Xihuajie Village-Kunming, Yunnan Ethnic Museum and Yunnan Nationalities Village. The learning from the discussions and visits could be summarized as below:

 

Reaching out to the Neighbors

 

As China's policy on South and South East Asia is a part of overall foreign policy of China which is based on its vision of a safer and secured world- a world where everyone gains and nobody loses. It lays particular emphasis on the neighboring countries and wants to grow together through connectivity and shared development. To realize this vision various institutions have been developed and programs are being implemented. Economic Cooperation initiative like BCIM (Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar), Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), AIIB ( Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank ) are some of the institutions which have been established to cater to the need of economic growth. The One Belt One Road (OBOR) and Maritime Silk Road initiative have been forwarded and envisioned to link the countries of South and South East Asia with Central Asia and rest of the world. This initiative naturally impacts the traditional power equation of the region and help to reconstruct it to the benefit of larger community of states on the basis of shared economic development and being prosperous together. 

 

Inclusive and Equitable Economic Planning

 

China has launched its 13th Economic Plan in 2016 which ends in 2020.The preparation of the plan was done with wide participation of people and the international development partners. The whole process of preparation took two years. Consultations were done with more than hundred institutions from within China and beyond. The plan has adopted the policy of moderation of economic growth. This would mean a goal to achieve 6.5 to 7% GDP growth as opposed to more than 9% during the last decades. This planned reduction in the growth was termed as a “New Normal.” The reason behind this moderation is to have an equitable growth which means greater emphasis on development and settlement models that help bridging the gap between the rural and urban population and between the new urban rich and traditional rural poor. The economic boom did create a gap between the people living in urban cities like Beijing and Shanghai where every person has access to modern amenities whereas in the rural areas people still had to dream for many of them. While emphasizing the growth in the past quality and efficiency could not receive necessary emphasis which the 13th plan intends to correct and lay more emphasis on these issues by which more qualitative and efficient production of goods and services could be achieved. The other equally important aspect of 13th plan is to give priority to innovation and optimization resulting into a sustainable, balanced and environment friendly growth.

 

The ultimate expectations are that with these new elements in the planning the whole economy will be restructured and China will be leading economy by 2021 with greatly urbanized urban population and zero poverty.

 

Combating Poverty

 

Although China has developed fast and is set to be a leading global economic power in the near future, it still have poor people. It is believed that China has 55 million poor people who need to be brought out from this situation. Special plan has been prepared for this. Innovative idea like assigning certain number of poverty-line households to the state and provincial functionaries to not only make them accountable to a mission set by the state but also to ensure that the target households get the economic package to successfully alleviate them from the poverty situation.

 

Open Trade and Economic Opportunities

 

The fundamentals of the policy of Chinese economic growth are open economic opportunities, shared investment and cooperative international economic situation. The economic opportunities guided by market were illustrated by an example. The concept of "minimum wage" had almost become irrelevant in urban areas. One will not receive the services from a person in Beijing and Shanghai if such services are sought on the basis of "minimum wage" rate. A housemaid receives Yuan 5000 per month in these cities against an amount of Yuan 3000 she gets in Macao.

 

China has opened itself for trading with South and South East Asian countries. The city of Kunming has established sister relationship with about 73 cities of various countries. In Nepal it has such relationship with Pokhara City. Kunming organizes trade fair every year in June. In the last trade fair eight thousand goods were displayed. Fifty percent of such goods were from South Asia. cross border Economic Zones are being developed with Laos, Vietnam and Thailand. Training course for development of trade and economy is being organized by Department of Commerce of Yunnan Province. The total foreign trade of Yunnan Province for the year 2015 was in the order of 24 billion US $. This province has 1.3 billion US $ overseas investment and attracts 10 million tourists every year. Yunnan Province trades in metal, electric equipments and chemicals. This province is increasing its contacts with South and South East Asia through increased cooperation on communication, hydropower generation, infrastructure development, trading on high end agro-products.

 

Cooperation between Nepal and China is deep, wide and varied. Economic and cultural academic exchanges, trading and economic cooperation are normal course between these two countries. Chinese trade and investment in Nepal is ever increasing. There are many Chinese contractors and investors who are engaged in infrastructure projects. Academic institutions run joint programs. Recently a Transit Trade Agreement has been signed between the two countries. Nepal and China are linked with road, air and optic fiber. It has been envisioned by the two countries that Nepal will be linked to OBOR and that a railway connectivity will be established with Nepal which shall also link it up with major South Asian markets. It has been realized by both the countries that there are immense opportunities for Nepal and China to update their traditional friendship and to cooperate in many fields. The ball has been rolled and in the near future both these countries shall deepen their cooperative endeavors.

 

Minorities and Ethnic Population

 

China is a country of many nationalities and ethnic groups. It is very rich in its cultural heritage. There are 56 identified and state recognized ethnic groups who have their own traditions and cultures. This makes China a real mosaic of various colors. Yunnan Ethnic Museum has rich collection of arts, artifacts, dresses and household goods have been preserved, displayed and showcased beautifully. Anyone who has interest in anthropology and ethnology can get an enormous amount of materials to dig into and research. We were taken to the museum which was enjoyed by all of us.

 

Yunnan Academy of Social Sciences

 

From our visit and interaction, a special feature of China has come out. China has meticulously and comprehensively combined its policy objective with required institution building, program mechanism, knowledge building and synthesis, civil society and media support and delineated local government role. If BCIM is a policy objective and planning with a program mechanism in the OBOR framework, the Yunnan-provincial-level units like foreign affairs, commerce, energy investment group are being geared up for the necessary institutional capability. The process is supported by thinking institutions like Yunnan Academy of Social Sciences, media and civil society and delineated role of the local government. The latest addition of Institute of Bangladesh Studies in the Yunnan Academy of Social Sciences, for example, is an indication of how China anticipates future knowledge requirements for implementing its regional development objectives.  

 

Conclusion

 

On the 28th July we headed back towards our respective countries. We all cherished the warm hospitality and the enriching discussions that we had with the concerned authorities. The days spent in China were memorable. In summary we were better informed about China. China has stretched its hand of cooperation to the South and South East Asian countries and it is an opportunity for all of us to set an example of prospering together for a better and more secured world.               

 

1 Mr. Surya Nath Upadhyay, Member, China Study Center (CSC)-Nepal.
2 Prof. Upendra Gautam, PhD, Secretary General, CSC-Nepal.
3 As informed in the meeting held with CAFIU at the end of the visit program, CSC-Nepal has been translating a book into Nepali language on "Governance in China" by President Xi Jinping.  The information, knowledge and analysis on China's governance are expected to fill in some of the felt gaps.

 

                            The Road to Understanding China

 

The Chinese Association for International Understanding, or CAFIU, is one of China’s important non-government organisations in fortifying ties since its inception in 1981 through its clear-cut designed programmes inviting other countries to learn more about them with focus on people-to-people ties. CAFIU aims to “let the world understand China, and let China understand the world”.

 

Members of the Bangladesh Institute of Peace and Security Studies, Nepal Council of World Affairs, China Study Centre-Nepal, Indonesian National Council on Social Welfare, Indonesian Department of Politics and International Relations, Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry as well as provincial representatives from the Philippines and a journalist from Brunei Darussalam made it to CAFIU’s 10-day programme in Beijing and Kunming of Yunnan Province in China.

 

Apart from visits to places of interest, the programme mainly focused on discussions in seminars with senior members of CAFIU in Beijing followed by meetings in Kunming, Yunnan Province with senior members at the Yunnan Academy of Social Sciences, Yunnan Energy Investment Group and Yunnan Foreign Affairs Office.

 

A general overview of the situation in China in its 13th year of reforms in its policies is that they are now experiencing the economic state of New-Normal. In the discussions, they shared their 13th Five-Year Plan and deepening reforms.

 

China aspires to be an innovative power in industry, coordinate development to boost balance in the rural and urban areas, create a sound environment and suppress pollution with its current position of being a global player it also wants to share with the world through open and shared development where the people are to benefit from the government’s policies and lift China out of poverty.

 

The country has invested heavily in research and development contributing 2.1 per cent to China’s total Gross Domestic Product, which had risen from 1.8 per cent in 1978 to 63.4 per cent in 2015. China over the past decades has out-performed its own expectations. Some 228 industrial products are now contributed by China.

 

This is due to the expansion of industrial capacity before this, and now China is concentrating on industrial restructuring.

 

With this they have identified innovation as the new drive to China’s economy. The Yunnan Academy of Social Sciences, amongst other things, has informed the great progress between China-Asean trade and economic ties since the establishment of the Asean Free Trade Zone in 2010 up until 2015.

 

In 1991, China-Asean trade accounted for USD8 billion and in 2015 saw an increase by 8.5 per cent to USD72 billion. The investment and service sectors between China-Asean trade are to be developed accordingly whilst facing current challenges, said a member of the Yunnan Academy of Social Sciences. China has assured that with its state of ‘New Normal’, it will reinforce the world’s economy as it has already contributed to the world’s economy by 25 per cent in 2015.

 

China’s policy of reform is based on reinforcing its economy by solving its social instability contributed by the large income gap and the development of a more stable income per capita by improving public services and creating more middle income people. IPO is also a concern in order for China to have a sound, innovation-driven economy where planning and heavy investments have poured in.

 

Being the only media representative amongst the delegates made me self-conscious, but I was soon won over by the warm hospitality. In the aforementioned meetings and discussions, CAFIU had mentioned that the government of the People’s Republic of China has plans to improve standards of living in all parts of China, especially in the rural areas.

 

In Kunming, the capital city of Yunnan Province, we were able to get a closer look at the rural development project, which was a part of a successful pilot scheme. We were taken to a fairly small village, just outside the hustles and bustles of the city in Kunming, where houses mostly sat on top of hills, looking like a retirement home resort.

 

The project represents one of many attempts by China to influence demographic changes, where currently 10 million people are migrating annually from rural areas to the urban cities.

 

Through local representatives, the Chinese government has also granted allocations of loans to utilise the farmlands within the village. The local populace farms vegetables, edible flowers and strawberries on 420 square metres of land designated to them.

 

With a total population of 960, the livelihood of the people at the village has increased to Y11,000 RMB in a year. A single family is also entitled to a Y100,000 RMB loan in one year with a 0.45 per cent interest rate per annum in returns.

 

Additionally, the Chinese government has introduced a healthcare programme for the villagers subsidised by the village committee, which decreases in payment as a person grows older.

 

In 2014, Yunnan Province was home to 47 million people in an area covering 4.1 per cent of China’s land spanning 394,000 square kilometres.

 

The province is diverse in terms of its landform, topography, climate, biological species, mineral resources, ethnicity, folk culture, religion and economic reforms.

 

As a mountainous highland province, the altitude peaks to 6,740 metres and low of 76.4 metres, while the climate is the subtropical plateau monsoon type which is diverse and also altitudinal.

 

The weather is ably summed up by a local saying, something along the lines of “you may experience all four seasons on the same mountain, where each of these seasons is only a few miles distance from the others”.

 

With its rich biological resources, minerals and energy reserves, Yunnan is famed as the kingdom of plants, animals and non-ferrous metals. Mainly inhabited by the Han people, it is also home to 25 minority ethnic groups.

 

Yunnan’s economy continues at a rapid growth rate, and in 2015 its GDP increased by 8.7 per cent.

 

Brunei Darussalam has long-standing bilateral trade and economic ties with Yunnan Province, which have been further enhanced through Asean-China relations, with the Halal food industry as its pillar.