[01 Weekly Editorial] Hong Kong under the Xibai Summit to get to know China

President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Biden held a video summit on Tuesday (November 16). This is Biden’s first meeting after taking office. This heads-of-state dialogue has attracted worldwide attention as China and the United States are in full swing. .

Although the meeting did not reach a specific agreement, it played a role in easing the atmosphere of the situation between China and the United States. It also showed that the United States had to treat China in an equal manner and affirmed its important position in the current world.

Both Xi Jinping and Biden's opening speeches explained the status and importance of China and the United States.

The former stated that China and the United States "as the world's top two economies and permanent members of the UN Security Council", the international community expects the relationship between the two countries to "actively move forward"; the latter stated that "you are the main world leader, and so is the United States. Our bilateral relations How to develop has a profound impact not only on our two countries, but also on the whole world."

Biden's recognition of China's status and importance is no less than that of the United States, or that the two major powers are on the same level, which is of great significance in itself.

Since the last US administration launched the trade war, both Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have viewed China with a high attitude.

At the March China-U.S. high-level Alaska talks, Yang Jiechi, Director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, faced the preaching of the U.S. diplomats, and replied with the phrase "Chinese people don’t eat this one", in particular, exposing the differences in perspectives between China and the U.S. .

At least since the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, the United States has enjoyed the leading position of the world's big brother and has become accustomed to the unipolar hegemonic international order.

Back then, when the United States deployed troops to countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan, it did not necessarily have the patience to negotiate with other countries on an equal footing.

The Trump administration has also shown a stance of giving and asking for close allies such as the European Union, Mexico, and Japan. It can be seen that the United States does not only look at China from a bird's-eye view.

But regardless of the reason, all countries should respect each other regardless of their status and status, and coexist on an equal footing. In reality, China's strength and economic size are already too large to deny. The United States and the world have dealt with major issues such as the climate and the epidemic. It is impossible to lose the support of China.

Because of this, the Biden administration still has to return to a pragmatic framework to develop Sino-US relations, including the recent National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan's point that the United States has abandoned the idea of ​​changing China, trade advisor Katherine Tai and Treasury Secretary Yellen (Janet Yellen) also said that decoupling from the Chinese economy is unrealistic.

The U.S. government actively promoted the Xibai Summit, not only to revise the hawks’ position in the past, but also to accept the reality that China is on an equal footing.

Diplomacy is an extension of internal affairs,

but you still need to harden yourself

Xi Jinping pointed out at the summit that "the most important event in international relations in the past 50 years has been the restoration and development of Sino-US relations, which has benefited both countries and the world."

Fifty years ago, in July, the then White House National Security Adviser Kissinger visited China secretly, opening the prelude to the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the United States.

In October of the same year, the United Nations General Assembly passed Resolution 2758, recognizing that "the representative of the People's Republic of China is the only legal representative of China in the United Nations Organization" and restoring the rights of the People's Republic of China to exercise its permanent membership.

Half a century later, Xi Jinping and Biden held summits in equal positions, which is of special significance from the historical context.

As Xi Jinping said, "The most important thing in international relations is that China and the United States must find the right way to get along." (Reuters)

Fifty years ago, China's economic output value was close to 100 billion U.S. dollars, which was not only far behind the US's over 1 trillion, but also lags behind the Soviet Union, West Germany, Japan, France, the United Kingdom, and Italy.

In the 1970s, the world was led by the organization of seven industrial countries (G7), and today, the status of the twenty largest industrial countries (G20), including China, is very important.

China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, and in 2008 China spent 4 trillion yuan in response to the financial tsunami triggered by the sub-prime crisis, which supported the global economic demand. It is expected to replace the United States as the world's largest economy in the 2020s. .

In any respect, China is no longer a weak country that was dominated by foreign powers in the concessions a century ago, nor is it a third world country that had to sit down on people's breath half a century ago.

Since China has become a world power that is as important as the United States, the future will be as Xi Jinping said, "The most important thing in international relations is that China and the United States must find the right way to get along."

This way of getting along includes both China and the United States in jointly addressing world issues, as well as respecting their respective development paths.

In fact, China is based on the reform and opening up of the past decades. It has successfully brought the people to an all-round well-off society and lifted hundreds of millions of people out of absolute poverty. This is also the origin of the stability of the Chinese regime.

China actively invests in infrastructure, attaches importance to the overall development of the industry, builds the most comprehensive industrial supply chain, and deeply integrates into the market to provide the world with cheap and high-quality goods. This is the reason why China has not succumbed to the US trade war.

The government has focused on technological innovation and invested sufficient resources in key scientific research and military industries. It has developed the "two bombs and one satellite" on its own, and built the Tiangong space station outside of the International Space Station. This is China's arrival. The reasons that can withstand the US military and technological threats.

After the outbreak of the new crown epidemic, China strictly controlled it and quickly established an internal and external epidemic prevention system. This is the reason why China has been able to outperform the West and continue to maintain economic growth during the epidemic.

Sun Tzu's art of war calls "the one who is good at war has no wise name and no bravery." Really good people don't need very special strategies or brave performance. They just prepare in advance and accumulate strength in a simple manner. This is also the so-called " The victorious soldier wins first and then seeks battle, and the defeated soldier wins first and seek victory later."

China's ability to make the United States respect its equal status is based on its national strength.

"Diplomacy is the continuation of internal affairs." Without sufficient strength and national support, it is difficult to make a difference even with the talents of Su, Qin and Zhang Yi.

This is also why the Biden government actively promotes infrastructure investment plans to enhance the competitiveness of the United States and enhance national strength to gain more advantages at the negotiating table.

The United States still knows that respecting

Hong Kong people in

China

must know the mainland

The West may not be able to understand the success of China. Some people are even superstitious about the "end of history." They think that Western liberal democracy, which the United States is a model for, is the ultimate station of civilization and the answer to all social problems.

Hong Kong is separated from mainland China by a river, with close culture and language. Many people do not understand this. Instead, they regard themselves as superior and despise the development of China in recent years.

Most people in Hong Kong agree with the values ​​of democracy and freedom and life style, but this should not become an ideology or even a source of prejudice.

Based on the reform and opening up of the past decades, China has successfully brought the people to a well-off society in an all-round way. This is also the origin of the stability of the Chinese regime.

(Reuters)

At the time of the anti-revision movement in 2019, the speculation argument and the promotion of disrupting Hong Kong can be used to speculate the whole of China. Hong Kong independence advocates even proposed that Hong Kong will develop more prosperously without the Mainland.

Even if they do not agree with speculation and Hong Kong independence, some people think that China cannot lose Hong Kong, and propose the so-called Sino-US co-rule, believing that the mainland will not unilaterally change the status quo of Hong Kong.

These absurd theories are nothing more than different variations of Hong Kong people's self-esteem, but they have also attracted a large number of young people to believe.

Even if the anti-revision movement has passed, the theory of Hong Kong's monopoly on speculation is still undefeated. Many people are still unwilling to acknowledge the importance of the mainland of China to Hong Kong, and sometimes they are still immersed in the imagination that the United States will defeat China.

When an arrogant giant like the United States has to accept the objective reality of equality with China at the summit of the heads of state, why should Hong Kong people continue to underestimate the importance of the mainland of China to Hong Kong?

Zhang Xianghua, the widow of the late Taiwanese writer Bo Yang, said recently that the Taiwan authorities continue to promote "de-sinicization" education. Junior high school students simply do not have enough knowledge of Chinese culture and cannot understand the original intention of Bo Yang in writing "The Ugly Chinese". And refused to publish "The Ugly Chinese" as a junior high school textbook.

Regrettably, some Hong Kong people also do not have sufficient knowledge of China, and even rely on biased sources of information to understand the mainland.

Even if Hong Kong people are unwilling to look directly at China, if even the United States, which is separated by the Pacific Ocean, realizes that it must pay attention to the existence and role of China, we can take a long way to see the reality, and it would be a no-brainer.

Please pay attention to the 292th "Hong Kong 01" weekly electronic report published on November 22, 2021.

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