As much as David Cameron may try to impress Wen Jiabao, the truth is that China has far more important economic partners than Britain
There is a mismatch. We in Britain perceive that it is our right, even our responsibility, to criticise Chinese human rights. In China such comments are seen as intrusive and offensive. When such matters are raised at a time of trade negotiations, as they have been this week during the talks between David Cameron and his counterpart Wen Jiabao, the disjunction leads to an obvious question. Are we acting in our self-interest to jeopardise exports to China by striking such a tone?
It is an obvious question but surely an overly simplistic one. True, our financial relationships with China are hugely important, both as an inward investor, where we are roughly parallel with Germany, and as an exporter. But there are other relationships that are just as important, maybe more so. There are more students from China in Britain than in any other country, more even than the United States. We have the historic link with China through Hong Kong, which became a model for the Chinese mainland free trade and enterprise zones, which in turn triggered the country's astounding economic take-off.
In any case, all experience of Chinese economic relations, whether in Britain and in other countries, is that politics is not allowed to get in the way of economics. The Chinese will pursue what they feel is their self-interest and that is that. So it is not really a question of our damaging trade relations with them; it is more a question of our still not quite grasping the scale of what is happening in China – or how unimportant our views are to the Chinese.
The economic facts are becoming more generally appreciated. This newspaper yesterday had a report on the new high-speed rail network that China was building: there will be more high-speed links than the rest of the world put together. Many people are aware of the various reports predicting that China is set to become the world's largest economy within 20 years, maybe much sooner. Some people know that China has become the world's largest emitter of carbon dioxide and (I prefer this one) that it produces two-thirds of the world's socks. And most people are aware that China is scooping up natural resources from all over the world, particularly Africa. But while we sort-of understand all this, these are still just statistics. We don't understand the shift in perception and in power.
Two things have happened. One has been the gradual, relentless overhauling of the West by China, passing France, Britain, Germany and last year, Japan in economic size. The other has been the way the recession has speeded up the shift. It changed everything. Not only did China keep growing, unlike the rest of us. Its banks did not need rescuing. Living standards kept on rising. And now, as we stumble out of recession, China's debts are lower than those of any G7 economy, so it is not held back as we all are by the need to pay back debt.
Read more at The Independent
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