Xi's visit offers Labor Party chance for collaboration and planning
- By Heiko Khoo
0 Comment(s)
Print
E-mail China.org.cn, October 18, 2015
|
|
|
The newly elected Labor Party leader Jeremy Corbyn [File photo] |
Xi Jinping's state visit to the UK from Oct. 19 to 23 comes at a time of rapid change in world relations and particularly in British politics. New trade agreements, mutual investment programmes and improved cultural relations, have mushroomed as the British government has recognised that its long-term global position will largely be defined by Sino-British relations. This cordial atmosphere is naturally welcomed by China as Britain is a former colonial oppressor; now prepared to fully engage with China even when it displeases the United States - Britain's traditional ally.
The newly elected Labor Party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, should be able to forge even better relations with China than anyone else. His foreign policy agenda corresponds closely to the international agenda of President Xi: both Corbyn and Xi are inspired by the socialist vision of Karl Marx; both supported the liberation struggles of the people of South Africa; both opposed the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq; both support the cause of the Palestinian people; both support a global economy based on the long-term needs of the people rather than the short-term profit of private sector companies.
Unfortunately, the British Labor Party and the wider labor movement often hold beliefs based on a deep-seated misunderstanding of the nature of China's political economy and its social system.
Indeed, these issues also go to the very heart of the Labor Party's present ideological disputes and controversies about socialism, capitalism, markets and planning.
Since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the dominant theory in the West was that China had gradually evolved into a capitalist country in which private enterprise and markets assumed a commanding position.
The vast Taiwanese owned Foxconn's factories that produce for Apple, and other tech giants, which often use oppressive labor practices, have etched the idea into many people's minds that the Chinese state acts as an agent of such exploitative enterprises. This is not really true. China welcomes these factories in order to soak-up unemployment and to secure technical know-how. And at a time of the migration to urban areas by hundreds of millions of peasants, the wages and conditions for the workers have been constantly improving.
One of the greatest puzzles of modern political economy is why China's economy grows so rapidly despite its huge institutional bias against private companies.
Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)