Promoting China Abroad

( 2012-March-14 09:15:04)

In 2011 the CPPCC's public diplomacy activities reached another peak. We met with heavyweight personages from both foreign governments and the public. For example, we had talks with visiting U.S. Deputy Secretary of State William J. Burns and Brazilian consul in Shanghai, and held symposiums with American universities including Yale, Harvard and Georgetown, as well as with Japanese and South Korean delegates. We received non-governmental organizations in the U.S. and the 48 Group Club, a British enterprise association that has a close relationship with China, and exchanged ideas with them. Some countries expressed the desire to purchase the copyright for English editions of the books we have published. Basically, the Foreign Affairs Committee have contributed a lot in promoting China's public diplomacy.

A Driving Force of China's Public Diplomacy

China Today: What kind of contribution has been made by CPPCC members' proposals to China's public diplomacy?

Zhao Qizheng: The CPPCC is one of the driving forces of China's public diplomacy. There also a number of organizations doing the job under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but our activities cover a wider range of topics and people. For instance, we teach entrepreneurs on the significance of public diplomacy. China's enterprises have experienced setbacks when entering the international market. Sometimes, people and labor unions in host countries are suspicious that Chinese companies represent the government, so we need to make it clear that our companies only engage in business and will bring benefit to the local population. Public diplomacy endeavors have been helping us achieve success on this front.  

In 2012, we will facilitate extensive exchanges with Chinese enterprises planning to enter the international market and those already with operations there. We are determined to improve our work in this regard and bring it to a new level.

China in the International Scene

China Today: The world is undergoing profound changes at present. As a major country in the world, what kind of role is China playing and what kind of efforts is it making to keep regional stability and world peace?

Zhao Qizheng: China's international standing has been rising fast in the last three decades. 30 years ago I wasn't concerned with the exchange rate of the Renminbi against the US dollar, since at that time the exchange rate was set by the Chinese government and foreign trade didn't play an important role in China's economy. Now, we are the world's largest exporter and our GDP is the second largest in the world. Our economy is exposed to different international trade influences. When the export market encounters any difficulty, China will be faced with rising unemployment and falling wages. The international environment affects China's development and, vice versa, the effects of what happens in China are felt beyond our borders. The value of the Renminbi can affect another country's economy, for example. What's more, if supply of our export products falls, the world will suffer. In short, China and the world have become tightly integrated. Being a key member of the international family, China is moving to the center of the world's stage.

What dilemmas are we currently facing? As China is growing fast, other developing countries may ask whether China still counts among their numbers. On the other side, developed countries are arguing that China should undertake more obligations since it has the world's second-largest GDP. We are indeed willing to undertake any international obligation that our resources allow. In the past, China did not have the capability to send peacekeeping forces, but now we can afford to contribute more towards peacekeeping and, we send more peacekeepers than any other permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. They are, however, mostly engineering corps who assist locals in finding water resources or overcoming natural disasters. We are not able to undertake the same obligations as rich countries usually do because of our meager per-capita GDP and various difficulties that plague the country.

An ambassador from one European country once told me that he could not understand why China insists on calling itself a developing country even though it successfully held the Beijing Olympic Games and the Shanghai Expo. I told him that in my opinion, great events such as Olympics and Shanghai Expo are like exquisite overcoats that hide tattered clothes beneath. Outside its flourishing major cities, China also has many underdeveloped areas. The ambassador thought my explanation was reasonable. When we introduce our country to the world, it is necessary to display both our exquisite overcoats and our rags underneath. Otherwise, how could we reject the demands of some developed countries to fulfill more obligations or the requests for financial assistance from so many developing countries?