By Oboshi Agyeno PhD
Research Fellow, Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution, Abuja.
INTRODUCTION:
In the history of South-South Cooperation, a collection of developing countries situated in what development experts called the Global South, there has never been a time when these countries are altogether inspired by the development stride of a member country like it did with China. The rise of China and the peaceful path to its development into becoming the largest economy in the world by Purchasing Power Parity, is something never seen in living memory. Some countries of the Global South described China’s development as something of an economic miracle, a feat that contradicted established norms and yet became a success story that provided an inspiration to poor countries that are looking to provide inclusive and sustainable development to its people. To many developing economies, China’s growth has democratized development. The history of China which is akin to the trajectory of all the countries in the Global South, attracted interest in learning through South-South Cooperation how China built an economy that is dubbed the second largest in the world in just a little over four decades.
Four decades ago, China was characterized by abject poverty, high level unemployment rate, hunger, insecurity and many other development challenges that is confronting many countries in the Global South. Through a deliberate and dogged determination to develop and prosper and earn its respect in the comity of nations however, China invoked a development strategy that was subjected to its unique customs and culture, reality, understanding of growth, leadership and demography to mention a few. The development model adopted by China and its new found status as the second largest economy came with a lot of accountability, which immediately made China a responsible player in international relations, security and development.
Propelled by this sense of responsibility, the Chinese leadership recognized the shared aspirations of humanity and the challenges faced by many developing countries in combating poverty, ensuring modernization and improved livelihood. President Xi Jinping has announced that ‘China will enhance development experience sharing and capacity building cooperation with other countries’ which are mostly developing countries. China has gone ahead to use South-South Cooperation as ‘a dynamic exchange platform for global cooperation, and devoted to promoting equitable, inclusive and sustainable growth by sharing knowledge and experience on matters of public leadership and national development’. The commitment to ensure that South-South Cooperation benefits all the countries under such contraption necessitated a seminar by the Institute for South-South Cooperation and Development (ISSCAD) of the prestigious Peking University China. The seminar was attended by senior public servants, diplomats and the academia. The participants came from Africa, the Americas, Middle East and Asia.
SOUTH-SOUTH COOPERATION AS PANACEA FOR DEVELOPMENT
Even before the Badung conference of 1954, poor and developing countries have been collaborating in several ways to assist each other exchange ideas, knowledge and other resources to build their development advantage. This club attitude in the Global South prompted countries to organize under the South-South Cooperation (SCC), a platform for mainly the poorest countries of the world, to collaborate and assist each other in development and other strategic interest. Unfortunately, countries of the Global South have had their development expectations diluted by rules, conditions and paraphernalia of highly developed rich nations (countries of the North). It was therefore a great delight to countries under South-South Cooperation to see one of them in China, a hitherto poor country now blazing the trail and resetting the international agenda, while making development accessible and comprehensible to the Global South.
One of the medium that China has adopted in actualizing collaborative development is through scholarship and people to people exchanges witnessed in the seminar organized by the Peking University School of National Development. The seminar delved into the theories, mindset, philosophy and perspective that trailed the Chinese drive towards development from 1978 during the reform and opening up policy of Deng Xiaoping, to the growth and consolidation of modern day China under Xi Jinping. Among the most remarkable account of the ways and means of the Chinese model of development was the premise that China had been poor, very poor. However, the government and the people became deliberate and resolute to overcome hunger, which is the lowest point of poverty. To fight poverty, under-development and corruption, the Chinese people decided to give more attention to its leadership style, confront poverty innovatively, be pragmatic in their approach, and make the people the center-piece of development. Let us look at these strategies a bit closely.
- Leadership Style: A distinct strategy applied by the Chinese people to modernize and develop into the factory of the world, from consumption to production, and from agrarian to high tech investment hub, was the seriousness China placed on the centrality of leadership for national development. The Chinese people believe that leadership is so important to the political, economic, social and environmental life of a country to be taken for granted or gambled with. In the Chinese system, there is no accidental leadership. That is to say, an individual or group cannot be given the enormous responsibility of running a country based on their power of oratory, their charisma or fame in movies, sports or divinity. Leadership is a deliberate function that is learned, prepared for, accepted and practiced over a period of time. It is too important to assume leadership by sheer luck. Thus, the Chinese system has been able to flourish and build a strong country from a consensus driven election that begins from the local community level to which the public servant interact with his or her constituent, learn to handle simple to complex challenges, get promoted by the constituents to grow from the ward, county, provincial, national levels and everything in-between. The success of this leadership style is evident in the level of tangible and intangible wealth that the Chinese leadership has been able to achieve through inclusive development. Growth and development and equitable distribution of wealth to all Chinese people became the watch word of governance for the Communist Party of China (CPC). Is there any wonder therefore, that a ‘July 2020 polling data from the Ash Center at Havard’s Kennedy School of Government revealed 95% satisfaction with the Beijing government among Chinese citizens?
- Poverty alleviation: It is common knowledge backed by evidence that the CPC over the years have been able to lift millions of its citizens out of poverty. In four decades. China was able to transform the lives of the people and brought about eight hundred million people out of poverty into a ‘bourgeoning middle class eager to spend’ This have been possible through a series of innovative mix in agricultural modernization, massive investment in infrastructure and value addition factories, state owned enterprises (SOEs), and frugal management of the common wealth. China was also able to fight poverty by invoking the historical spirit of self-reliance embedded in the orientation and culture of the Chinese people to produce what they consume and save for the future. Now China has defeated hunger and typical of any country that has been able to do so, its national psyche is that of a nation that thinks, act and invest in the wealth of the future; AI, biotech and space exploration. Apart from defeating hunger, the Chinese government is providing opportunities for the people through reforms and social investment that continually close the gap between the rich and the poor.
- Pragmatism: The Chinese people and its government at the driving seat of development have not been unmindful of past mistakes in their journey towards development. To the Chinese, there is no single route to development, a single theory or narrative may not always fit into the reality of a time, or condition and peculiarity of every country. Hence, throughout the four decades after reforms and opening up policy of 1978, China has moved forward into economic prosperity through ‘crossing the river by feeling the stones’. The progress recorded in China’s development drive was based on pragmatic view of every situation and a deep reflection of how to solve it. China did not adopt a single model to its development. This is very important to other developing nation engaged in South-South Cooperation, because in a world of multilateralism there is no single bullet to everything. Let the challenges peculiar to any country define its development direction, as China will not impose itself on any country on how to develop. It will not be sustainable to give any country fish, but teach the country how to fish.
- People Centered Development: It is constantly a narrative sold by the hierarchy of the CPC in recent time that governance whether in national or international landscape should be focused on the people. The people are the main variable in development. President Xi has on several occasions pointed out to the Chinese people and the international community that China intends to cooperate and collaborate with the people of the world to share in the goodness of humanity. In his words, ‘China is its people, the people are the country’ and building a shared future for mankind and improve livelihood for the pursuit of happiness should be the goal of every nation.
CONCLUSION:
Neo-Classical economy theorists have been coming up with years of suggestions, ideas and thoughts on how best national, regional and international governance can create wealth and sustainable development for the countries of the Global South. At every point in history, a particular model of development have held true in how society is organized, and how wealth is reproduced to benefit the few or the many, and what the people ( both leaders and followers) have accepted as their fate in the cycle of development. So from slavery, feudalism, capitalism or socialism, the transition from one to another has always been the ability of men and women to organize to protect the old order or to collaborate to usher in a new prototype.
Building a shared future through South-South Cooperation is the platform that the Chinese government and its people desire to contribute through experience sharing and collective approach to development. Even though the development challenges confronting countries of the Global South are varied, the needs and aspirations of the citizens are similar. Hence, every country is expected to approach its development in a pragmatic manner that can accommodate its peculiarity. It will be counter-productive for any country in the Global South to copy the Chinese model in its entirety and think of applying same to another country. However, because South-South Cooperation is a collection of countries with similar history, challenges and aspirations, China is willing to provide evidence based approach, backed by hard and software support to countries that are interested in learning about alternative guidelines to national and global development within a multilateral system.
It is instructive to note that the seminar on South-South Cooperation and Development hosted by the Peking University indicated to the fact that development is predicated on a holistic approach that nations must consider. As countries aspire to become wealthy and respected as a developed nation with a good investment in infrastructure, industrialization and double digit GDP growth, more attention should be paid to the intangible wealth of the nation. The intangibles consist of a strong cultural and ideological base, justice, rule or law, human security, etc. These are fundamental to achieving a comprehensive development drive that is inclusive and sustainable, and not to leave anyone behind. To develop in a scale that many countries in the Global South will desire, it will take a lot of discipline, tenacity, dedication and partnership. So far, the seminar has ignited a fire in the participants to be agents of change and development in their various countries.
REFERENCE:
Institute of South-South Cooperation and Development, Peking University, January, 2023
Rana Mitter and Elsbeth Johnson. What the West Gets Wrong About China. Harvard Business Review, May-June 2020 https://hbr.org/2021/05/what-the-west-gets-wrong-about-china?s=08
Ronald Baily. The Secrete of Intangible Wealth. Wall Street Journal. Sept 29, 2007 https//www.usdebtclock.org/
