The internal problems of Colombia, mainly the social and economic ones, are so many, in this, as in other governments, that the media dedicate little time and space to inform, interpret and analyze the world problems. Despite the so-called globalization, our country has been Always very self-absorbed, if the concept is valid, his excessive centralism leads him to consider that Bogotá is the center of the country… and of the world.
Nothing further from reality. If in Colombia, with good reason, we complain about many problems: insecurity, inflation, low growth, etc.; In different countries of the world there is also news that sets trends where the world is going. This is the case of the incipient financial crisis in the United States, the Ukraine-Russia conflict, which seems to have no end, and the situation of migrants in different parts of the world, and the political situation in China, in particular. On this topic we are going to write some special texts for the pilon.
THE CHINESE SITUATION
To start this series of articles, we consider it important to start with the situation in China, perhaps the main economic power today, where they have just been re-elected in a closed manner, by their only party – the Chinese Communist Party -, for a third in command of the President Xi Jinping, during the Forty-fourth Plenary of the National People’s Congress.
Xi Jinping is an enigmatic character, he is always with a slight smile, even if his descendants are lying to him. In my opinion, the re-elected president of China is the most powerful ruler in the world, above, of course, Joe Biden, and Vladimir Putin himself, president of Russia.
Many things indicate that there are good relations between the rulers of China and Russia. The recent images of the Jinping-Putin summit show that the cold war is not a thing of the past. Currently, China is getting closer to Russia, and that has its implications, taking into account the presence of both superpowers in organizations such as the Security Council of the United Nations (UN).
SOME FIGURES FROM CHINA
China is probably the most populous country on the planet, with more than 1.4 billion inhabitants. To have a basic idea, it has twenty-eight times the population of a country like Colombia.
Continental China is the third largest country on planet earth, with 9,596,960 square kilometers, only surpassed by Russia and Canada. It is a nation with a thousand-year-old culture, which the West barely intuits. And today, in world geopolitics, it is a country with a rising power, with close relations with Russia, complex relations with the US, and good relations with Venezuela, Nicaragua, and other close neighbors here in Latin America.
TWO ECONOMIC SYSTEMS
On the economic issue, so as not to fill you with figures, it is the main importing country of raw materials and also the most important in terms of exports. Alan Greenspan, (RIP), a great US economist, former president of the FED, considered that China worked like a great maquiladora; that is to say, it imports large quantities of raw materials, processes them, with its abundant and low-cost labor, and exports them to the rest of the world, however, including practices such as “dumping”, selling below the costs of production; the copy of technology and other “non-holy” mechanisms.
The end justifies the means is their philosophy, since Den Xiaoping, the one of the great reforms in the eighties, famous for its modernizing and pragmatic government, but even more so for its phrase that “the important thing is not the color of the cat, but catch mice. His influence is still felt, in China and beyond.
China’s GDP in 2022 was US$2.7 trillion, or just over US$2,042 per capita. An unimaginable amount and with room to continue growing; obviously. There they still know that the objective is to grow, to increase that GDP; and not think about fallacious theories of degrowth…
ITS ECONOMIC MODELS
Although its system is a socialism with strong central planning, in many parts it allows a more liberal, capitalist model, in its so-called Special Economic Zones, which have worked there; in Colombia they have been nothing more than a salute to the flag.
SINGLE MATCH
These two systems and that great power of the Chinese State can only be governed by its strong Communist Party, which – precisely – has just re-elected Xi Jinping, as President of the Party and of the State, and immediately appointed his buddy and co-supporter, Li Quian , a veteran party leader, 63, and an agricultural mechanical engineer by profession, like its prime minister.
The Single Party Model works with a system of restriction of basic personal liberties, in many aspects: people cannot live where they want, they must live in the land of their mother. The State fixes even the number of children and prevents access to the Internet, new technologies and other customs, perhaps trivial but key for our Western population.
The cost is high, obviously, in terms of freedoms and democracy; but their mixed economic system has allowed them to overcome many famines and substantially reduce poverty and marginality. Of course, this does not mean that they do not have poverty and misery, and at very high rates.
China has many challenges in economic matters, to overcome its status as a maquiladora country; in the social area, to continue reducing that poverty and marginalization and in the political part, opening spaces of democracy and freedom for its people, before the population’s discontent is expressed in a violent way, as many analysts and scholars of the Chinese Model foresee. .
COLOMBIA Y CHINA
For many years, Colombia has sought to improve its economic and political relations with China. Today I remember the efforts of businessman Julio Mario Santodomingo, in the government of Julio Cesar Turbay Ayala. Even those of our countryman, the unforgettable Alfonso Campo Soto (RIP), a conservative politician, but very progressive, helpful and a great vallenato.
The government of Gustavo Petro Urrego, which some consider to be on the left, has a good opportunity to take advantage of this label and improve its economic and political relations with China, seek to increase agreements and business between the two countries; but mainly to look for markets for many of our products, beyond coffee and coal, mainly.
It would be a gesture of political pragmatism by the Petro administration to approach the Asian giant, which every day has more business in Colombia: they are builders of the Bogotá Metro, of some other infrastructure works and it is said that they are buying land through companies and individuals interposed.
President Gustavo Petro has just appointed the film director and producer, Sergio Cabrera, as Ambassador of Colombia to the People’s Republic of China. There is a lot of expectation for what Cabrera’s management could be. However, it would be good if his work team included people who are studious and knowledgeable about economic issues, Pacific geopolitics and Colombo-China relations. He will dawn and we will see, says the adage.
Colombia requires a clear and long-term agenda, focused on positive business issues for our country, mainly with regional approaches, mainly in the Pacific, it can seek to increase its business and exports with China, reduce the trade deficit currently favorable to that great power, and think of a new industrialization for us, with product lines in which we still have some comparative advantages and offer Colombia as a recipient of the million-dollar investments that China is making in Latin America. It is today’s urgency: economic and political pragmatism. That would be thinking about progress, redistribution and long-term development.
DOCUMENTATION:
- Newspaper El Tiempo. March 21/2023.
- Weekly magazine. March 2023.
- Wikipedia.
- Embassy of Colombia in China.
- “The Age of Turbulence”, Alan Greenspan.
BY CARLOS A. MAESTRE MAYA/ SPECIAL FOR THE PILÓN
