Harvey Dzodin: West needs to stop lecturing and adopt friendlier approach
July 02 , 2021By Harvey Dzodin，a senior research fellow at the Center for China and Globalization(CCG).
Now, more than ever, what the world critically needs is cooperation, not confrontation, because the bad ending we’re headed toward is unfathomable. Given the recent downward spiral in Sino-US relations, no wonder there are many misconceptions about China in the United States.
But with so many shared critical global problems, the last thing we need is escalating confrontations. What we urgently need is deeper cooperation and better leadership in the many areas where our national interests overlap.
In his speech on July 1, President Xi emphasized that China seeks peace and development, and promotes a new type of international relations. In fact, less than a decade ago, President Xi and then US president Barack Obama showed that a new model of major country relationship could work. They led the world in signing the Paris Agreement, which hopefully will help prevent an environmental apocalypse by the end of this century.
There are so many other issues that the two sides can work together to improve global governance. These include public health as scientists warn of another wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as updating and modernizing the antiquated rules of international relations to meet 21st century challenges.
In our diverse world, when it comes to political models, one size doesn’t fit all. Some Americans tend to have a Pavlovian response to communists but the CPC has led China to lift about 800 million people out of abject poverty and will continue to work remarkably well. So let’s settle on “different strokes for different folks” and work together to meet shared challenges so we all can reach not merely to the end of this century, but way, way beyond it.
From China Daily， 2021-7-2
