How to engage with China more constructively

Peggy Liu

Peggy Liu, Chairperson, JUCCCE May 26, 2019

No person is perfect, no country is perfect. This is not a comparison of who is more perfect. It's some insight into how 2 imperfect entities can understand and engage better with each other.

China is not the China of 30 years ago. The country is changing so fast, it's a new country every 5 years. Please, be patient and remember how long it took the West to develop. China is doing the same, rebuilding in short decades. Picture a land that was devastated and really just started rebuilding in 1990. The first supermarket in 1990! It's developing basic legal capabilities from scratch. Rule of Law classes were started in 2017 at government academies. It's in rapid prototyping mode- try/fail/learn/try/fail/learn- at country scale.

It was a baby learning to crawl. Now it's a lanky teen, whose parents don't quite understand it. But it's quickly coming into its own by observing and interacting with the outside world and deciding what aligns with its own context and values. Loving, constructive input, rather than nagging put-downs is what this teen needs most.

"China is changing at giga scale and giga pace."

The slang, the food options, the dress style, the access to international travel, the thriving cybercontent... is all changing the sensibilities of the Chinese people. Engaging with Chinese citizens at a cultural exchange level is the best way to "change China" and bring it towards Western sensibilities.

China is a very diverse country of 7 markets and 55+ minorities, and it's changing all the time. It's hard for even Chinese people to keep up. Rather than view it as a single entity, view it as the European Union, just managed centrally.

It's not really "Communist" anymore- in the way Westerners have a knee-jerk reaction to that word. A high level Ministry of Finance official once told me China is run more like a multinational corporation. Like IBM or GE. The government is led by people with Masters degrees in engineering and economics. These are "techonomist" leaders who think long-term and systematically. It is super aware of its shortcomings and vigorously debates them domestically. It welcomes solutions presented constructively, in private settings.

The best way to address this is through its educational system for government. They have a minimum mandatory 12 day training for anyone in government. I've taught over 1000 mayors and central government officials at 3 of the 8 official academies teaching the first classes on ecocities. Many overseas experts have come in to help present solutions, have open conversations about where China is in its stage of development, and open up opportunities for collaboration. With collaboration, has China been able to learn and leapfrog. Now, China is starting to share its learnings with the rest of the world.

My suggestion for other countries is to cooperate on the ground in China to build towards the behavior you want to see in China. China wants to be better. It does that by researching best practices and seeking out top international experts for private dialogue. Shouting at it in public and pointing out weaknesses today does not help it get better for tomorrow. The best way for governments and private companies to help improve China's international engagement is to leverage its educational system (workshops, vocational and compulsory) and international advisory boards.

A great example is how Lawrence Berkeley National Lab worked for years with the Chinese government on reducing heavy industry energy emissions. This single collaboration has had tremendous impact on how China has been able to (almost) halt emissions growth. The UNEP says China is one of the few major economies on track to meet its Paris target for reigning in carbon dioxide emissions by 2030. International company CEOs vie to be part of the Shanghai and Beijing mayors advisory councils. Even at the highest level, the State Council, China relies on a heavy-weight international advisory council to help it critique its policies and give suggestions for future country direction. This includes people like Director of Norwegian Polar Institute's Jan-Gunnar Winther on "Blue Economy." Which other countries actively ask for critique in that way?

The Chinese emphasis on "saving face" means it really doesn't help change things in China by critiquing it in public, or doing protests on streets. In private dialogues, over dinner and drinking, Chinese are very open and self-effacing. It's not that Chinese don't know there are issues, it is just trying to figure out how to get to a solution that works in the China context. Help it see a solution and they will jump on it with policies, investments, pilots at city-scale.

Try to look at the need for different workflow and processes when you implement at the scale of 1.4b people. It's really different.

This also means that China can help technologies cross the chasm and get to economies of scale in a way that no other country can. This will benefit other countries by making tech affordable and accessible. From solar to electric cars to digital payments. The world will win if companies can figure out a collaborative way of working with Chinese companies rather than build a wall.

Think about how your country/company can benefit from China's pouring billions of dollars into learning how to scale new tech? Marrakesh did. It was the first city in Africa to deploy electric buses, thanks to a donation of 50 buses by China, and a joint venture EV bus manufacturing plant that will produce 1000 buses a year for the African and European markets.

But the size of population also means that crowd control is really important. I've been in situations where one person can setup bad behavior in a mob (anyone at a sports game experience that?) I live in Shanghai, with 26 million people. My two sons grew up here. I'm really, really concerned about safety. Luckily, I feel both free and safe in Shanghai because of the Chinese-style rules of behavior. The differences in how the East and West approach crowd control is related to how differently Chinese treat children, privacy and education. I liken it to parents keeping a safe space at home with teenage boys. I can relate to that. But I am super grateful that China is the safest country I've been to (which is probably around 40).

I definitely acknowledge that sometimes local officials execute national intentions too aggressively. It's learning and many of the solutions it has to invent from scratch. In these cases, I suggest experts give suggestions in the form of best practice whitepapers and work out solutions privately with key decision makers in capacity-building workshops on how to improve handling of what China sees as potential domestic threats. Instead of just expressing dismay, offer to help build capacity for legal and monitoring the way the Environmental Defense Fund does with pollution issues. This will work too for topics such as intellectual property and anti-terrorism interventions.