{"id":123566,"date":"2018-12-10T12:01:03","date_gmt":"2018-12-10T12:01:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=123566"},"modified":"2018-12-17T09:56:22","modified_gmt":"2018-12-17T09:56:22","slug":"china-a-new-philosophy-of-economics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2018\/12\/china-a-new-philosophy-of-economics\/","title":{"rendered":"China \u2013 A New Philosophy of Economics"},"content":{"rendered":"

China\u2019s economic philosophy is a far cry from that of the west.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Journal NEO<\/p><\/div>\n

15 Nov 2018 – <\/em>The west consistently seeks to undermine the interests of their partners, be it for trade or political agreements; be it partners from the west, their smaller and weaker brothers; or from the east; or from the south \u2013 there is always an element of exploitation, of \u201cone-upmanship\u201d, of outdoing a partner, of domination. Equality and fairness are unknown by the west. Or, when the concept was once known, at least by some countries and some people, it has been erased by indoctrinated neoliberal thinking \u2013 egocentricity, \u201cme first\u201d, and the sheer, all-permeating doctrine of \u201cmaximizing profits\u201d; short-term thinking, instant gratification \u2013 or more extreme, making a killing today for a gamble or deal that takes place tomorrow.\u00a0Futures trading\u00a0\u2013 the epitome of manipulating economic values. Only in the capitalist world.<\/p>\n

This has become a key feature of western commerce and trading. It\u2019s manipulation and exploitation over ethics; it\u2019s\u00a0Profits \u00dcber Alles! \u2013 Doesn\u2019t it sound like fascism? \u2013 Well it is. And if the partner doesn\u2019t fall for the ruse, coercion becomes the name of the game \u2013 and if that doesn\u2019t work the western military move in with bombs and tanks, seeking regime change \u2013 destroying the very country the west wants to dominate. That\u2019s western brutal economics \u2013 full hegemony. No sharing.<\/p>\n

China\u2019s approach is quite different. It\u2019s one of sharing, of participating, of mutual benefits. China invests trillions of dollars equivalent in developing countries \u2013 Asia, especially India and now also Pakistan, Africa, South America, largely for infrastructure projects, as well as mining of natural resources. Unlike the gains from western investments, the benefits of China\u2019s investments are shared. China\u2019s investment and mining concessions are not coerced, but fairly negotiated. China\u2019s investment relationship with a partner country remains peaceful and is not \u2018invasive\u2019 and abusive, as are most of those of the west \u2013 which uses threats and guns to get what they want.<\/p>\n

Of course, the west complains about Chinese investments, lying how abusive they are, when in reality the west is upset about Chinese competition in Africa and South America \u2013 Continents that are still considered part of the western domain, as they were colonized for about thousand years by western powers and empires \u2013 and as of today, African and Latin-American countries are neo-colonized, no longer (for now) with brute military force, but with even more ferocious financial strangulation, through sanctions, boycotts and embargos; all highly illegal by any international standards. But there aren\u2019t any international laws that are upheld. International courts and judges are coerced to obey Washington\u2019s dictates, or else\u2026 literally \u201cor else\u201d; and these are serious threats.<\/p>\n

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Take the case of West and Central Africa, former French colonies. The French West African zone includes eight countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea Bissau, Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Togo; and the French Central African area comprises six countries \u2013\u00a0Cameroon, the\u00a0Central African Republic, Chad,\u00a0Republic\u00a0of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. All 14 countries have a common currency, the CFA franc (CFA = Communaut\u00e9 financi\u00e8re africaine \u2013 African Financial Community).<\/p>\n

They are two separate currencies, though always at parity and therefore interchangeable. The Western and Central African monetary union have separate central banks, the\u00a0Banque\u00a0Centrale des \u00c9tats de l\u2019Afrique de l\u2019Ouest,\u00a0BCEAO, headquartered in Dakar, Senegal; and the Banque des \u00c9tats de l\u2019Afrique Centrale, BEAC, in Yaound\u00e9, Cameroun. Both currencies are guaranteed by the French treasury. This means in fact, that the economy of these 14 countries not only depends on France, but setting the value of the currency (at present one \u20ac = 655 CFA francs) is entirely the prerogative of the Banque de France (French Central Bank). This ultra-complicated setup between the two groups of former and new French colonies is not only a matter of French accounting, but foremost a means to confuse and distract the mostly innocent observer from a flagrant abusive reality.<\/p>\n

With the French control over the West- and Central African currencies, the foreign trading capacity of these countries is reduced to what France will allow. France has a\u00a0de facto\u00a0monopoly on these countries\u2019 production. Should France stop buying their \u201cformer-new\u201d colonies goods, the countries go broke, as they have been unable to develop alternative markets under the French yoke. Thus, they are always at the mercy of France, the IMF, World Bank and the African Development Bank. \u2013 From labor slaves up to the early 1960s, they have become debt slaves of the neoliberal age.<\/p>\n

In addition, to back this French Treasury guarantee, 85% of the countries\u2019 foreign exchange reserves are blocked by the French Central Bank and may only be used by the respective counties against specific permission \u2013 and \u2013 as a loan. \u2013 Imagine! \u2013 The \u201cformer\u201d French colonies have to borrow their own money from the French Central Bank. Similar debt enslaving is going on in former British and Portuguese colonies, though, none of them is as abjectly abusive as are the French.<\/p>\n

Big wonder that Chinese investors are highly welcome in Africa. And knowing western manipulating and deranged mindsets, no wonder that China is demonized by the west as exploiting Africa to the bones, when exactly the contrary is the case. But almighty western lie-propaganda media has the brainwashed western populace believe China is stealing African natural resources. Chinese fairness is indeed tough competition against the usual western trickery and deceit.
\n\u2014
\nIn Africa, China is not only focusing on buying and trading natural resources, but on training and using local African brainpower to convert Africa from a western slave into an equal partner. For example, to boost African autonomy, China is using an approach, Ghadaffy intended to apply \u2013 entering the wireless phone system, conquering some of the market with efficient batteries, and providing cheaper and more efficient services than the west, hence directly competing with the western exploited African telephone market. Chinese phones also come with their own browsers, so that internet may eventually be accessed in the remotest places of Africa, providing a top tool for education. Challenging the EU and US dominated multi-billion-dollar market, is just one of the reasons Ghadaffy was miserably murdered by French-led NATO forces. Of course, China\u2019s presence is a bit more difficult to kick than was Ghadaffy\u2019s.<\/p>\n

This is just one more signal that China is in Africa \u2013 and Asia and Latin America \u2013 not just for the legendary American Quick Buck, but for genuine investments in long-term economic development which involves developing transportation networks, efficient and independent financial systems which may escape the western SWIFT and FED \/ Wall Street banking system through which US sanctions are imposed. This may involve the creation of government controlled blockchain currencies \u2013 see also Venezuela\u2019s hydrocarbon-backed Petro \u2013 and linking African currencies to the Yuan and the eastern SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization) monetary system \u2013 freeing Africa from the dollar hegemony. With the help of China and Russia, Africa may, in fact, become the forerunner of crypto-currencies \u2013 and, in the case of west-and central Africa, the 14 countries would be able to gain financial autonomy, and to the chagrin of the French Central Bank, manage their own financial resources, breaking loose from under the little-talked about French yoke. It is quite conceivable that with Chinese development assistance Africa will become an important trading partner for the east, leaving western exploiting and abusing business and banking magnates behind in the dust.<\/p>\n

The Overseas Private Investment Cooperation (OPIC), a US private lending as well as investment guarantee agency \u2013 is upset about US investors losing out to Chinese and wants US corporations to compete more aggressively \u2013 which is precisely what Africa rejects, America\u2019s violent bombing approach to impose her trade and concession rules with the coercing help of the IMF and the World Bank. Africa is seeking \u2013 finally \u2013 sovereignty, deciding over her own financial and political destiny. This includes choosing investors and trading partners of their liking.<\/p>\n

Many African and South American countries prefer China\u2019s yuan-investments, rather than Washington\u2019s US-dollar investments. Its \u2018softer\u2019 money coming from the Chinese. For China it\u2019s also a way of diverting the world from the US-dollar, providing incentives for countries to divest their dollar reserves into yuan reserves. That\u2019s is already happening at accelerating speed.<\/p>\n

China\u2019s outlook at home and abroad is nothing less than spectacular. On the home front, they are building cutting-edge technology transport infrastructure, such as high-speed railways, for example, connecting Shanghai and Hangzhou, cutting travel time from one and a half hour in half. China\u2019s high-speed bullet train connects for the first time Hong Kong with the mainland, cutting travel time Hong Kong to Beijing from 24 hours to 9 hours.<\/p>\n

In October 2018, after nine years construction, President\u00a0Xi Jinping\u00a0opened the world\u2019s longest sea crossing bridge, linking Hong Kong to Macau and the mainland Chinese city of Zhuhai. The bridge is 55 km long \u2013 about 20 times the length of San Francisco\u2019s Golden Gate bridge. In urban development, existing and new multi-million people cities are planned, expanded and stamped out of the ground in less than a generation.<\/p>\n

China has just built a US$ 2.1 billion AI (Artificial Intelligence) industrial park, and is not sleeping either on the environmental protection and development front, investing billions in research and development of alternative clean energies, especially solar power and its storage potential, next generation beyond lithium batteries, ranging from lithium solid state to electrolyte materials to graphene batteries and eventually to\u00a0copper foam substrate. And that\u2019s not the end of the line. Each\u00a0battery technology offers increased capacity, safety and charging and discharging speed.<\/p>\n

On the domestic and international front, the Belt and Road (B and R) Initiative \u2013 the New Silk Road \u2013 is China\u2019s President Xi\u2019s phenomenal geo-economic initiative to connect the world from China with several transport routes and develop in a first step Western China, Eastern Russia, Central Asia and Eastern Europe \u2013 all the way to the frontiers of western Europe. This massive economic development program includes industrial parks, trade and cultural interchanges, research and development through existing universities and new science and learning centers. Maritime routes are also foreseen entering Africa through Kenya and Southern Europe and the Middle East via the Greek port of Piraeus and Iran \u2013 a southern route is also planned to enter the southern cone of Latin America.<\/p>\n

The endeavor is so huge, it has recently been inscribed into the Chinese Constitution. It will mobilize in the coming decades and possibly century trillions of yuan and dollar-equivalent of investments, mostly from China, Russia, the other SCO countries, as well as European partners\u00a0\u00a0\u2013 and foremost the Beijing-based AIIB (Asian Infrastructure and Investment Bank) which has already 70 member countries, among them Australia, Canada, Western European nations and close to 20 prospective new countries; but not the United States of America.<\/p>\n

This giant project, is of course, not without challenges. While the need for proof of \u201ccredit worthiness\u201d by being tied to the IMF and World Bank of the eighties and nineties had since long faded into oblivion, China is still bound to the IMF and WB. \u2013 Why? \u2013 In my opinion it proves two things, The People\u2019s Bank of China \u2013 the Chinese Central Bank \u2013 is still controlled by the FED and BIS (Bank for International Settlement, alias, central bank of all central banks), and a strong Fifth Column that doesn\u2019t yield an inch of their power. The Chinese leadership could implement the necessary changes towards full financial sovereignty \u2013 but, why is that not happening? \u2013 Western threats and their secret services have become ever more sophisticated abduction and \u201cneutralizing\u201d machines over the past 70 years.<\/p>\n

The next question is what\u2019s the Chinese lending limit to countries who have already or will subscribe to the Belt and Road Initiative to help them repay western debt and integrate into the new eastern economic model and monetary system? The question is relevant, because China\u2019s money supply is based on China\u2019s economic output; unlike western currencies which are purely fiat money (hot air).<\/p>\n

Also, how will ownership of foreign assets, i.e. infrastructure funded and perhaps built, dealt with? \u2013 Will they become Chinese property, increasing China\u2019s capital base and flow of money? \u2013 Or would they be negotiated as long-term concessions,\u00a0after which a country may repay to acquire sovereign ownership, or transfer part or all of the assets to China as a shareholder. These are relevant considerations, especially with regard to the huge B&R investments foreseen in the coming years. These decisions should be made autonomously by Chinese leadership, totally outside the influence of western\u00a0monetary\u00a0czars, like IMF and WB.<\/p>\n

Another issue which is steadily and increasingly cropping up in the west, of course to demonize China and discourage \u201cwestern civilized\u201d (sic) countries to associate themselves with socialist China \u2013 is China\u2019s concept of\u00a0\u201cSocial Credits\u201d.\u00a0It is largely based on what the west calls a dictatorial, freedom-robbing surveillance state \u2013 with cameras and face-recognition everywhere. Of course, totally ignoring the western own Orwellian Big Brother Surveillance and lie apparatus which calls itself democracy \u2013 and in fact is a democracy for then the elite of the plutocrats, gradually and by heavy propaganda brainwashing converting what\u2019s left of \u2018democracy\u2019 into outright fascism \u2013 we, in the west, are almost there. And this, to the detriment of the \u201cSilent Lambs\u201d \u2013 as per\u00a0Rainer Mausfeld\u2019s\u00a0latest book, in German, \u201cWhy are Lambs Silent\u201d (German\u00a0Westend-Verlag). Yes, that\u2019s what we have become: \u201cSilent Lambs\u201d.<\/p>\n

It is too easy to demonize China for attempting to create a more harmonious, cohesive and peaceful society. Granted, this surveillance in China as in the west, demolishes to a large extent individualism, individual thinking, thereby limiting human creativeness and freedom. This is a topic which the Chinese socialist government, independent of western critique, may have to address soon to keep precisely one of the key principles of Chinese society alive \u2013 \u2018social cohesiveness\u2019 and a sense of equality and freedom.<\/p>\n

What is the \u201cSocial Credit\u201d system? \u2013 It is a digital footprint of everything the Chinese do, as private citizens, as corporate managers in production as well as banking, workers, food sellers, in order to basically create an ambiance of full transparency (that\u2019s the goal \u2013 far from having been reached), so as to establish citizens\u2019 and corporations\u2019 \u201ccreditworthiness\u201d, in financial terms, but also assessing crime elements, political inclinations, radicalism, to prevent potential terror acts (interestingly, in the case of most western terror acts, officials say the \u2018terrorists\u2019 were known to the police \u2013 which simply leaves you to conclude that they acted in connivance with the forces of order); and to enhance food safety in restaurants and by other food sellers.<\/p>\n

In other words, the aim is to establish corporate and individual \u201cscore cards\u201d which will work as a rewards and punishment system, a \u201ccarrot and stick\u201d approach. Depending on the crime or deviation from the rule, you may be reprimanded and get \u2018debits\u2019 \u2013 which you may wipe out by changing your behavior. Living under the spell of debits may limit, for example, your access to comfortable or speedy travel, better and speedier trains, air tickets, certain cultural events and more.<\/p>\n

Yes, the idea of creating a stable domestic society has its drawbacks \u2013 surveillance \u2013 demolition of much of individualism, creativity, by implanting conformity. The government\u2019s axiom is\u00a0\u201cwe want a society where people don\u2019t desire to break the rules, but the earliest stage is that they are afraid to break the rules.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the end, the question is, will the \u201cSocial Credits\u201d approach to societal living, meaning a total surveillance state with every data recorded into a network of total control, be beneficial or detrimental for the Chinese goal to push ahead with her extraordinary and mostly egalitarian economic development approach, transport and industrial infrastructure, scientific research and cultural exchange \u2013 called Belt and Road, alias the New Silk Road? \u2013 Only the future will tell; but the Chinese are not alone. They have solid partners in the SCO \u2013 and long-term economic development endeavors never work in linear values, but with the unknown of dynamics to which humans are uniquely adapted to adjust.<\/p>\n

__________________________________________________<\/p>\n

Peter Koenig<\/em> is an economist and geopolitical analyst. He is also a former World Bank staff and worked extensively around the world in the fields of environment and water resources. He lectures at universities in the US, Europe and South America. He writes regularly for <\/em>Global Research, ICH, RT, Sputnik, PressTV, The 4th Media (China<\/em>), TeleSUR, The Vineyard of The Saker Blog, and other internet sites. He is the author of\u00a0Implosion \u2013 An Economic Thriller about War, Environmental Destruction and Corporate Greed<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 fiction based on facts and on 30 years of World Bank experience around the globe. He is also a co-author of\u00a0The World Order and Revolution! \u2013 Essays from the Resistance<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 journal-neo.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

China\u2019s economic philosophy is a far cry from that of the west.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":123567,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56,180,55,194,146],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-123566","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asia-pacific","category-brics","category-capitalism","category-socialism-marxism","category-economics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123566","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123566"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123566\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/123567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}