The Olympic season starts in a few days' time. During the Games China will be the focus of world attention. And people everywhere will be wondering what kind of country this is.
The statistics provide one answer, one that in China's case is not so much sobering as staggering. Over 100 megacities. Some 1800 billion dollars in foreign exchange reserves. And by 2035 at the latest the world's largest economy.
One thing is crystal clear: the rise of China makes the world a different place. Of course there are many other aspiring new players – Russia, India, Brazil as well as the Gulf oil states, Mexico and South Africa. Nevertheless, what tomorrow's world will look like greatly depends on how China develops over the years ahead.
So what is our wish list for China? First of all, we need to realize what mind-boggling changes the country has seen in recent decades. Anyone who last visited China 30 years ago would scarcely recognize the country as it is now. Glittering city skylines instead of grey communist-era monotony. Internet cafés instead of Mao's Little Red Book. Millions of cars Made in China instead of bicycles.
It is not just China's economy that has grown larger. The country also has greater self-confidence and indeed freedom, too. And its problems have grown larger as well. The rural exodus, breakneck urbanization, environmental degradation, increasing energy shortages, overheating of the economy, difficult demographics.
There is one thing therefore I believe we should put right at the top of our wish list for China: that it deals with these issues responsibly, commensurate with the larger responsibility it is now called upon to bear. Responsibility at home to ensure modernization does not cause social dislocation. To ensure environmentally compatible economic growth. To ensure all ethnic groups share in the growing prosperity of this multi-ethnic state. To ensure respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. And ongoing liberalization of state and society.
But also responsibility in the wider world. China today is already a global player. It sits on the Security Council. It is involved, too, in the efforts to resolve the dispute over Iran's nuclear programme. It plays a key role not only in its immediate neighbourhood but also in other parts of the world, including Africa. On the other side of the Pacific, too, its influence is growing. Anyone who has visited a west coast university in the United States and seen how many of their students are of Chinese origin knows exactly what I am talking about.
So our goal must be to encourage China to live up to the responsibility its new status bestows. Since the end of the Cold War the world has seen dramatic changes. The old certainties no longer apply. Yet what kind of new order are we heading for? One thing is already clear, even though this new order is still taking shape. China will inevitably have a pivotal role to play.
Whether we are talking about climate protection, energy security, international conflicts such as those in the Middle East or on the Korean Peninsula, major issues such as the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons or disarmament – without China real headway is virtually impossible. We need a global community of shared responsibility – and China must be part of it.
I would disagree with anyone who thinks that is going to be an easy task. No, we have a long, hard road ahead of us. Of course we must also name and identify deficits in the field of human rights, for example. But to speak out on such things is not the end of the matter. The key issue is how we can achieve concrete improvements on the ground.
To my mind the best way is not confrontation but cooperation and dialogue. To the benefit of both sides – and, may I add, without skirting around the difficult issues. Of course we have to talk about Tibet. Of course we have pressed for a face-to-face meeting with the representatives of Tibet that produces also concrete results. Of course we are looking for substantive progress – once the Games are over as well.
But it is important, too, that we seek cooperation whenever and wherever we can: most certainly on economic issues, on environmental protection and clean energy technologies, in the education sector, in dealing with the aftermath of the recent earthquake or in discussing the rule of law and its role.
Over the weeks ahead we will all be watching the exploits of our athletes with bated breath. And the odds are, I think, that this great sporting event will help open up China even more to the wider world. That would be something we certainly have every reason to welcome.
Frank-Walter Steinmeier is the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Germany.
The article appeared in the FAZ and is republished here with the permission of the newspaper and the federal foreign office.
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- Philip Gordon: Beijing Must be Tougher on Tehran
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- Maximilian Müngersdorff: Olympics Should Serve as an Environmental Wake-up Call
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