China's peaceful development opportunity for world: Russian expert
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China's steady economic rise causes both high hopes and anxiety among world leaders, but a Russian expert believes China's peaceful development is an opportunity for the entire world.
Yakov Berger of the Far East Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences said that China's policy of peaceful development is a strategic choice, aimed at long-term and sustainable growth.
"China overcame the global financial crisis, decreased poverty, and increased people's wealth," Berger said.
"Still, many important tasks for China remain to be fulfilled and first of all, modernization, industrialization and urbanization. This is why China needs strong and long-lasting peace," he said.
Berger said China's policy of peaceful development has already won support from the majority of countries, so they are willing to cooperate with the world's most powerful developing nation.
"China's peaceful development gives chance to all people in the world, as China became the main engine of the global economic development. Many developed countries are gravitated to China because they depend on Chinese supplies and the Chinese market," Berger said.
However, although some countries are aware that China's sustainable growth requires peace and stability, some eye China's growing influence as negative, the professor said.
Berger said that Beijing tries to persuade Washington that China's rise does not threaten American security. The question, then, is to what degree is the U.S. ready to accept the new reality, Berger said.
Berger cited two main reasons why some Western politicians don't trust Beijing.
"First, this is a natural response from the people who got used to a certain world order," he said, "Such an order implies the existence of the so-called 'golden billion' people who have access to all of civilization's benefits while the other five billion can't make ends meet."
Berger said that when China attempts to achieve the same living standards, that induces some fears based on the notion that the Earth resources are limited.
Berger believed the second reason is xenophobia and racism, which generates talk about the "Chinese threat."
"But they talked about the 'China threat' even in times when China used to be an underdeveloped nation," Berger noted.
