GT: What is China’s role within the IPU?
Chen: China’s role in the IPU is simple and clear-cut. We work with other members of the IPU to put things in place and ensure that the aim of IPU – peace, development, cooperation, mutual understanding, friendship and the defense of human rights, all very important principles, are implemented throughout IPU activities.
As IPU Secretary General Martin Chungong puts it that the IPU is not to judge who is right and who is wrong and does not set norms for its members to follow. IPU President Gabriela Cuevas Barron upholds the principle of non-intervention.
The IPU leadership’s position coincides with the five principles of peaceful coexistence China champions, namely mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, mutual non-aggression, non-interference in each other’s internal affairs, mutual benefit and peaceful co-existence.
What China does in the IPU is to see these principles are followed and observed. We engage with other IPU members over parliamentary diplomacy on an equal footing to provide better solutions to major challenges and difficulties facing the world today.
There shall be no room in the IPU for some countries to intervene in others’ internal affairs at their will or following their values, ideologies and strategic interests, where some countries impose their will on others, thinking they are superior to others.
I made the case on these points to the very first IPU executive committee meeting I attended and was hailed by other members.
GT: Since China joined the IPU, does it aim to introduce its political system to the rest of the world?
Chen: It is a world acknowledged fact that China has created a miracle of human development, which is dubbed the Chinese model. This model with the Chinese feature presents to the world a choice with which a nation can achieve rapid social and economic growth while maintaining sovereignty, territorial integrity, independence and development path fitted into its actual conditions.
What is the Chinese feature? Adherence to the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC), adherence to socialism with Chinese characteristics and adherence to the system of the National People’s Congress.
China joined the IPU in 1984. Ever since, we have actively participated in the IPU’s activities and made due contributions to its endeavors. We have made clear our views and positions on issues the IPU took up. We have shared with other IPU members our valuable experience of Chinese nation building, including our practices on governance and strength and viability of our political system. We would also stress that our experiences and practices shall be put into other countries’ actual conditions and perspective.
As I recall on many occasions when I met my colleagues from other parliaments I would drive home a better understanding of our political system with a simple comparison. The Chinese people trust the Party and government whereas in Western countries people on the whole don’t trust their political parties and governments.
The Chinese government has unlimited responsibilities toward the Chinese people, who have unlimited anticipations. The government makes commitments and delivers all. People in Western countries think their governments have limited responsibilities and political parties are just political parties, making promises in elections and delivering accordingly. If something goes wrong, people go to court for settlement. Ours is people-centered approach and theirs is election-oriented approach.
I once received a staff delegation from US Congress. Before they came I suggested that Yan’an be included in their itinerary. First they didn’t want to go, saying that I did propaganda. I told them “you come to China as a part of effort on your side to build a relationship, you need to have a full and correct understanding of the CPC. If you want to have a full and correct understanding of the CPC, then you need to visit Yan’an.”
For 13 years, the CPC prepared itself in Yan’an to run the country. The CPC doesn’t have its own interest but the people’s. The CPC has the backing of the people and shoulders the responsibility of national liberation and independence and the great renewal. That period of time was so important in China’s history and the history of the CPC.
Finally, the delegation was convinced and went there. After their visit to Yan’an we had a roundtable discussion at which they all said it was a great visit that was very educational and informative.
Our system is a good system, which is a choice of history and a choice of people. It works well in China and delivers tangible benefits to the Chinese people of all nationalities. Western countries only know what China has achieved, but hardly understand how China has got there. The truth lies in China’s system, which guarantees efficient decision-making while stimulating the vitality of Chinese society.
Once a decision is made, we all go for it. As parliamentarians, representatives of people, when we talk about social or political system, we focus on commonalities rather than on differences. We all agree on one thing that we are representing people. We make concerted efforts to strive for common good so that our people enjoy good quality of life.
GT: How do you feel about China’s rising influence when communicating with your counterparts from the rest of the world?
Chen: My understanding is that what we are doing is not purposefully working for or pursuing that kind of influence. It is always there. We uphold justice and fairness and engage in win-win cooperation for all. We are not pursuing our own interests at the expense of others, which is not in our genes and runs in our blood. That we help others help ourselves. That is mutual.
In this world, there are countries and people who know China will stand out and uphold justice and fairness and equality. We are always there while in need. And this is what they really think. It’s not forced upon them from the outside.
From 2015, China’s National People’s Congress in cooperation with the IPU started a capacity building program for parliaments of developing countries to realize the 2030 sustainable development goals. More than 100 parliamentarians from some 30 Asian and African countries took part in the program. We exchanged governance experience through training, seminars and workshops, which are rich in content and form, including lectures, presentations, case studies and field trips.
This program enables our fellow parliamentarians to understand China’s development in various fields, particularly in poverty reduction and eradication. The IPU President and Secretary General hailed this program, which was welcomed by its members.
President Xi Jinping welcomes other countries aboard the fast train of China’s development. We want to share with the world the dividend of China’s development so that they benefit the most. But certainly, if you have other motives than people’s interests, then you have to think about it before you get on board. So, I think we have to tell our stories and this is what we should do and do it better.
GT: Blocking Huawei seems to be on the agenda of a number of Western parliaments. What do you feel about their so-called security concerns?
Chen: If there’s a market process, let the market decide whether Huawei’s technology is better. There should not be a country or a government acting as a machine to contain, to suffocate a technology simply because it is rising so fast, even taking lead in some areas or outpacing that of certain countries.
Competition is what the market is all about. Market is always associated with competition. My understanding is that Western countries get used to that kind of competition, but to the contrary, you have the competition, but you don’t want it and simply cast it away. What kind of behavior is it?
Oh right, involve national security. Really? Some parliaments in Western countries, including the European Parliament, passed legislations to block Chinese investment in some areas involving “national security concerns.” Not only investment projects but also ordinary business deals, labeled with “national security concerns,” are either put on hold or rejected outright. Even worse, they regarded the Belt and Road Initiative as a “geopolitical instrument.”
We appreciate Italy’s recent decision to sign the memorandum of understanding and participate in the BRI. But, some voices questioned Italy’s decision saying that Italy would not get along with China. This is absurd.
By constantly investing in basic infrastructure, manufacturing and high-tech projects in countries along the BRI route, China could extend trade and investment transactions, and its partner economies will see marked improvement in transportation, power supply, utilities, 4G and 5G facilities, as well as more jobs and higher incomes.
The BRI has not only promoted economic and trade cooperation between China and countries along the route but also significantly improved the governance and technological level of developing countries, thus contributing to the modernization process of developing countries and the realization of 2030 sustainable development goals. Why should some countries and people turn a blind eye or mind this?
I would say let go of ideological differences and stereotyped mindset about China. Engage each other as human beings and for the benefits of the people we are representing. Otherwise, we just get nowhere.
GT: China passed the Foreign Investment Law this year. Some say that it is the beginning of China’s further reform and opening-up. But others say it depends on how it will be implemented. So how do you see this?
Chen: The Foreign Investment Law passed by the National People’s Congress in March has sent out a very strong signal that our door will open up wider and wider and our pace will pick up faster and faster. This piece of legislation, once in effect, would replace three current laws on various types of foreign investment. It is meant for the promotion and protection of foreign investment.
Foreign investment as a major driver of China’s social and economic development over the past 40 years of reform and opening-up and its contribution is well recognized. By the end of 2018, the accumulated foreign investment surpassed $2.1 trillion and 960,000 foreign-invested companies were set up. We need to have an upgrade on the modernization of national governance in the area of promoting and protecting foreign investment to offset the impact of protectionism and unilateralism.
We have this legislation in place to protect lawful rights of foreign investors and ease their concerns thus improving market confidence. With ‘pre-establishment national treatment’ and a negative list, foreign companies will be given the same treatment as domestic firms in areas outside the negative list.
With new provisions on protecting intellectual property rights and forbidding forced technology transfer, we just like other countries, want to catch up with the latest advanced technology. However, we do not force foreign companies to transfer technologies, nor have we ever engaged in such deeds.
Last year, the National People’s Congress passed an authorization mandating three cities, namely Shanghai, Hangzhou and Guangzhou to set up the Internet Court. Now the first case in an Internet Court in Hangzhou was against the infringement of the UK’s Peppa Pig patents. The Chinese counterpart lost the suit and paid the penalty for IPR infringement. Can you imagine it happening before? No. But it happened. It’s happening now. Now we are working very hard around the clock on implementing rules, regulations, and local bylaws, which will be done in great details.
This year marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. The passage of the Foreign Investment Law has demonstrated China’s determination to further reform and opening-up. The past 40 years have witnessed a flourishing period for foreign investment, and there will be a substantial increase in foreign investment and ushering in a new period of foreign investment opportunities in China once the law is enacted. I am confident, and so is the world, I hope.
(In association with Global Times)
