Opinion: China's 10-year rapid growth is not at the mercy of US

By Mao Yingying (Beijing Daily)

16:08, September 19, 2011 There is a viewpoint that the U.S. was in anti-terrorism wars but China kept prospering in the last 10 years, so it was the U.S. that gave China the opportunity.

Edited and Translated by People's Daily Online

While the whole world was focusing on the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, commemorating the victims and conducting soul-searching, some people shifted their attention to China. There is a very popular viewpoint saying that the United States was in the mud puddle of anti-terrorism wars but China kept prospering in the last 10 years, and therefore it was the United States that gave China the development opportunity. 

Some even suggested that the United States take more measures to deal with or contain a rising China in the future. 

In fact, it is too arbitrary to say that a single event can change the balance of international power or geopolitics between China and the United States. Although many people believe that the last 10 years witness the decline of the United States, it has not lost its status as the sole superpower of the world, and it seems that it will not lose that status in the next 20 or 30 years. 

However, a historical inevitability should not be regarded as a chance event. Ultimately, China's development in the last 10 years was not a chance event, was not given by others, but an outcome of China's own steadfast efforts. Since the Cold War came to an end, peace, development and cooperation have been the mainstream on the global stage. China has concentrated its mind on construction and puts its whole heart into economic development, and has ever since grown in clout. 

China also brings benefits to the people in China and even the whole world. No matter whether the 9/11 attacks occurred or not at that time, China would still take the peaceful development path and make the achievements that it has made now. Even if the George W. Bush Administration did not have its attention diverted and continued its policies and actions of containing China, China would not stop developing, and China's development direction would not be changed.

The reason why certain people ignore the trend of the times and insist that China took advantage of the 9/11 attacks is that they do not trust or respect China, and are unhappy to see China’s rapid rise and its breaking down of the Western-led world order. In other words, they feel upset about China’s progress and believe that it is necessary to contain China. 

In fact, the United States, while busy combating terrorism in the past decade, has not slackened its efforts to hold back the growth of China. It has been playing up the “China collapse theory,” “China threat theory,” and “China responsibility theory”, criticizing China for currency manipulation, trade frictions, and other issues concerning human rights and democracy. 

Emerging countries, including China, do not mind developed countries' maintaining their superior position forever. But developed countries should achieve this goal by constantly improving themselves and correcting their mistakes, not by hindering the development of other countries or even launching wars against others. 

Scholars noted that the biggest problem facing the United States is that it has to maintain its hegemony, afford expensive social welfare, and protect the interests of political parties and consortia at the expense of global resources. Therefore, even if the 9/11 attacks had not happened, the United States would still embark on the road of endless expanding overseas after the Cold War. Such uncontrolled expansion will eventually lead to the decline of the United States. 

U.S. President Barack Obama said that the past 10 years have been difficult for his country, but the Americans must “look ahead.” It is hoped that when its intelligence personnel search tirelessly for the information on terrorists and its politicians make up new threat theories, the United States can abandon its overbearing and arrogant attitude, and work with its partners to pursue a peaceful development.

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