[Peace-discuss] Chomsky in China

[C. G. Estabrook]

  Noam Chomsky in China
Posted By Andy Yee On 24 August 2010

On 13 August, Noam Chomsky delivered a speech [1] at the Peking University in 
Beijing. Chomsky, one of the leading public intellectuals of our age, is famous 
for his political activism and contributions to linguistic and philosophy. The 
talk, titled Contours of World Order: Continuities and Changes, was mostly about 
two dominant threats facing humanity: nuclear wars and environmental degradation.

While Chomsky has re-emphasized his criticisms on the United States, he has also 
expressed his opinions on China. In Chomsky’s view, emerging countries like 
China and India still have a long way to go to challenge the America. Of 
particular concern is the environmental cost of China’s development model, and 
the many internal and social problems that China has to tackle. This week, the 
Southern Metropolitan Daily publishes an interview [2] with Chomsky. An excerpt 
of the interview is translated below.


SMD: Most Chinese have accepted globalization. In the past three decades, 
especially after China joined the World Trade Organization (WTO), many Chinese 
have benefited tremendously. But it seems that you see globalization in poor lights.

Chomsky: China’s economic achievement has little to do with globalization. It is 
related to trade and export. China has gradually become an export-oriented 
country. No one, myself included, is opposed to exports. But this is not 
globalization. In fact, China has become a factory in the Northeast Asian 
production system. If you look at the whole region, you will find it very 
dynamic. China’s export volume is enormous. But there is something we have 
overlooked. China’s export relies heavily on the exports of Japan, Korea and the 
US. These countries provide China with high-tech components and technologies. 
China is just doing the assembly, and labelling the final products as ‘Made in 
China.’

China has developed rapidly by following wise policies. But while millions of 
people were lifted out of poverty, costs such as environmental degradation are 
high. They are merely transferred to the next generation. Economists will not 
worry about them, but these are costs that someone needs to pay for ultimately. 
It may be your children or grandchildren. These have nothing to do with 
globalization and the WTO.


SMD: Do you think the rise of China will change the world order? Will China play 
the role that the US is playing now?

Chomsky: I don’t think so; neither do I hope so. Do you really hope to see a 
China with 800 overseas military bases, invading and overthrowing other 
governments, or committing terrorist acts? This is what the America is doing 
now. I think this will not, and cannot, happen on China. I do not wish it to 
happen neither. China is already changing the world. China and India together 
account for almost half of the world’s population. They are growing and 
developing. But relatively speaking, their wealth is only a small part of the 
world. Both countries still have long ways to go and face very serious domestic 
problems, which I hope will gradually be solved. It is meaningless to compare 
their global influences with those of rich countries. My hope is that they will 
exert some positive influences to the world, but this has to be watched carefully.

China should ask itself what role it wishes to take in the world. Fortunately, 
China is not assuming the role of an aggressor with a large military budget, 
etc. But China does have a role to play. It is am enormous consumer of 
resources, and there are pros and cons. For example, Brazil will benefit 
economically if it exports to China. On the other hand, its economy will also be 
damaged. For countries with abundant resources like Brazil and Peru, one problem 
is their reliance on exports of primary resources, which is not a good 
development model. To change their mode of development, they first need to solve 
their domestic problems and transform themselves into producers, not just 
exporting primary products to other producer countries.


SMD: Is the success of China a challenge to Western democracies?

Let’s make a historical comparison. Was the rise of the United States a threat 
to democratic Britain? The United States was founded on the slaughtering of 
indigenous population and the slave system. Is this model suitable for other 
countries? Do you want China to learn from this model? It is true that the US 
has developed into a democratic country which is strong in many respects, but 
its democracy is not developed from this model, which any rational person would 
not want to imitate.

China is developing, but there is no evidence to prove that its internal 
development is causing a threat to the West. What is challenging the US is not 
China’s development, but its independence. That is the real challenge.

You can tell from every day’s headlines that the current focus of US foreign 
policy is Iran. The year 2010 is called ‘The Year of Iran.’ Iran is portrayed as 
a threat to US foreign policy and the world order. The US has imposed harsh, 
unilateral sanctions, but China has not followed suit. China has never followed 
the US lead. Instead, it supports UN sanctions, which are too weak to matter. A 
few days before I left for China, the US States Department warned China in a 
very interesting way. It said China has to bear international responsibilities, 
i.e. follow US orders. This is China’s international responsibilities.

This is standard imperialism, which is that other countries have to act 
according to our requests. If not, they are irresponsible. I think officials 
from the Chinese Foreign Ministry must laugh when they hear this. But this is 
the standard logic of imperialism. In fact, Iran becomes a threat because it 
does not follow US instructions. China is a bigger threat, as it is a big 
problem when a major power refuses to obey orders. This is the challenge that 
the US faces.


Article printed from Global Voices in English: http://globalvoicesonline.org
URL to article: http://globalvoicesonline.org/2010/08/24/noam-chomsky-in-china/
URLs in this post:
[1] delivered a speech: 
http://www.eeo.com.cn/ens/observations/2010/08/18/178499.shtml
[2] interview: http://gcontent.oeeee.com/7/73/7736debbc2c6bca5/Blog/486/e7c67f.html
[3] Image: http://globalvoicesonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Chomsky-Talk.jpg