By Dr. Sawraj Singh
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit comes at a time when it has become obvious that the economic basis for the West’s domination of the world has ended. However, there seems to be no end of western arrogance and the West seems unwilling to accept the new global realities of Asia’s century and a multipolar world. The West wants to maintain the unipolar world order of the last two centuries, which is based upon inequality, unfairness, and domination. The rest of the world had very little choice but to accept it because economically and politically, the West dominated the world. The political and economic institutions which came into existence during that time reflected political and economic realities of that time. In the final analysis, political domination is also dependent upon economic domination.
Economic domination ultimately depends upon manufacturing base. The West has lost the manufacturing base. China has become the manufacturing hub of the world. The steel production of a country generally reflects accurately its manufacturing base. At the end of the nineteenth century, England was producing more steel than the rest of the world combined, and then Germany’s steel production became larger than England’s. After World War I, America’s steel production became the largest. Now, China’s steel production is the largest and is more than the rest of the world’s combined steel production.
Pig Iron Production (million tons)
1870
Britain: 6.7
US: 1.74
Germany: 1.56
1913
US: 31.5
Germany: 19.3
Britain: 10.4
Source: History of the steel industry (1850–1970)
Crude Steel Production (million metric tons)
2013
China: 779.0
Japan: 110.6
US: 87.0
India: 81.2
Germany: 42.6
UK: 11.9
Source: World Steel Association
There were predictions that the Chinese economy will become larger than the US economy in 2030. Now, that projection has been revised to 2024. It is clear that the West’s economy is on the decline. Therefore, the West’s domination cannot last very long. The western-dominated unipolar world order also cannot last very long.
Whereas China has become the manufacturing hub of the world, India, another large country of the East, is also progressing in other fields, primarily in the Services sector. India has the largest young population in the world. India also has the advantage that many people have good command of the English language. English has become representative of present globalization. Even in the new world order, the English language will have a place for sometime before a new arrangement of languages can replace it.
The recent summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Countries (SCO) in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, shows the diversity of Asia and the multipolarity. Besides Russia, China and the Central Asian countries, there were observer countries present: India, Iran, and Pakistan. Turkey attended as a Dialogue Partner. The SCO is emerging as an alternative to western-dominated organizations. India is working toward becoming a member of the SCO. The organizations like BRICS and SCO show that a trend has emerged which is challenging the two centuries of domination of the world. Russia’s shift from Europe to Asia shows that the balance of power is shifting from West to East.
The two largest countries and economies of the East, China and India, are not rivals in the emerging world order. Their role will be more complementary. China has already taken over much of the manufacturing field from the West. India will mostly replace the West in the services field. With both the manufacturing and service sectors shifting to the East from the West, conditions are set for Asia’s century and a multipolar world. India and China should try to make the transition from the present world order to the new world order smooth and peaceful.
The West, particularly the US, wants to use India against China in order to maintain their domination and hegemony. They feel that if India can join their efforts to contain China, then the transition to Asia’s century and a multipolar world order can be blocked. However, a confrontation with China can prove disastrous for India, and China can also be considerably weakened. India and China cannot afford to have strained relations.
India and China have a border conflict which is the legacy of the colonial period. However, there is so much commonality in their interests that the potential to cooperate is much bigger than a potential for conflict. The fundamental interests of the two peoples are almost identical. Both want a respectable status in the new world order, which has been denied to them in the present world order. Both countries should improve the living standards of the people. China has done much better than India so far, yet it has to do a lot more to bring its people’s living standards closer to the standards in western countries. India has to concentrate upon eradicating poverty and providing basic necessities to its people.
Both countries essentially face similar challenges. This is another reason that they should work with each other rather than against each other. It is difficult for each country to do it alone: to change the world order and improve living standards of its people. They must work together because this is not only in the fundamental interests of their people, but also in the interests of the people of the world.
As opposed to the domination of the West, Asia’s century does not mean domination of the world by Asia. Asia is too diverse for any one country or race to dominate it. Therefore, Asia’s century and a multipolar world order mean that there will not be one center of power, but many different centers of power in the world balancing each other and maintaining harmony and stability.
India and China are the two countries with the largest populations of the world (2.5 billion combined). For the past thousands of years, the two countries had very good relations. Both countries have made tremendous contributions to world civilization. China made many inventions such as paper, the compass, printing press, gun powder, etc. India made the biggest contributions in philosophy and spirituality. From the very beginning, both countries have been making complementary contributions. Even today, the two countries can make complementary contributions towards world peace and prosperity. Asia’s century and a mulitpolar world order are a big step towards those.
Dr. Sawraj Singh, MD F.I.C.S. is the Chairman of the Washington State Network for Human Rights and Chairman of the Central Washington Coalition for Social Justice. He can be reached at [email protected].
