All politics is global

In this member post, Young Fabian member Debbie Moss reflects on last week’s China-EU Year of Youth roundtable event to which the Young Fabians were invited.

All politics is global.  This was the predominant lesson from last Friday’s roundtable event hosted by the Chinese embassy to celebrate the China-EU Year of Youth.  As one of the speakers commented, out on the door-step we almost invariably campaign on domestic issues.  When faced with questions about jobs and cuts to local services, we seek to explain how Labour would do things differently – cutting more slowly, investing in growth and protecting the most vulnerable.  But in today’s globalised world, our economy, and therefore the prosperity and wellbeing of British people, are inexorably linked with that of other countries.  If Labour is to continue its legacy as the party of internationalism we must integrate this into the narrative we present to voters.

On Friday, our Chinese hosts elaborated on two very welcome, interconnected themes.

First, China’s intention to play its part as a peaceful, responsible member of the international community, promoting trade as well as cultural, educational and other exchanges with Britain and Europe.  Second, China’s desire to be seen to be concerned not solely with increasing its GDP (an image often portrayed in the Western media) but also with social justice, human rights and the environment.

Pre-empting Western concerns about China’s one-party state, lack of democracy and use of capital punishment, officials often repeated that theirs was still a “developing” country, implying at times that China was moving teleologically towards more or less European norms in these areas.  Equally though, we were told that China would chart its own course rather than develop according to any Western programme.  Do China’s leaders believe their country will and/or should one day adopt human rights policies like those in Europe? It was hard to tell.

There are some areas though, on which we already agree.  There was consensus among Chinese officials and young people from across the British political spectrum on the importance of our “partnership for growth” as championed by David Cameron and President Hu Jintau.  Trade is of course a key plank in our bilateral relationship with the world’s second largest economy and solutions to the financial crisis must be as global as the problem.  It was reassuring too though to hear support for the presence of the 100,000 or so Chinese students studying in the UK.  I hope that young Conservatives and Liberal Democrats can play a role in influencing their leaders in Government whose controversial proposals to limit immigration, including student immigration, threaten to undermine the excellence and international standing of our universities.

I could not agree more with Nick Maxwell on the need to foster relations between British and European citizens and their Chinese counterparts.  This plays an essential role, complementary to that of diplomatic exchanges.  Meetings of ministers and ambassadors can achieve many things, but cannot alone facilitate the shared understanding and respect between peoples which our Chinese friends rightly emphasised throughout the event.

The discussion shed light on diverse areas of policy: domestic as well as foreign.  Above all, young British speakers as well as those who identified as Chinese-British spoke of the frustrating lack of Mandarin teaching in our schools.  This resonates for those of us who frequently experience embarrassment when traveling in Europe or around the world, as we realise that our language skills pale in comparison to our hosts, who often converse confidently in English and/or other foreign tongues.   To prepare our young people for the globalised 21st century, surely our education system must do more to prioritise language teaching.

Labour’s current policy review is a unique opportunity for fresh thinking.  Hopefully it will have a strong international element.  The party’s new vision for Britain must take account of our role in an increasingly interconnected global community.

China-EU year of youth: the promise of new foreign policy

On Friday 6 May, as part of the EU-China Year of Youth, the Young Fabians and youth groups from other parties were invited to contribute to a roundtable looking issues from educational links to climate change. Below is a summary of my introductory remarks to the roundtable, speaking about “China and Foreign Policy”

The promise of new foreign policy

There is a promise for a new type of foreign policy, driven by an unprecedented level of shared interests between nations.

The ideal is that UK foreign policy exists to support an environment conducive to sustainable, balanced global growth and stability; and that Chinese foreign policy exists to support an environment conducive to sustainable, balanced global growth and stability.

Across the political spectrum in the UK, there is consensus that we want the promise to prevail.

The financial crisis and the global downturn both demonstrated the extent to which economies, particularly the world’s leading economies are interlinked and interdependent. We are exposed to similar shocks and risks, and preventative action to contain economic risks requires cooperation. We no longer have distinct national interests.

It is important at the outset to recognise China’s achievements. Particularly in terms of poverty alleviation, China’s record of raising urban annual per capita income nine-fold over two decades is unprecedented in human history and raised millions from a life of suffering and squalor.

On the left, we are instinctively international and support the equal treatment and opportunity of human beings. China’s increasing prosperity is the success story of the century for humanity – and long may it continue. There is also much to welcome in the Ambassador’s remarks and the latest five-year economic plan on the environment and social equity.

However, both the EU and China, and indeed other players, need to be vigilant against clear risks to this happy co-existence and shared prosperity. There are three risks that I would like to talk about.

Resources and the return of Malthus

The world is resource constrained. In the UK we sometimes imagine that the globalisation of trade is unstoppable. Resource scarcity in oil, in commodities, in food, and in water – compounded by climate change – has already surfaced and put pressure on our global economic system and free trade. The pressure could mount to encourage countries to break economic links and return to a mercantilist approach to ownership of resources in the world.

State-back Chinese operations focus on securing resources, which can look highly mercantilist, and any draw back from free and open access to resources in a system of global trade will threaten our happy co-existence and the promise of new foreign policy.

The extraordinary growth in world population, expected to reach above 9bn by 2040, will put enormous pressure on the sustainability of our way of life. We should be in no doubt that nations will have to work very very hard not to come into conflict over resources.

China can play its part in building trust and confidence by encouraging transparency in its state backed businesses operating in extractive resources and should work to uphold open economic systems at all times.

Buyout fear

$1 trillion to $2 trillion of Chinese investment is expected to be on the markets by 2020.

We saw with Cadbury how emotive buy-outs can be.

Perceptions that Chinese buyouts are state-backed, unfair and – at worst – compromise on national security could undermine the promise of new foreign and economic policy.

In Europe, we need prepare the ground for Chinese investment in Europe, avoiding protectionism and buyout fear, and embracing new ways of doing business, innovation and investment in our communities.

Again from the Chinese side, there needs to be more effort put into transparency of Chinese companies.

On security, if China ceased to invest so heavily in cyber-military capabilities, it might allay fears over the implications of allowing investment and growth of Chinese high-tech companies in OECD nations. Stop the security hawks playing their games, which undermine Chinese high tech industries – particularly in relation to their Indian counterparts.

Legitimacy, peace and trust

China is not a democracy and its leadership relies on success for legitimacy. When economic success runs dry, history has shown us that authoritarian nations turn to jingoism and militarism to underpin their authority.

The growth of democracy in China will help avoid that terrible fate underpin the promise of cooperative growth and shared prosperity.

Everything should be done to better connect young British leaders in business, politics and civic society to their peers in China to help build understanding and dialogue between the two countries, and help avoid a slip from peaceful development.

A promising century

So it is a promising century for human cooperation, for prosperity – but we shouldn’t be ignorant of the threats to that promise. I think a lot of the choice in which way we will go in this century rests on Chinese foreign policy.

We have heard a lot that we can support from the Ambassador today, and we look to working with you, in the small way that we can, to help achieve the promise of a shared, prosperous and harmonious future.

Nick Maxwell is Fundraising and Partnerships Officer for the Young Fabians.

Swaziland: More questions than answers

The latest update from Adrian Prandle, Young Fabian International Officer, on the ACTSA delegation to southern Africa.

A busy time in Swaziland saw meetings with the Swaziland National Union of Students, Luvatsi (a youth empowerment organisation), the EU Commission delegation to Swaziland, the United Nations Development Programme, and the Swaziland United Democratic Front (SUDF), as well as a day spent in the field seeing the work of SWAPOL (Swaziland for Positive Living).

It’s hard to take one clear message from such an extensive programme and harder still to reconcile with our own experiences in the UK. The youth organisations face similar challenges to the Young Fabians, such as operating within a tiny budget, yet deal with the much bigger problems of recognition and ability to engage with government and decision-makers.

This is primarily because Swaziland is an undemocratic one party state controlled by the monarch, King Mswati III. His spending is focussed on himself and his coterie rather than addressing the needs of the population. The lack of investment in infrastructure – i.e. school buildings and teachers – is preventing the court-enforced commitment to free primary education from being rolled out with any speed. The SUDF is a coalition of banned political parties, trade unions and civil society organisations fighting for a multi-party system. Whilst passionate for their cause, the SUDF is in its early stages and has much to do to engage with the wider population of Swaziland, let alone be seen by the King as a serious force in curbing his lifestyle and pushing for democracy.

In terms of impact from outside of the country, there is one major stumbling block and a devastating chain that exacerbates it. Swaziland is a middle income country, meaning it is not a high priority for aid and meaning that conditional aid is limited in its effect – ultimately because the King doesn’t rely on this money, so does not feel pressured to change behaviour or spending. Swaziland’s per capita income is going up in tragic circumstances: high HIV/AIDS rates mean Swaziland has a decreasing population, hence the appearance of greater wealth.

Gender was an issue constantly raised over these few days. There is a philosophical debate to be had about moral and cultural relativism, but it is fair to say that there was reasonable consensus at an organisational level from our meetings, that the role of men in sexual relationships had a major impact upon being able to tackle the spread of HIV/AIDS - responsibility, yes, but combined with the culture of polygamy and having multi-concurrent sexual partners. SWAPOL’s work seeks to educate around HIV/AIDS at a community level and promotes and facilitates sustainable projects to enable meaningful living with HIV/AIDS. In a country lacking basic education for all, generational change though is difficult to guarantee.

The theory goes that multi-party democracy would enable a reduction in inequality through fairer distribution of financial resources, particularly aimed at health and education. But there’s a long way to travel – which is perhaps why these Swazi organisations were so keen to meet with us. This peaceful battle is on uncertain ground, notably due to King Mswati’s position in the region. SADC, the South African Development Community, has pretty much failed to stand up to Mswati’s hypocrisy in using his position as chair of SADC’s Troika of the Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation to criticise the state of Madagascan democracy whilst his own country has jailed the leader of PUDEMO, the banned opposition party. The friendship between South African President Jacob Zuma and Mswati does not leave Swazi activists with much confidence that help in their struggle will come across the border any time soon.

Amidst an EU Commission Delegation that appeared to me to be hamstrung or dispassionate about its mission, I leave you with questions rather than answers: How should a responsible international community deal with inequality in a middle income country? And how can we, as British citizens and/or Young Fabian members, highlight the tragedy of a country getting richer whilst its population suffers and dies?