Libs coming to the party

Representatives of some of the biggest and oldest conservative parties in the world have this week been praising China.

Representatives of some of the biggest and oldest conservative parties in the world have this week been praising socialism, albeit “with Chinese characteristics”.

Where in past decades, business and political leaders in Western countries once might have acknowledged the importance for prosperity of free and democratic governance, today the requisite nods are instead being made in the direction of Beijing.

Praise for China’s core globalisation strategy, the Belt and Road Initiative, is also becoming ubiquitous — even if the concept continues to frustrate, so far, non-Chinese companies that covet a profitable role.

These Western leaders are still a step or two ahead of shareholders, voters and workers, as they align more closely with what they view as the winning side in the battle for global influence.

So it’s important for wider Western societies to watch this process, which has only just started in earnest. The looming lurch of business and political leaders will realign their organisations with new models and partners.

It’s happening at such a pace that inadequate effort has gone into trying to discern what is really happening within China itself.

BHP chief Andrew Mackenzie, in his speech to the Melbourne Mining Club on Tuesday, lauded “the dynamism and longer-term thinking of the China and Eastern model”, quoting Mao Zedong: “Let a thousand flowers bloom.”

“To match China’s economic aspirations for its people and benefit more from it, Western society and Western companies have to change,” Mackenzie said.

He claimed that “the recent national Communist Party Congress in China targeted safety, efficiency and sustainability”.

No matter that Mao’s remark was actually intended to lure liberal critics and artists to speak out, after which they were rounded up and many executed. No matter that the recent congress saw the elevation of Xi Jinping as the most powerful leader since Mao, and ­focused on central control.

Perception is what matters.

Nigel Haworth, professor of human resource development at Auckland University and president of the New Zealand Labour Party, said while attending China’s first gathering of global political parties at the weekend in Beijing: “Xi is taking a very brave step, trying to lead the world and to think about the global challenges in a co-operative manner.

“Historically we have wars and crisis, but he is posing a possibility of a different way based on collaboration and co-operation.”

Xi may be presiding in fact over the tightening of unaccountable power in both real and visual words, with no alternative views tolerated, especially any challenge to his own party.

But again, perception is what matters.

“Right now there is a perception in the West that too few have benefited from globalisation, and too many have been left behind,” Mackenzie said.

“This has distracted the West and created opportunities for China and the East.”

You bet. Last weekend about 600 people from 300 political parties met to listen to Xi, the new global guru.

They signed up to a “Beijing Initiative” that stated: “We highly value the tremendous efforts and important contributions made by the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese government with General Secretary Xi Jinping as the core in pushing forward the building of a community of shared future for mankind and a better world.”

Those present included representatives of the US Republican Party, the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan, the Republican Party of France, the British Conservative Party and the Liberal Party of Canada.

The delegates said in their statement: “We are pleased to see that the Belt and Road Initiative has gradually shifted from idea to action, from vision to reality ... It is in keeping with the trend of the times and is in the interest of all the people in the world.”

Echoing this, Mackenzie said: “The ambition of China’s Belt and Road Initiative is astounding!”

Indeed. It is at the cutting edge of the process that a Xinhua commentary on the recent congress described as China “regaining its might and reascending to the top of the world”.

The BRI concept, championed by Xi, has been written into the party constitution. Criticism may be viewed as tantamount to criticising the party.

How the BRI vision is assessed or deployed must now be weighed, like any important move in China today, as to how best it can be made to fit “Xi Jinping thought on socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era”, whose elevation alongside Mao Zedong thought has enabled Xi to leap over even Deng Xiaoping in the party pantheon.

The core socialist element of the BRI is that it is the fruit of central planning, to deploy Chinese assets — surplus capital, technology, management and labour — to help fill infrastructure deficits across the region.

The chief Chinese characteristic is that it is intended to enhance connectivity across the Eurasian landmass and its periphery, with all roads leading not to Rome but to Beijing.

And the land belt and maritime road will be constructed in the new era that Xi referred to in his BRI launch speech as realising the “great heritage of human civilisation”, restoring China to the glories of those two other golden eras, the Tang and the High Qing.

The BRI presents this in a new way, though. Not a Great Wall to keep the barbarians out, but a great connectivity via Chinese cash and construction. It is about fulfilling, in the area of international affairs, the practical side of Xi’s leadership.

This is the way that those treading this new silk road of Chinese global leadership need to start re-examining their corporate and political goals — can they be moulded to fit within Xi thought?

New thinking is needed for this brave new world.