Pace of Opening-Up Will not Slow

Posted by AsiaViews | Nov 6, 2017 | 0 |

By Cheng Yawen*

China Daily

Nov 3, 2017

China will firmly stick to the basic national policy of opening-up and pursue win-win cooperation with other countries, President Xi Jinping said on Monday while meeting with foreign and Chinese entrepreneurs and academics. That Xi made the remarks at the first meeting with visiting dignitaries after his re-election as the general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee last week will make the world more confident about doing business with China.

The fact that China will continue to open up to the outside world was highlighted at the 19th National Congress of the CPC that concluded on Oct 24, while Xi and other central leaders have also reiterated it on earlier occasions. This shows opening-up will play a vital role in China’s efforts to meet its goal of modernization and national rejuvenation.

After introducing members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau elected at the First Plenum of the 19th CPC Central Committee on Oct 25, Xi said he was convinced that reform and opening-up will “complement and reinforce each other” and be carried through to realize the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation.

In his report to the 19th Party Congress, Xi also highlighted the change in Chinese society’s “principal contradiction”, which has evolved to be that between unbalanced and inadequate development and people’s ever-growing needs for a better life. To gradually resolve this contradiction, opening-up will play an irreplaceable role, just as it has done in China’s miraculous economic growth over the past almost four decades.

An agriculture-based country before the launch of reform and opening-up in 1978, China today is the world’s second-largest economy with mature, modern infrastructure, industries and commercial enterprises, and has lifted more than 800 million people out of poverty. Of course, in the early years of reform and opening-up, foreign enterprises contributed their share to China’s growth through funds, technologies and management experience.

China has also shown great sincerity in pushing forward opening-up and seeking outward-looking development. The Fifth Plenum of the 18th CPC Central Committee two years ago specifically endorsed development ideas such as innovation, coordination, green growth and openness. That the foreign entrepreneurs Xi met on Monday included Apple Inc CEO Tim Cook and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is proof that China will “participate in and promote economic globalization, (and) develop an open economy of higher standards”.

Accordingly, changes are called for in the old strategy of relying heavily on the exports of low-value-added products and inbound investment. When it comes to market entry, national treatment and the negative list, China is right to look to international standards. In fact, in this way China can open up wider, so can its service sector, and better protect foreign enterprises’ legal interest.

The Chinese economy, as Xi said, is undergoing a crucial transition from high-speed growth to high-quality development. So are foreign businesses in China. And it is natural that China will try to level the playing field for domestic and foreign enterprises. But some Western observers wrongly see it as a move to give “Chinese companies an unfair advantage”.

The truth is that China, a major beneficiary of and contributor to globalization, has no intention of retreating from opening-up. The country has taken a series of measures to further open up its market, and it will continue to do so.

From China’s accession to the World Trade Organization in 2001 to the yuan’s inclusion in the International Monetary Fund’s special drawing rights basket last year, Beijing has made efforts to help make the world order fairer, and since the past five years it has been helping build a community of shared future for humankind, which speaks volumes of its commitment to inclusive development.

*The author is a professor at the School of International Relations and Public Affairs, Shanghai International Studies University, and an academic member of the Pangoal Institution.

(http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/opinion/2017-11/03/content_34053950.htm)

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EXTRICATING NDONESIAN CHILDREN FROM ISIS INFLUENCE ABROAD

Indonesia urgently needs to revisit the possibility of repatriating the neediest of its young citizens stranded abroad, whose families had earlier joined ISIS. Most of these children are in camps in northern Syria but there are also small numbers in the Philippines, Afghanistan and Iraq. “Extricating Indonesian Children from ISIS Influence Abroad”, the latest report from the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC) argues that the government could begin by bringing back small groups of unaccompanied children under ten years of age, who pose minimal security risk and are most vulnerable to deteriorating conditions in the camps.“The problem is that health and security conditions are worsening by the day in the Syrian camps, and the children are growing older,” says Dyah Kartika, IPAC analyst. “They need access to schools, a nurturing environment, and medical attention. If the government waits too long, the children will be further exposed to ISIS ideology.” The new report examines a 2019 list of Indonesians in camps and prisons run by the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The Indonesian government has been trying to verify their citizenship, but with pseudonyms, misspellings and bad transliterations, it is a daunting task. At the time the data was collected, between March and June 2019, there were 555 Indonesians in SDF camps and prisons, including 367 children. Among the children, approximately 277 were under the age of ten and 34 were unaccompanied. In June 2021, there are fewer than ten children who are both unaccompanied and under the age of ten that could be prioritized for return. Bringing back children of ISIS families is no easy task. The report analyses the main challenges faced by the Indonesian government. These include definitional issues, bureaucratic competition, the difficulty of verifying nationality, evaluating the toll of exposure to conflict, assessing security risk, and finding relatives or others willing to provide care once the children are returned. In addition, COVID has meant stringent restrictions on travel, placing further obstacles in the way of repatriation. There are several models for rehabilitation of children exposed to violent extremism in Indonesia that could be modified to accommodate the needs of children repatriated from abroad. The report examines these models and argues that the government does not need to have every detail of rehabilitation programs in place before it starts extricating children from ISIS influence. It can start by bringing back the most vulnerable children and then modify programs as needed.

“It’s important that the government see these children as victims” says Dyah. “They deserve a chance to be children again.”

Pace of Opening-Up Will not Slow