Peter Walker 中國政府的人才無疑是強大的

彼得·沃克 中國政府的人才無疑是強大的

無可否認，中國政府的人才非常強大：彼得·沃克

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202208/1273465.shtml

環球時報 2022年8月21日 02:21

 
河南省開封市鼓樓廣場一景。 照片：VCG
河南省開封市鼓樓廣場一景。 照片：VCG

編者注：

近十年來，世界經濟、安全、話語權等領域日益呈現“東方崛起、西方衰落”的趨勢。 西方國家特別是美國，內憂外患，走上了推卸責任、煽動動亂的老路，以緩解自身壓力。 中國作為新興國家的代表，正在為全球性問題提出新的解決方案。 中國倡導共贏發展，促進協商和解，提出平衡有效的安全機製，努力構建人類命運共同體。

在該係列的第11篇中，中美關係發言人、《強大、不同、平等：克服中美之間的誤解和分歧》一書的作者彼得·沃克對《環球時報》記者於金翠表示，在中國，精英政治 作為最優秀和最聰明的人始終渴望為政府服務，為中國的成就做出貢獻。 他還駁斥了西方的誤解，例如中國人民不幸福、政府沒有為人民服務等。

環球時報：您曾訪問中國80多次，您如何看待中國這十年來的變化？

沃克：我在中國的業務確實可以追溯到20年前，任何像我一樣經常訪問中國的人都會情不自禁地對基礎設施的變化以及辦事的效率印象深刻。

我認為中國政府的人才無疑是非常強大的，因為如果你回到儒家價值觀，最優秀和最聰明的人總是渴望為政府服務，而不是商業。 在美國，最優秀、最聰明的人渴望經商和賺錢，而不是為政府服務。

在中國，黨是由受過高等教育、經驗豐富的人組成，特別是在最高層，他們在投資方麵做出長期決策。 因此，在能源、微芯片和可再生能源方麵對尖端技術的投資——所有這些——中國已經做出了 10 年、20 年的承諾，而你無法在現有的治理模式中做到這一點。 不同的政黨進來並改變方向。

而且中國也非常善於執行事情。 我在書中花了很多時間與參與五年規劃過程的人們在一起。 當規劃過程完成後，它是非常徹底的，這是自上而下和自下而上的，在每個行業和每個省聯合起來，你已經同意了每個人都遵循的方向、目標和關鍵績效指標。

因此，當中國著手實現強勁的經濟增長或在科學方麵取得進步時，這是因為他們開始這樣做，他們投入了資源來做到這一點，並且他們做到了。 所以，我認為中國過去10年的進步是令人驚歎的。 我認為這種情況很可能會持續下去。 顯然，存在挑戰。 COVID-19 帶來了問題。 供應鏈已被打破。 但歸根結底，中國總是以一種相當高效和有效的方式解決問題。

環球時報：根據您的觀察和與中國打交道的經曆，過去十年來美國對中國最大的誤解是什麽？

沃克：我認為其中之一是“人們不快樂”和“人們受到壓迫”。 這不是真的。 在西方，他們願意相信這一點，因為共產主義一直與蘇聯和完全缺乏自由聯係在一起。 但中國的共產主義與蘇聯的共產主義有很大不同。 在中國，有一大批受過高等教育、經驗豐富的人，他們會權衡決策並做出選擇。 隨著時間的推移，這些選擇有利於中國人的生活質量。

我厭倦了在西方媒體上看到中國人民不快樂、沒有自由，因為我從未見過那些人。 無論我走到哪裏，我都會遇到快樂的人。 他們很自豪。 他們的生活水平正在非常穩定地提高。 中國已將注意力從在大宗商品領域建立強勢地位轉向更加成熟並專注於先進技術。 因此，人們每天都看到這一點。 美國有句話“笨蛋，問題是經濟！” 中國也是如此。 因此，隻要中國人相信他們的生活質量不斷提高，他們就會感到幸福。

第二件事是你甚至會經常聽到人們說我喜歡中國人這樣的話，但是

我不喜歡政府。 仔細想想，這是一個非常不合邏輯的說法。 現實情況是，當你查看民意調查時，你會發現中國人民比世界上幾乎任何其他國家的人民都更加忠誠於他們的政府，並且更加信任他們的政府。 那麽，當生活在那裏的中國人民實際上非常強烈地支持政府時，你怎麽能說我們喜歡人民，但我們不喜歡政府呢？ 所以這是另一個誤解，認為政府沒有為人民服務。 可見政府一直在為人民服務。 不然的話，生活水平也不會如此。

環球時報：西方對中國的未來有很多預測，對中國的發展道路也有不同的評價。 您對中國未來的發展繁榮持樂觀態度嗎？

沃克：你們已經進行了40年的改革開放。 如果你看一下這個模型，它確實與美國企業多年來使用的最成功的模型非常相似。 那麽，如果你是一家美國企業，你想要什麽？ 您希望擁有一個提供高級別監督和指導的董事會。 中國稱之為中共中央政治局常務委員會。 如果你想提拔人才，精英管理就發揮作用。 如果你看一下中共中央組織部的曆史，以及它在政府人員評價中的作用，它確保人們在許多不同領域擁有足夠的經驗之後就成為先進的。 因此，人們的進步取決於他們所取得的成就。

接下來你要做的就是關注戰略。 我們想要長期做什麽？ 中國正在投資新技術。 “一帶一路”倡議是長期投資的另一個很好的例子，它將改善中國與其他發展中國家的關係。 然後，如果你將其與短期運營規劃（即中國的五年計劃）結合起來，你就會擁有一個始終有效完成任務的模型。

我們的模型非常不同。 我們在美國的模式基於這樣的基本理念：我們的國家不會由政府來定義。 我們的國家將由企業來定義。 因此，美國是全球許多最成功企業的所在地。 這種模式利用了美國的聰明才智、勤奮、創造力和創新，是一種非常不同的模式。 這就是為什麽我認為這無關對錯。 這是兩種截然不同的模型。 他們在提高兩國生活水平方麵都取得了令人難以置信的成功。 因此，與其批評其他模型是錯誤的，為什麽不接受它不同的事實呢？

我非常有信心中國將繼續取得巨大成功。 我們必須記住，中國的人口是美國人口的四倍，因此隨著中國生產力的提高，中國將不可避免地成為——毫無疑問，隻要算一下——世界上最大的經濟體。

隻要中國的核心模式依然存在，就會有一個統一的政府，而不是一個分裂的政府。 您將提拔那些受過最多教育、最有經驗並且有交付成果的記錄的人。 你將會進行戰略性思考。

我認為歸根結底，對中國來說最重要的是繼續發展經濟。 沒有什麽比中國繼續實現經濟表現而不是陷入意識形態更重要的了。 例如，偏向國有企業而不是私營企業就是一個錯誤。

美國偉大的公司都是由對自己所創造的事業充滿熱情的企業家創辦的。 如果你看看今天的美國，埃隆·馬斯克和他所做的事情是令人驚歎的，但他是一個在美國體係中擁有自由的人，可以出去建立並實現它。 中國偉大的企業都是民營企業。 因此，私營企業在中國繼續蓬勃發展，無論是華為、阿裏巴巴、百度、騰訊還是抖音，都有創造下一代的競爭機會，這一點非常重要。 中國非常依賴私營企業取得長期成功。

Talent in Chinese government is undeniably very strong: Peter Walker

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202208/1273465.shtml

By Global Times  Aug 21, 2022 02:21 PM 

 

A view of Gulou Square, Kaifeng city, Henan Province. Photo: VCG

Editor's Note:

During the past decade, the world has increasingly witnessed a trend of "the East is rising, and the West is declining" in the spheres of economy, security and discourse power. Western countries, particularly the US, plagued by internal woes, have sought the old path of passing the buck and instigating turmoil elsewhere to ease their own pressure. China, representative of the emerging countries, is proposing new solutions to global problems. By advocating win-win development, facilitating consultation and reconciliation and proposing a balanced and effective security mechanism, China is striving to build a community with a shared future for mankind.

In the 11th piece of the series, Peter Walker, speaker on China-US relations and author of the book Powerful, Different, Equal: Overcoming the misconceptions and differences between China and the US, told Global Times reporter Yu Jincui that in China, meritocracy contributes to China's achievements as the best and the brightest always aspire to government service. He also dismissed Western misperceptions such as Chinese people are unhappy, and government has not been serving the people.

GT: You have visited China more than 80 times, what do you think of changes in China over the past decade? 

Walker: My business in China really goes back probably 20 years and anyone who visits China frequently as I did can't help but be impressed by how the infrastructure has changed and how effectively things get done. 

I think the talent in the Chinese government is undeniably very strong, because if you go back to Confucian values, the best and the brightest always aspire to government service, not to business. In the US, the best and the brightest aspire to business and to make money, not to serve the government. 

In China, the Party is made up of, especially at the most senior levels, very highly educated and experienced people, they make long-term decisions in terms of investment. So, the investment in cutting-edge technologies, in terms of energy and microchips and renewables - all of those things - China has made 10-year, 20-year commitments, and you can't do that in a governance model where you have different parties coming in and changing direction. 

And China is also very good at executing things. I spent a lot of time in my book with people who were involved in the five-year planning process. And it's very thorough when that planning process is done, which is top-down and bottom-up, syndicated in every industry and every province, you have agreed to direction and goals and key performance indicators that everybody follows.

So, when China sets out to deliver strong economic growth or to make advances in science, it's because they set out to do it, they put the resources behind it to do it, and they delivered. So, I think China's progress over the last 10 years has been nothing short of amazing. I think it's likely to continue. Obviously, there are challenges. COVID-19 has presented problems. Supply chains have been broken up. But at the end of the day, China has always dealt with its problems as they come along and done it in a fairly efficient and effective way.

GT: Based on your observation and your experiences in dealing with China, what's the biggest misunderstanding in the US about China over the past decade?

Walker: One of them, I think, is that "people are unhappy" and that "people are oppressed." That is just not true. In the West they'd like to believe that, because communism has always been associated with the Soviet Union and a total lack of freedom. But communism in China is very different from communism in the Soviet Union. In China, you have a large group of very highly educated, experienced people who weigh decisions and make choices. And those choices have over time benefited the quality of life in China.

I got so tired of reading in the Western press that the Chinese people were unhappy and had no freedom because I never met those people. Wherever I went, I met people who were happy. They were proud. Their standard of living was increasing on a very steady basis. China had shifted its attention from building strong positions in commodities to being much more sophisticated and focused on advanced technologies. And so, the people see that every day. There's a phrase in the US "it's the economy, stupid!" The same is true in China. So as long as people in China believe that the quality of their life continues to improve, they're going to be happy. 

The second thing is you'll even frequently hear people say things like I like the Chinese people, but I don't like the government. When you think about it, that's a very illogical statement. The reality is when you look at the polls, what you discover is that the Chinese people are more committed to their government and have more trust in their government than people in almost any other country in the world. So how can you say we like the people, but we don't like the government when the people of China who are the ones living there actually support the government very strongly. So that's another misconception that the government has not been serving the people. It's obvious that the government has been serving the people. Otherwise, the standard of living wouldn't be as it is.

GT: There are many predictions about China's future in the West and different comments on China's development path. Are you optimistic about China's future development and prosperity?

Walker: You've had 40 years of reform and opening-up. If you look at the model, it's really very similar to the most successful model that the US businesses have been using for years. So, if you're a US business, what do you want? You want to have a board of directors that provides oversight and direction at a very high level. China calls that Standing Committee of the CPC Central Committee Political Bureau. You want to advance people, meritocracy plays. If you look at the history of the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee, and its role in evaluating people in government, it makes sure that people are advanced after they have adequate experience in a number of different areas. So, people are advanced based on what they accomplish.

And then the next thing you have is a focus on strategy. What do we want to do long-term? China is investing in new technologies. The Belt and Road Initiative is another good example of a long-term investment that will improve China's relationships with other developing countries. And then if you combine that with short-term operational planning, which are China's five-year plans, you have a model that will always be effective at getting things done. 

Our model is very different. Our model in the US is based on the underlying idea that our country is not going to be defined by the government. Our country is going to be defined by the businesses. So, America is home to many of the most successful businesses on the globe. And that model, taking advantage of US ingenuity, hard work, creativity, innovation, is a very different model. And that's why I argue this is not about right or wrong. These are two very different models. They both have been incredibly successful in raising the standard of living in both countries. Therefore, rather than criticize the other model as wrong, why not accept the fact that it's different? 

I'm very confident that China is going to continue to be very successful. And we have to remember that the population of China is four  times the population of the US so it's inevitable that as China increases its productivity, China will become - there's no question just do the math - the largest economy in the world. 

As long as China's core model remains, you are going to have a unified government, not a divided one. You are going to advance people who are the most educated, have the most experience and have a track record of delivering results. You will be thinking strategically.

I think at the end of the day, the most important thing for China is to continue to deliver on the economy. Nothing is more important than China continuing to deliver that economic performance and not get caught up in ideology. And for example, favoring state-owned enterprises over private enterprise is a mistake. 

The great companies in the US were started by entrepreneurs who had a passion for what they were building. If you look at the US today, Elon Musk and what he's done is amazing, but that's a person who had the freedom in the American system to go out and build that and make it happen. China's great companies are private companies. So, it's very important that private enterprises continue to thrive in China, and that the opportunities to compete are there to create the next generation whether it's Huawei, Alibaba, Baidu, Tencent or Tiktok. China is very dependent on private enterprise being successful longer term.