China seeks removal of social, cultural barriers to boost economy

China's economic rise has been phenomenal in recent years, but it will still have to deal with social and cultural obstacles lying in the way of its economic expansion and development. Chinese-Australian scholar Dr Baogang He said this on Thursday while speaking at a roundtable session titled "Analyzing BRI and CPEC beyond Geopolitics" which was organised by Institute of Policy Studies (IPS).
Dr He said the respect of various cultures and religions at home is a real test for the Chinese leadership as failure in showing sensitivity in this regard could prove to be detrimental for the country's socio-political rise. Dr Baogang He is a professor and chair in International Relations at the Deakin University, Australia. The session was moderated by Dr Azhar Ahmad, senior IPS associate and Head of Department, Humanities and Social Sciences, Bahria University, Islamabad.
Dr He was of the view that while China's economic rise had been phenomenal, it will still have to deal with social and cultural obstacles lying in the way of its expansion and development. "Where BRI and CPEC are set to connect and bring countries closer, a good treatment of cultures and religions in minority at home will set the perceptions in right direction for the country's global socio-political expansion," he said.
Speaking about Uighur Muslims in China, he said the issue of the Uighur Muslims who the Chinese government calls a threat to its national security, was one such obstacle faced by China.
The seminar participants were of the consensus view that the Chinese leadership should resolve the Xinxiang issue in a rational and peaceful way as the Muslims in Pakistan and across the world are concerned about the situation there.
Reflecting upon Pak-China interactions, Dr He said that there was a great deal of difference between Pakistan and Chinese civilisations, but these differences can easily be handled with Chinese showing respect to the host country's norms and culture.
"An increased mutual understanding and people to people contacts are also mandatory in this regard, and that could best be done by fostering trade, tourism and academic exchanges," he said.
The speaker and discussants also had an interesting debate on the growing conflict between China and the US vis-à-vis 'digital civilization' where, according to them, China wants to have an authoritarian control unlike America which is much open in its approach over keeping control of internet.