Welcome to another week of the Transformation Leadership Series. For weeks now, we have been discussing the key to transformational development namely, morality and values as guiding principles that inform choice and conduct. To this end, we have looked at leaders who sustainably transformed their spheres of influence in the USA and China. With respect to China, we based our analysis on multiple reports and books from many academic scholars and professors citing seminal works like the Protestant Reformation and the Spirit of Capitalism by Maximillian Weber. We cited China’s very real rise in global economics and politics and the true reason why, by and large, it has succeeded. China’s scientists commissioned by the government arrived at a conclusion after a 20-year study that democracy and capitalism does not just happen in a vacuum. If democracy and capitalism is to be functional and positive in effect, their success is founded on a solid Judeo-Christian foundation of morality and values. Based on these research conclusions [discussed in previous posts], the atheist communistic government of China has embraced the inculcation of values into their citizenry. This has been done by the government opening its borders to Christian morality. The government has overseen the mass printing of bibles. China is the world’s number one printer of bibles. The same atheistic government has prompted the building of many state churches.
But backtracking a little bit, there are some who do not believe China is on the rise and claim the global rise is it’s because China manufactures substandard products. This assertion is inaccurate. Most of the manufactured goods and innovations sold to and in the West are made in China. China has risen. There is no question about that. Their transformation is palpable. It is more difficult to transform a country with a population of 1.3 billion people compared to a country of 20 million people but China has done it and is still in the process of forward transformation. This is as a result of transformational leaders such as Jiang Zemin who saw the need for China to become a Christian nation. Now the question that may be asked is, is this transformation sustainable? Well for the past 30 years the transformation has been ongoing and China seems to keep moving forwards and not backwards. Here are a few examples:
Which country’s economy is now on the most solid economic footing—China or the USA or some other country in the West? Let’s not rely on hearsay but consult the facts and figures from credible sources and they will show in how many ways China is beatin the West currently.
The IMF this year analyzed public wealth using data from 31 countries. They showed that their assets amount to $101 trillion, or 219 percent of GDP. Assets defined here “consist of public infrastructure such as roads, bridges, and sewer pipes, as well as the money governments have in the bank, their financial investments, and payments owed to them by individuals and businesses. Natural resource reserves in the ground are also part of assets. Assets also include state-owned enterprises such as public banks and, in many countries, utilities such as public electricity and water companies”.”Liabilities are much larger than debt alone. They come to about 198 percent of GDP, less than half of which is general government public debt. Pension obligations to civil servants are a large part of the remainder, yet few countries record them as such. Another part is debt owed by public corporations. Most standard measures of general government debt do not include this, meaning that significant amounts of public debt are classified as private debt”.
Now that we have definitions out of the way, which country is handling their business well? Countries in the West or in the East?
According to an October 2018 report by the IMF, “China has substantial government assets, reflecting years of high infrastructure investment. These assets are larger than its liabilities, putting net worth—the difference between assets and liabilities—well above 100 percent of GDP, the highest among emerging economies.” Not even the USA, UK, France or Germany can boast of such a portfolio ceteris paribus.
So, in spite of the propaganda against China in the global established media, they are doing better economically than the rest of the world. The research of their scientists and the forward-looking thinking of their transformational leaders such as Jiang Zemin has put them on this path. That is undeniable.
Other developing nations will do well to learn from China’s rise as it truly is and documented in previous posts—not from the perspective of propaganda in established media or revisionist history. Have a wonderful week.
Previous TLS’ on understanding the Rise of China phenomenon:
- TLS 20 Leadership and Values 6 – China 3
- TLS 19 Leadership and Values 5 – China 2
- TLS 18 Leadership and Values 4 – China 1
