If you want to know your future, there is one word you should know - China. With a GDP of US$ 1.4 trillion, the People's Republic of China is now the sixth-largest economy in the world. Over the past 25 years, its real gross domestic product has expanded at an average of 15% a year. Growth in foreign trade has averaged 15 % annually since 1978 when the country was first opened to foreign investment and reforms. And every week, more than US$ 1 billion of foreign direct investment flows into the country!

This rapid growth in China has ensured its political stability. Internationally, China has become respectable, more a partner than a threat. The whole world is looking at China not because the country is vast and growing rapidly, but because it profoundly affects the fortunes of the companies everywhere. Around the globe, shelves at supermarkets are stacked with the low-cost goods churned out by "the world's workshop" called China.

And Goldman Sachs, an investment bank, predicts that by 2040 China will overtake America as the world's biggest economy. I asked Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister Wang Yi during a recent interview with him in Beijing to comment on this. Smilingly, he came up with a polite reply, "No, this may not be true."

In an exclusive interview at the Chinese Foreign Affairs Building in Beijing on April 1 (2004) that lasted for nearly two hours, Wang focused on the entire gamut of Bangladesh-China relations as well as its ties with other nations and its role in the contemporary world affairs. But most importantly, he voiced concern about Taiwan trying to set up a so-called Representative Office in Bangladesh-a move he said is designed to destroy the Dhaka-Beijing friendly relations.

"This is a political plot hatched by Taiwan... Taiwan is seeking political agenda in the guise of economic and trading agenda." Wang Yi told me, venting again the Chinese anxiety about Bangladesh giving Taiwan the permission to open any office in Dhaka. Wang Yi, China's senior-most Vice-Foreign Minister warned that the Taiwanese authorities were out to seek a "political breakthrough" in Bangladesh by setting up the so-called Taipei Representative Office in Dhaka. "They are trying to politically use Bangladesh," he observed.

The Chinese position on this venture is very clear, Wang said, adding, "We don't like to see any country which has diplomatic relations with China to allow Taiwan to set up any Representative Office in that country." He pointed out that "the issue is always a complicated factor in China's relations with countries that are courting Taiwan. China opposes such dealings". Specially against the backdrop of current political situation in Taiwan, and taking into account the national sentiment and sovereignty of China, Wang Yi hoped, "The Bangladesh government and people will make a correct choice on the issue and take a decisive action in this regard."

The Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister went on to explain that China is pursuing a national reunification (politically) with Taiwan through economic integration. And China never opposed trading and business between Bangladesh and Taiwan and unofficially, he pointed out, private sectors of the two countries were carrying on such trade between them. He further explained that trade and commerce are driven by market forces and would not depend on any Representative Office.

Bangladesh-Taiwan trade and investment volume came to nearly US$ 400 million last year. "With the establishment of a Trade Office, the investment may not go up," he said. Focusing on the existing Dhaka-Beijing ties, Wang said, "We have the best of relations. China has been pursuing a friendly policy towards Bangladesh." He mentioned China's economic assistance being provided to Bangladesh, which includes 2.2 billion RMB in Chinese concessional loans. Besides, Chinese private companies have so far invested some US$ 24.15 million in different projects in Bangladesh. But there is a vast scope for further increasing Chinese investment in Bangladesh, he pointed out, adding that the government in Beijing encourages capable Chinese companies to invest in Bangladesh in a bigger way.

However, there is a trade imbalance between the two countries, and under the framework of Bangkok Agreement, China has already offered trade concessions to Bangladesh. Currently, the two-way trade is worth US$ 1.4 billion, indicating a 30 percent year-on-year increase during last year. Wang said the new central leadership of China is even more keen to develop friendly relations with neighbouring countries, and as such, very keen to further enhance China's bilateral ties with Bangladesh.

Wang Yi said that Bangladesh, being a close neighbour, is also always welcome on political, security and military matters. He also underlined that Beijing has been enjoying friendly relations with Dhaka, irrespective of any particular government or party in Bangladesh. In this context, the Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister referred to "Kunming Initiative" under which China is pursuing a policy towards its neighbours to help them prosper by using all regional and sub-regional cooperation forums like ASEAN, APEC, etc, including the four-nation cooperation among Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar (BCIM).

Under such initiatives and efforts, the coordinating province of Yunnan in southwestern China is getting full support from Beijing, he said. Since World War II, there was a road linking Myanmar and Yunnan province. China is now modernising that road which could open up highways to the countries of BCIM and other Southeast Asian and South Asian countries.

Replying to a question, Wang said China's relationship with India is being strengthened through rapid economic cooperation. In this context, he observed that Bangladesh could serve as a bridge between India and China. In saying so, he probably underlined the importance that China gives to its relations with India, another country that is being hailed as the other business opportunity of the century. China is also a country against which India is frequently benchmarked.

On China's relationship with Japan, particularly in view of the recent incidents over Diaoyu island, the Chinese Minister recalled the 2000-year-old history and said, "It has gone through friendly experiences, and at times not so friendly". He cited Japanese invasion of China. The Diaoyu island is a territorial issue between China and Japan. This island has been occupied by Japan since the defeat of the Ching dynasty of China in 1895.

Wang said China's basic policy is to look at history as a mirror and move forward. Despite problems and frictions, he added, both China and Japan are enjoying good relationship, with the current trading and investment volume being worth US$ 30 billion. "I think with correct understanding of history and correct attitude towards development, the two countries will always enjoy a good relationship. When Japan made progress, China applauded. Now Japan should also applaud us and not look at China as a threat," said Wang Yi.

Replying to a question on China-US relations, the Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister again referred to the Taiwan issue that, he observed, has been a major irritant in Beijing's relations with America. "The US power politics has always been a hurdle," he said. But on economic front, China and the United States are interdependent. On devaluation of Chinese currency, Wang said the US itself is divided. Companies having huge investments in China are not asking for this and again more and more US companies are coming to China to invest. "Devaluation of our currency is a political requirement of general elections of USA," he said (2004 was a presidential election year in the US).

Prestigious London-based weekly The Economist in one of its recent surveys on China observed that the continuing debate about the "undervalued" yuan spoke "more about partisan American politics than about Chinese mercantilism". Domestically, the government is well aware that its political acceptance derives solely from rapid economic growth, and will do whatever is necessary to meet its internal benchmark, an annual rise of 7%.

China's leaders still call themselves communists, but they have become capitalists in practice. If they have a guiding philosophy, it owes nothing to Mao or Marx, but is best summed up by Deng Xiaoping's famous dictum: "It doesn't matter whether the cat is black or white, as long as it catches the mouse."

(Reprint)