A view of Dongshan Lake Park in Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong Province. Photo: VCG

Editor's Note: 

The 2024 Understanding China Conference is being held in Guangzhou, capital of South China's Guangdong Province, from Monday to Wednesday. As the gathering this year has attracted far more participants than previous events, what signal does this send? What is the most important aspect of China that needs to be understood? Kyle Ferrana(Ferrana), American writer, author of the book, Why the World Needs China: Development, Environmentalism, Conflict Resolution & Common Prosperity, shared his insights with Global Times(GT) reporter Li Aixin. 

GT: You are a participant of this year's Understanding China Conference. What do you think is the most important aspect of China that needs to be understood?

Ferrana: China has been able to build more modern infrastructure than any other country, including the world's largest high-speed rail network. It is very smooth - actually, the smoothest train ride I've ever had - and a system of railroads that connects every village. This is one of the most obvious ways in which China ensures that its new wealth reaches the poor people. Wealth is worthless if it isn't shared. 

The Chinese government has demonstrated that it is able to enact policies like common prosperity and public infrastructure that Western media continues to bemoan as unprofitable. If they're complaining that it's unprofitable, that must mean it benefits people - it helps everyone.

The fact that the Chinese government is able to direct its wealth to accomplish these goals is significant.

GT: The theme of this year's conference focuses on Chinese modernization. What have you observed about this model? How do you see it differing from Western models of modernization?

Ferrana: What really stood out is how disparities in access to basic services, utilities, infrastructure, and so forth are treated in each country.

During the first phase of the reform and opening-up, late leader Deng Xiaoping famously said they would let some people and regions get rich first to drive and help the backward areas. A close examination of the statistics will show that this promise is being fulfilled in the 21st century. The gap in prosperity between the eastern and western regions in China is shrinking. It has been for the past 20 years or so. 

This is definitely not the case for many minority communities in the West, especially indigenous communities in the US, where the gap between them and the national average continues to grow, unfortunately.

So, I think it's clear that the common prosperity initiative is an intentional set of redistributive policies that have obviously required significant political influence to achieve. The West simply has nothing like it. The difference is stark when you compare China to other developing countries that have adopted or been coerced into adopting development models from Western-dominated institutions.

GT: This year's Understanding China Conference has attracted around 600 participants from both at home and abroad, far surpassing previous years. What message do you think the growing number of people to attend the meeting conveys?

Ferrana: I believe everyone can agree, whether they are pro- or anti-China, that China is currently the most consequential country in the world. It is the largest trading partner for most countries and is the world's factory, especially now as the world's renewable energy factory, which is even more significant.

I also think people everywhere are looking for an alternative to neoliberalism, and China is a major country that has escaped the trap that most other countries are still stuck in. This is definitely something many people are interested in learning about.

This is also a very dangerous time in history. There are multiple wars going on around the world. I imagine that a lot of people around the world are paying more attention to China because of its reputation as a peaceful country and a peacemaker, perhaps hoping that China can play a larger role in helping resolve these conflicts.

GT: Your book is quite different from the mainstream US narrative. What inspired you to write it? 

Ferrana: I have a background as a tenant rights activist in Portland. I think a misconception that many people in China, as well as around the world, might have about the US is that everyone here is rich, but that certainly isn't the case.

In fact, as the world's richest country, the US really has no excuse for how it treats the very poor. One of the clearest ways to see this is through housing. The nationwide homeless population is at its highest level ever, according to last year's data. Overall homelessness in the city increased 65 percent between 2015 and 2023. Most of these individuals are considered unsheltered, which generally means they sleep in tents, on sidewalks, in alcoves or under overpasses.

However, despite developing much later than the US, China is demonstrating that it's possible to improve the lives of everyone - and very rapidly at that. I just wanted to understand, and help others understand, the nature of the forces that are preventing positive change and hindering development around the world, and why China has been such an exception.

GT: Does the title to your book, Why the World Needs China: Development, Environmentalism, Conflict Resolution & Common Prosperity, answer the question it poses?

Ferrana: Yes and no. My publisher and I actually had a bit of a debate about the subtitle, since I didn't feel the answer could be reduced to a short list of concepts. 

I think that China is an example that other countries can learn from. I also think that the rise of China will, in the long term, have transformational effects on our system of global capitalism, which relies on underdevelopment in the global periphery to maintain the imperialist exploitation by the US and its more developed partners.

But the list in the subtitle does describe some of the most important aspects. China's environmentalism and embrace of renewable energy are the most eye-catching, since China has really taken a massive lead in the production of wind and solar energy, as well as every form of non-fossil fuel energy and the technology related to it, such as solar panels and electric vehicles(EVs). 

It's truly incredible - so incredible that even the Western press cannot ignore it. China has been moving so fast in this direction that it looks like every other country is standing still.

GT: Some Western politicians created a new term for that, "overcapacity." What is your take on this?

Ferrana: I don't buy into that at all. I think that if China can produce the EVs that the world needs, we should let them do it. Because, let's be frank, the US is nowhere near being able to drive that kind of transition in terms of EV charging capacity. You need to establish that infrastructure first before you can really adopt EVs on a major scale.

There's just no comparison. If China is the one that's driving this transition, we need it to happen as soon as possible. If the US is not going to be part of the solution, it should not stand in the way.

GT: Since the book was published, what kind of feedback have you received?

Ferrana: It's definitely true that the message of this book is not mainstream. So, I do have to face a lot of haters. But I think it's important to recognize where the hate really comes from. I don't believe that Americans or people of any country or nationality are inherently prejudiced. I think the real source of negativity comes from the property-owning class, who have generally relied on the US government over the past several decades to strong-arm the world and prioritize their interests. 

Why the World Needs China: Development, Environmentalism, Conflict Resolution & Common Prosperity