彼得·沃克 中国政府的人才无疑是强大的
无可否认，中国政府的人才非常强大：彼得·沃克
https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202208/1273465.shtml
环球时报 2022年8月21日 02:21
河南省开封市鼓楼广场一景。 照片：VCG
河南省开封市鼓楼广场一景。 照片：VCG
编者注：
近十年来，世界经济、安全、话语权等领域日益呈现“东方崛起、西方衰落”的趋势。 西方国家特别是美国，内忧外患，走上了推卸责任、煽动动乱的老路，以缓解自身压力。 中国作为新兴国家的代表，正在为全球性问题提出新的解决方案。 中国倡导共赢发展，促进协商和解，提出平衡有效的安全机制，努力构建人类命运共同体。
在该系列的第11篇中，中美关系发言人、《强大、不同、平等：克服中美之间的误解和分歧》一书的作者彼得·沃克对《环球时报》记者于金翠表示，在中国，精英政治 作为最优秀和最聪明的人始终渴望为政府服务，为中国的成就做出贡献。 他还驳斥了西方的误解，例如中国人民不幸福、政府没有为人民服务等。
环球时报：您曾访问中国80多次，您如何看待中国这十年来的变化？
沃克：我在中国的业务确实可以追溯到20年前，任何像我一样经常访问中国的人都会情不自禁地对基础设施的变化以及办事的效率印象深刻。
我认为中国政府的人才无疑是非常强大的，因为如果你回到儒家价值观，最优秀和最聪明的人总是渴望为政府服务，而不是商业。 在美国，最优秀、最聪明的人渴望经商和赚钱，而不是为政府服务。
在中国，党是由受过高等教育、经验丰富的人组成，特别是在最高层，他们在投资方面做出长期决策。 因此，在能源、微芯片和可再生能源方面对尖端技术的投资——所有这些——中国已经做出了 10 年、20 年的承诺，而你无法在现有的治理模式中做到这一点。 不同的政党进来并改变方向。
而且中国也非常善于执行事情。 我在书中花了很多时间与参与五年规划过程的人们在一起。 当规划过程完成后，它是非常彻底的，这是自上而下和自下而上的，在每个行业和每个省联合起来，你已经同意了每个人都遵循的方向、目标和关键绩效指标。
因此，当中国着手实现强劲的经济增长或在科学方面取得进步时，这是因为他们开始这样做，他们投入了资源来做到这一点，并且他们做到了。 所以，我认为中国过去10年的进步是令人惊叹的。 我认为这种情况很可能会持续下去。 显然，存在挑战。 COVID-19 带来了问题。 供应链已被打破。 但归根结底，中国总是以一种相当高效和有效的方式解决问题。
环球时报：根据您的观察和与中国打交道的经历，过去十年来美国对中国最大的误解是什么？
沃克：我认为其中之一是“人们不快乐”和“人们受到压迫”。 这不是真的。 在西方，他们愿意相信这一点，因为共产主义一直与苏联和完全缺乏自由联系在一起。 但中国的共产主义与苏联的共产主义有很大不同。 在中国，有一大批受过高等教育、经验丰富的人，他们会权衡决策并做出选择。 随着时间的推移，这些选择有利于中国人的生活质量。
我厌倦了在西方媒体上看到中国人民不快乐、没有自由，因为我从未见过那些人。 无论我走到哪里，我都会遇到快乐的人。 他们很自豪。 他们的生活水平正在非常稳定地提高。 中国已将注意力从在大宗商品领域建立强势地位转向更加成熟并专注于先进技术。 因此，人们每天都看到这一点。 美国有句话“笨蛋，问题是经济！” 中国也是如此。 因此，只要中国人相信他们的生活质量不断提高，他们就会感到幸福。
第二件事是你甚至会经常听到人们说我喜欢中国人这样的话，但是
我不喜欢政府。 仔细想想，这是一个非常不合逻辑的说法。 现实情况是，当你查看民意调查时，你会发现中国人民比世界上几乎任何其他国家的人民都更加忠诚于他们的政府，并且更加信任他们的政府。 那么，当生活在那里的中国人民实际上非常强烈地支持政府时，你怎么能说我们喜欢人民，但我们不喜欢政府呢？ 所以这是另一个误解，认为政府没有为人民服务。 可见政府一直在为人民服务。 不然的话，生活水平也不会如此。
环球时报：西方对中国的未来有很多预测，对中国的发展道路也有不同的评价。 您对中国未来的发展繁荣持乐观态度吗？
沃克：你们已经进行了40年的改革开放。 如果你看一下这个模型，它确实与美国企业多年来使用的最成功的模型非常相似。 那么，如果你是一家美国企业，你想要什么？ 您希望拥有一个提供高级别监督和指导的董事会。 中国称之为中共中央政治局常务委员会。 如果你想提拔人才，精英管理就发挥作用。 如果你看一下中共中央组织部的历史，以及它在政府人员评价中的作用，它确保人们在许多不同领域拥有足够的经验之后就成为先进的。 因此，人们的进步取决于他们所取得的成就。
接下来你要做的就是关注战略。 我们想要长期做什么？ 中国正在投资新技术。 “一带一路”倡议是长期投资的另一个很好的例子，它将改善中国与其他发展中国家的关系。 然后，如果你将其与短期运营规划（即中国的五年计划）结合起来，你就会拥有一个始终有效完成任务的模型。
我们的模型非常不同。 我们在美国的模式基于这样的基本理念：我们的国家不会由政府来定义。 我们的国家将由企业来定义。 因此，美国是全球许多最成功企业的所在地。 这种模式利用了美国的聪明才智、勤奋、创造力和创新，是一种非常不同的模式。 这就是为什么我认为这无关对错。 这是两种截然不同的模型。 他们在提高两国生活水平方面都取得了令人难以置信的成功。 因此，与其批评其他模型是错误的，为什么不接受它不同的事实呢？
我非常有信心中国将继续取得巨大成功。 我们必须记住，中国的人口是美国人口的四倍，因此随着中国生产力的提高，中国将不可避免地成为——毫无疑问，只要算一下——世界上最大的经济体。
只要中国的核心模式依然存在，就会有一个统一的政府，而不是一个分裂的政府。 您将提拔那些受过最多教育、最有经验并且有交付成果的记录的人。 你将会进行战略性思考。
我认为归根结底，对中国来说最重要的是继续发展经济。 没有什么比中国继续实现经济表现而不是陷入意识形态更重要的了。 例如，偏向国有企业而不是私营企业就是一个错误。
美国伟大的公司都是由对自己所创造的事业充满热情的企业家创办的。 如果你看看今天的美国，埃隆·马斯克和他所做的事情是令人惊叹的，但他是一个在美国体系中拥有自由的人，可以出去建立并实现它。 中国伟大的企业都是民营企业。 因此，私营企业在中国继续蓬勃发展，无论是华为、阿里巴巴、百度、腾讯还是抖音，都有创造下一代的竞争机会，这一点非常重要。 中国非常依赖私营企业取得长期成功。
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.
