David Miliband

World Without West

Thanks to Steve Clemons for his thoughtful comments on my meeting with the Young Atlanticists in Bucharest. He is right that promulgating the idea of responsible sovereignty begs a lot of questions – but I don’t agree that “responsibility” does not translate into a non-western way of thinking. If anything it is one of those words that can get used for all sorts of purposes – but I think it is a useful word in bridging divides, because once you start debating what it actually means you are bought into the idea that it is legitimate and right to establish boundaries on action (at least moral boundaries and hopefully more).

I am thinking of returning to this theme, or at least a related matter that Clemons covers, in a speech to the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington later this month: my recent visits to Afghanistan and Pakistan and the unique concurrence of complemetary government strategies on each side of the Durand Line make me want to look again at what we can learn about the spread and role of democratic governance from the experience of those two countries.

My former colleague Chris Smith (now Lord Smith of Finsbury) sent me his book The Suicide of the West but I am afraid I have not been able to read it. I am sceptical about a declinist school – but what is clear (see my blog Foreign Office goes to China) is that the West does face fundamental choices about how it thinks about rising powers.

Posted at 10:42 01 May 2008 by David Miliband  |  Comments[3]

Foreign Office goes to China

The Times and FT have reported on the initiative to send our five ambassadors from permanent Security Council countries plus UN and EU ambassadors to China for two days of talks. The readouts I have had are very positive – seeing the world through Chinese eyes opens our own eyes, and the meetings with government, party and civil society figures gave a unique chance to engage on big current issues (including Tibet) but also the long term relationship between China and the rest of the world. It is rare for Foreign Office Ambassadors to get enough time to talk to each other, but to do so from a different perspective is a very welcome first.

Posted at 10:35 01 May 2008 by David Miliband  |  Comments[1]

Land of Opportunity?

Not China itself, but the Chinese view of Africa.  They don't use 'make poverty history' preferring a different mindset. They call it more positive, less about deficits and more about progress.

The suspicions are well known - about exploiting energy resources.  But African governments I met in Beijing were clear that Chinese investment in Africa (which totalled over $6 billion in 2005) was good for at least two reasons.  First, it is directed towards infrastructure that has traditionally been neglected by project focussed Western aid donors.  Second, it offers choice and contestibility for donee countries.

For the best governments in Africa, Chinese investments, with few strings attached, are a blessing.  But what about those who use the absence of strings to feather their own nests not those of their people?  The best answer at my seminar came in the form of an enhanced AU role - as it has shown in Kenya, it is in the best position to drive African progress on governance issues.  Then the joining up of Western and Chinese aid can actually deliver for the people who matter on the ground.

Posted at 16:51 03 March 2008 by David Miliband  |  Comments[1]

China Travels

Irony of the day; Tuesday:

Long exegesis from representatives of the Communist Party about the lessons of the City of London's big bang and the importance of deregulation.

Irony of the day: Wednesday:

Magnificent car to take us from the airport to the stunning Olympic site and the "water cube", designed by Arup as a translucent energy efficient water sports centre - and the car was a Cadillac.

Wake up at the Wall:

The Great Wall has served over the centuries to try and keep the World out of China - so there is symbolism in meeting for dinner with the Chinese Foreign Minister at the "Commune Hotel" at the Wall. We are about to go for a walk on the Wall itself.

Posted at 02:47 28 February 2008 by David Miliband  |  Comments[26]

HONG KONG: DON'T LOOK BACK

The word "handover" carries such negative connotations that I sometimes think it should be phased out in discussions of Hong Kong. "Handover" sounds much like surrender or sell-out. The ex-British colony is not looking back. On the basis of 24 hours there, Hong Kong is not rose-tinted about the future. There are big questions about the form of universal suffrage to be adopted (see below), and about the impact of global economic shocks. But the goal of being Asia's financial capital is clear, and the strengths of the province are very strong. Certainly stronger than ten or five years ago, even if doubts have not been banished.

Ten years ago the talk was of defence against and insulation from China. Today the focus is on engagement - not as a bridge but as an "integrator", above all an integrator of Hong Kong's finance with Chinese ideas and people. An Asian time-zone version of our own ambitions.

HONG KONG: NEXT STEPS TO SUFFRAGE

The Hong Kong Basic Law contains the "ultimate aim" of universal suffrage. On 29 December this was ruled out for the 2012 Chief Executive elections but ruled in for 2017, and the 2020 Legislative Council elections in 2020). The delay is disappointing (see my comments on Hong Kong Elections) but the commitment from the Chinese Government is very important. The next steps are to see it through: it will be the ally of long-term confidence and stability.

FACT OF THE DAY: AIR CONDITIONING

The air conditioners bought in China in 2008 will use all the energy produced by the Three Gorges Dam. Oh no.

Posted at 17:57 25 February 2008 by David Miliband  |  Comments[12]

Don't forget political parties

Alina Menocal has written an interesting blog (blogs.odi.org.uk) about how to promote democratic accountability. She makes an especially relevant point given the travails in Kenya and Bangladesh and the relative success in Pakistan of this week's elections about political parties. She rightly upbraids me for not mentioning them in my ASSK speech. There is an important role here for the International Parliamentary Union which has a new chair of its British branch Roger Berry MP as well as for the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association and the Westminster Foundation for Democracy which the FCO funds.

Look East, Young Man

Today I head to China - specifically Hong Kong, Shanghai, Chongqing and Beijing. I am immensely looking forward to my visit, which I expect to be instructive, thought-provoking and inspiring in equal measure. I will follow up the Prime Minister's highly successful visit to Beijing in January, and have the time to see how Chinese engagement with globalization is changing the face of the world's largest country. My aims are simple: to try to understand the country better, to compare notes on the challenges of equality, security and sustainability in our two countries, and to forge relationships that foster Anglo-Chinese cooperation at an international level in the pursuit of shared goals.

Change within China in the last thirty years is remarkable. Chinese resilience, adaptability and innovation equally so. Their contribution to the global drive against poverty ditto. And their part in the great global surge of technological as well as economic and social progress stunning. One small example but also telling example: this month China is expected to become the most wired nation on earth, with over 215 million internet users. The world's most popular blog ("Lao Xu") is Chinese. So the progress is large. But so is the potential: only the internet penetration rate is still only 16%. And of course access to the internet is not fully open.

I will take some time to try to get a sense of the economic and social forces at work within China. I will also discuss political forces. President Hu mentioned democracy 62 times in his Party Congress speech. This is important and needs to be understood. From a British perspective democratic accountability and individual rights are a bulwark for stability in a political system; they provide vents for concern within the system rather than forcing people to turn outside it. So I will want to discuss with Chinese hosts how they see political development and the place of individual political and civil rights within their system.

But with Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and in other meetings I will also want to engage with Chinese hosts about China's role on the world stage: its relations with Europe, its vision for development in Africa, how it sees its own region, and its view of the development of the international system. China's growing strength brings clear responsibilities; expectations will inevitably rise; and in our own country and countries like ours, including the USA, the commitment to openness and engagement with China will need to carry public opinion that is buffeted by pressures of global change itself, and sees the responsibilities of globalization as critical to the enjoyment of its rights.

I do not support an Olympic boycott. I do support engagement with China on the need to work together internationally to nurture the potential gains of globalization. China depends on that cooperation; so do we.

Posted at 12:15 23 February 2008 by David Miliband  |  Comments[13]