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This perpetual “Threats from China” monologue is utterly ridiculous and grounded in something nasty. Leaving aside the likes of British Defence Secretary @GavinWilliamson who won’t be happy until he starts a war with China, there is a vogue for constructing an economic threat.
To me, this is incredibly lazy thinking and it is worrying hearing it being espoused by thought leaders. The Governor of the Bank of England has just delivered a speech about the ‘threat’.
Of course, it fits a convenient narrative of having an “enemy” to blame which seems important in the current political landscape but what if we decided to think differently? What is we told the political leaders that it’s lazy and destructive and we changed the narrative?
Ask yourself this - what would be the benefit for China to destroy its markets? The reality (and one which China understands full well) is that it is in China’s best interests for its markets to thrive. For trade to be fluid. Partnership is good. Everyone wins.
Near where I live, in Finistère, the @BrestBS recently partnered with the respected Chinese education provider, Weidong Cloud Education. The education sector is an area where collaboration is vital and Weidong obviously saw value in this relationship.
Who wins? Or, more accurately, where is the threat? More opportunities for Chinese students to study business in one of the world’s largest markets + more opportunities for French students to study business in one of the world’s largest markets. Fantastic!
Here, @Dai_SHEN_Edu is leading a collaborative effort that will benefit China and France and other partners too. Understanding leads to more collaborative work which means better opportunities - business, social and pretty much in every other way. There is no downside.
I have lost count of the number of different nationalities that I have lectured to at @Grenoble_EM over the past few years. We have used that opportunity to learn from each other. We explore how to trade across borders & cultures. It is a glorious thing to do. Real win/win stuff.
I literally cannot understand this Chinese threat narrative. We don’t need blame, we don’t need fear. We need understanding and collaboration. We need to stop inventing threats and we need to stop pretending China is out to get us. We can change the narrative.
