West must recognize its hypocrisy – 7/11/2023 – Martin Wolf

We have entered an era of global competition tempered by the need to cooperate and the fear of conflict. The protagonists are the United States and its allies, on the one hand, and China and Russia, on the other. However, the rest of the world matters too. It contains two-thirds of the global population and several rising powers, most notably India, now the most populous country in the world.

However, relations between the US and China are clearly central. Fortunately, the US government has been trying to reduce friction, most recently with visits to Beijing by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.

Yellen’s goal was, she said, to “establish and deepen relationships” with the new economic leadership team in Beijing. She emphasized that this was part of an effort to stabilize the relationship, reduce the risk of misunderstandings and consider areas for cooperation. He added that “there is an important distinction between decoupling on the one hand and diversifying critical supply chains or taking measures aimed at national security on the other. We know that a decoupling of the world’s two largest economies would be disastrous for both countries and destabilizing to the world. And it would be virtually impossible to do”.

This effort to clarify objectives, improve transparency and deepen relationships is to be applauded. We must not stumble into hostilities with China as we did with Russia. Better yet, we need to make this relationship work in the best interest of the world. However, the West’s concerns should not be limited to relations with China. Better relations with the rest of the world are also important. This requires the West to recognize its own ambiguous standards and hypocrisy.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was a terrible violation of fundamental moral and legal principles. Many in developing countries also recognize this. But they also remember the long history of Western countries as imperialists and invaders. Nor do they fail to notice that we care much more about our European colleagues than about others. All too often, we have seen serious violations of human rights and international law. Too often we consider such injustices to be none of our business. Many feel that Ukraine is not their problem.

Then there is the trade. In a key speech in April, Jake Sullivan, the US national security adviser, repudiated the trade order his country took decades to build. More recently, US Trade Representative Katherine Tai buried her. Her speech raises many questions. However, what cannot be ignored is the very fact of the reversal. Many in developing countries have embraced the doctrine of open trade. Many of them prospered as a result. Now they fear being left out.

Another important issue is international assistance. Developing countries have been hit by a series of shocks for which they were not responsible: Covid, the subsequent sharp rise in inflation, the invasion of Ukraine, the jump in energy and food prices and then interest rates. taller. The assistance they received during this era of shocks was wholly inadequate. The legacy of Covid for young people, along with excessive debt, can even create wasted decades.

This issue of development aid is linked to the climate challenge. As everyone in the developing world knows, the reason the climate problem is urgent today is historical emissions from high-income countries. The latter were able to use the atmosphere as a drain, whereas today’s developing countries cannot. Today, we tell them that they must follow a path of development very different from ours. Needless to say, this is infuriating. However, now emissions must be drastically reduced. This requires a global effort, including in many emerging and developing countries. Have we made progress in this task, in reality and not rhetorically? The answer is no”. Emissions have not decreased at all.

If emissions are to decline rapidly, while emerging and developing countries still deliver the prosperity their populations demand, there must be a large flow of resources to them, including to fund climate mitigation and necessary adaptation to higher temperatures. In 2021, net official loan transfers to emerging and developing countries were just $38 billion. Donations were larger, but with a more restricted focus.

That doesn’t come close to enough. There must be more aid, debt relief, support for climate-related investments and new mechanisms to generate the necessary resources, such as the proposal that countries with above-average per capita emissions compensate those with below-average emissions. Capital increases for multilateral banks are also vital.

High-income democracies are not providing adequate help with this long-term task, as they did with Covid. In the case of climate, they fail to see our responsibility to manage a problem that the world’s poor did not create. This seems unfair, just because it evidently is.

We are in a competition of systems. I hope democracy and individual freedom finally win. In the long run, they have a good chance. However, we must also remember the threats we face today to peace, prosperity and the planet. Dealing with these will require deep engagement with China. But if the West is to have the influence it expects, it must realize that its claims to moral superiority are neither airtight nor uncontested. Many in our world view Western powers as selfish, presumptuous, and hypocritical. They are not entirely wrong. We must do much better.

_{Translated by Luiz Roberto M. Gonçalves}

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