Blair hails Chinese Stalinists as proponents of the "Third Way"
By Chris Talbot
World Socialist Workers
wsws.org
13 October, 1998
British Prime Minister Tony Blair has used his visit to China to extend his
backing to the crisis-ridden Beijing regime. Delighting the Stalinist leaders,
he suggested in a TV interview that they were allies in the search for a
"Third Way".
"The battle between extreme forms of socialism, extreme forms of
capitalism, that marked the twentieth century, I think that is over," said
Blair. "I think that fundamentalist ideology has gone. Instead what all
countries are trying to do is to find a way of combining a dynamic market
economy with a strong sense of social provision and national unity and
purpose."
This is only the latest in a series of overtures by political leaders, including
US President Clinton and French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, who earlier
said China was "on the path to freedom". Beijing did formally adopt the
UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights the day before
Blair arrived, but this spate of international diplomacy has not been
sparked by any turn to "democracy" by the Chinese regime. Thousands of
workers, students and other dissidents still languish in prison a decade after
the Tiananmen Square massacre. The government still rules with a rod of
iron, with executions a daily occurrence.
The major powers want to ensure Beijing continues its pro-market
economic policies. This means providing a huge pool of cheap labour
investment for transnational corporations, privatising the state sector and
not following the other South East Asia countries in a currency devaluation.
Britain is particularly concerned over the future of the Hong Kong dollar in
the aftermath of last year's takeover of the former colony. As the
Financial Times put it in an editorial September 30, fearful of the growing
(illegal) flight of capital from China, "devaluation could set off another
round of emerging-market crises" in Asia. Devaluation would "destroy the
stock of political goodwill China has garnered from its strong stance."
Blair excelled in praising his hosts. Speaking of a new "comprehensive
partnership", he said, "China has followed responsible and coherent
economic policies.... The importance this has played in underwriting
stability in the region cannot be underestimated." In an article written in the
People's Daily, Blair called for a relationship which "looks forward not
back", putting aside the recent wrangles over Hong Kong. Beijing has
placed no restrictions on Hong Kong's role as a centre of capitalist finance
and trade. Rather it has, according to Blair, "become a bridge between our
two countries rather than a barrier that divides us."
Moralising on human rights issues was placed on the back shelf. Blair's
official spokesman said that change will not be achieved by "table
thumping, hectoring and grandstanding, but through dialogue." The extent
to which Blair kept to this "softly, softly" approach surprised many
commentators. He remained silent when Prime Minister Zhu Rongi publicly
told him: "You can feel free to talk about anything.... Nothing will offend
us." When a leading dissident, Xu Wenli, was arrested after giving
interviews to the British media urging Blair to press China on civil liberties,
the response was a discrete request to officials for his release. Xu was
released later the same day.
Whilst Blair was speaking to Prime Minister Zhu, events elsewhere
revealed the instability gripping China. This week's collapse of the
Guangdong International Trust and Investment Corporation (Gitic), a
major financial institution in China's richest and most business-oriented
province, is a devastating blow to the country's financial system. Unable to
pay its debts it was bailed out with billions of dollars by the People's Bank
of China. There are fears that several other institutions and banks also face
collapse. Meanwhile in Hong Kong, 13,800 Telecom workers have been
protesting for four days over a proposed 10 percent pay cut. Recession in
the province threatens the livelihood of millions. Unemployment has
reached a record 5 percent, in a system with no welfare benefits.
UK investment in China is second only to that of the United States, and
Blair spelled out its importance to British capital: "You'll have a market in
China about three or four times the size of the European Union.... I want
Britain to be China's number one friend in Europe." Blair was accompanied
by a delegation of 20 top businessmen, but due to the deepening economic
crisis the only deals announced were National Power's £120 million
investment in a coal-fired power station, £15 million in two water projects
and a £30 million investment by the pharmaceuticals corporation
SmithKline Beecham. Blair claimed, however, that investment and
contracts worth more than £3 billion were in the pipeline. On his visit to
Shanghai he took part in the opening of the first British insurance firm to be
granted a licence to operate in China, the Royal and Sun Alliance.
Blair underscored the Labour government's dedication to building relations
with China by appointing the former Tory deputy prime minister Michael
Heseltine in charge of a new China-Britain Business Council, declaring he
was the "right man for the job". The appointment was made on the
suggestion of Sir Charles Powell, a former foreign policy adviser to
Margaret Thatcher who accompanied Blair on his trip. Powell, the brother
of Blair's chief of staff, is a key figure in British operations in China and is a
director of the Hong Kong-based company, Jardine Matheson.
Despite his attempts to defend Britain's strategic interests in China,
however, Blair's trip was not well received by his supporters in the media.
Expressing the concerns of finance capital, Financial Times writer Philip
Stevens cautioned against the wisdom of cosying up to the Beijing regime.
Pointing out that this may damage British imperialism's long-term interests
in the region, he wrote: "The real risk for the west is that a system built on
crony capitalism and political repression could well collapse into chaos.
Don't kowtow too much Mr Blair."
The Guardian and other pro-Labour newspapers concentrated more on
voicing their concern over the political fallout that could result from such
uncritical support for the Chinese regime. After all, his open adulation of a
bureaucratic regime that has brutally suppressed the working class for 50
years casts a revealing light on the character of the "Third Way" in Britain
itself. His comments illustrate the political realities that lay behind the
constant invocations of the need for "strong government" and to use the
"state as an enabling force".
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