Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka toured a border county in southwest China's Yunnan Province on Tuesday and hailed the eye-opening scale of China's rural development efforts, saying he hopes to deepen cooperation with the country in the future.
Rabuka's trip to rural Yunnan comes as part of an extensive 10-day official visit to China from Aug 12 to 21, during which ties between the two sides are set to be strengthened.
On Tuesday afternoon, Rabuka arrived in Yunnan's Malipo, a county sitting on the China-Vietnam border. There he toured two villages - Ping'anpo and Nanyou - where he learned how rural revitalization is taking place, in terms of agricultural development, education, and the protection of ethnic culture.
The Fijian prime minister was impressed by how these remote villages have undergone tremendous changes in such a short period of time, and said that as his own country is also dedicated to reducing poverty, Malipo's approach to rural development could serve as an inspiring model.
"For me, it's an eye opener in the sense that we thought we were doing our poverty alleviation and regional, rural and outer island development programs well. But when you look at the scale and the leaps and bounds that China has taken over the same period, it's really amazing," he said.
Fiji was the first Pacific Island nation to establish diplomatic ties with China back in 1975 and over the past five decades the two countries have witnessed close exchanges across various fields.
Looking ahead, Rabuka said he expects more collaboration with China under the Belt and Road Initiative, and also singled out the success of China's booming e-commerce sector as another area from which Fiji can learn from. He said hopes to advance more in terms of improving digital infrastructure and leave behind a future legacy in his country.
"I believe [China is] well into e-commerce, which we are lagging way, way behind - not only by Chinese standards, but also internationally. Those are the areas that I feel we can really do a lot in, in the next two years that's left for my government until we get to the election. But we must do something to start the ball rolling and point the nation in the right direction for future governments to follow suit," he said.
Fijian PM hopes to learn from China's "eye-opening" rural development efforts
Fijian PM hopes to learn from China's "eye-opening" rural development efforts
Fijian PM hopes to learn from China's "eye-opening" rural development efforts
Fijian PM hopes to learn from China's "eye-opening" rural development efforts
The universal "reciprocal tariffs" imposed by the United States signals a decline in the U.S. economic dominance and dollar hegemony, as the country is attempting to extract excessive financial benefits from its trading partners, according to economists, who warn the Trump administration is playing a "dangerous game".
U.S. President Donald Trump last week signed an executive order on the so-called "reciprocal tariffs," imposing a 10-percent "minimum baseline tariff" before unveiling higher rates on certain trading partners. The policy sent shockwaves throughout the global economy and triggered panic on financial markets, with analysts warning of significant risks and dire economic consequences.
In an interview with the China Global Television Network (CGTN), Hong Hao, chief economist of the GROW Investment Group, a Shanghai-based hedge fund, said the tariffs reflect Trump's strategy to extract economic benefits from trading partners, particularly viewing China as a significant competitor. "Trump really believes that the trade terms with the trading partners have been unfair to the U.S., and as a result, the U.S. manufacturing sector has been hollowed out. Therefore, the U.S. is paying an excessive price for globalization, and now, it's time to pay back. I think, from this angle, he is trying to extract economic rent from its trading partners, and also he is trying to see China as one of the major U.S. rivals at this juncture. So, I think, as a result, he is playing a very dangerous game. And, as you can see, it's political theater in the sense that he is trying to dramatize the extreme pressure, so that he can get excessive rent from the opponent," he said
Trump's unilateral imposition of tariffs has eroded global confidence in the U.S. and its dollar's status, leading many to state that the American hegemony may not persist, according to Josef Gregory Mahoney, a professor of politics and international relations at East China Normal University.
"The U.S. economy is at an inflection point. There is a moment where the previous strategies being used to sustain American hegemony were no longer working. And, it's only a matter of time before the U.S. position erodes, given the fact that it's been a house of cards built on the dollar supremacy. And a lot of people don't see that as having a brighter future. This has moved past the theater stage and has moved really directly into one in which no one really has confidence in the U.S. anymore. No one has confidence in the dollar. No one has confidence in the U.S. being committed to the multilateral system, to global trade and so forth and so on," he said.
Trump playing "dangerous game" as tariff measures signal decline in U.S. dollar hegemony: economists
