The China miracle: human capital made it possible

An old Confucian saying likens a leader to a boat and the people to water. Water can both support and topple the boat. Mao modified the thought further to underscore the importance of citizens. The communist party is like fish and people are like water, and fish cannot live without water.

This underlines the primacy of the bond between the state and the people; an unflinching belief in people's power and the top leadership's affection for them. While pursuing development, the state accorded high priority to human resource development to convert the huge population into a real advantage for the country.

In the 1960s and 1970s, Pakistan's per capita was actually higher than China's but it lagged far behind in health and education indicators.

As the economy opened up to foreign investment, foreign firms began trickling in for cheaper and voluminous production. German companies like Volkswagen and Audi were the earliest car producers to go to China. And with their cooperation, the Chinese set up technical and vocational education centres.

And look where the Chinese automobile or aviation industry stand today.

They also took loans from ADB and the World Bank for that purpose but then went on to develop their own financial muscle for upgradation and further development through the extensive network of technical vocational education centres across the country.

China's Robotaxi industry is surging ahead, with firms like WeRide benefiting from the country's booming EV sector and cheap, scalable tech.

While US companies like Waymo expand, others struggle - GM killed Cruise after spending $10 billion. Meanwhile, China's Baidu and Pony AI are adding thousands of autonomous vehicles.

It signifies the quest to excel when others are dismissive and look down upon you. This stems from China's national spirit and the insatiable love to experiment, learn to be on their own - the urge to be independent of external influences. Once they see something is working, then they would build on and take it all across the country.

They still remember what Chairman Mao told them over seven decades ago - the path to progress will be fraught with thorns but keep marching regardless of how difficult the path may be.

Most Chinese reflect what their great philosopher Confucius had said thousands of years ago - never tire of learning and never tire of teaching others. "And that is something which you see when you live in China," a friend Hamid Sharif told me while recalling his ten years of professional life in China.

On several occasions, whenever I would get into a taxi, the driver would either be listening to something quite technical or a classic sort of a play, and very rarely would it be some idle music. It was quite a fascinating experience indeed in sharp contrast to South Asia, where I never found officials as keen to learn as those in China. Officials in South Asia, on the contrary, are hardly ready to learn or embrace new ideas once they have covered a good part of their bureaucratic journey.

Humility is another hallmark of the Chinese society. However highly placed, officials are always eager to learn and teach. And they're very humble about the learning - ready to sit with anybody as long as they can learn. Their quest for learning is boundless - a tremendous feature of the Chinese society that is manifest in literature, art, architecture, industry, etc.

Sharif recalls how during his ten years in Beijing, he saw young Chinese innovate, invent and excel in all fields. The WeChat, for example, combines WhatsApp, a payment system, a video system, all rolled into one. And similarly, the breakthroughs in artificial intelligence in China, electric, electrical vehicles, the battery technology.

I think, certainly, if you look historically, China has never been a colonial power but saw itself as a prosperous and advanced civilisation compared to others. And it wanted the recognition of that. This recognition has come about in this century and that too with a bang.

China historically sees trade as a way to advance links with other countries and that is what leads to peace, the Chinese believe. And hence notions such as shared destiny, win-win for all, collaborative framework, etc. It never was a colonial power and that is why only a Chinese leader such as Xi Jinping could have come up with the idea of Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) which centres on trade connectivity.

This, of course, stems from the Chinese interest in and the need for markets abroad but based on the idea of "sharing the dividends of prosperity" with neighbours - rooted essentially in the collaborative spirit than in confrontationist and coercive policies. BRI has created markets for China but has opened itself up for being a market to others - a win-win situation for all.

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is yet another example of the collaborative spirit rooted in the Confucian thought and a reflection of President Xi Jinping's vision for modernisation of China. The Bank began operations in Beijing in 2016 and has since grown to 110 approved members worldwide.

As US President Donald Trump has begun his second term with fresh wave of protectionist measures, including tariffs to incentivise domestic investment and production, China has not only responded with its own tariffs on US exports but also decided to further liberalise the economy for foreign investors. President Xi also seems determined to pursue his visionary concepts such as Global Development Initiative (GDI) and the Global Security Initiative (GSI) as part of the Chinese drive for a prosperous, peaceful and safer world.