Shanghai by heart

We live in spite of history, not because of it. Nothing at birth can equip us for a past so full of suffering and in which we had no agency. When we are born, we are given an identity, and we have to live and die by it. And despite our incredible flaws, we mortals, bless us, do a decent job of protecting this identity. But this should not misguide us. Behind each identity is a beating human heart, full of the same aspirations and fears as you or I.

History is basically to learn from human follies. And this is where human agency comes into action. You can choose to mimic your oppressors, or you can have a clean break and a fresh start. India and Israel chose the former. In Israel's ongoing genocide and an Indian owning today's East India Company, it shows. China, however, deserves all the credit for choosing the latter course of action and accomplishing a lot in doing so.

Shanghai is one place where you can see civilisation breaking the shackles of history and progressing at a breakneck speed. In its breathtaking skyline, you find the legacy of the international settlement, an entity formed by the merger of the British and American concessions, though not limited to them. The mark of other foreign forces, Japan, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Peru, Mexico and Switzerland, is also preserved in the buildings left behind, as is that of the French concession.

Then you come across the newly built skyscrapers. The infrastructure shrugs and moves past the colonial legacy as if it amounts to nothing. For a nation with five thousand years of recorded history, which still has a long way to go, a century of colonial oppression is just a flash in the pan. What a pleasant rebuke to the oppressors.

The message is clear: we see the scar you gave us, but we will not let it define us. In conversations, one rarely comes across any mention of that tragic past. This stands in striking contrast to how such scars surface in every second sentence of a conversation in, say, New Delhi or Mumbai.

I spent four days in Shanghai this week, and it was a beautiful experience. When you go to such a big, developed and fast-paced city, which can give any modern city a run for its money, you usually do not expect warmth or hospitality. Who has the time for an individual? But if that was the expectation, it was soon proven wrong.

From our incredible hosts, about whom more will follow shortly, to the staff at the hotel and restaurants, to ordinary cab drivers and shopkeepers with whom one could haggle infinitely, I found everyone brimming with kindness, affection and warmth. It was something I could easily get used to. My Pakistani identity could be one of the reasons. But then in the hotel lobby and meetings, I came across many other nationalities with similar stories.

This was a busy week for China. First, the SCO summit in Tianjin and then the spectacular display of national power in the parade to mark the anniversary of the end of World War II. Our business in Shanghai was slightly different from these two events. I accompanied a delegation of the Institute of Strategic Studies, Islamabad, led by its Director General, Ambassador Sohail Mahmood. Other than myself, the delegation included Ambassador Masood Khalid, Vice Admiral (retired) Ahmed Saeed, Dr Talat Shabbir, Dr Salma Malik and Asadullah Khan.

I mention them all to point out that if anyone was likely out of their depth in this company, it was me. Yet it speaks highly of the delegates' forbearance that this was never pointed out. I was one with the team.

The Shanghai Institutes of International Studies, our hosts in China, left no stone unturned in hospitality. Its president, Dr Chen Dongxiao, had only kind words for Pakistan and other South Asian countries. This brings us to the purpose of our visit: a high-level interaction between think tanks of China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and the Maldives.

As was noted by our hosts, global and regional challenges keep mounting, and the development deficit of South Asia keeps increasing. There should be an initiative to share the fruits of development and better governance among South Asian countries. It must be noted here that, for all practical purposes, China is now part of South Asia.

Of course, a framework exists to do that in South Asia. While it was still active, SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) was moving towards becoming a bridge between all these countries. However, in its remarkable haste to redefine foreign policy after its own image, the Modi government let it sink into a deep coma.

Meanwhile, its proposed alternative, BIMSTEC (the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation), despite its ambitious title, could not take off. This left the region without a connective tissue. If the idea was that Adani or Ambanis could pick up the pieces, it had its own limitations. The new multilateral initiative does not aim to bypass India. It simply wishes to keep going, even if India does not come to its senses.

In other words, the door is always open for India to join. But despite the international media spin about the West losing Modi to China, I saw little change of heart in New Delhi's behaviour.

Nevertheless, connecting with some of these countries' brightest public intellectuals was an excellent opportunity. I learned a lot about each country's developmental challenges and experience with its peculiar regional political economy.

In addition to this forum, we had many bilateral interactions, the scope of which goes beyond this piece. Suffice it to say that whosoever came up with the idea of China's containment did not think it through. China has arrived.

For India, which has not, there is cautious optimism. For Pakistan, there is love, affection and rock-hard solidarity. And while I looked carefully, I could not find any malice for America or the West. There were only apprehensions and concerns about the attempts to oppose China's peaceful rise. There is nothing that cannot be overcome by a formal meeting between President Xi and President Trump.

If an average American can shake off the Western media and pundit class's propaganda about the allegedly irreconcilable systems, he or she may find America's own image in this great nation. Despite their different paths, both overcame foreign repression and forged paths independent of their oppressors. Both kept improving upon their experiments and are busy bettering the lives of their constituents in accordance with their worldview.

My fondness for the Chinese people has only grown because of the love they gave me. For this, my heart will always remain in debt.