‘… the result is the China of today, not free of difficulties, true, but one that is richer and more powerful than anyone 50 years ago could have imagined.’
AS the world struggles to emerge from the ravages of an economic slowdown caused by a global pandemic and a regional conflict, the Philippines finds itself struggling as well at an opportune moment — a change in administration. Such a change gives the Philippines a unique opportunity to continue — or break — from the past, in an effort to grab hold of the future.
This is not the first time that the Philippines is in such a position: the end of World War II was similar, with most nations of the world devastated by conflict and most major economies of the world, save one, needing to reboot.
But the mid-1940s also was an era where economies were less interconnected as they are today, so that it was possible for some countries to be islands of strength amid a struggling world, as the low level of interconnection served to isolate some economies from the hardships of others.
Not so in 2022. Today, there is hardly an island unaffected among the world’s countries, North Korea perhaps being the only but debatable exception.
This has made me recall another country that had to shake off a troubled past and march headstrong into a new but challenging future. China, after the death of Mao Zedong in September 1976, was a giant struggling to remain standing, wracked by internal political divisions that clouded its view of how to prepare for the new world it was emerging into.
It took Deng Xiao Ping to identify his “Four Modernizations” and soon China was on its way.
The Four Modernizations called for a strong focus on agriculture — you had to feed a billion people; industry — you had to employ a billion people; defense —you had to protect a billion people; and science and technology — you had to bring a billion people into the 20th Century.
It was not easy to convert them into official policy — there was a strong conservative faction within the Communist Party of China — but Deng knew that China had no choice.
And so, from his informal position as “paramount leader,” his grip on the military firm as chairman of the Central Military Commission, Deng steered the lumbering ship of state towards a new direction and the result is the China of today, not free of difficulties, true, but one that is richer and more powerful than anyone 50 years ago could have imagined.
Should the Philippines also have its own version of the Four Modernizations?
