by Yin Wenshi
BEIJING, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- Browsing news journals across the world nowadays, one can occasionally come across pundits predicting the arrival of the G-2 era, in which China and the United States presumably co-govern the world.
It is highly ironic that in some of those same media, talks not long ago were that China would soon implode due to its inner problems while the United States would continue to dominate the world for any foreseeable future.
Indeed, the rapid and steady growth of China's economy in the past three decades -- averaging 9.8 percent annually -- and especially its resilience in the face of recession in many parts of the world have won it recognition and respect, even from former skeptics.
The United States has meanwhile seen its global influence on the wane as it is struggling to pull through the most severe financial crisis since the 1930s as well as the quagmires in Iraq and Afghanistan.
With its strength growing, China is increasingly pro-active on world affairs, ranging from hosting the six-party talks on the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula, to taking part in peacekeeping missions and substantially aiding African nations.
However, despite its eminence on the world stage, China does not endorse the concept of G-2, as Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao told visiting U.S. President Barack Obama this week. And for good reason.
First, China is still a developing country in nature. While the rising skylines of its metropolitan areas dazzle many visitors, China has vast rural regions striving to rise from underdevelopment. Its GDP, though impressively catching up with those of the most developed countries, is only a third of that of the United States and, calculated in per capita GDP, China ranked a miserable 106th worldwide in 2008. Therefore, China still has a long way to go before being on an equal economic footing with the United States.
Secondly, the world should not be ruled by a handful of powerful states. China has all along called for decisions on world issues to be taken by all nations concerned, whether they are rich or poor, large or small. In reality, as the world turns multi-polar and diversified, the mechanism of solving the world's problems by one superpower or a couple of powers is obsolete.
Thirdly, China is guided by its own fundamental principles. Those who coined the G-2 notion may have thought otherwise if they take a closer look at China's independent, peaceful foreign policy, which rules out alliance with any other country.
The perceived G-2 is also misleading when it comes to burden-sharing on particular issues. Take climate change for example. The United States as the largest developed country and China as the largest developing country bear "common but differentiated responsibilities," as envisioned in the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, produced in Rio de Janeiro in 1992.
There is no doubt that closer cooperation between China and the United States will exert a unique positive impact on world affairs, facilitating the solution of various problems plaguing mankind.
Nevertheless, the seemingly harmonious appeal for co-governance of the world by China and the United States will turn out to be harmful and does no good to them as well as the rest of the world.
