During a visit to South Africa, Chinese economist and friend of the Schiller Institute Zhang Weiwei gave an interview to former Sunday Times editor S’thembiso Msomi, which Peter Navarro should read, but won’t. The topic was China’s Global Governance Initiative. He also makes reference to his work in Berlin, presumably with the Schiller Institute. Some provocative quotes are below:
Zhang: “[A]s far as China is concerned, we think the Western discourse or narrative on good governance, on democracy is faulty. So from Chinese success and China’s clearance, we think we have to redefine what constitutes democracy and what constitutes good governance. So my approach is a kind of paradigm shift for those who are familiar with Western political discourse. Basically, we think democracy should focus more on its substance….
“So democracy in the West today has been defined as multiparty system, one person one vote, universal suffrage. These are procedures, we think to what extent they should serve the overall purpose. For us, what’s the good governance, the government should deliver for the interests of the people, we say there should be overall balance between political power, social power, and capital power in favor of the vast majority of the population. That’s good purpose. U.S. is a typical case of minority rule, so called democracy, yet serving 1% even less. As a result, you have a Donald Trump. A happy country doesn’t produce Donald Trump as a leader.”
In response to what he was doing in South Africa:
