riding crop with sharp spines (old)划：王璞 主笔：赖明明 周友刚

Since the Age of Sail, with the development of capitalism in Europe, foreign trade has developed rapidly along with capitalism and has become the main link between countries in modern times. Free trade is one of the engines of economic development, as it promotes a more efficient allocation of global resources, thereby enhancing overall global welfare.

However, free trade has always been a "twin" of trade protection. Thirteen years before the publication of The Wealth of Nations, in 1776, Britain had crushed the naval power of the Dutch and French to become the new maritime power and the advocate of Free Trade 1.0. As the Wealth of Nations that pronounced the death sentence for mercantilism, Adam? Smith emphasized the combination of free economy and free trade. The opposite view to free trade is trade protectionism. Protectionism originated from the German economist Friedmansch? Lister. However, the protectionism advocated by Liszt was essentially conditional free trade, not closed-door trade. Lister advocated the protection of infant industries at the early stage of economic development and the introduction of free trade after the infant industries had grown and developed. With Bismarck's iron-blooded policy for Germany's modern industrial growth and development of modern Germany's foreign trade strategy to choose is trade protectionism, is relative trade protectionism, rather than absolute closed-door self-defense.

the Age of Sail

At present, global connectivity brings great convenience and an open economy enriches life. Scientific and technological innovation and the spread of the humanistic spirit have enabled more people to open up new wisdom through modern technology, and the cultures of different peoples to communicate more widely and deeply. Such a society will be more stable, the environment will be greener, and development will be more sustainable. However, while the theory is rich, the reality is bone dry.The "persistent" problems of poverty, employment, health, education and the environment in some parts of the world have led people to blame economic globalization.

In fact, globalization is not to blame for these problems, but the need for a change in the way globalization is carried out is therefore on the agenda.

If globalization, which has been characterized mainly by free trade since the age of sail, belongs to version 1.0, then.In view of the current problems of poverty, employment, health care, education and the environment in some parts of the world, finding a development path that essentially eliminates poverty is the main task of globalization 2.0.

There are two main features of Globalization 2.0:First, it is resolutely opposed to trade protectionism and closed doors; secondly, it is resolutely opposed to empty talk about development and abstract freedom, and has never advocated combining the promotion of globalization with the elimination of the North-South gap and the eradication of absolute impoverishment, stressing that globalization should benefit all corners of the world. Globalization is a multi-win option, and it is inevitably aimed at a multi-win outcome.

In the process of globalization moving towards version 2.0, the Chinese proposal of "One Belt, One Road" as the main development idea and holding high the banner of free trade fully embodies the Chinese cultural self-confidence and the positive energy of peace, cosmopolitanism, harmony and win-win situation that the peace-loving Chinese nation conveys to the world.

Promoting globalization requires adherence to free trade

In 1453, the Ottoman Empire captured Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire, and monopolized the land route for free trade between the East and the West, thus interrupting the direct trade between Europe and Asia. 1492, Italian Christopher Columbus started his voyage to China and India in order to search for a direct sea trade route from Europe to Asia with the support of the book "Marco Polo's Travels", which is a collection of books about China. -Marco Polo's Travels, with the support of Queen Isabella of Spain, he began a voyage to search for China and India. It can be said that the 1.0 version of globalization began under the impulse of the West to search for China. Today, China has come to the center of the world stage, taking up the banner of free trade again and leading the 2.0 version of globalization, perhaps it is the providence of the underworld.

Global economic development still needs to adhere to free trade.On August 1, 2016, the World Trade Organization released a report on World Trade Statistics.In 2015, the total volume of world trade doubled compared to 2005 to $42.4 trillion, of which the total import and export of trade in goods was $33.2 trillion and the total import and export of trade in services was $9.2 trillion, and the volume of trade increased by 2.7%, the pulling effect on the world economic growth should not be ignored. However, the G20 Trade and Investment Measures Report released by the World Trade Organization, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and UNCTAD in June 2016 shows that since the international financial crisis in 2008, G20 countries have taken more than 1,500 trade restrictive measures, of which from October 2015 to May 2016, G20 members have taken an average of up to 21 trade restrictive measures per month , it can be said that multiple industries or regions are currently overshadowed by trade protectionism.

Therefore, China holds high the banner of free trade and raised the important issue of "robust international trade and investment" at the G20 Hangzhou Summit, calling on the world to resolutely oppose protectionism in trade and investment, and urging the world to make effective use of multilateral and bilateral communication mechanisms, such as the World Trade Organization, to enhance understanding, broaden consensus, and strengthen deep understanding of the dangers of protectionism in world trade and investment. It also calls on the world to make effective use of multilateral and bilateral communication mechanisms such as the World Trade Organization to enhance understanding, broaden consensus and strengthen the deep understanding of the dangers of world trade protectionism.

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times".On the one hand, globalization has enabled all peoples of the world to be integrated into the global industrial layout and to enjoy a great deal of material wealth created by free trade, and science and technology, such as information technology, biotechnology, artificial intelligence, and the development of new energy sources, have enabled the world to face a better tomorrow; on the other hand, the world is also facing more difficult problems, such as the waves of refugees in the Middle East and North Africa that are impacting on the world order, and the lack of food, medical care, and other basic security in many families. On the other hand, the world is also facing more difficult problems, such as the flow of refugees from the Middle East and North Africa, the lack of food and medical care for many families, and the constant threat of international terrorism to the safety of people's lives and property.Free trade can enable all countries in the world to increase understanding, enhance consensus, analyze, discuss and reach consensus on solutions to problems in continuous communication, and incorporate people all over the world into the community of destiny for common development of mankind, such as the Paris Agreement reached by all countries of the world to solve the problem of global warming on December 12, 2015, which embodies that all countries have abandoned the mindset of "zero-sum game", and take more responsibility and share more to build a better tomorrow together. For example, the Paris Agreement reached by all countries in the world on December 12, 2015 to address the issue of global warming reflects that countries have abandoned the "zero-sum game" mode of thinking, and have taken on more responsibility and shared more to build a better tomorrow.

refugee tide

In 1921, Liang Shuming summarized Chinese, Western and Indian cultures as three different paths of life in East-West Culture and Its Philosophy:Western culture is the way to conquer and transform nature, Chinese culture is the fundamental spirit of the desire to reconcile itself and to hold the center, Indian culture is the fundamental spirit of the desire to turn backward and ask for the fundamental spirit of human culture will change from the Western attitude to the fundamental change of the Chinese attitude.Version 1.0 of globalization has created wealth for the world that has been difficult to reach for thousands of years, but it has also brought nightmares that frighten the world. The first nightmare is war, with 65 million people involved in the First World War, killing and injuring nearly 30 million people, and more than 2 billion people involved in the Second World War, killing and injuring 90 million people in the military and civilian population; the second nightmare is nuclear technology, with a total number of nuclear warheads in the world of 20,000, of which Russia and the United States have 95%, capable of destroying the earth dozens or even hundreds. Russia and the United States have 95% of them, capable of destroying the earth dozens or even hundreds of times. Doesn't the narrowness of Western civilization and the limitations of the 1.0 version of globalization deserve our deep reflection?

From ancient times to the present, the Chinese nation has been peace-loving, peace-seeking and peace-promoting, with almost no wars of aggression against foreign countries, no enslavement of other countries and peoples even when it was at its strongest, not to mention genocide similar to that which Europe did to the indigenous peoples of the Americas, and it has been actively involved in the benefit of mankind as a whole, disseminating advanced cultural concepts, modes of production, science and technology to the rest of the world. In the Middle Ages, China's four great inventions were introduced to Europe, namely, "papermaking, printing, gunpowder, and the compass", and the Europeans utilized papermaking and printing to carry out the Renaissance and religious reforms, thus opposing theocracy, developing the people's wisdom, and liberating people as individuals from ignorance and superstition; they also utilized the compass for sailing and voyaging, discovering the American continent, and establishing a new culture covering the American continent. They also made use of the compass to sail far and wide, discovered the American continent, established a free trade system covering the whole world, and led the 1.0 version of globalization; they also improved the gunpowder technology, and used the musket and artillery to establish the Western hegemony that made the world look at the side of the eye, and pushed forward the formation of Western-centrism, so it can be said that the Chinese civilization's contribution to the 1.0 version of globalization is enormous.

In April 2005, Thomas Friedman, in the first edition of The World is Flat: A Brief History of the 21st Century, argued that globalization was unstoppable, that the Internet, cell phones and open-source programs had made the process of globalization move forward rapidly, that the whole world was going to become flat, and that people could only embrace, not reject, these changes. The 2.0 version of globalization led by China will enable people all over the world to enjoy the opportunities brought about by free trade and enable the fruits of global economic development to be distributed more equitably among different countries and people, and the world will be more peaceful and tranquil.

Trade protectionism is at the root of China's decline

China declined precisely because it practiced trade protectionism and closed its doors to the rest of the world. China opened the Silk Road to the West during the Han and Tang dynasties, and people from all over the world came to China to engage in free trade. Different nationalities, races, religions, and civilizations came to China, and from then on, China developed the most inclusive "world culture", and created the "Han and Tang Dynasties" of Chinese civilization. China has since developed the most inclusive "world culture" and created the "Han and Tang Dynasties" of Chinese civilization. However, when Columbus was searching for China in 1500, the Chinese, despite having the most advanced navigation technology and the most developed national economy, did not search for the West, and at the same time resolutely opposed to free trade and closed the country to the West, so we inevitably declined.

When we look back to the 1500's, the inflection point in history, we wonder why China didn't go in search of the West. One of the reasons was the Chinese feudal system, theThe excessive power of the State has prevented China from developing an effective system for the protection of property rights, as well as a functioning legal system for mediating economic disputes. China's feudal society has two painful negative assets, one is authoritarianism, where imperial power is supreme and unchecked, "there is no one who is not a king under the sky, and there is no one who is not a king under the land", which makes it difficult for the concept of protection of private property rights to arise and develop, and even more difficult for efficient economic organizations to be created; the other is bureaucratic politics, where the power The other is bureaucratic politics, where the power structure is monolithic, officials hold all the powers of the government, and the phenomenon of administrative power being greater than judicial power is very serious, so government officials can arbitrarily deprive people of their property and freedom, and it is very difficult to form a legal system for the effective protection of property rights and the mediation of economic disputes.China opened the land silk road and the sea silk road at a very early stage and engaged in free trade with all countries and peoples of the world. However, due to the lack of a cultural tradition of protecting private property rights, on the one hand, China did not form a legal system conducive to the promotion of free trade, nor could it form international rules for effective mediation of trade disputes; on the other hand, China had the germ of capitalism in the Song Dynasty, and had the world-leading gunpowder technology and seafaring technology in the Ming Dynasty but did not take the lead in knocking on the door of the Industrial Revolution. On the other hand, China produced the germ of capitalism in the Song Dynasty, and possessed world-leading gunpowder and navigation technologies in the Ming Dynasty, but did not take the lead in knocking on the door of the Industrial Revolution.

the Silk Road

The division of wealth between the landlord class and the peasant class in feudal China was another important reason for the practice of trade protectionism. Feudal society in China was divided into two stages, the first stage was the lord's economy, which existed mainly in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods, where all the land was distributed to lords of different sizes, and the peasants were firmly bound to the land and could only get a very small portion of the fruits of their labor, and basically had no personal freedom or political rights; the second stage was the landlord's economy, which took shape after the Qin Dynasty unification of China, where most of the land The second stage was the landlord economy, formed after the unification of China under the Qin Dynasty, in which most of the land was in the hands of large and small landlords, and the peasants, as a whole class, were dependent on the landlord class, and possessed only the freedom to be exploited by different landlords, with very little of the fruits of their labor at their own disposal, and were not at all able to be treated fairly politically or legally. The large amount of wealth created by free trade was distributed unequally in a society with clear class divisions, especially the peasant class received limited benefits, which exacerbated the gap between the rich and the poor, widened class conflicts, and shook the ruling base of the landlord class. Therefore, the more developed the free trade, the more prosperous the economy, the more difficult the life of the peasants, and the more and more unstable the society. Therefore, China had been adopting the policy of "emphasizing agriculture and suppressing commerce" throughout the long feudal society, and finally chose the strictest trade protectionist measures in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, which was to "implement the sea ban", "close the passes" and "close the doors". "The "closed-door policy".

The fact that China did not go in search of the West in the 1500s, but instead adopted strict protectionist measures, was precisely due to the inherent contradictions of feudal society.In December 1939, Mao Zedong made an in-depth analysis of the nature and contradictions of China's feudal society in his article "The Chinese Revolution and the Communist Party of China," stating that "the main contradiction of feudal society is the contradiction between the peasant class and the landlord class. The main contradiction in feudal society was the contradiction between the peasant class and the landlord class. The extreme poverty and backwardness of the peasants, caused by such cruel exploitation and oppression by the landlord class, was the basic reason for the economic and social stagnation of Chinese society for thousands of years." It can be said that Chinese feudal society characterized by a sharp class division of theThe inequality between the landlord class and the peasant class in all aspects of politics, economy, culture and education forced China to adopt the extreme trade protectionist policy of "closed-door lockout", which seriously inhibited the development and progress of Chinese society and gradually reduced it to a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society in modern times.

Today, the practice of trade protectionism in the West is also determined by the inherent contradictions in the economy and society, one of which is the polarization of the rich and the poor due to the excessive gap between the returns to capital and labor, and the other is the strong tradition of individualism, which has led to a wide variety of secessionist movements in the West.In 2014, the French economist Thomas Piketty argued in Capitalism for the 21st Century that the polarization of the world's rich and the poor is worsening and continues to worsen severely , the West practices an unconstrained capitalist system whereby capital and labor are the two basic elements that participate in production and share in the proceeds, and theoretically, capital can be bought, sold, and stored with unlimited accumulation and amassing, and the rate of return on capital always tends to be higher than the rate of economic growth; however, labor can only be used by an individual and can be remunerated but the rate of growth of labor compensation is much lower than the rate of return on capital, which This has led to a serious deterioration in the gap between the rich and the poor in the world.

Therefore.The greater the amount of wealth generated by free trade, the more prosperous the economy, the wider the gap between the remuneration received by capital and labor, the wider the gap between the rich and the poor, the more unstable the society, and the more the government is inclined to opt for trade protectionism, which is very similar to the reason why feudal China adopted the policy of shutting up and locking up the country.In the U.S., for example, the top 101 TP3T possess 501 TP3T of wealth, while the top 11 TP3T possess even more 201 TP3T, so much so that about 45 million people in the U.S. live below the poverty line, or one-seventh of the total population, which is why President Trump in the U.S. supports trade protectionism above his country's interests.

In addition, the strong tradition of individualism in the West is a "double-edged sword". On the one hand, the adventurous spirit of the individual has promoted the great voyages of discovery and prompted many people to explore unknown fields of science and technology, discovering a lot of great science and technology, which has changed the way of production and life of all mankind, and facilitated the formation and development of globalization in its 1.0 version; On the other hand, the tradition of the supremacy of personal interests has filled many people with frustration in free trade, so that they use the votes in their hands to choose leaders who support trade protectionism, leading to the frequent occurrence of political black swan events in the West, including the UK's departure from the European Union, the election of Donald Trump as president of the United States, and the rise of the far-right forces in Europe.

However, the law that if you practice protectionism, you will decline will not change.On March 18, 2017, Amartya Sen, a professor of economics at Harvard University and Nobel Prize winner in economics, severely criticized the policy proposition of protectionism when attending the China High-Level Development Forum, arguing that "the fact that the situation of many people has become worse and worse is not a globalization result, but the result of domestic economic and social policy failures." The lesson of China's decline from an ancient civilized country to a poor and backward old China is a bitter and profound one, so we should continue to promote free trade and actively improve the global governance system, so as to eliminate the phenomenon of excessive disparity between the rich and the poor, and enable more people to share the fruits of globalization.

500 years west of the river, 500 years east of the river, the West's trade protectionism is determined by the inherent contradictions of capitalism, there is no good solution in the short term, so China will be the promoter of free trade in the long term, this is the real historical trend.

Improving the global governance system and promoting free trade in all its aspects

The curtain has slowly risen on the 2.0 version of globalization led by China, and the 2.0 version of globalization will take on a different appearance as a result of China's leadership. China's raising the banner of free trade and launching the 2.0 version of globalization is determined by the historical development trend. After nearly 40 years of hard work by the Chinese nation since the reform and opening up, China's total economic output has jumped to the second place in the world, and its contribution to the world's economic growth is as high as more than 30%, which makes it the strongest promoter of the global economic development.

After 2008, under the influence of the international financial crisis, the "anti-globalization" trend has been resurrected on a fairly wide scale, and the process of globalization has shown signs of slowing down. At the same time, trade protectionism has been on the rise in some countries, and restrictive measures have been taken against normal international capital flows, and precautions have been doubly taken against the possible risks of cross-border mergers and acquisitions, thus creating a wave of "anti-globalization". However, the trend of globalization is irreversible, and over the past few decades, version 1.0 of globalization has formed a world economic pattern in which "you have me, and I have you", with the accelerated global flow of trade, investment, personnel and technology, and the sustained development of the world economy being promoted through cross-border investment, technology transfer and personnel exchanges.

On May 14, 2017, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out in his speech at the opening ceremony of the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation that "trade is an important engine of economic growth. We need to look outward, safeguard the multilateral trading system, promote the construction of free trade zones, and facilitate trade and investment liberalization. Of course, we should also strive to solve the problems of development imbalance, governance dilemma, digital divide and distribution gap, and build an open, inclusive, inclusive, balanced and win-win economic globalization."

Belt and Road Diagram

To that end, we must adhere to the principle of equality and seek win-win cooperation, so that the world can be closely knit into a community of destiny. China has already put forward such globally beneficial development initiatives as the Belt and Road Initiative and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, which will enable all countries and peoples of the world to actively participate in the 2.0 version of globalization. We should indeed see that as long as a better global governance system is put in place, and a scientific and effective benefit-sharing mechanism is established through communication and cooperation among people, so that everyone can lead a dignified life; and through equal consultation among countries and efforts to establish a more scientific and rational international distribution relationship, it will certainly be possible for backward countries to eliminate hunger and poverty.

We believe that Chinese civilization will create a better 2.0 version of globalization, and that 2.0 version of globalization will sublimate Chinese civilization.