The 2024 Understanding China Conference, themed "Carry through the Reform to the End -- Chinese Modernization and New Opportunities for World Development," concluded this week, gathering over 600 participants, including politicians, officials, scholars, and foreign envoys.
China's approach to modernization and development seems consistently emphasizes that China can only do well when the world is doing well, and when China does well, the world will get even better. Through reform and opening up, China not only fulfills the aspirations of 1.4 billion people but also contributes to global peace and progress.
In an exclusive interview with SFC, John Milligan-Whyte, Executive Chairman of the American-China Partnership Foundation, delved deeper into the significance of Chinese modernization. Whyte emphasized that China’s approach to development—rooted in cooperation and the idea of "common prosperity"—offers valuable lessons to the world. "In China, there’s an attitude that we all have to win," he noted, underscoring the importance of harmonious growth rather than a zero-sum mentality.
He further pointed out that China’s expansion of initiatives like the Belt and Road and AIIB exemplifies its commitment to creating opportunities for global collaboration. "China is sharing its progress with the world, and I think the world's very impressed," he remarked, stressing that China’s success is a force for global good.
SFC Markets and Finance: What's your take on this year's Understanding China Conference? Why understand China is so important in today's world？
John Milligan-Whyte: I really find coming to the Understanding China meetings as coming to China wonderful. Because China has developed such a wholesome attitude towards how it manages its own people, who are 22% of the human race, and their economic and social progress which is unequaled in its speed and size and global importance in human history. And it's reaching out through the Belt and Road, and the AIIB, and the BRICS, and the New Development Bank, to share its success with its trading partners. I find the Understanding China Conference really allows me to see each year the jump.
SFC Markets and Finance: How many times have you participated in the conference?
John Milligan-Whyte: Five times.
SFC Markets and Finance: What changes have you seen?
John Milligan-Whyte: Well, the conferences remain similar, though a lot of the foreign participants from G7 countries are very grumpy. They were very grumpy in 2018 because they are shocked and humiliated by how successful China is. Because it was assumed in the west that in order to be economically successful, you'd have to have capitalism dominate public policy and politics, which would allow them to dominate your public policy and politics.
And China has shown that a socialist government with Chinese characteristics has produced more rapid economic success than any in its size, speed and global impact in history, than any other society, particularly any other western society, has imagined possible. So the future is being defined in China.
And China has a natural humility, which is very endearing to me. My colleagues in the west are just a bit shocked. It will take them a while to get used to the idea that they're not the best people in the world.
SFC Markets and Finance: The key to understanding China lies in understanding Chinese modernization. So what's your thoughts on Chinese modernization and what lessons and values does it offer to the world？
John Milligan-Whyte: Personally, I find it makes me extremely happy to see a society where in your parents lifetime, it has gone from being one of the poorest countries in the world to being one of the most, the most successful country in the world, with the second largest economy, soon to be largest.
And in China, I see a system that has a healthiness, it has a wholesomeness, it has an innocence in a way, that is based on the idea, Confucian idea, that we all have to work together in a harmonious way, rather than only way I could win is if you lose, in China, there's an attitude, we all have to win, and along comes ideas like common prosperity, and I find it very uplifting.
SFC Markets and Finance: What opportunities can China bring to global development in today's rapidly changing world?
John Milligan-Whyte: China's population is four times larger than America's, your economy is going to be two or three times larger than America's, similar thing with Europe.
So China is doing the right thing, it's saying, Okay, we modernized, let's have all our trading partners, everybody was offered a chance to join the AIIB, the Belt and Road is being expanded, BRICS is being expanded. So China is not just hoarding its wealth, it's creating wealth with all the people that want to collaborate with it.
And the people that are jealous of China's success are, they used to be arrogant, now they're shocked, verging on humble. So there is shock and some hostility to China's success in the developing world, but they're getting used to it. It'll take a generation.
The younger people, your age in the west, are not going to be as upset about China's success as the older generations, but only if China keeps being able to share its success. If a country is criticizing you, you should rise above the criticism, and you should just keep being a society that looks for a harmonious world.
SFC Markets and Finance: You mentioned BRICS. The voice of the Global South are becoming more influential. How do you view the future development of the Global South and what role can China play in this？
John Milligan-Whyte: China is taking the whole world economically and socially progressing, because it doesn't judge the other countries. It is a member of the Global South. It has a very healthy attitude, and it has a charisma that is very powerful.
If you are a kind person, people like you, China is a very kind person. China is sharing its progress with the world, and I think the world's very impressed.
SFC Markets and Finance: You are always emphasizing the importance of cooperation. As the Executive Chairman of the American China Partnership Foundation, how do you view the current challenges in U.S.-China relations, especially we are going to have Trump 2.0?
John Milligan-Whyte: The biggest problem in U.S.-China relations is the key to the biggest breakthrough in China-U.S. relations.
President Trump, in his first administration, with Bob Lighthizer, who is his trade representative, presented this eight-page document, and it had eight sort of articles, and each article said, “China shall do this, China shall do that, China shall do this...” And the Americans were shocked that China didn't. It just kept being China.
So there's a thing called the international credit and capital markets, they are the lifeblood of the global economy. In 2008 they almost stopped working. The solutions that were used to get them to restart used up all the ammunition. There's another financial crisis coming. It will probably be triggered by overly aggressive and delusional American policies towards China. If President Trump does what he says he's going to do, it's going to cripple the American economy and cause international capital and credit markets, and therefore the stock markets, to collapse.
SFC Markets and Finance: Looking forward, how can we continue to foster dialogues between the the U.S., China, and the world?
John Milligan-Whyte: By having things like this conference. What I find is when I talk to people of your generation, the ideas that I have, which may seem strange to Americans or westerners of my age, are very charismatic and attractive. There's something the Chinese called the right spirit. And if you're a kind and fair person, that's the right spirit, and I am a kind and fair person, so that right spirit resonates.
I found since coming to China for the first time in 1997, the Chinese people are wonderful people. They have a kindness in them, and humility, and a respect, and a strength. So I hope to do whatever I can to share my point of view with young people and older people in China, and the West will pay attention to whatever is very popular in China.
SFC Markets and Finance: The conference has been held in Guangzhou for fifth time. What's your impression about Guangzhou, and do you think Guangzhou holds a unique position in understanding China?
John Milligan-Whyte: I sure do. Dai Min ( and I want to move to Guangzhou. We've been living in New York and Beijing, and we're just absolutely charmed by the beauty of Guangzhou and the vitality. Now I want to learn all I can about what's going on in Guangzhou, because the world is being designed in China, and China is being designed in places like Guangzhou. So we really love it here.
SFC Markets and Finance: What message you want to share with the world for them to better understand China？
John Milligan-Whyte: The outside world's perception of China, is the outside world looking in a mirror and seeing itself. China has not got the same confusion and anger. China is a happy, confident place where the people work hard every day and they're creating social and economic miracles.
They're not your enemies. You may be very frightened because China is so successful, but my experience is that China has a kindness. I think the world will adjust to China. I think China is doing the right things by asking people like me, how can we explain ourselves.
When Dai Min and I, when we wrote the first two books, we met with China's Ambassador to the UN who read the manuscripts, this was on December 26, 2006, and he absolutely shocked me. He said, “John, you're the missing man. No one in China can explain what we want for the world, the positive things, and nobody in America can understand when we try.” I was stunned.
I didn't feel like the missing man. I just felt like a person who had, you can understand China if you have a certain generosity of spirit. If you're selfish, you will never understand China. I believe the Chinese call it the right spirit. So that is what inspires me about China. I think you have one of the finest cultures in the world, please spread it widely.
Chief Producer: Yu Xiaona
Supervising Producer: Shi Shi
Editor: Li Yinong
Reporter: Li Yinong
Video Editor: Cai Yutian
New Media Coordination: Ding Qingyun, Zeng Tingfang, Lai Xi, Huang Daxun
Overseas Operations Supervising Producer: Huang Yanshu
Overseas Content Coordinator: Huang Zihao
Overseas Operations Editors: Zhuang Huan, Wu Wanjie, Long Lihua, Zhang Weitao
Produced by: Southern Finance Omnimedia Group
