(ECNS) -- At the 2025 UNISA (University of South Africa) Founders’ Lecture, American economist Jeffrey Saxs praised China’s peaceful development while sharply criticizing Western imperial legacies.
Saxs described China as a “wonderful, brilliant civilization” with more than thousands of years of history, noting that it has remained a unified state with “brilliant statecraft” for over 2,000 years. Unlike Europe, in which every country fought every other country every year for a thousand years, China remained mostly peaceful and united, rarely attacking its neighbors. He also noted that China is the least threatening major power.
Unlike Chinese philosophy of pursuing peace, American idea is “you have to be No. 1 so you can boss everyone else around,” said Saxs, adding that the world is entering a period of rebalancing in which former imperial powers “struggle to accept change.”
As U.S. influence declines, he said, Washington is resorting to protectionism, including tariffs and market restrictions. According to Sachs, China’s recent limits on rare-earth exports forced the United States to rethink its approach, underscoring shifting global power dynamics and the limits of unilateral U.S. pressure.
Saxs further pointed out that China’s rapid development has made it a larger industrial and technological power than the U.S. in many sectors. Ten years from now, he predicted, people all over the world will drive Chinese electric vehicles .
Saxs rejected the idea that the world is fragmenting, saying that the U.S. is isolating itself. He argued that the U. S. and other imperialist powers historically opposed unity because “empires like divide and conquer.” He further called for greater solidarity across the globe.
(By Gong Weiwei)
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