Western beliefs in markets 'a mistake'

Former London mayor believes The 'balanced approach' of Chinese leaders is best for governance

Ken Livingstone says he would feel more comfortable with China's leaders being in charge of the world's largest economy than those of the United States.

The 68-year-old former London mayor believes they are likely to offer a saner approach to global leadership if China's economy takes over the top spot some time over the next decade.

"When you watch (US President Barack) Obama speak, it's all about how great America is, 'God Bless America' and all that as well as claiming to be the defenders of democracy. China's leaders just aren't that sort of mad. They are much more balanced," he says.

Livingstone was speaking over a late lunch of a bowl of soup in the kitchen of his terraced house in northwest London.

He says China's leaders have typically had experience of running major provinces and cities, including Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang.

"We get all these people who had run nothing, like (former British prime minister Tony) Blair who hadn't even chaired a council committee meeting; (British Prime Minister David) Cameron, who was just a PR guy; and Obama, just a good speech maker," he says.

"Germany is more like China. You don't get to run Germany unless you have run a lander (a state)."

It is now more than five years since Livingstone's eight-year tenure as London mayor came to an end when he lost the mayoral election to the current incumbent Boris Johnson.

For someone who held one of the top political jobs in the country, he lives in a surprisingly ordinary neighborhood, but he says no one bats an eyelid when he takes his dog for regular walks.

"I have been living here for 25 years so everyone is quite used to me by now."

He now spends a lot of his time not just tending his own garden but also those of his two neighbors, both of who are disabled.

"I can be in the garden even in January when it is snowing away. My neighbors' gardens haven't had much done to them for 15 to 20 years, so there is plenty of work. I actually sift all the soil by hand to preserve all the fungi and bacteria."

Despite achieving high office largely on the strength of his own personal following in his home city (in his first term he stood against the Labour candidate as an independent), he regards his political career as something of a failure.

"Of course I never got to be prime minister. Now I think with the state Britain is in, if I had only got to be prime minister we could have avoided all of this. But that is because I approach things logically. Most politicians don't," he says.

Livingstone first went to China in the early 1990s and then went again in 2006 when he led a 73-strong delegation, including the then chairman of Chelsea FC Peter Kenyon, the pop group Girls Aloud and former British Olympic runner Lord Coe. It was on the same trip he opened London's offices in Beijing and Shanghai to promote tourism and investment.

"Boris campaigned on a pledge to close my offices in China and India. I was campaigning on the basis of opening one in Rio too. President Lula came to see me six months before he left office," he says of the former Brazilian leader.

Although there are now plans to relax visa restrictions for Chinese, he says the situation where people wanting to invest in the UK were denied entry was absurd.

"It's bizarre. When I was opening our offices in China, I met some people from, I think, from the third largest telecom firm in China who were looking to develop in Britain and they said they been called back by the British embassy three times about their visa application.

"The insularity of Britain is what is wrong with our approach."

The former mayor also attended the Beijing Olympics and was impressed with everything apart from the segment of the closing ceremony promoting London as the next host city.

"You had this London bus and all these people with bowler hats and umbrellas got out. It was just the image we didn't want to portray. There were just part of an old Britain that no longer exists. I haven't seen a bowler hat in 30 years. London is now a genuinely international city and it didn't reflect that," he says.

Livingstone says if he had won the election he would have spearheaded an initiative to get a Chinese bank or other institution to finance Mandarin classes in London primary schools.

"I was hoping to get them to fund bringing Chinese teachers here. It isn't just business executives that need to be able to converse with their Chinese equivalents. You want the person serving you coffee or turning down the bed to converse with you too," he says.

His own children, Tom, 10, and Mia, 9, have private Mandarin classes on Saturday and Sunday mornings.

"We started them four years ago. Children of that age can soak up a new language like a sponge. We ought to treat this issue more seriously. Many fee-paying schools recognize the importance of teaching Mandarin but there is no provision in state schools," he says.

Livingstone began his career in a cancer laboratory and regrets that few people from a scientific background go into politics and has an admiration for the Chinese system where engineers have frequently got to the top.

"One thing I find depressing is that no one goes from science into politics in Britain. When you look at Chinese leaders many of them have done engineering, which I find admirable," he says.

He also admires that Chinese leaders are prepared to make lengthy speeches to outline policy and do not rely on the Western soundbite culture.

"All my life I have been wandering around Britain and lately around the world and I never speak for less than 40 minutes and often more than a hour because I am developing an idea or trying to explain how the global economy works. You can't just do it in a soundbite."

He also believes that the focus on long-term investment in China (although the Chinese government now wants to rebalance the economy toward consumption) is behind the economic success of the country.

"China's investment is much more long term and strategic. Their investment is 48 percent of GDP, whereas in Britain it is 14 percent. All the Western economies saw a collapse of investment after the banking crisis, China increased theirs.

"Politicians in the West have this belief in the markets and believe it can do everything. It has been a fatal mistake. The state can always borrow more cheaply than anyone else."

Livingstone also thinks it is ludicrous that China is being accused of being a new colonial power in Africa when it is only extending its investment ethos there.

"Local people in Africa are getting a much better deal from Chinese companies than Western ones. China is not thinking about just grabbing everything and running. It is a long-term investment commitment. You only have to look at a map to see the legacy we left. Every road and rail link just took raw materials out of Africa," he says.

Livingstone will not rule out running for mayor in 2016 and emulating Hillary Clinton who will be in her 70th year if she wins the White House race.

"There is no such thing as definite in politics but I have no plan to stand for anything. By then I will be a month off 71. As for Hillary Clinton, she won't have two kids in their first and second year of secondary school and a wife in her first year of teacher training," he laughs.

andrewmoody@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily European Weekly 11/29/2013 page32)