Thore Vestby & Arild Vollan

Visiting today’s China is like travelling into the future. So much has happened in the last 20-30 years that we should travel to China to learn and see what is happening. It’s incredible what the country has achieved in just a few years.

Soon, China will have built 50,000 kilometres of high-speed train lines. Just travelling by train in China is such a great experience that it’s worth the visit. These trains are completely silent and offer a level of comfort you’ll find in first-class aeroplanes—an enchanting and must-experience travel experience.

Strangely, we in Norway can’t make “pirate copies” of Chinese trains. We are told that Chinese companies are happy to build new high-speed train lines in Norway. But we ran into problems when we tried to explain to the Chinese that we in Norway have introduced “Bus for Train”. It’s a term that doesn’t exist in the Chinese language. We didn’t really manage to explain what we meant.

Trains are too expensive

Those who don’t want to invest in trains in Norway say that they will be too expensive. This argument was also used in China, but here, politicians did not consider what “transport economists” thought. The policy in China means that infrastructure must be developed to create development in a country. Our travels around China show that this is precisely what has happened. The country has been developed and modernised with a well-functioning infrastructure, which has created development and jobs even outside China.

A 2020 study showed that China’s net benefit of the high-speed rail system is approximately USD 378 billion. This gives an annual return on investment of 6.5%. The development of high-speed rail has also led to a significant reduction in domestic air traffic.

With high-speed trains in Norway, domestic air routes will no longer be needed. The new China trains have a speed of 300 to 400 km/h. China’s new Maglev trains recently completed demonstration tests at up to 1000 km/h speeds. Even a train journey from Oslo-Tromsø will take a long time. Why can’t we get China to build the Northern Norway Railway?

The central mosque in Kashi, Xinjiang © Jan Oberg 2024

Is China a security threat?

Unfortunately, it’s unlikely that rail cooperation will occur between Norway and China. China has suddenly become a significant security threat to the West. According to NATO, even the Chinese are coming to take our “values” from us.

From China’s point of view, these are incredible claims. China has no ambitions to threaten the Western world or to seek hegemony. The generally negative attitude towards China in our media, research and politics stems not from China, but from the West itself.

Street shot from Kashi/Kashgar in Xinjiang © Jan Oberg 2024.

Chinese foreign policy is founded on the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence – mutual respect for territorial integrity and sovereignty, non-aggression, non-interference in each other’s internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful coexistence. These principles are recognised by important legal instruments such as the UN Charter, but not by most countries in their daily decisions.

It is wrong to judge China by Western criteria, not by its own criteria and achievements.

Recently, the US Congress has allocated no less than US $ 1.6 billion to influence operations aimed at creating negative images of China.

The propaganda war

In a carefully planned propaganda war, China is portrayed as a threat to the rest of the world. The US aims to turn public opinion in the West and Africa against China. Perhaps this shows how weak the West has become? It’s indeed sad for everyone who used to fight for free media and free expression of opinion.

To understand and see what’s happening in China, we need to visit China. We cannot rely on being informed through a carefully planned propaganda war.

We recently visited the province of Xinjiang, strategically located in the northwest as a gateway to Eurasia and Europe. About two-thirds of the province’s 26 million people are members of numerous ethnic minorities – and it is a crucial province for the Belt and Road Initiative. This is where the US claims China maintains concentration camps and where genocide against minorities is taking place.

The GAC Passenger Vehicle Factory in Xinjiang © Jan Oberg 2024

A dynamic province

But where is the genocide? We met a dynamic province that is busy with its development. We didn’t find a trace of genocide, forced labour, or arbitrary detentions, but we did visit a documentation centre showing the numerous terrorist acts and China’s fight against terrorism.

The US has no case to present regarding any of these accusations. What the US seems to have latched onto, and even today refers to, is China’s anti-terrorism campaign.

This was an anti-separatist and anti-religious extremism campaign to stop Isis, al-Qaeda and other terrorists. China defeated terrorism in Xinjiang in 2019.

Should China also be criticised for its fight against terrorism?

The authors

Thore Vestby
– former Member of the Norwegian Parliament (H), former mayor and present TFF Board member. Private photo.

Arild Vollan
– a partner in Arctic Development, Ibestad/Oslo, Norway. Private photo.

Comment
The article above is a translation of the authors’ article in Norwegian in Nordnorsk Debatt here with some photos added. Since I participated in the same delegation, I can add that in response to our questions, we were told that China had practised legal processes against the perpetrators of terrorism and established re-orientation/de-radicalisation institutions and vocational training centres as well as promoted reintegration into society’s economic development to solve the terrorism problem and prevent it from coming back in the future.

Jan Oberg – TFF director and editor.

Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang Province, by night © Jan Oberg 2024.