Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said that the rise of China is a “huge win for the world” during an interview in Australia on Monday. Gates made the comment during an interview with the Lowy Institute, a think tank based in Sydney, Australia.
“I tend to see China’s rise as a huge win for the world,” Gates said. “I mean, that’s 20% of humanity. Today match their portion of the global economy, and their portion of the global population matches exactly, you know, countries like Australia, and the U.S., which have per capita GDPs five times what the Chinese have. So we have a disproportionate share of the world’s economy.”
His comments about the communist country came in response to a question asking Gates how “bullish” he was on China.
“You know, I do think the current mentality of the U.S. to China and which is reciprocated is kind of a lose-lose mentality, that if you ask U.S. politicians ‘hey, would you like the Chinese economy to shrink by 20% or grow by 20%,’ I’m afraid they would vote that ‘yeah, let’s immiserate those people,’ not understanding that for the global economy, the invention of cancer drugs, the solution of climate change, you know we’re all in this together.”
While painting China’s rise positively, Gates acknowledged that the country is “not a democracy,” and is an “outlier today in terms of that level of wealth and still being as autocratic as they are.” During the interview, Gates also said that the U.S. is politically in a weak state, adding that countries like China need to play a bigger role in world governance.
“The U.S. is politically weaker today, I would say, than it’s been and you know, that’s scary for the world. The current world system is designed around U.S. leadership,” Gates said. “As other countries have gotten richer, these middle-income countries including China and India need to play a stronger role in world governance.”
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