A year ago it was China vs the US, and now after the pandemic, it seems the answer is clear -- it is China vs the entire West
On December 18, 2018, Xi Jinping and other Chinese leaders
awarded ten foreigners with the China Reform Friendship Medal,
China's highest award, at the celebration of the 40th anniversary of China's reform and opening up.
Those were:
Alain Mérieux, French, head of a medical conglomerate, who has contributed since 1978 to China's health care industry and worked closely with China during major public health issues.
Werner Gerich, German, engineer, dubbed Mr. Quality by the Chinese, who, arrived in 1984, was hired as a consultant at a state-run factory in Wuhan. Contributed to reforming aspects such as product quality, factory hygiene, company organisation structure and factory workers’ livelihoods. Died in 2003. There's a bronze bust of him in Wuhan.
Klaus Schwab, German, engineer and economist, founder and executive chairman of the WEF, who is an openly supporter of the "Belt and Road Initiative".
Konosuke Matsushita, Japanese, founder of Panasonic, who advised Deng Xiaoping in 1978 on how China could work with overseas companies on technical matters and on establishing joint ventures. Panasonic became a household name for Chinese families. Matsushita died in 1989.
Masayoshi Ohira, Japanese foreign minister, who established formal diplomatic relations between China and Japan in 1972, advised Deng, and provided long-term financial assistance and support in the early stage of the opening up. Ohira died in 1980.
Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore's prime minister, who developed a long friendship whith Deng. Deng said, in 1992, that Singapore was an example for China. Although of Chinese descent, Lee's first language was English and he attended the London School of Economics and graduated from Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, in law. Lee died in 2015.
Juan Antonio Samaranch, Spanish, former president of the International Olympic Commitee, who helped China emerge as a major sporting power and fulfill China's 100 -year dream of hosting the Olympics in 2008. Samaranch died in 2010.
Stephen Perry, English, chairman of the 48 Group, an independent business network commited to promote links with China. He continues the work of his father Jack Perry, who in as early as the 1950s, developed business ties to break China's isolation from the West. He's considered one of Britain's top experts on China.
Maurice Greenberg, American, former chairman and CEO of American International Group. AIG was founded 100 years ago by the American Cornelius V. Starr in Shanghai, China. Greenberg was pivotal in helping China to have US governmental approval for permanent trade relations, for China to join the WTO, and donated millions of dollars to environmental, educational, medical and cultural causes in China.
Robert Lawrence Kuhn, American neuroscientist, investment banker and corporate strategist. Kuhn is a long-time advisor to China's leaders and the Chinese government, to multinational corporations on China strategies and transactions. He's a columnist of China Daily and host and co-producer of "Closer to China" and "China's Challenge" TV series. Heck, he's even an advocate of Xi's eternal presidency and is the author of books with themes dear to the CCP.
Of those ten foreigners, seven are Westerners. Five are alive. And of those, two are American. Although you might find people out there who would say that Japan and Singapore are also part of the West, what is important to see here is that the West, directly or indirectly, is not an enemy of China. The West is a supporter.
.
Maybe what the Covid-19 pandemic made clear is that everybody is a bit
disappoint.
![](https://memegenerator.net/img/images/42284.jpg)
And some may be confusing it with enmity.