"The Red Baron" Jean Christophe Iseux von Pfetten On The Success of The China Model

Wikipedia:

Jean Christophe Iseux, Baron von Pfetten zu St. Mariakirchen (born 11 November 1967 in Lyon), is a diplomat, academic and landowner.

Pfetten was the first European appointed as member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference at local level.

Pfetten hosted a series of private meetings on Iran’s nuclear programme attended by top military commanders from Iran and Israel as well as senior officials from the P5 nations.

. . .Pfetten received his BSc and MSc (Physics and Chemistry) from the University of Strasbourg, and, his Dipl. Eng. Geophysicist from the Institut de Physique du Globe (admissible to the Ecole Normale Supérieure) and thereafter won a European Erasmus scholarship. In 1989 he patented two inventions in the fields of nuclear submarine and of hydraulic fracturing which he presented at the SPE (Society of Petroleum Engineers) Production Operations Symposium on April 7–9, 1991 in Oklahoma, USA. In the same year he received a master’s degree in management studies from Templeton College, Oxford University and a Master of Philosophy in international relations from Trinity Hall, Cambridge University. In 1992 he attained a master’s degree in political science from the University of Bonn.

. . .Pfetten currently holds non-executive positions on the boards of several multinationals. Pfetten has been credited with attracting around 2% of total foreign direct investment into China since 2002.

. . .The Financial Times, Newsweek and The Spectator  reported that between June and October 2013 Pfetten organized two rounds of back-channel diplomatic meetings on the issue of Iran’s nuclear program. The first round, hosted by the Institute for East West Strategic Studies and held at Green Templeton College, Oxford, brought together senior Chinese and Israeli officials. A second, more confidential round of talks, hosted by Pfetten in his French chateau, was moderated by former Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke and French Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie. Attendees included Major General Huang Baifu, vice chairman of the China Institute for International Strategic Studies; a former chief of general staff of the Iranian Air Force; as well as General Doron Avital, chairman of the Israeli Knesset’s Security and Defense Committee. Pfetten told The Financial Times that the “Track II” meeting was “aimed at persuading Beijing to take a more pro-active involvement in the Middle East” and emphasized ‘the willingness of China and the US to work hand-in-hand in resolving the Iranian nuclear issue.’

Wikipedia:

Apethorpe Palace, formerly known as “Apethorpe Hall”, is a Grade I listed country house, dating to the 15th century, close to Apethorpe, Northamptonshire. It was a “favourite royal residence” for James I. After restoration by English Heritage the house was sold in 2015 to Jean Christophe Iseux von Pfetten as his “private residence”, under an arrangement where it is “open during July and August for pre-booked tours only”, these managed by English Heritage.

An excerpt from, “Red Baron’s Jacobean Apethorpe Palace marks its rebirth with party” by Maev Kennedy, The Guardian, June 13, 2016:

Just 18 months after Jean Christophe Iseux, Baron von Pfetten, spent £2.5m on a house with 48 bedrooms but no running water, he has decided to give a little party. A few score of his closest friends, including the Duke of Kent, are invited for champagne, music and dinner on Tuesday evening, with entertainment by the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

. . .Von Pfetten, a diplomat, Oxford academic and champion foxhound breeder, has been nicknamed “the Red Baron” for his years as an adviser to the Chinese government on everything from inward investment to Iran’s nuclear programme; the Chinese guests will include a government member and the head of an oil company.

. . .The house served as a borstal for much of the 20th century until it was bought in poor repair by a Libyan businessman, Wanis Mohammed Burweila, said locally never to have spent a single night there. He left abruptly, never to return, after the murder of PC Yvonne Fletcher at the Libyan embassy in 1984.

The house only survived through the heroic efforts of the elderly gardener, and the caretaker, George Kelley. Their salaries stopped but they kept the grounds in check, patrolling the house, chasing off vandals, putting buckets and saucepans under leaks, collecting dead pigeons and blocking up broken windows. Despite their efforts, the house seemed doomed to join the long roll call of lost mansions until the government finally stepped in to save it. Kelley, who was awarded an MBE in 2008 for his efforts, has now retired but returns most days to walk his dog in the grounds.

Von Pfetten insists Apethorpe will be a family home but not a closed world, and has signed an agreement to admit the public for 50 days of each of the next 80 years – this year by guided tours in July and August. 

An excerpt from, “Democracy in China” by Jean Christophe Iseux von Pfetten, Xinhua, March 7, 2023:

The re-emergence of China as a considerable source of economic and political power in the international sphere, the disturbances to Western democracy, and the attempt of various people to re-establish something akin to the Cold War between the West and the East, make it essential, if we are to avert another world catastrophe, that we understand each other better. In particular, the West needs to understand how China works today.

China and the West are deeply different in their culture and history. Western thought is based on a monotheistic tradition, derived from Christianity. There is one God, and religion consists of a bundle of elements, including ritual, dogma, eschatology and ethics. In Asia, on the other hand, there is no such bundle.

At the heart of the difficulty to understand China through a Western lens is the difference in logic between the West and the East. In practical terms, Western logic gives the Western world a Judeo-Christian principle of right and wrong (or black and white, with few shades of grey), while Eastern logic gives China a Confucian “Doctrine of the Mean” (principle of harmony with many shades of grey, and little that is black or white), where everything is in a transitional state of becoming (yin and yang).

Western social structure is based on extreme individualism, particularly in the Anglo-sphere, as opposed to the group-based system of China where family comes before the individual — the individual still being respected within the group.

There are many other deep differences. The basically competitive and aggressive, militaristic world of the West, with constant wars, struggles and fights, is totally different from the tradition of China based on harmony, the avoidance of war if possible, and collaboration rather than competition (Sun Tzu).

. . .The multi-party system is difficult to apply to China for reasons to do with stability. China has experienced many appalling civil wars, invasions and outside imperialist pressures. This means that it is incredibly difficult to create a system that holds together a population of almost 1.4 billion people, extending over an area as large as Western and Eastern Europe and Western Russia combined. China is also culturally hugely diverse, with many minorities and many languages.

China’s 2,000-year-old imperial and bureaucratic system, established by the first Qin Emperor in 221 B.C., is being replaced by a new system, which combines old and new. This is being done through consultation within the wider society at every level of the administration and with lively debates among intra-party factions. The process answers the modern principle of multi-party representation. I have witnessed this process during my time sitting at the CPPCC in Changchun, where wide-range consultations with local farmers were conducted at a grassroot level before any changes to internal directives were implemented relating to China’s entry into the WTO.

. . .The Western system needs to be re-thought in the age of the Internet, heightened globalization, multiculturalism and massive technological and social changes.

The CPC’s historic mission is to accomplish the rejuvenation and modernization of the Chinese nation, building-up the CSCDS to become a model that works for China, is not a threat to the world, and provides basic human rights for all. While many Western countries privilege “liberty” and individual rights, in China it is different.

More communal and less nebulous “rights” seem more important — the rights to enough food, housing, jobs, security, peace, health, education — and hope for the future. These are what the Chinese government has provided at an amazing pace over the last 40 years. It is not surprising, that the trust in the Chinese government by the people over the period 2016-2021 was over 90 percent, whereas it was below 40 percent in the United States, according to recent Pew Research Center polls.

Video Title: GLOBALink | CPC’s ability to meet people’s needs contributes to its success: expert. Source: New China TV. Date Published: October 11, 2022.