Rahm Emanuel, US Ambassador to Japan talked to the Japan Foreign Correspondent’s Club in November about the strength of the US economy and reminded the audience to keep in mind the importance of the rule of law and reliability, contrasting these characteristics with those of China. Watch the video embedded below.
“Our political and economic revitalization is fueling growing global support for the United States. According a Pew survey… average U.S. favorability in 17 countries was over 60 percent.. reliability on the United States to do the right thing is up to almost up to 80 percent… only 18 percent of the populations in those countries said they had confidence in China doing the right thing regarding world affairs. So, the United States is also winning the hearts and minds of the publics throughout the world… What does a stable democracy mean for an economy? Everything. Businesses are in the business of mitigating risk. Systems defined by the rule of law and transparency, reassure shareholders, corporate boards, and markets…. By the way, this isn’t true in China under President Xi. There’s a predictability premium that exists in the market and the United States is beneficiary of the value placed in predictability and stability…. Autocracies offer none of these things. Tehran, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Moscow, St. Petersburg: they all have one thing in common — their youth, their entrepreneurs, their future, want to get out and are fleeing to go to a place with better prospects for a future. Fleeing to places that respect the respect the potential of individuals and where the rule of law is upheld.
