China will be one geopolitical pillar: Blackstone CEO

Although China's growth rate maybe lower, but the overall momentum is very strong and it will be one of the two major pillars geopolitically over the next several decades at minimum, Stephen A. Schwarzman, chief executive officer and co-founder of Blackstone Group L.P., said here Thursday.

"I think that China now, even though the growth rate has slowed as a country gets bigger that's normal, is viewed as a much of a long-term winner in the global economic system," said the private equity tycoon at a luncheon held by China Institute.

According to Schwarzman, the start of Blackstone's relationship with China dates back to 2007, the year Blackstone went public, when China Investment Corporation (CIC) invested 3 billion U.S. dollars for a non-voting stake in the equity firm's 4-billion-dollar initial public offering.

In April this year, Schwarzman launched a 300-million-dollar scholarship program, the largest-ever internationally-funded philanthropic effort in China's history, to support 200 scholars a year to study at China's Tsinghua University.

In the six-year period, Schwarzman said he believes the biggest difference is that "China has much more come of age in its global perception."

Schwarzman said Thursday that "if you believe China is going to grow at least double the rate of the developed world for the foreseeable future, China is going to have the best majority of job creation, whereas the West is having a lot of trouble."

But Schwarzman also noted that it is a dangerous thing for people in the developed countries who he found "were losing the game (but) never blame themselves."

"It's pretty logical to me that if the Chinese are going to be winning the economic game on balance, and they are going to get most of the jobs, and people will eventually focus their anger on the Chinese. And that's a very, very dangerous thing," he said.

Schwarzman noted this is one of the reasons or motivations he started the scholarship program.

In an earlier interview with Xinhua following the launch of his namesake scholarship program, Schwarzman said: "The motivating reason for me is to help create leaders from around the world who can learn about China and go back and explain China to their countries."

Schwarzman also noted that it is a conundrum for China to re-orient its economy from an "exports-led boom" in the past to getting its people more wealth.

"China's export model is dependent upon some levels of efficiency plus cheap labor. When the labor stops becoming cheap, that obviously is going to hurt China's competitiveness and slow its growth. This is exactly what is happening," he said.

Schwarzman also noted "China has a long way to go," adding that "after World War II, the United States had 75 percent of the world's GDP (gross domestic produc)... We are down to like 23 percent, and China is somewhere around 12 percent to 13 percent (of the global GDP)."