billionaire Bill Gates had some very recently to say positive things about China and stressed the need for global nations to work together.

Rags to Millionaire: China has gone from an incredibly impoverished nation, poorer than India, with hunger and malnutrition in 1980, to the world’s richest middle-income country, Gates said speaking at the Lowy Institute in Sydney, Australia this week.

“It’s only 1.4 billion people, so it’s incredible and great for the world,” he said said.

“No, it’s not a democracy,” Gates said. However, if there is a very large middle class that does not want arbitrary rule of law, “will there come a time when they will move in that direction?” asked the billionaire.

“They’re an outlier today at that level of wealth and they’re still as autocratic as they are,” Gates noted.

“I tend to see China’s rise as a great win for the world,” he said Microsoft co-founder said. China accounts for 20 percent of the world’s population, which is exactly its share the world economy, Gates noticed. By comparison, countries like Australia and the US have GDP per capita five times that of China, which accounts for a “disproportionate share of the global economy,” he said.

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Lose-lose mentality doesn’t help: The current US mentality towards China, which China reciprocates, is “a kind of loser-loser mentality,” he said. He noted that if you ask US politicians whether they want China’s economy to shrink 20% or grow 20%, “I’m afraid they’d vote yes, let’s impoverish these people.” [Chinese].”

Gates said lawmakers in Washington don’t understand the need for the US and China to work together on issues like the global economy, inventing cancer drugs and solving climate change.

“We are human beings, we innovate together and together we need to transform the modern industrial economy in quite dramatic ways,” he added.

Gates…