What does Chinese modernization mean to the world？
Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, March 16th Question: What does Chinese modernization mean to the world?
Xinhua news agency reporter
Modernization, as a remarkable symbol of the development and progress of human civilization, is the goal that China people have been striving for since modern times.
Looking back at history, it took China several decades to complete the industrialization process that the western developed countries had gone through for hundreds of years, and created a turning point in the fate of the Chinese nation from sinking to rising, from suffering to glory.
Facts speak louder than words. the Communist Party of China (CPC) led the people of China out of a new road of Chinese modernization and created and will continue to create miracles in the history of human development. This miracle is not only China’s, but also the world’s, and will bring many positive and far-reaching influences to the world.
Rewrite the modern world map
In today’s world, the total population of industrialized developed countries and regions is less than 1 billion. Chinese-style modernization will bring more than 1.4 billion people into a modern society as a whole. China’s "amazing leap" in modernization exceeds the sum of the existing developed countries, which will completely rewrite the world map of modernization.
China’s total economic output jumped from 367.9 billion yuan in 1978 to 121 trillion yuan in 2022, ranking second in the world. In addition, the manufacturing scale and foreign exchange reserves rank first in the world, the total trade volume of goods ranks first in the world, and attracting foreign investment and foreign investment ranks first in the world … … China’s impressive economic development achievements are accelerating the eastward shift of the center of gravity of the world economy.
As one of the scholars who first put forward the concept of "globalization" in the West, Albrau, a well-known British sociologist, said that from the perspective of population size and development speed, Chinese modernization "may be the greatest progress made by any country in history".
Chinese-style modernization has also given the modern world map a new background of common prosperity. Since the reform and opening up, 770 million rural poor people in China have been lifted out of poverty, accounting for more than 70% of the global poverty reduction population in the same period. China achieved the poverty reduction goal of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development 10 years ahead of schedule. UN Secretary-General Guterres praised "China is the country that has made the greatest contribution to global poverty reduction".
In the view of Pakhin Balakul, president of Thailand-China Cultural and Economic Association, former president of the National Assembly and former deputy prime minister, attaching importance to people’s well-being is a significant connotation of Chinese modernization. "China has made outstanding achievements in reducing poverty and promoting the development of underdeveloped areas, and the people’s living standards have been significantly improved." Bochin said, "This is an unprecedented great development model, dedicated to making everyone live a good life."
Inject surging momentum into world development
In recent ten years, China’s average economic growth rate is 6.6%, ranking among the leading economies in the world, and China’s average contribution rate to world economic growth exceeds 30%. China’s economy has recently overcome the unexpected challenges, maintained its growth momentum, contributed stability and certainty to the development of the world economy, and become the main power source and stabilizer of the world economic growth.
Joseph Matthews, a senior professor at Bertai International University, believes that as the second largest economy in the world, China’s modernization has brought positive changes to the cooperation and development of all countries in the world and promoted multilateralism and economic globalization. China advocates interconnection, inclusive development and promotes the construction of Community of Shared Future for Mankind. Chinese modernization has made important contributions to regional growth and stability.
The "the belt and road initiative" initiative, which will celebrate its 10th anniversary this year, has become a distinctive symbol of China’s high-level opening-up and modernization. From 2013 to 2022, the trade volume of goods between China and countries along the "the belt and road initiative" increased from 1.04 trillion US dollars to 2.07 trillion US dollars, with an average annual growth rate of 8%. In the past 10 years, "the belt and road initiative" has become a popular international public product, which has injected surging momentum into promoting the common development of the world.
Yasiru Ranaraja, a Sri Lankan expert who has been studying "the belt and road initiative" for a long time, took his country as an example and said that Sri Lanka has been lagging behind in infrastructure construction for a long time. China has helped Sri Lanka to build highways, ports and other infrastructure in various ways, which has promoted the overall development of local economy and society. China has gained advanced technological advantages in the process of modernization. By building a "the belt and road initiative", these technologies will benefit countries along the route.
In the process of China’s modernization, material civilization and spiritual civilization complement each other and work together to lead the world’s development towards a more comprehensive and balanced direction. Chen Gang, assistant director of the Institute of East Asian Studies at the National University of Singapore, pointed out that the level of economic development is an important indicator to measure the process of modernization, and it is not only the modernization of material civilization that occupies an important position in the blueprint of Chinese modernization, but also spiritual civilization that should develop in harmony with it, so as to realize "all-round enrichment of things and all-round development of people", which has important reference significance for the development of other countries.
Provide new options for human modernization.
Chinese-style modernization has broken the myth of "modernization equals westernization", opened up a modernization road that belongs to China but has world significance, and provided a Chinese plan for human beings to explore a better social system. Looking back on the course of exploration, independence, people first, peaceful development, openness and tolerance, and United struggle … … The modernization "keywords" condense the development wisdom of China people, and bring important enlightenment to all countries in the world, especially developing countries.
"Although the concept of modernization originated in the West, looking at the world, many countries are not taking the road of modernization as a whole, but retaining their own characteristics in social and political systems while making reference to the material level." Chen Gang said, "Modernization has never been a simple Westernization. Chinese-style modernization has provided new ideas for the international community, especially developing countries, to promote modernization."
Chinese-style modernization works because it is based on China, rooted in China culture and conforms to the reality of China.
"The practice in China proves that whether a country’s development path is correct depends on whether it conforms to its national conditions and conforms to the development trend of the times." Yershan Setov, a researcher at the Kazakhstan Institute of World Economics and Politics, said.
Kenyan international scholar Cavens Adehill constantly ponders the green driving force of China’s development: "‘ Lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets ’ The concept and practice have truly grasped the essence of environmental protection and are of great significance to promoting the sustainable development of mankind in the future. "
Huang Weixiong, Dean of New Zealand Business School, believes that China adheres to the path of peaceful development, promotes multilateralism and promotes the construction of Community of Shared Future for Mankind. "Chinese-style modernization has increased confidence for more developing countries to explore their own modernization road independently. Every step of Chinese modernization will have a worldwide impact and will play a positive role in building new international relations and improving global governance. "
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Plan profit when you plan the world. Under the guidance of the concept of building Community of Shared Future for Mankind, China has always held high the banner of peace, development, cooperation and win-win, and continuously benefited itself and the world with its modernization achievements.
China is China of the world, and the development of China is closely linked with the world. China in the future will embrace the world with a more open and inclusive attitude, Chinese modernization will bring more opportunities and enlightenment to global development and prosperity, and China will join hands with the world to create a greater miracle of human development. (Note holder: Wang Yu; Participating reporters: Li Hualing, Zhang Jiye, Cai Shuya, Li, Wu Changwei, Che Hongliang, Song Yu, Lu Huaiqian, Du Fu, Adrian Xu)