Chen Wenling: Sharing Opportunities for Development

The cover story of the latest edition of the magazine Times is intriguing, as “China won” is written in both English and Chinese on the cover, this is the first time that the magazine uses both Chinese and English to display its cover content.

The article cites China’s impressive achievements in economic, political and social fields and believes that China’s political and economic system is better and even more sustainable than the U.S. model, which dominated the international system for a long time after World War II.

Kenneth Quinn, Chairman of the U.S. World Food Awards Foundation, has visited China many times since 1979. He is not surprised by the time magazine’s article. “No one can ignore the successful Chinese model and no one can detach itself from it,” said Quinn.

China stood at a new historical starting point after the 19th National Congress of the CPC. Where will China go? What kind of wisdom can the Chinese model contribute to the world, and how will it affect the journey of mankind? Quinn and many foreign scholars are searching for clearer and more systematic answer. To answer those questions, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and China Center for International Economic Exchanges co-hosted the Symposium: 19th CPC National Congress: Application to China’s Development and the World. Scholars and officials from more than 30 think tanks around the world shared their views with each other in Beijing.

What has the Chinese Communist Party done right?

Speaking of the change in China, Yasuo Fukuda, Chairman of Boao Forum for Asia, and former Japanese Prime Minister still remember what he saw in Beijing’s Chang’an Avenue more than 30 years ago: very few cars on the road and bicycles were everywhere. “Today’s China is totally different, it has built more than 20,000 kilometers of high-speed railway in just 10 years, which is faster and more efficient than that of Japan,” said Yasuo Fukuda.

Peter Cargofunga, Director of the Africa Policy Institute in Kenya, has a deep feeling for China’s high-speed railway. The railway between Mombasa and Nairobi, constructed with the help of China shortens the long journey to merely two hours, which gives huge advantages to Kenya’s economic development.

Kagwanjanga said: “China has set an unprecedented good example in the history of world development and the Chinese model has given us hope.”

The West has established the long-term psychological advantages since the Industrial Revolution, and the Western Centralism holds that Western civilizations, systems and development models are the best. Under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party, the Chinese people did not copy the Western model and in less than 100 years, they transformed China from a poor agricultural country into an advanced industrial country.

Experts at the meeting said that there are different paths leading to modernization and the Chinese model is certainly one of them.

“There are still tens of millions of people living in poverty in China. If we simply copy the logic of the western market economy and do not adopt a government-led approach, I believe that the task of lifting the poor out of poverty will never be completed,” said Yi Peng, director of the Pangu think tank.

Cai Yong, Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, believes that over the past 40 years, China has contributed over 70% of the global poverty reduction and has created a unique solution to poverty reduction, which sets a good example for other developing countries.

After the financial crisis in 2008, the West could not achieve substantial institutional reform, and the system became rigid and was full of contradiction. The ideology that dominates these countries can neither explain the dilemma nor can it offer a solution. China has adhered to the socialist market economy, calmly dealt with the “shifting period” of economic growth, contributed more than 30% of the world economy and hence become the “ballast” and “booster” of the world economy.

 “In the face of China’s achievements, the West prefers to use its own standards measuring China’s governance and development, which is not fair at all,” said Yu Jinzhong, President of the Institute of Regional Development and Reform in Eastern, Central and Western China. China designs its development strategy according to the law of development, which is not only harmless to other countries, but also useful for finding the common interests with other countries.

China defines its guiding ideology according to the different stages of modernization instead of simply copying Western modernization, which is the key for the CPC in promoting modernization.

“Socialism is a concept that comes from the West, but we have successfully localized it after years of practice and hard work,” said Wang Yiwei, director of the Institute of International Affairs at the Renmin University of China.

Yuan Peng, Vice President of China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, believes that the Chinese model has provided a new choice for countries seeking self-improvement.

China won, the world won

“What are the scarce products in the field of thinking today? I think they include the ideology that guides mankind moving forward and in line with the law of development; the view of the world, value and security that can bring consensus in the diversified world, demand and lifestyle and leads to common actions; and the new public good that can benefit all mankind,” said Chen Wenling, chief economist of China Center for International Economic Exchanges. The report of the 19th National Congress of the CPC provides such kind of scarce goods as it transcends the limitations of different ideologies and different choices, seeks common interest and meets the needs of people of all countries for a better life.

“Building a common community of shared future for all mankind” is an important part of the socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era of Xi Jinping, is one of the basic strategies for upholding and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era, and is also one of the most discussed key words by scholars during the seminar.

 “In the past few years, China has helped Africa to build a large number of infrastructure and industrial development projects. Africa has benefited from the prosperity of China. The western countries only want our raw materials while China helps us to industrialize and modernize our country,” said Nkolo Foé, Vice President of the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa.

Implementing the Belt and Road Initiative, establishing the Asian Infrastructure and Investment Bank, the Silk Road Fund, hosting the First Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, the Informal Meeting of APEC Leaders, the G20 Summit in Hangzhou, and the BRICS Leaders in Xiamen Meeting, all the events demonstrate that China has gradually changed itself from a participant to a leader in global governance, bringing the global governance into a new era.

Victor L. Larin, Director of the Institute of history, archaeology and ethnography of the peoples of the far-east, far- eastern branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said that the 19th National Congress of the CPC is a good alternative to hegemonism and the unipolarity. China needs a more sophisticated diplomacy to deal with the challenges.

The participating experts believe that building a common community of shared future for mankind needs to solve many practical problems. For example, countries should consider the spillover effect when formulating policies, strengthen coordination of innovation policies, and overcome the barriers caused by different languages.

This is how Time magazine rates China’s world power: no government today is so influential that it can make global political and economic rules. However, if you have to bet on a country that can exert significant influence on both partners and competitors at the same time, betting China may be a smart choice.

  “The better China develops, the more opportunities and contributions will be made by China to the world. China’s development and progress also means development and progress for the world. When China wins, the world wins as well,” the article wrote.

What can China’s development bring to the world?

A few years ago, few people in China knew about cranberry, with the rapidly growing demand for healthy fruits from the affluent middle class in China, China has become the second largest importer of cranberries from the United States in just four years.

Like Cranberry, other products such as Alaska’s marine fish, Montana beef and Iowa soybeans has entered the homes of ordinary people in China. During President Trump’s visit to China, the two countries signed agreements of 253.5 billion U.S. dollars in economic and trade cooperation, injecting new impetus into bilateral economic and trade exchanges.

The report of the 19th National Congress of the CPC pointed out that we will promote the formation of a new pattern of opening-up. Opening-up will bring progress while closure will inevitably make countries lag behind. China’s open door will not be closed.

Zhang Yuyan, director of the Institute of World Economics and Politics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, noted that the previous slogan of “closure leads to backwardness”, and the change from “lead” to “necessity” show the determination of China to remain open in the future.

The experience of China has revealed a simple fact that “more opening-up leads to better development and vice versa.” Zhao Jinping, Director of the Foreign Economy Department of the State Council Development Research Center, said that as an emerging economy with the second largest economy in the world, China’s development needs opening-up, which will bring new opportunities for global economic growth.

The Chinese market will further expand in the next 15 years. It is estimated that China will import 24 trillion U.S. dollars of goods and absorb 2 trillion U.S. dollars in overseas direct investment, with a total outward foreign investment of 2 trillion U.S. dollars. Next year, Shanghai will host the first China International Import Expo, which will open a new platform for all parties to explore the Chinese market.

Zhao Jinping said that we must recognize that China still has a long way to go to adapt itself to the complicated changes in the external environment, and lead the international competition. China needs to further open its economy and market, and imbalances remain to be the major contradictions.

Zhao Jinping said that China’s future opening-up must comprehensive as this will inject lasting power into China’s development and reform. However, it will not be so easy to achieve comprehensive and deep opening-up.

The Report of the 19th National Congress of CPC emphasized that all people should work together to promote trade and investment liberalization and facilitation and ensure that the globalization is moving to a more open, inclusive and balanced direction.

  “Amid the trend of anti-globalization, China will lead to a new globalization which is fair, equitable and inclusive,” said Wang Huiyao, Chairman of China and Globalization Think Tank.

At present, China is trying to make its industries more competitive by accumulating experience and innovation, which will create more momentum for the next round of development. Wang Huiyao said that the more “China model” we have, the more competitive we will be in choosing ways of development. Furthermore, it will be able to attract more support and solidarity in the process of promoting globalization and building a stronger relationship between China’s prosperity and world progress.