Beijing, China / TimesNewswire / March 10, 2023 – Discussions of Chinese modernization during this year’s ongoing Two Sessions have drawn global attention to how the country’s policies will provide the world with new opportunities.
On Friday morning, deputies to the 14th National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s national legislature, elected the new state leadership as the country advances along its path to modernization.
Following the election, Xi Jinping, newly elected president of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and chairman of the Central Military Commission of the PRC, and other newly elected Chinese leaders made public pledges of allegiance to the Constitution at the Great Hall of the People.
Choosing own model of modernization
Through the window of the Two Sessions, international observers gained a deeper understanding of Chinese modernization and said it offered inspirations for global development.
In the eyes of Stephen Perry, chairman of Britain’s 48 Group Club, Chinese modernization relates to the living environment and social values of the people as well as the economy.
The Chinese government is making long-term plans, listening to the people’s voices and focusing on harmonious development when promoting Chinese modernization, he added.
Diaa Helmy, secretary-general of the Cairo-based Egyptian-Chinese Chamber of Commerce, said Chinese modernization follows the path of peaceful development, promotes win-win cooperation with other countries, and fosters mutual understanding and integration of civilizations.
Eduardo Regalado, senior researcher at the International Policy Research Center of Cuba, said China had shed light on an alternative modernization development path for other nations.
Highlighting the inclusiveness of Chinese modernization, Regalado stressed that “Chinese modernization is different from Western modernization. It is a modernization model for the benefit of the people, which is based on the national conditions and is connected to the outside world.”
Chinese President Xi Jinping has encouraged other nations to seek their own development paths, saying: “There is no fixed model when it comes to the path of modernization, the one that suits you well will serve you well. Every country’s efforts to independently explore a path to modernization that suits its own national realities should be respected.”
Institutional reform, crucial for modernization
China’s national legislature on Friday also approved a plan to reform the institutions of the State Council.
The reforms emphasize various important areas in China’s modernization drive, such as science and technology, financial supervision, data management, rural revitalization, intellectual property rights and elderly care.
Hong Xianghua, a professor at the Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), said the reform of China’s State Council institutions is an important step in enhancing the capacity and efficiency of governance and will provide impetus, vitality and efficiency for the development of Chinese modernization.
Before the Two Sessions, the CPC Central Committee held a consultative meeting with non-CPC political parties, the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce and personages without party affiliation about the reform plan.
Xi Jinping told attendees this round of reform “focuses on solving some difficult problems of public concern. It is expected to have a major impact on economic and social development.”
Sharing achievements with the world
Piotr Gadzinowski, former head of the Polish-Chinese Parliamentary Group, pointed out the reason Chinese modernization has attracted global attention is that China is committed to promoting win-win cooperation and sharing development opportunities with the world while achieving its own development.
“China brings a lot of opportunities to the world. In Africa, many countries have benefited from infrastructure projects built by the Chinese side,” Theoneste Higaniro, an engineer with Rwanda Energy Group, noted.
“While some Western countries are pointing fingers at other countries, China is helping us build factories, hotels and supermarkets,” he added. “This is a true reflection of China’s promotion of global development in the process of modernization.”
Deputy Chief Engineer at Lao-China Railway Company, Vongthong Souphanthong, said, the railway’s China-Laos Railway Lao section struck a new record of 10,197 passengers last Saturday, adding that “at this year’s Two Sessions, the Chinese government proposed that it will solidly promote Chinese modernization in accordance with the deployment. In the future, China will continue to promote opening up and joint building of the Belt and Road Initiative, which will create new cooperation opportunities for all countries.”
Xi Jinping has previously said that “Chinese modernization is a new model for human advancement, and it dispels the myth that ‘modernization is equal to Westernization,’ presents another picture of modernization, expands the channels for developing countries to achieve modernization, and provides a Chinese solution to aid the exploration of a better social system for humanity.”
(Cover: A view of the Shandong Free Trade Zone in Qingdao City, east China’s Shandong Province, January 29, 2023. /CFP)
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