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09

Sep

2019

[CDIDaily]Wang Yiwei: China Injects Precious Certainty into World

After a long struggle, socialism with Chinese characters has ushered in a new era. This is an era when China is moving closer to the center of the world stage and continuing to make greater contributions to mankind. In recent years, China is contributing to the development of other countries, which is a responsibility a great power undertakes, whilst promoting its own growth and development. What contribution will the Chinese dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation make to the world? What is China’s successful development experience contained in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)? China Discipline Inspection Daily has invited Wang Yiwei, Research Fellow at National Academy of Development and Strategy and Professor at School of International Studies, Renmin University of China to elaborate on relevant issues.

China should not only grower stronger on its part, but also maintain sustainable development with the world

Reporter: The Chinese dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is an important governing philosophy brought forward by General Secretary Xi Jinping since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. In a previous interview, you said that “the Chinese dream is derived from China but belongs to the world”, why did you say so?

Wang Yiwei (Wang): The Chinese dream first of all belongs to China. We don’t dream what other countries dream. China, as the largest developing country in the world, will make the largest contribution to the international community as long as it manages itself well. We insist on following a path that takes into accounts our own national conditions, stay sober-minded and maintain self-confidence and self-consciousness.

As a large country and ancient civilization in the world, China not only has “confidence in four respects (path, theory, system and culture)”, but also would like to see other countries be “confident”; China not only should have its own Chinese characteristics, but also would like to see characteristics of other countries; China should not only grow stronger on its part, but also attain sustainable development of human civilization together with the rest of the world. This is the significance and responsibility of the Chinese dream to the world. The Chinese share the same dream of pursuing a better life with all peoples in the world.

The Chinese dream is derived from China but belongs to the world. As an old Chinese saying goes, a humane person is one who helps others establish what he himself wishes to establish and to achieve what he himself wishes to achieve. The development achievements made by China in recent years set a good example for and encourage the development of other emerging countries, and also make the Chinese dream appealing to a large number of developing countries. So the Chinese dream also represents the dream of development and prosperity among these developing countries. In the course of realizing its Chinese dream, China is also assisting other developing countries with poverty alleviation, wealth accumulation and modernization, and advocating a correct outlook on justice and profit, with a view to building a community with a shared future. Only with the company of other countries in the world and through common development and common prosperity of different civilizations can China maintain stable and long-term development.

Take for example the BRI. Following setbacks in globalization, China, as the engine of world economic growth, has turned its advantages in production capacity, technology, capital, experience and model into market and cooperation strengths, transformed Chinese opportunities into those shared by the world, and built a bridge between the Chinese dream and the world dream.

China has vivid experience in modernization, which appeals to a broad range of developing countries

Reporter: China put forward the BRI in 2013. Over the past six years, from a blueprint to practice and from an initiative to concrete mechanisms, the BRI has been actively responded to by the rest of the world, especially developing countries. As a researcher in respect of the BRI, what do you think is China’s successful development experience contained in the BRI?

Wang: The term BRI itself implies a traditional Chinese philosophy—after one come two, after two come three and after three come all things. Words such as “economic corridor” and “economic belt” have distinctive characteristics of the reform and opening-up. That “if you want to be rich, build roads first; if you want to be rich fast, build high-speed railways” and “if there is anything to be impoverished, it’s not education and we should not pass poverty onto next generations” is also China’s immediate experience in development.

China put forward its plan for revival of Silk Road later than any country, but why could the Chinese plan surpass those of all other countries to become a well-received international public good? One of the reasons is that China has developed rapidly in recent years with remarkable achievements made and domestic interconnection basically completed. For instance, we have built more than 30,000 km of high-speed railways over the past decade, which account for 70% of the world total, a miracle in human railway history. The key to proper governance lies in perseverance and consistency. The transformation from “Made in China” to “Created in China” fully displays the superiority of China’s socialist system and Chinese builders’ spirit of working hard and facing difficulties without fear.

So far, 1.3 billion people in the world have no access to electricity, but China, as the world’s largest developing country, boasts the largest generating capacity in the world. The long-distance, ultra-high-voltage power transmission network of State Grid has successfully minimized the costs, promoting common modernization of mankind. Beidou Navigation System will maintain global coverage in 2020, which will facilitate remote education in developing countries, help eliminate illiteracy and contribute to poverty alleviation. The success of the BRI has demonstrated that China has vivid experience in modernization, which appeals most to developing countries. By unveiling the BRI, we are also looking back and tapping the potential of cooperation with developing countries. China has the strongest ability to marketize technologies and the most vivid experience in industrialization, and is most realistic, pragmatic and resilient, so it can be most responsive to the development requirements of a diverse world.

The BRI also reveals the profound historical and cultural connotation of the Chinese path. As is stated in Guanzi, “with eyes of all the people under heaven, there is nothing you cannot; with ears of all the people under heaven, there is nothing you cannot hear; and with minds of all the people under heaven, there is nothing you cannot understand.” The BRI is unveiled to demonstrate China’s responsibility of “having its development fruits shared among the rest of the world” as a great power, activate the Silk Road spirit of “peace and cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, mutual learning and mutual benefit”, establish new international relations with win-win cooperation at the core, explore a common value system in the 21st century and build a community with a shared future. China encourages countries in the world to take development paths that suit their respective national conditions and supports the process of industrialization in developing countries through international production capacity cooperation, so as to allow more fruits of cooperation to benefit people and achieve common development and prosperity.

In short, China has taken a development path that takes into account its national conditions, providing a new option for countries and nations expecting to develop faster whilst maintaining independence.

The success of China’s development path has restored a diverse world and also provided enlightenment for the West

Reporter: In the West, there is a popular word “China’s Paradox”, which means that China has achieved excessive economic and social growth even without implementing the Western model. Therefore, some skeptical voices can be heard, such as “Theory of a Lucky China”, “Theory of an Unsustainable China” and “China Threat Theory”. How do you think should we treat and respond to these views?

Wang: From a certain time, universality dominated by the “West-centered Theory” formed a system of universal values under the aegis of modern western civilization and “universal values” become a tool whereby western countries controls discourse hegemony.

Westerns will misinterpret China issues if they refer to western theories as understanding a China issue by placing it within the framework of a western subject will be one-sided. There is no doubt that various countries, varying from one to another, make up a diverse world, but common historical memories, common situations and common pursuits link together different countries to form a common identity and shape a common future.

The historical basis of the system of universal values is that the West leads the process of globalization. For China, the only way to break the “China Threat Theory” is to promote “re-globalization”—the present “globalization” is by nature one of western implements, institutions and culture, not the “true globalization”. “True globalization” is one that respects and expresses different cultures, ideas and development models and fully displays diversity of civilization.

In fact, common values can be found in Chinese and western cultures, and Chinese and western civilizations can be complementary. The allegation of representing universal values is merely a symbol of discourse hegemony. The success of China’s development path has restored a diverse world and scotched the remark that “globalization is Americanization”. Meanwhile, Chinese wisdom and Chinese solution have also enlightened the western model and China’s sustained and successful development has not only solved Chinese problems, but also helped the West out of predicaments. Of course, China’s successful development has even motivated more and more developing countries to part from the myth of imitating the West and look for their own development paths.

China maintains its own certainty in an age of uncertainties

Reporter: Some scholars point out that China’s development is the cornerstone of global stability. China’s prosperity and stability will also contribute to the stable development of the world. How do you understand this?

Wang: China has a population of nearly 1.4 billion, of which many are poverty-stricken. Since the reform and opening-up, China has made unremitting efforts to promote work such as poverty elimination and improvement of people’s livelihood. Over the past decades, China has successfully pulled more than 800 million people out of poverty, which figure ranks No.1 in the world, contributing over 70% to global poverty reduction. Staying true to its mission and acting for the benefit of the people, the Communist Party of China continues to meet people’s growing demand for a better life. China’s people-centered development philosophy provides good experience for the international community. The Chinese model of poverty alleviation has been recognized by an increasing number of countries and increased the confidence of other developing countries.

Additionally, since the outbreak of the global financial crisis, China has contributed more than 30% to world economic growth, playing an effective role in underpinning the world economy. China’s prudent economic policies are also deterring some beggar-thy-neighbor trade and investment protectionism in the globe.

Moreover, by promoting interconnectivity, the BRI can drive economic development in countries along the Belt and Road and also help remove the turmoil caused by poverty in some countries. China’s concept of peace and development, mutual benefit and win-win cooperation is making the world more open, inclusive, and balanced.

Looking around the world, in an era of uncertainties, China has maintained its own certainty and based on this, led the world out of uncertainties. In view of the size of China and its contributions to world peace and development, such certainty is rare and precious.

Where does China’s certainty come from? The answer lies in its regime, policies and leadership.

Firstly, China has a certain regime. The Communist Party of China has long been in power and the system of prefectures and counties, established in the Qin and Han Dynasties, continues today. The mass line upheld by the Communist Party of China is the most effective regime to prevent populism.

Secondly, China has certain policies. China continues to deepen its reform and opening-up, The “two centenary goals” and “five-year plans” guarantee policy continuity and stability. Behind such certain policies is a continuous Chinese civilization.

Finally, China has a certain leadership. Chinese communists throw themselves to the struggle generation after generation, which is in sharp contrast to party alternations in some countries.

The original article was at: http://www.jjjcb.cn/content/2019-09/09/content_81732.htm