Nation's modernization drive attracts global attention(3)

Strategic plan

To build itself into a great modern socialist country in all respects, China has adopted a two-step strategic plan — to basically realize socialist modernization from 2020 through 2035, and to become a great modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious and beautiful from 2035 through the middle of this century.

Xi, who is also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, said at the 20th CPC National Congress: "In pursuing modernization, China will not tread the old path of war, colonization and plunder taken by some countries ... We will strive to safeguard world peace and development as we pursue our own development, and we will make greater contributions to world peace and development through our own development."

Observers said the Chinese path toward modernization abandons the old Western way of modernization, which is capital-centric and characterized by soaring materialism and external expansion. It also breaks the myth that modernization means Westernization, and expands choices for developing countries on their modernization journey.

Essam Sharaf, former Egyptian prime minister and a non-resident senior fellow at Renmin University of China's Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, said he sees four key pillars in Chinese modernization — cooperation, harmony, peace and development.

He said that by adopting these pillars, China passes on the benefits of its modernization to the world through the Belt and Road Initiative, the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative, which are considered public goods offered by the nation to the international community.

Mamadou Tangara, Gambia's foreign minister, said China's modernization "addresses, in a resolute way, the global deficits of development, peace, governance and trust."

China's rapid economic growth and long-term social stability are widely viewed as a miracle in the history of human development, Tanggara said, and the nation has promoted poverty alleviation, common prosperity, ecological conservation and people-centered democracy as well as the rule of law.

"China has inspired many developing countries to seek their own formula to reduce poverty and to promote their respective economic development and prosperity," he said.

Tangara described the Belt and Road Initiative, or BRI, as an effective platform to promote a more integrated world where "positive collaboration between countries is not burdened by the complexities of ideological and cultural differences."

"Under the BRI, we are all galvanized under the common ambition of seeking mutually beneficial and sustainable socioeconomic transformative partnerships. It essentially bridges physical distance and shared interests and prosperity," he said.

Tangara also voiced his support for the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative, saying they unwaveringly offer hope for a shared and better future for humankind.

Since China proposed the BRI in 2013, more than 3,000 cooperation projects have been launched, involving investment of nearly $1 trillion and creating 420,000 jobs for participating countries, the Foreign Ministry said. As a result, many nations have realized their dreams of building railways and large bridges, and also of alleviating poverty.

The Global Development Initiative has been widely welcomed by the international community. With the support of more than 100 countries and many international organizations, and with some 70 countries in the Group of Friends of the GDI, the initiative is giving a strong boost to the early attainment of the UN Sustainable Development Goals for 2030.

John Thornton, co-chair of the Board of Trustees of the Asia Society in the United States, said: "The concept of Chinese modernization, to me, is very compelling. It is enduring. It is inspiring. And I see it as kind of an aspiration and also a guide to behavior."

He suggests that the single most important thing for Chinese modernization is to figure out how to communicate the content in a compelling way through global communication channels so that everybody hears the same message.

"Who in the world is not in favor of peace? Who in the world is not in favor of common prosperity? Who in the world is not in favor of harmony between man and nature?" he said.

"And if at least in my country, if people understood that this is what China believes, this is what they stand for, this is where they see the future, then that will have a very positive impact on the relationship between the two countries."