BEIJING: Chinese modernization shares similarities to the modernization processes of all countries, but it is more characterized by features that are unique to the Chinese context.
President Xi Jinping described Chinese modernization as “a new model for human advancement” while addressing the opening of a study session at the Party School of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee on Tuesday.
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, Xi said.Chinese modernization is the modernization of a huge population and of common prosperity for all, said Xi, citing the report to the 20th CPC National Congress.
An article by Xi published in the Qiushi Journal said the people are the foundation and lifeblood of the CPC. “Our Party has no special interests of its own, and puts our people’s interests first at all times,” the article read. Achieving common prosperity is a defining feature of socialism with Chinese characteristics, according to the report to the 20th CPC National Congress.
China announced in 2021 that the country had lifted the final 98.99 million rural residents living under the poverty line out of poverty, and removed all 832 impoverished counties and 128,000 villages from the poverty list.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres once commented that China’s great achievements in poverty reduction constitute “the biggest contribution for dramatical reduction of poverty.”
And over the past four decades, people’s lives in China have been dramatically improved. Being a primarily agricultural country about 70 years ago, China now boasts the world’s most extensive social welfare system, the largest high-speed railway network and cutting-edge technologies in many sectors.
In the past decade, China’s GDP has grown from 54 trillion yuan to 114 trillion yuan (about $16 trillion) and accounts for 18.5 percent of the world economy, up 7.2 percentage points.
The country has remained the world’s second-largest economy, and its per capita GDP has risen from 39,800 yuan to 81,000 yuan.
China has been pursuing modernization in a comprehensive way. It has coordinated material and cultural-ethical progress, promoted economic, political, cultural, social and ecological development, and adhered to a new development philosophy that highlights innovation, coordination, greenness, openness and sharing.
Deeply involved in the global industrial division of labor and cooperation, China has established scientific and technological cooperation with more than 160 countries and regions, signed 114 intergovernmental agreements on scientific and technological cooperation, and participated in nearly 60 international “big science” research plans and projects.
–The Daily Mail-CGTN news exchange item
