--By Zhao Jian, Chinese Consul General to Chicago

This year marks the 73rd anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. Over the past 73 years, under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the Chinese people have overcome all difficulties and strived together with unity and fortitude, delivering rapid economic development and long-term social stability, miracles rarely seen in the world. In particular, in the past 10 years, socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era, and China's development has made historic achievements and undergone historic changes. China’s GDP expanded at an average annual growth rate of 6.6 percent from 2013 to 2021. In 2021, China’s economic aggregate accounted for 18.5 percent of the world’s total. China has accomplished the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects, achieved the poverty alleviation goal set in the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development 10 years ahead of schedule. 

China’s development is high-quality development. In the face of the changing international environment as well as the new situation and new characteristics of economic performance, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has been fully implementing the new development philosophy based on the new development stage, and fostering a new development paradigm, promoting high-quality development, deepening supply-side structural reform, and continuously exploring innovations in and improving macro-regulation. 

China’s economic development has not only maintained reasonable growth in quantity, but also achieved steady improvement in quality. China’s per capita GDP rose from 6,300 US dollars to more than 12,000 US dollars. The proportion of China’s manufacturing output worldwide rose from 22.5% to nearly 30%, while the carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP have dropped by about 34%. 

China has boosted new growth drivers through innovation. In 2021, China’s innovation index rose to the 12th place in the world. The major regional development strategies have been solidly advanced, and the rural revitalization strategy has been steadily advanced. The level and quality of new urbanization have been continuously improved, and the potential of regional urban-rural coordinated development has been continuously released. China has achieved high-quality development in economic, social, cultural, ecological and other fields.

China’s development is people-centered development. China has always regarded improving the well-being of the people and promoting well-rounded human development as the starting point and foothold of its development. The purpose of development is to meet the people’s ever-growing needs for a better life. Our goal is to consistently improve and develop the whole-process people’s democracy, protect the rights of the people to participate and to develop as equals, safeguard social fairness and justice, fully mobilize their enthusiasm, initiative, and creativity, and strive to enhance their sense of happiness and fulfillment. 

Over the past decade, the life of the Chinese people has improved in all aspects. The 98.99 million people in rural areas who were living below the current poverty threshold all shook off poverty, creating a miracle in the history of poverty alleviation. China now has a middle-income population of over 400 million, the largest in the world. China has built the world’s largest social security system, with basic medical insurance covering 1.36 billion people, basic pension covering more than 1 billion people, and average life expectancy among the highest in middle- and upper-income countries. China’s educational undertaking has thrived and expanded. The average length of schooling of the working-age population has reached 10.9 years, making China not only a country with a large human population, but also a country with strong human resources. According to a Harvard University poll that has been running for more than 10 years, ordinary Chinese people’s satisfaction with the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese government has exceeded 90% for 10 consecutive years. The CPC and the Chinese government have won the support and love of the people because they put the people’s interests first and the people at the core of development policies to ensure that development is for the people, by the people and with the people sharing in its fruits. 

China’s development is open, inclusive, and mutually beneficial with win-win results. China’s development has not only benefited the 1.4 billion Chinese people, but also the people of all countries in the world. Countries in the world have different resource endowments, and each has its own economic strengths and characteristics. They are interdependent and highly complementary to each other, and thus have strong need and huge potentials for cooperation. China is committed to opening up in a larger scope, to wider areas and at deeper levels, striving to create a first-class business environment, and constantly exploring new prospects for win-win cooperation. From 2013 to 2021, China’s average contribution to world economic growth exceeded 30%, remained as the main engine of world economic growth. 

China has made overall plans to promote the 21 pilot free trade zones. The management system of pre-entry national treatment plus negative list for foreign investment has been constantly improved. The new foreign investment law has been promulgated and implemented, and the protection of intellectual property rights has been continuously strengthened. China has accelerated the formation of an all-round high-level open economy. The trade and investment liberalization and facilitation has been enhanced, which has not only strengthened its own development resilience, but also provided broad market opportunities for other countries.

Global development has now come to a critical juncture. We are at a time fraught with challenges. The COVID-19 pandemic has kept resurfacing. Global security faces uncertainty. Global economic recovery is fragile and unsteady, and various risks and crises are emerging. The world has entered a new phase of turbulence and transformation. At the same time,we are also at a time full of hope. The world continues to move toward multi-polarity; economic globalization is deepening, and our societies are becoming increasingly digitized and culturally diversified. Indeed, countries are becoming ever more interconnected and interdependent. Around the world, the people’s call for progress and cooperation is getting louder than ever before. 

Peace is crucial for our future and it underpins common security of all countries. Mutual respect and equality of countries big and small is a primary principle of the UN Charter. Facing with all kinds of security challenges, the international community should pursue common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security, respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries, abide by the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, take the legitimate security concerns of all countries seriously, peacefully resolve disputes through dialogue and consultation, and build a new type of international relations featuring mutual respect, equity and justice, and win-win cooperation. 

Development holds the key to resolving difficult issues and delivering a happy life to our people. In response to tough challenges confronting global development, President Xi Jinping proposed to advance high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, proposed the Global Development Initiative, and called for upholding the principle of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits to build a global development community. We should place development at the center of the international agenda, build international consensus on promoting development, and uphold all countries’ legitimate right to development. We should foster new drivers for global development, forge a global development partnership, and see that everyone in every country benefits more from the fruits of development in a more equitable way. 

Openness is the sure way to realize human prosperity and advancement. China actively builds a high-level opening system and maintains the security and stability of the global industrial and supply chains. China has become an important trading partner of more than 130 countries and regions and the biggest engine of world economic growth. Facts have proved that protectionism can only boomerang and decoupling and supply chain disruption will hurt both those who practice them and others. We should stay true to openness and inclusiveness and tear down fences and barriers that hinder the free flow of factors of production. We should uphold the multilateral trading system with the WTO at its core and endeavor to build an open world economy. 

As we face a host of global challenges, our biggest strength will come from solidarity; our best strategy is to stick together through thick and thin; and the brightest prospect is win-win cooperation. Peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy and freedom are common values of humanity. Difference in system should not be used as an excuse to create division.We should stand against drawing lines on ideological grounds, reject the Cold War mentality, engage in dialogue and cooperation, oppose division and confrontation, and actively advocate and practice true multilateralism, mutual respect, equality, peaceful coexistence, win-win cooperation and common development.

In this October, the Communist Party of China will convene its 20th National Congress. It will be an important meeting to be held at a critical time as China embarks on a new journey toward its second centenary goal of building a modern socialist country in all respects. At this national congress, the Communist Party of China will fully review the major achievements made and valuable experience gained in China’s reform and development endeavors. It will also set well-conceived goals and tasks for China’s development in the next five years and beyond, formulate programs of action and overarching policies, and will draw an overarching plan for China’s future development to meet China’s new development goals on the journey ahead in the new era and the new expectations of the people. We will continue to follow the Chinese path to modernization to achieve the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. As a permanent member of the UN Security Council and the largest developing country, China will always stand by the trend of the times, always be a builder of world peace, a contributor to global development, and a defender of the international order, and we will continue to promote the building of a community with a shared future for mankind. By doing so, we will create new opportunities for the world with new advances in China’s development and contribute our vision and strength to world peace and development and human progress.