World hails China’s decade of advances

20th CPC National Congress seen as start of new journey for nation’s growth

China’s extraordinary achievements over the past 10 years have been widely acknowledged for raising living standards at home and bolstering global development.

The upcoming 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China is the start of a new journey for China’s development and its role in international affairs.

Chinese brands have become conspicuous at Japanese home appliance stores in recent years. The trend, reported by Japanese media, reflects the extraordinary achievements of “Made in China “and China’s high-quality development over the past decade.

China accounted for over 18 percent of the global economy in 2021, up from 11.4 percent in 2012, with per capita GDP jumping to $12,500 from $6,300. China’s average contribution to global economic growth exceeded 30 percent during the same period.

Historic achievements

China’s socioeconomic development witnessed historic achievements in the past decade, drawing interest from across the globe.

China has met the poverty eradication target set out in the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development 10 years ahead of schedule, with nearly 100 million impoverished rural residents lifted out of poverty during the past decade.

In his message for the 2017 Global Poverty Reduction and Development Forum, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that “targeted poverty reduction strategies are the only way to reach those farthest behind and achieve the ambitious targets set out in the 2030 Agenda”.

Putting the health and safety of the people first, China has taken timely and active measures against the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, achieving the best results in the world in terms of coordinating economic development and epidemic prevention and control.

Meanwhile, China has provided over 2.2 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses to more than 120 countries and international organizations.

China has set ambitious targets and taken concrete actions to address climate change and aims to peak its carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060.

Praising China’s efforts in promoting the ratification of the hard-won Paris Agreement, former UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon said the country’s leader exercised insightful and future-oriented leadership in the fight against climate change, which is the most serious challenge humanity is facing now. He said China’s commitment to carbon neutrality has also encouraged other countries to follow suit.

As China celebrated its National Day on Oct 1, a group of engineers from China Civil Engineering Construction Corp walked for five hours in the rain in the mountainous regions of Rwanda’s Southern province to inspect water pipelines there. The project benefits over 1 million residents by providing them with accessible clean water.

In Europe, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic extended festive greetings to the Chinese people and spoke highly of the contribution made by Chinese companies to Serbia’s economic development. Serbia feels proud to have an ironclad friendship with China, Vucic said.

The world is witnessing a persistent and unchecked pandemic, a shifting international security landscape and a fragile global economic recovery. Despite these global crises, China insists on the road of peaceful development and win-win cooperation.

Solutions offered

To jointly promote global development toward a new stage featuring balance, coordination and inclusiveness, China has proposed the Global Development Initiative, providing a Chinese solution to global development challenges.

To promote world security, China proposed the Global Security Initiative. China’s vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security has resonated globally.

Speaking highly of the security initiative, Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif said it advocates cooperative and synergy-driven approaches to replace a zero-sum Cold War mindset of maximization of security through power struggles and arms races.

In the new era, China continues to contribute to world peace and development and provide more public goods to the international community within its capacity. By advocating the advancement of high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, China had signed more than 200 Belt and Road Initiative cooperation agreements with 149 countries and 32 international organizations by July this year.