Forty years ago, Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping unveiled the reform and opening-up campaign in China with words of wisdom: emancipate the mind, seek truth from facts and unite as one in looking to the future. Since then, major changes have happened not only in China but also in the whole world.
Today, I believe it is not just China should celebrate the success of the 40-year old march of reform and opening-up; all of us have benefited from this policy. The success and rise of China resonate with all peoples of the world, especially in our rising African continent. If it weren't for China’s support and help, our economies wouldn’t have been able to flourish and grow. The entire humanity should celebrate considering that openness and development are a fundamental idea that includes everyone and achieving the goal of building the Belt and Road and a community of a shared future lies at the center of this idea. This increases trust and promotes consensus on issues of the economic globalization, the international trade system and the overhauling of global governance with the aim of building a more open and democratic world.
Over nearly four decades, China has made unprecedented achievements in economic and social development, which have been described as an “economic miracle” in human history.
During his speech at the Business 20 Summit in Hangzhou in September 2016, Chinese President Xi Jinping described China's reform and opening up as "a great process" in that “First, it is a process of exploration. There has been no precedent in human history for a country with a population of over 1.3 billion to realize modernization. Second, it is a process of action and hard work. China has been firmly taking economic construction as the center. Third, it is a process of common prosperity. Development for the people, by the people and to the benefit of the people is the fundamental purpose of China's reform and opening-up and its modernization drive. Lastly, it is a process during which China has been walking toward the world and the world has been walking to China".
To realize how great China's achievements have been under the leadership of the Communist Party of China and the five generations of the Party's collective leadership, including the current generation under Xi Jinping, it is useful to point out that when China started reform and opening-up in 1978, It had a GDP per capita level similar to Zambia – lower than half of the Asian average and lower than two-thirds of the African average. In fact, China’s economy was smaller than that of the US state of California.
China sought to catch up quickly. A report by the International Monetary Fund n December 2014 showed that as per purchasing power parity, China produced goods and services worth $17.6 trillion that year, compared to $17.4 trillion produced by the US.
PricewaterhouseCoopers has predicted that China's economy will be larger than that of the United States by 2030 in nominal dollar terms.
The trend seems clear that China will be the world's largest economy in the coming years or decades, but it is also true that in per capita terms, China's GDP is much smaller.
When reflecting back on how events unfolded, we must not forget that the starting point in adopting the reform and opening-up policies was when Deng Xiaoping, in 1978, launched development policies and particularly enhanced productive forces in China. He promoted the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics, asserted the strength of the country and effectively contributed to boosting China’s role in the international arena.
Over the past 40 years, China has recorded an annual average growth rate of GDP of about 9.5 percent, supported 400 million middle-income earners and pulled over 700 million Chinese out of poverty, accounting for over 70 percent of global poverty reduction. China has contributed more than 30 per cent to global growth in the past few years.
Today, the world is witnessing a new important round of development, great changes and profound adjustments. President Xi has launched a new round of reform dubbed “China’s Second Revolution", stressing that reform and opening-up has not only profoundly changed the country but also greatly influenced the whole world.
Addressing the annual Boao Forum for Asia this year, Xi reiterated China's commitment to reform and opening-up, pushing forward economic globalization and the overhauling of global governance. He clearly analyzed the issue of global peace and development and proposed a Chinese solution in the form of establishing a community with a shared future for humanity.
China's 40 years of reform and opening-up, Xi said, are a second revolution that not only bring changes to China but also influences the whole world.
The policy of reform and opening up has also seen China’s management system modernized, management abilities improved and the way of looking at the relationship with the rest of the world renewed, which has helped China's reform and opening-up win the approval of the Chinese and the peoples of the world.
Reform and opening-up is a process of smart integration of independence and openness that is in line with China's own interests, political system, culture and the will of its people.
Under Xi, the wisdom that characterized the way of implementing China's reform and opening-up process has been embodied, namely in relation to exploration and the growing maturity of the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics. This has been represented in that the general principle underlying the reform and opening-up takes into consideration the national realities and maintaining independence and self-reliance, while at the same time opening up to the world, upholding win-win cooperation, adhering to the socialist system and to the trend of overhauling the socialist market economy, and enhancing management and top-level design.
Building the Belt and Road and a community with a shared future for humanity means sharing dialogue and interests as well as sharing China’s experience and expertise. President Xi's stress on “respecting the social system and development path independently chosen by each country” reflects China's call for peace and development.
The recent summit of the Forum on China–Africa Cooperation held in Beijing is an example of the balance that China keeps between its own interests and goals and those of the other countries, whether those of Africa, the Arab world, Asia or the world at large.
What I mean, and I repeatedly reiterate at my lectures on China at Egyptian and Chinese universities, is that deepening of reform and opening-up in a new era in which China will gradually assume the responsibility of new globalization and global governance demands, not just internal reform and external openness, sharing the fruits of reform and opening-up with the world.
Amid the current trend toward economic and trade protectionism, China firmly defends the rules and principles of the World Trade Organization and the multilateral trading system, and strongly opposes unilateralism, including trade wars.
China has announced important measures to boost openness, including lowering the entry threshold into the Chinese market on a large scale, improving the investment environment, enhancing property rights protection and expanding imports. The international import expo scheduled to be held in Shanghai in November, where Egypt will be participating as a guest of honor, is to be seen within this context, and that of achieving the Chinese plan to push forward globalization and global governance.
I cannot find more expressive words that those which President Xi used to describe the relationship between China with its pioneering experience and the world when he said: “Humanity has a major choice to make between openness and isolation, and between progress and retrogression… In a world aspiring for peace and development, the Cold-War and zero-sum mentality looks even more out of place.”
Xi reiterated that “no matter how much progress China has made in development, China will not threaten anyone else, attempt to overturn the existing international system, or seek spheres of influence.”
The author is a former prime minister of Egypt.This article is selected from a book, The Sleeping Giant Awakes, jointly published by China Daily’s communication-led think tank China Watch and Guangdong People's Publishing House.
The author contributed this article to China Watch exclusively. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of China Watch.
All rights reserved. Copying or sharing of any content for other than personal use is prohibited without prior written permission.
Essam Sharaf
Forty years ago, Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping unveiled the reform and opening-up campaign in China with words of wisdom: emancipate the mind, seek truth from facts and unite as one in looking to the future. Since then, major changes have happened not only in China but also in the whole world.
Today, I believe it is not just China should celebrate the success of the 40-year old march of reform and opening-up; all of us have benefited from this policy. The success and rise of China resonate with all peoples of the world, especially in our rising African continent. If it weren't for China’s support and help, our economies wouldn’t have been able to flourish and grow. The entire humanity should celebrate considering that openness and development are a fundamental idea that includes everyone and achieving the goal of building the Belt and Road and a community of a shared future lies at the center of this idea. This increases trust and promotes consensus on issues of the economic globalization, the international trade system and the overhauling of global governance with the aim of building a more open and democratic world.
Over nearly four decades, China has made unprecedented achievements in economic and social development, which have been described as an “economic miracle” in human history.
During his speech at the Business 20 Summit in Hangzhou in September 2016, Chinese President Xi Jinping described China's reform and opening up as "a great process" in that “First, it is a process of exploration. There has been no precedent in human history for a country with a population of over 1.3 billion to realize modernization. Second, it is a process of action and hard work. China has been firmly taking economic construction as the center. Third, it is a process of common prosperity. Development for the people, by the people and to the benefit of the people is the fundamental purpose of China's reform and opening-up and its modernization drive. Lastly, it is a process during which China has been walking toward the world and the world has been walking to China".
To realize how great China's achievements have been under the leadership of the Communist Party of China and the five generations of the Party's collective leadership, including the current generation under Xi Jinping, it is useful to point out that when China started reform and opening-up in 1978, It had a GDP per capita level similar to Zambia – lower than half of the Asian average and lower than two-thirds of the African average. In fact, China’s economy was smaller than that of the US state of California.
China sought to catch up quickly. A report by the International Monetary Fund n December 2014 showed that as per purchasing power parity, China produced goods and services worth $17.6 trillion that year, compared to $17.4 trillion produced by the US.
PricewaterhouseCoopers has predicted that China's economy will be larger than that of the United States by 2030 in nominal dollar terms.
The trend seems clear that China will be the world's largest economy in the coming years or decades, but it is also true that in per capita terms, China's GDP is much smaller.
When reflecting back on how events unfolded, we must not forget that the starting point in adopting the reform and opening-up policies was when Deng Xiaoping, in 1978, launched development policies and particularly enhanced productive forces in China. He promoted the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics, asserted the strength of the country and effectively contributed to boosting China’s role in the international arena.
Over the past 40 years, China has recorded an annual average growth rate of GDP of about 9.5 percent, supported 400 million middle-income earners and pulled over 700 million Chinese out of poverty, accounting for over 70 percent of global poverty reduction. China has contributed more than 30 per cent to global growth in the past few years.
Today, the world is witnessing a new important round of development, great changes and profound adjustments. President Xi has launched a new round of reform dubbed “China’s Second Revolution", stressing that reform and opening-up has not only profoundly changed the country but also greatly influenced the whole world.
Addressing the annual Boao Forum for Asia this year, Xi reiterated China's commitment to reform and opening-up, pushing forward economic globalization and the overhauling of global governance. He clearly analyzed the issue of global peace and development and proposed a Chinese solution in the form of establishing a community with a shared future for humanity.
China's 40 years of reform and opening-up, Xi said, are a second revolution that not only bring changes to China but also influences the whole world.
The policy of reform and opening up has also seen China’s management system modernized, management abilities improved and the way of looking at the relationship with the rest of the world renewed, which has helped China's reform and opening-up win the approval of the Chinese and the peoples of the world.
Reform and opening-up is a process of smart integration of independence and openness that is in line with China's own interests, political system, culture and the will of its people.
Under Xi, the wisdom that characterized the way of implementing China's reform and opening-up process has been embodied, namely in relation to exploration and the growing maturity of the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics. This has been represented in that the general principle underlying the reform and opening-up takes into consideration the national realities and maintaining independence and self-reliance, while at the same time opening up to the world, upholding win-win cooperation, adhering to the socialist system and to the trend of overhauling the socialist market economy, and enhancing management and top-level design.
Building the Belt and Road and a community with a shared future for humanity means sharing dialogue and interests as well as sharing China’s experience and expertise. President Xi's stress on “respecting the social system and development path independently chosen by each country” reflects China's call for peace and development.
The recent summit of the Forum on China–Africa Cooperation held in Beijing is an example of the balance that China keeps between its own interests and goals and those of the other countries, whether those of Africa, the Arab world, Asia or the world at large.
What I mean, and I repeatedly reiterate at my lectures on China at Egyptian and Chinese universities, is that deepening of reform and opening-up in a new era in which China will gradually assume the responsibility of new globalization and global governance demands, not just internal reform and external openness, sharing the fruits of reform and opening-up with the world.
Amid the current trend toward economic and trade protectionism, China firmly defends the rules and principles of the World Trade Organization and the multilateral trading system, and strongly opposes unilateralism, including trade wars.
China has announced important measures to boost openness, including lowering the entry threshold into the Chinese market on a large scale, improving the investment environment, enhancing property rights protection and expanding imports. The international import expo scheduled to be held in Shanghai in November, where Egypt will be participating as a guest of honor, is to be seen within this context, and that of achieving the Chinese plan to push forward globalization and global governance.
I cannot find more expressive words that those which President Xi used to describe the relationship between China with its pioneering experience and the world when he said: “Humanity has a major choice to make between openness and isolation, and between progress and retrogression… In a world aspiring for peace and development, the Cold-War and zero-sum mentality looks even more out of place.”
Xi reiterated that “no matter how much progress China has made in development, China will not threaten anyone else, attempt to overturn the existing international system, or seek spheres of influence.”
The author is a former prime minister of Egypt.This article is selected from a book, The Sleeping Giant Awakes, jointly published by China Daily’s communication-led think tank China Watch and Guangdong People's Publishing House.
The author contributed this article to China Watch exclusively. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of China Watch.
All rights reserved. Copying or sharing of any content for other than personal use is prohibited without prior written permission.
