The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) was successfully held in Beijing from October 16 to 22, 2022. The Congress summarized the work of the past five years and the great changes in the first decade of the new era, and set well-conceived goals, tasks and general policies for the Party and China’s undertakings in various fields in the next five years and beyond, which not only opens a new chapter of Chinese modernization, but also brings new opportunities to the world.
The 20th CPC National Congress clearly declares that China will always be committed to promoting the development of a human community with a shared future. Today, our world, our times, and history are changing in ways like never before, but maintaining world peace and promoting common development have always been the unremitting pursuit of China's diplomacy. China pursues a global partnership based on equality, openness, and cooperation, and will continue to deepen friendship, mutual trust and integration of interests with neighboring countries, including ASEAN, based on the spirit of amity, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness and the policy of building friendship and partnership with its neighbors.
To this end, China is ready to work with ASEAN and other partners to implement the Global Development Initiative and the Global Security Initiative. The implementation of the above-mentioned initiatives will help solve the increasing deficits in peace, development, security and governance, offer a new model of global governance that differs from dominance by just one or a few countries, thus fostering a more equitable, reasonable and effective global governance system.
The 20th National Congress once again shows that China will provide new opportunities for the world with its own development. In the past decade, China has contributed an average of 38.6% to the world economic growth. China has become a major trading partner for more than 130 countries and regions, with its import and export of goods accounting for 13.5% of the world's total in 2021, its position as the world's largest trading nation in goods maintained for five consecutive years, its scale of service imports and exports being the second largest in the world for eight consecutive years, and the capital stock of its FDI abroad exceeding $2.7 trillion and ranking third in the world.
The 20th National Congress has made strategic plans for promoting China's high-standard opening up. It emphasizes the need to foster an open world economy, thus better benefiting peoples of all countries. The multiple measures taken by China to maintain a diversified and stable international economic landscape and economic and trade relations, including steadily expanding institutional opening up with regard to rules, regulations, management, and standards, developing itself into a trader of both quality and quantity, and promoting the high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative, will certainly inject more confidence and momentum into regional and world economic development.
The 20th National Congress also demonstrates that China will contribute more wisdom to enrich the path of modernization for mankind. The 20th National Congress elaborates in depth the characteristics of Chinese modernization, pointing out that Chinese modernization is the modernization of a huge population, of common prosperity for all, of material and cultural-ethical advancement, of harmony between humanity and nature, and of peaceful development.
The successful practice of Chinese modernization proves that there is not only one way, one path, one model for modernization across all nations, and there is no need to follow some countries’ old path of capital-centered, polarized, and materialistic development featuring external expansion and plundering. Developing countries in general can explore unique ways toward modernization according to their own national conditions. Chinese modernization is the wisdom and solution that China has contributed to mankind's exploration of a better social system.
China and ASEAN have long insisted on promoting mutual benefits and win-win cooperation through openness and inclusiveness, enabling relations of the two sides to become the most successful and dynamic model of regional cooperation in the Asia-Pacific. As entering a new era and facing new opportunities, we look forward to working hand in hand with ASEAN to further advance the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and jointly promote regional peace, stability, development and prosperity.
