China's path: A great practice in human social development
- By Hou Ruili
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E-mail China Today, October 12, 2017
Over the past few years, while the world's economic development has undergone a profound adjustment, China's economy has maintained a medium-to-high rate of growth. According to statistics from the World Bank, China contributed more than 30 percent on average to the global economic expansion annually from 2011 to 2016 (at constant 2010 prices in U.S. dollars). This shows that China remains one of the major contributors to global growth.
With strong economic momentum, the landscape of Chinese cities, as well as people's lives, has improved with each passing day. China plans to lift all of its poor out of poverty by 2020.
The West took 300 years to innovate and industrialize. China took less than 40 years after its reform and opening-up to emulate and catch up with its Western counterparts. How did an agricultural country achieve such substantial growth and transform itself into a modern country backed by industrialization and informatization? The secret to China's success is that it designed a development path that suits its actual conditions.
In the early 20th century, before the Communist Party of China (CPC) was founded in 1921, the country had 312 modern political parties. They put forward various political views and plans, but eventually failed to lead people out of the hardships of that time, let alone to unite and develop the country. The CPC, by relying on the people, adhered to the path of socialism and finally seized political power to govern the nation. Taking the socialist path under the leadership of the CPC has proved to be the right decision made by our people.
Before the establishment of the CPC, there was no prior system of governance, so our leaders have always set great store on learning from actions and enriching their experience to develop China's path. Just as Deng Xiaoping proposed: We should first have a try. If it proves right, then we should continue with it. If it proves wrong, we will correct it, and if any new problem arises, we will tackle it head-on.
It is a great step in the emancipation of the mind to integrate socialism with a market economy. Since reform and opening-up was initiated, the CPC first proposed the policy of "maintaining the primary role of the planned economy while giving play to the supplementary role of market forces in economic regulation," and later transformed it to "establishing a planned commodity economy on the basis of public ownership," and eventually to "establishing a socialist market economy." The policy adjustments imply that the CPC has continuously deepened its understanding of the relations between socialism and the market economy.
At the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, the Party urged comprehensive deepening of reforms and pointed out that reform in the economic system still remains the primary focus. The core idea is to give the market a decisive role in resource allocation and give better play to the role of the government.
The market's status has increased in importance from a "basic" to "decisive" role regarding resource allocation, while the government performs efficiently in guaranteeing macroeconomic stability, optimizing public services, enhancing market supervision, remedying the market failure, and promoting common prosperity. The market-government relationship marks another major innovation to the theory and practice of socialism with Chinese characteristics.
Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the Chinese government has issued over 1,200 reform measures in the areas of economy, politics, culture, society, environmental protection, and Party building, injecting impetus to the country's development.
The CPC spares no effort to meet major challenges, avoid major risks, overcome major obstacles, and resolve major conflicts. The anti-corruption campaign has seen remarkable results. A sound mechanism is taking shape to guarantee that officials cannot and do not want to be corrupt. Some foreign media commented that China's achievement in anti-corruption has made a great contribution to the world.
Chinese President Xi Jinping proposes to build a new model of international relations based on win-win cooperation and a community of shared future for all humankind, which furthers China's path to peaceful development. On September 11, the 71st session of the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution which incorporated the principles of "extensive consultation, joint contribution, and shared benefits" – all put forward in China's Belt and Road Initiative – with the ideas of global governance of economy. This demonstrates that Chinese notions and wisdom are gaining wide support from the international community.
