The symposium titled "Chinese Modernization and the Future of the World" is hosted by Renmin University of China on September 3. (COURTESY PHOTO)

By GONG Qian

Experts and scholars from the international strategic and academic communities took part in a symposium hosted by Renmin University of China (RUC) on Chinese modernization and its significance to the world. 

The event held on September 3 was a part of the Mingde Strategic Dialogue 2024 sponsored by the RUC and undertaken by its Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, which invites international talents to China for in-depth dialogues and discussions.

Axel Goethals, CEO of the European Institute for Asian Studies, said he came to China in 1978 for the first time and since then has been observing China's impressive economic development through reform and opening up. He has noted China's transition from quantitative to qualitative growth. "Its achievements deserve full respect," he said.

However, in Europe, most people, including policy-makers and the media, do not really know much about China and how fast China is developing and changing, he added. Most impressions and opinions are made based on stereotypes dating back to 10 or even 20 or even more. "But China today is already a completely different country from five years ago, and even one year ago," he said. 

He appreciated the 2024 Mingde Strategic Dialogue as an examplary program to show the very fast changes in China's economic development. He referred to his trips to several Chinese cities including Shanghai and Guangzhou, where he visited many modern and innovative companies and institutions. He spoke highly of Yiwu, a world-famous small commodities manufacturing hub in Zhejiang province, east China, saying the ctiy was a really eye-opener.

Martin Jacques, former senior fellow of the Department of Politics and International Studies at Cambridge University, also remarked on China's "great economic progress" since reform and opening up, calling it the turning point of Chinese modernization. 

China has become increasingly innovative and Chinese companies like Huawei and Tencent are at the leading edge of global technology. In the process, China has become a global technological leader. This is a moment of huge historical and contemporary significance, Jacques said.

According to him, China's modernization is not only transforming China's own prospects, but also transforming the possibilities for modernization in other developing countries. He gave an example of the Belt and Road Initiative, which is assisting economic development in Eurasia, Africa, and Latin America.

"Now China is the great exporter of modernization," Jacques said.

Instead of aggression and expansion, Chinese modernization is the modernization of peaceful development, said Ma Keqing, member of the Public Diplomacy Advisory Panel, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China.

Ma said Chinese modernization has dispelled the myth that modernization is equivalent to Westernization, opening up a path that aligns with the conditions of later-developing countries. It has provided a new and realistic option for developing countries, enhancing their confidence in achieving modernization. Therefore, Global South countries are paying more attention to Chinese modernization and are welcoming it.

From the perspective of global economic contribution, Chinese modernization provides new opportunities for global development, said Liu Qing, vice president and senior research fellow at the China Institute of International Studies.

Based on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's projection of GDP growth rates for major global economies between 2020 and 2060, it is expected that the Chinese economy will contribute an average of over 24 percent to global GDP growth prior to 2040, and remain the top contributor to global economic growth until 2060.

Liu said China has become a leader in a new form of globalization. Against the background of deglobalization, China persists in its policy of reform and opening up by taking actions such as hosting the China International Import Expo for seven consecutive years to accelerate the signing and upgrading of various free trade agreements with different countries and regions.

"Chinese modernization has been advanced continuously through reform and opening up, and it will surely embrace broader horizons through further reform and opening up," according to a resolution adopted by the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China at its third plenary session in July.