“China has achieved a degree of moderate economic prosperity, the millennia-old dream of the Chinese nation, through persistent hard work.”
(From excerpts of President Xi Jinping’s speech at the 20th CPC National People’s Congress)
This accolade extended to the president of the People’s Republic of China on the occasion of the 20th is in contrast to the traditional western approach of expressing support to the merits of one’s leadership or what was achieved.
The speech delivered by President Xi is not a litany of what he has accomplished which his people expected from him but more on his ability to overcome every political crisis that faced the nation.
The Xi’s approach being in the category of a Marxist ideologue instead focuses on what China should be in the years to come.
President Xi gives every Chinese an opportunity to advance.
He is one leader who is full of optimism for his people.
He assesses the future for China, confident that history will be on its side.
The concept of collectivism, for instance, remains the guiding principle of the Chinese nation; that without it, there could be no China nor a nation striving to achieve what their nation has achieved.
Perhaps, it is self-conceited to say that the ides of national rejuvenation are unique to the historical origin of China because for once, China was the only country where the western world look at that country as their priceless booty.
A Chinese who knows much of his history would never admit that the period marked the era of China’s tribulation and misery. For them to omit that portion is to forget their past.
The combination of the yin and yang in Chinese philosophical riddle is what adds color to the historical saga of the Chinese nation or in perspective of a modern Chinese historiographer.
China’s history reveals a civilization of a great nation.
It is a combination of great sacrifices and glory for the Chinese nation.
It is their historical past that made China a strong and resilient nation and, without this historical backdrop, China would not be as magnanimous at present to convey its wisdom and understand what is going on in our world today.
President Xi admitted, to quote: “Our Party has dedicated itself to achieving lasting greatness for the Chinese nation and committed itself to the noble cause of peace and development for humanity.
“Our responsibility is unmatched in importance, and our mission is glorious beyond compare. It is imperative that all of us in the Party never forget our original aspiration and founding mission, that we always stay modest, prudent, and hard-working, and that we have the courage and ability to carry on our fight.
“We must remain confident in our history, exhibit greater historical initiative, and write an even more magnificent chapter for socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era.”
Today, he said, “the Chinese nation commit (sic) itself to the noble cause of peace and development for humanity. Our responsibility is unmatched in importance, and our mission is glorious beyond compare. It is imperative that all of us in the Party never forget our original and founding mission…”
President Xi in part said, “… that safeguarded our unity and core interest and kept ourselves well positioned for pursuing development and ensuring security.”
Ten years after President Xi assumed the leadership of the Party, he resolved to eradicate absolute poverty and finished building a moderately prosperous society in all aspects, thus completing the First Centenary Goal.
President Xi then enumerated China’s accomplishments over the years.
After that goal of achieving a moderately prosperous society, China embarked to balance the growth.
In that, a total 832 impoverished countries and close to 100 million poor rural residents have been lifted out of poverty, and among them, more than 9.6 million poverty-stricken people relocated from inhospitable areas.
In the past decade, China’s GDP rose from 54 trillion yuan to 114 trillion yuan to account for 18.5 percent of the world economy, up 7.3 percentage points.
China has remained the world’s top economy, and its per capita GDP has risen from 39,800 yuan to 81,000 yuan.
It ranks the first in terms of grain output, and has ensured food and energy security for more than 1.4 billion people.
The number of permanent urban residents has grown by 11.6 percentage points to account for 64.7 of the population.
China’s manufacturing sector is the largest in the world, as are its foreign exchange reserves.
China has built the largest network of high-speed railways and expressways and made major achievements in building airports, ports and water conservancy, energy, information and other infrastructure.
China has accelerated efforts to build self-reliance and straight in science and technology, with nationwide R&D spending from 1 trillion yuan to 2.8 trillion yuan, the second largest the world.
The country is now a home to the largest cohort of R&D personnel in the world.
It claims that China has grown stronger in basic research and original innovation, made breakthroughs in some core technologies, and boosted emerging industries.
It claimed to have success in multiple fronts, including manned spaceflight, lunar and martial exploration, deep sea and deep earth probes, supercomputers, satellite navigation, quantum information, nuclear power technology, airliner manufacturing, and biomedicine.
China also embarked on a pro-active strategy of opening up.
It worked on a globally-oriented network of high-standard free trade areas and the Hainan Free Trade Port.
As a collaborative endeavor, the Belt and Road Initiative has been welcomed by the international community both as a public good and a cooperative platform.
Expectedly, China has become a major trading partner for more than 140 countries and regions, and it leads the world in total volume of trade in goods, and is the major destination of global investment and a leading country in outbound investment.
China’s average life expectancy has reached 78.2 years, its per capita disposable income has risen from 16,500 yuan to 35,100 yuan, and more than 13 million urban jobs have been created every year on average over the past 10 years.
It has built the largest education, social assistance elderly care, housing and social assistance, an all-around improvement in people’s lives.
It made education universally available, brought 1.04 billion people under the overage of basic old-age insurance, and ensured basic medical insurance for 95 percent of the population.
More than 42 million housing units in run-down areas and more than 24 million dilapidated rural houses have been rebuilt.
Finally, China has achieved a degree of moderate economic prosperity, the millennia-old dream of the Chinese nation, through persistent hard work.
With this, President Xi is proud to state, “we have elevated China to a higher historical starting point in development.
“By galvanizing the entire nation to carry out targeted poverty alleviation, we have won the largest battle against poverty in human history.
“A total 832 impoverished counties and close to 100 million poor rural residents have been lifted out of poverty, and, among them, more than 9.6 million poverty-stricken people have been relocated from inhospitable areas.
“We have, once and for all, resolved the problem of absolute poverty in China, making significant contributions to the cause of global poverty reduction.”
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