Lanting Forum guests praise Chinese development
Participants to the Lanting Forum in Shanghai have spoken highly of Chinese modernization, saying it is creating opportunities for the world.
Dilma Rousseff, president of the New Development Bank and former president of Brazil, said China's modernization showed the world a different path, which means a lot to countries located in the Southern Hemisphere.
Dilma Rousseff, president of the New Development Bank and former president of Brazil.
She said Latin American countries had been subordinated to the US and Europe for centuries, imposed false modernization, first in the form of colonialism, indigenous slaughter, slavery and mass plunder, and more recently in the form of neoliberalism, leading to wealth being concentrated in the hands of few people with millions of people discarded.
She said China's people-centered modernization featuring common prosperity and high quality offers a new path.
She said every country should choose its own path to modernization based on its own condition. By learning from China's development, southern countries can change their status as commodity providers and be able to develop together with other developing countries.
Gambian Foreign Minister Mamadou Tangara said China stood as a beacon of hope for all developing countries and symbolized the truth that mankind has a shared future.
He said China's modernization, widely viewed as a miracle in the history of human development, had inspired many developing countries to seek their own formula to reduce poverty and to promote their respective economic development and prosperity.
"China's successful modernization efforts and achievements have brought to light four key elements that are worth trumpeting around the world," he said. "There are multiple ways to achieving modernization; every nation has an inalienable right to its style of modernization; there is no one cap fits all model of modernization model; nor is there a single standard for modernization."
He noted that China has played a positive role in developing the global system and regional architectures to reshape the development agenda of Africa and holding back "the perception of the continent as a place synonymous with brazen impoverishment."
Gambian Foreign Minister Mamadou Tangara.
Tangara said the African countries welcomed the three initiatives launched by Chinese President Xi Jinping – the Global Development Initiative; Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative – as they unwaveringly offered hope for a shared and better future for mankind.
"What is critically important in the configuration of the Belt and Road Initiative is a uniquely focused aspiration that regardless of our subtle differences, we are all galvanized under the common ambition of seeking beneficial and sustainable socio-economic transformative partnerships," he said. "It essentially bridges physical distance and shared interests and prosperity."
Tangara said the new development of China offers new opportunities for the world.
"For instance, China's rise as a global investor, lender, trader, and builder has created an array of new opportunities for global prosperity," he said.
"Considering that China attaches great importance to people to people exchanges, opportunities exist for partnerships in science, education, health and tourism exchanges. So too are there opportunities to make global governance fairer and more equitable, and to work with all nations to create a better future for humanity."
Shot by Yang Meiping. Edited by Yang Meiping. Subtitles by Yang Meiping.
David Teaabo, Kiribati ambassador to China, said he was touched by the messages delivered at the forum by Chinese President Xi Jinping and State Councilor Qin Gang as they said China will create more opportunities for the world.
"Things that I grasp is that modernization, it's not like one head fits all," he said. "What China is really doing to other countries, especially Pacific island countries, is that they are showing us, not only showing us demonstrating, and they are giving us the hand so that we also collaborate together to achieve our own modernization."
He said he was struck by Qin's statement that defined the Chinese modernization in terms of cultural and ethical advancement.
"Cultural or ethical is about how you think to the best and how you behave to the best," he said. "I define the Chinese people very unique in this world. They think inevitably up here (in the heads), but they practice their philosophies and their cultural principles in their hearts. That's what makes them accelerate."
Analisa Low, ambassador of Trinidad and Tobago to China, said the ambassadors learned a lot at the forum from a range of different speakers from academia and from the public and private sectors.
"We're here in Shanghai," she said. "Just look around at all of these beautiful buildings. We are in the financial center of China.
"This is Chinese modernization. It represents innovation, creativity, industrial revitalization, and it shows that Chinese modernization or China's rise and development, China's continuous development and the positive growth trajectory are not just beneficial for its people, but beneficial for the wider international community."
