On September 30, 2024, Chinese Ambassador to Canada, H. E. WANG Di published a byline article In Celebration of the 75th Anniversary of the People’s Republic of China: China’s Big Development Means New Opportunities for the World on the Hill Times. Here is the full text:
On October 1, the People’s Republic of China will celebrate its 75th anniversary.
Over the past 75 years, the Communist Party of China (CPC) has led the Chinese people in finding a Chinese-style modernization path that suits its national conditions. As a result, the Chinese nation has achieved a great transformation from standing up to growing rich, and to becoming stronger, a miracle in the history of human development. China has remained the second largest economy and the world’s largest country in manufacturing, trade in goods, and foreign exchange reserves. Its average annual GDP growth rate from 1952 to this year is 7.9%, and per capita disposable income of the Chinese people has increase by 6% on average every year. Length of China’s high-speed railway accounts for more than two-thirds of the world’s total. And its e-commerce and mobile payment transactions both rank the top among all countries. It has the largest higher education system, and the number of full-time equivalent of R&D personnel has been the highest in the world for 11 consecutive years. The production and sales volume of new energy vehicles has ranked first in the world for nine consecutive years. And the total installed capacity of renewable energy power generation accounts for nearly 40% of the global total.
Over the past 75 years, the CPC has put the world’s well-being at the forefront of its agenda, and has made it its mission to seek progress for humankind and common good for the world. As the tenacious builder of world peace, China has always adhered to the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, and has actively contributed Chinese solutions to hotspot issues such as the Ukraine crisis and the Palestine-Israel conflict. As the never-absent contributor to global development, China’s contribution to world economic growth has remained above 30 per cent for many years in a row. As a developing country and a member of the “Global South”, China has invariably stood in solidarity with fellow developing countries through thick and thin, and made contributions to developing countries’ growth. As the firm defender of the international order, China advocates an equal and orderly world multi-polarization and universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalization. It has been the second-largest contributor of funds to the United Nations and the largest contributor of peacekeepers among the permanent members of the UN Security Council.
Since China entered the new era, under the strong leadership of President Xi Jinping, China has achieved two miracles: rapid economic development and long-term social stability. We have historically eliminated absolute poverty, built a moderately prosperous society in all aspects, and achieved its first centenary goal on schedule when the CPC marked its 100th anniversary. In the first half of this year, China’s economy made steady progress, with a GDP growth of 5 percent, the fastest among the world’s major economies. We have put forward the Belt and Road Initiative, the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative, and promoted the building of a community of a shared future for mankind, contributing a series of important public goods for the world.
In July this year, the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the CPC was successfully held. At the session, China laid out systematic planning and deployment to further deepen reforms in a comprehensive manner and to promote Chinese-style modernization. It announced more than 300 important reform measures covering trade, investment, finance and other areas. We will always adhere to the basic state policy of opening up, enhance our capacity of opening up while we expand international cooperation, build a new open economy with higher standards, and continue to unleash the potential of our super-size market. This will create new opportunities for all countries in the world, including Canada.
This October will mark the 54th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Canada. Over the past 54 years, China and Canada have achieved fruitful results in practical cooperation, bringing tangible benefits to the people of both countries. It’s been more than four months since I arrived as the new Chinese Ambassador to Canada, my biggest impression from the exchanges with all walks of life in Canada is that there are so many people who support China-Canada friendship, and that China-Canada exchanges and cooperation have great potential. Not long ago, Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly paid a successful visit to China. And the foreign ministers of the two countries reached important consensus on the future development of China-Canada relations. Next year will mark the 55th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Canada, as well as the 20th anniversary of the establishment of China-Canada strategic partnership. China looks forward to working with Canada to deepen practical cooperation in various fields on the basis of right perception, mutual respect, seeking common ground while reserving differences, and win-win cooperation, so as to promote healthy and stable development of bilateral relations, in an effort to better benefit the people of the two countries, and inject more positive energy into the stability and prosperity of the region and the world at large.