China’s Path of Peaceful Development in the Second Decade of the 21st Century

I wish to share with you my own views on how China will continue to pursue its path of peaceful development, develop “convergence of interests” and build “communities of interests” with the rest of the world in the changing international circumstances during the second decade of the 21st Century.

I.China’s is entering a new stage in its pursuit of peaceful development.

The 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China(CPC) held five months ago elected a new central leadership headed by General Secretary Xi Jinping and set the goal of further deepening reform and opening-up and attaining moderate prosperity throughout the country in all aspects by 2020.

A month ago, the 12th National People’s Congress elected new state leaders and a new government, and formulated specific policies for all-round development in the economic, political, cultural, social and ecological fields.Newly-elected Chinese President Xi Jinping made a profound analysis of China’s destiny in contemporary history in his speech at the closing session of the meeting.

Both the Report to the 18th CPC National Congress and the Report on the Work of the Government delivered to the 12th National People’s Congress have clearly pointed out that China will unswervingly follow the path of peaceful development, which is not only a major decision on China’s development strategy but also a solemn declaration of China’s foreign policy.

These two monumental events, I believe, herald a new historical period of China’s reform, opening-up and peaceful development.

II.China’s path of peaceful development can stand the test of time.

Through our hard work in the past three decades and more, we have charted a path of peaceful development that is suited to the conditions of the country and follows with the trend of the times.

The 3rd Plenary Session of the 11th CPC National Congress in 1978 was a turning point.The Chinese Communists represented by Deng Xiaoping, made a correct analysis of the world situation, and clearly discerned and seized emerging opportunities.They formulated the policy of reform and opening-up to the outside world.In the course of reform and opening, they found a new development path,a path guiding us to independently achieve the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and build a prosperous, democratic, culturally advanced and harmonious modern socialist country by integrating into, rather than detaching from, economic globalization.

Thanks to our concerted efforts and determination for rapid development, the past thirty years and more have witnessed dynamism and vitality of the Chinese nation as never seen before.People are encouraged to emancipate their mind and the productive forces.We have initiated theoretical, institutional, scientific and technological and cultural innovations based on practice.As a result, China’s GDP has increased at an average annual rate of nearly 10 percent for 30 years in a row and China has turned from an underdeveloped economy into a moderately prosperous one.

China’s growth is a great contribution to the growth of the world economy.Facts have proved that China is firmly committed to the defense of world peace.The policy of reform and opening-up has not only brought about sea changes in China, but also enabled us to have a better and profound understanding of China’s role in the world today and the direction in our way forward.In my view, this can be defined as “peaceful rise”.

As an observer and scholar, when I first put forth the concept of “China’s peaceful rise” in 2002, the word “peaceful” was clearly juxtaposed against the “China threat”, and the word “rise” was against the fallacy of “China collapse” in public opinions.In short, China must and should follow a new development path of peaceful rise as never seen in modern world history and will succeed.As I understand, this is the direction that China is taking today.

The author at the Foresight China Symposium (fourth left).

III.New Connotations and extended meaning of China’s path of peaceful development

To rise peacefully, it is imperative for China to properly handle relationships with all countries and regions concerned.This is truly the meaning of the idea of peaceful rise.For that reason, I have further pointed out since 2004 that in the process of peaceful rise, China must gradually broaden “convergence of interests” and build “communities of interests” (“communities of common interests and shared stakes”as I called it at that time) in all aspects with all countries in its neighborhood, as well as with all countries and regions in the world.

I further pointed out in June 2005 that in the course of peaceful rise, China must and can form closely-tied “communities of interests”with all countries and regions in different fields and at different levels.

In the last three years, I elaborated on this idea in my talks both at home and abroad, including my speeches in Washington DC and at Stanford University during the then-President Hu Jintao’s visit to the United States in 2011 and my address to the 21st Century Council Meeting in Paris later that year.

IV.The idea of developing “convergence of interests” and building “communities of interests” is in line with the general trend of development in China in the second decade of the 21st Century.

Here I would like to bring your attention to my view that the idea of China’s peaceful rise in expanding “convergence of interests” and building “communities of interests” is primarily based on China’s own development strategy and goals in the second decade of the 21st Century.

In this decade, China will encounter many severe challenges,including: (1) Constraints of resources shortage and environmental problems on economic growth; (2) Uneven economic and social development, including imbalances between investment and consumption, between foreign investment in China and China’s overseas investment, between urban and rural development, and between the eastern and western provinces in the development level;(3) Difficulty in industrial restructuring and insufficient capacity of R&D; (4) Incompatibility of human resources and employment requirements; (5) Inequity of incomes distribution and readjustment of interest structure; (6) Lack of mechanism of social management for handling increased conflicts of interests in society; (7) Severe natural disasters, both predictable and unpredictable; and (8) Predictable or unpredictable international crises and tensions that may emerge.

To meet these challenges I have outlined above, our work in the second decade of the 21st Century should be undoubtedly focused on raising China’s productive forces to a higher level.In other words, building on our tremendous achievements in reform and development in the past three decades and more, we must make greater efforts to ensure for a new leap in productive forces in both quantitative and qualitative terms (especially in qualitative terms).I think that is the top priority in our work and the fundamental point of departure of our efforts in solving all problems.Therefore, we must,first of all, continue to make marked progress in the development of science, technology and education.Second, we must effectively transform our economic and industrial structure (stimulating domestic consumption and expanding domestic market).Third, we

must make a great effort to improve social management, in order to make our society more vibrant, orderly, environmentally friendly and therefore more harmonious.Fourth, in foreign relations, while persisting in our independent foreign policy and maintaining our state sovereignty and territorial integrity, we must gradually broaden different types of “convergence of interests” and build “communities of interests” with neighboring countries and surrounding regions, as well as with all relevant countries and regions.What is more, China will make greater efforts in domestic development and in raising national ethics and moral standards so that China will become a harmonious and stable country full of vitality, and achieve the goal of national rejuvenation in peaceful rise.

I firmly believe that, China will provide an even bigger market and more opportunities for the rest of the world.

This holds out the prospect of China’s relations with the rest of the world in the next ten years and beyond.

V.The idea of developing “convergence of interests” and building “communities of interests” also conforms to the general trend of world affairs in the second decade of the 21st Century.

China’s peaceful rise and the idea of developing “convergence of interests” and “communities of interests” also conform to the general trend of international developments.

In my view, the second decade of the 21st Century is a period of unprecedented opportunities and challenges for China and the world as a whole.

Here, I would like to share with you my own assessment of the overall international situation.

First, the process of multipolarity and economic globalization will continue to enhance the interdependence of all countries in the world to the extent that no country can develop itself without engaging with other countries.

Second, as relations among major powers are undergoing a major transformation, both cooperation and competition are more assertive.Each and every country seeks more rapid development through cooperation and tries to gain an advantage in competition.Therefore, all countries want to restrain competition and promote cooperation more.

Third, it is increasingly clear that for all developing countries including China, the next ten years will be a crucial period.

Fourth, the international financial crisis has catalyzed a major change in the structure of productive forces on a global scale.A new technological and industrial revolution featuring “Green economy,low carbon energies and sustainable development” is sweeping across the world.In the post-financial crisis time, global issues such as climate change, energy security, resources conservation, food security and financial security are becoming more acute and global governance has become a pressing priority on the international agenda that deserves our particular attention.

Fifth, economic development modes of major countries will change significantly, and have a decisive impact on their roles in the world and on their relationship and their national interests.

Sixth, turbulences and geopolitical conflicts of all descriptions will emerge from time to time, and the Cold War mentality and the danger of traditional limited hot wars still exist.In any event, one should neither fall into panic over nor ignore them.

Seventh, sovereign states will remain the dominant actors in international relations in a very long time to come no matter how the international situation changes.Therefore, respect for state sovereignty and territorial integrity is still a basic, indispensable norm governing international relations.

Eighth, in view of the overall situation, there are both opportunities and challenges both in China and in the world, with the former outweighing the latter after all.

We have full confidence in continued peaceful development of China in the coming decade and will not waver on our path in any circumstances.Given that in the first decade of the 21st Century,China’s peaceful rise was an important part of the world’s development,which laid a solid and sound foundation for shared interests between China and the rest of the world, China will continue to steadfastly follow this path and make a greater contribution to the world.Such shared interests will grow deeper, more abiding and more sustainable.

As China has truly benefited from the development path of peaceful rise, there is every reason for it to firmly abide by this path in its efforts for modernization.

VI.Developing “convergence of interests” and building“communities of interests” serve the interests of common development of all countries.

World affairs are complex with numerous factors at play, and often proceed in a dazzling manner of a dual character.In the final analysis,major countries at present may take one of these three approaches:Sticking to the Cold War thinking and engaging in various forms of cold war or; or engaging in limited hot wars as another world war is unlikely to break out; or developing convergence of interests and building communities of interests for common development.We are well aware of the consequences of the first two, which we are opposed to, but not apprehensive of.As economic globalization proceeds in depth, all countries are facing common and unprecedented challenges.It would be dangerous and come to no good end if any country should choose to respond to these global challenges in the first half of 21st Century in the old mindset and still pursue old strategies employed in the 1970s and even in the 19th Century.We Chinese are in favor of the third approach, namely taking the development path of peaceful rise by relying on our own efforts for domestic growth (including national defense) in the context of economic globalization, and developing the convergence of interests and building communities of interests with all countries and regions.

I would like to point out here that expanding and deepening“convergence of interests” and building “communities of interests”are an all-encompassing strategic concept.In other words, it is by no means exclusive.It involves China’s relations with the United States,EU countries, Russia, other Asian countries, especially surrounding countries, African and Latin American countries.In short, our goal is to integrate the interests of the Chinese people with the common interests of all peoples in the world, expand convergence of interests with all stakeholders, build communities of interests with all relevant countries and regions in different fields, at different levels and in different connotations, and make concerted efforts for peaceful development of both China and the rest of the world.This of course informs peaceful rise of China side by side with all developing countries including countries in its neighborhood.Here I would like to add that I expounded the idea as it was first put forth as early as in 2004 in my keynote speech at the opening session of the Boao Forum for Asia.

In fact, converging interests of China and the rest of the world do exists.The fact that China has worked hard with other countries,and especially with G20 members to meet the challenges of the international financial crisis since 2008 is a most salient case of converging interests under given circumstances.Now, China, the United States, the EU countries and other major economies are readjusting their relationship and deepening domestic economic restructuring to adapt to changes in the world after the international financial crisis.This should become a new area of converging interests.Here, I would like to emphasize that the idea of developing“convergence of interests” and building “communities of interests” has become an important strategic guideline of the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese Government.The CPC and government leaders stressed this point on a number of occasions in international fora.It has also been written into the CPC Central Committee’s Proposal on the 12th Five-Year Program and the white paper China’s Peaceful Development published in September 2011.Both the 18th CPC National Congress and the 12th National People’s Congress have also elaborated on this point in one way or another.Recently, the new leadership of China has clearly indicated that China will persist in the path of peaceful development on various occasions - on official visits to Russia and Africa and at the Boao Forum for Asia - and will work in collaboration with all countries and regions for common interests.This will be an important guideline for implementation in the second decade of the 21st Century.I sincerely hope and firmly believe that it will gain broader consensus in the international community.

VII.It is important to understand China and the world from a dualistic perspective.

In the second decade of the 21st Century, China and the world as a whole will develop more rapidly, and at the same time things will be more complex for both.Therefore, one should think hard and observe China and the world from a dualistic perspective.Of course, cases may differ for such duality.For one thing, there is a relationship of complementarity, in which the two parts in duality are complementary.For example, in the next ten years and beyond, the Chinese people will have to undertake a dual mission: emancipating and developing productive forces by developing the socialist market economy and through economic structural reform that nurtures multiple forms of ownership with public ownership playing the dominant role in the national economy, and at the same time promoting common prosperity.An extraordinary complex problem here is that in essence, emancipating productive forces, stimulating social vitality and enhancing work efficiency, including vigorously encouraging innovation and business startups, are in unity with promoting social justice and common prosperity.However, in certain specific cases, the two objectives may not be identical and sometimes they may even be contradictory.In the long term, the two are in unity, but at certain stages of development, they may not be identical, and may even be conflicting with each other.This indicates that while doing our best to properly handle the existing problems, we must make sure that people understand the dual nature of such problems and the longterm process for solutions.We should stay rooted in the present while looking ahead to the future, make overall plans and comprehensive arrangements in our work, and refrain from acting hastily for quick fixes, so as not to make one-sided decisions.Also, in the next ten years or more, the Chinese people will have to undertake another dual mission, which is to both complete the traditional process of industrialization that developed countries have done long ago, use information technology to accelerate industrialization, urbanization and agricultural modernization, so as to catch up with the great new scientific and technological revolution that has been sweeping across the world since the 1970s.The extraordinary complexity here is that in the process of reform and opening-up and socialist modernization,we will encounter two historical challenges for a long time.One challenge is industrial development featuring mass production and electrification in the capitalist world from the mid-18th Century to the mid-20th Century; the other is the new technological revolution featuring information technology, bio-engineering, new materials and new energies, which has been going on since the 1970s in those countries.To take up such challenges on both counts, we must not simply copy the old development model for doggedly expanding “iron and steel industry” or “machine-building industry”, nor should we follow the beaten track of the traditional development model, which was characterized by large-scale unemployment caused by capital and technology and environmental degradation.Rather, we must find a new development path conducive to innovation and economic vitality with concerted attention to capital investment, technological advancement and employment so as to provide full employment and achieve comprehensive, coordinated and sustainable development in China, a country with more than one billion people.

On the other hand, duality also means that opportunities and challenges are contradictory but at the same time, they are mutually transformable.The Report to the 18th CPC National Congress points out that “we are faced with unprecedented opportunities for development as well as risks and challenges unknown before”.This in essence is the duality of a contradiction and transformation.It means that as we see “unprecedented opportunities”, we should also understand that “challenges are also unprecedented” and that challenges and opportunities are mutually transformable.Recent history has borne it out again and again.In the first decade of the 21st Century, not to mention earlier years, almost every success of strategic importance in our work was closely related to our efforts in transforming grave crises into development opportunities.For example, we successfully dealt with the financial crisis in East Asian in 1997.Since then China has become the economic powerhouse in this region; after joining the World Trade Organization in 2001,China began to integrate itself into the world market system; by responding successfully to the impact of 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States, China began to build new converging points of strategic interest with the United States; by turning around tensions in the cross-Straits relations in 2008, the relationship between the mainland and Taiwan entered a new stage of peaceful development;by having successfully reduced the severe impact of the international financial crisis and the European sovereign debt crisis since 2008,China has now moved to the center stage of international regimes and the world economy.All this indicates that crises are indeed imbued with opportunities.If we are good at sizing up the situation and take the right actions, we can turn pressure into impetus and challenges into opportunities under given conditions.This is also a successful account of historical experiences.

In a word, despite the fact that the world abounds in contradictions,conflicts and things of duality nature, a general trend in the world in the second decade of the 21st Century, including the peaceful rise of China and all developing countries, will progress irresistibly.

VIII.New period of strategic opportunities and China’s development

The Report to the 18th CPC National Congress points out clearly that “an examination of the current international and domestic environments shows that China remains in an important period of strategic opportunities for its development, a period in which much can be achieved.We need to have a correct understanding of the changing nature and conditions of this period, seize all opportunities,respond with cool-headedness to challenges, and gain initiative and advantages to win the future and attain the goal of completing the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects by 2020.”It means that, whether we can seize opportunities in the next ten years to turn pressure into impetus and challenges into opportunities, and achieve the grand goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all aspects hinges on our correct understanding of changing international and domestic circumstances and actions we are going to take.

Having said that, I would like to present the following viewpoint based on the successful practices of the CPC and the Chinese government over the past years: During the new period of strategic opportunities, we must not lose sight of the overall environment in China and the world, and fully realize that an increasingly more important variable that will continue to influence international developments is the China’s own growth.In other words, China will play an increasingly important role in world affairs and have a profound influence on the changing global economic, political and strategic configuration.In the second decade of this century and beyond, although we will face enormous pressures and numerous challenges at home and abroad and have many predictable and unpredictable difficulties in future, we must understand that China is developing, and will continue to develop vigorously and sustainably.This by itself is a more and more prominent and important factor in the international situation, and will in turn become the cornerstone of China’s development during the period of new strategic opportunities in the second decade of the 21st Century and beyond.

Looking ahead, I am convinced that a strong, democratic,prosperous and stable China will provide an even larger market and more opportunities for the rest of the world and make a greater contribution to world peace and development.