China is a member of the big family of the United
Nations, and China’s development and changes have
attracted worldwide attention. I wish to take this
opportunity to share with the Assembly my
observations on how one should get to know the real
China.
Since the founding of the People’s Republic, and
especially since the start of reform and opening up
more than 30 years ago, profound changes have taken
place in China, a big, ancient country in the East. Its
economic and overall national strength has
substantially increased. The lives of its people have
markedly improved. Its social and cultural programmes
have made considerable progress, and its exchanges
and cooperation with the outside world have continued
to expand. In sum, my country has made an historic
leap from mere subsistence to moderate prosperity.
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We in China are proud of our achievements,
which were made through strenuous efforts. At the
same time, we are clear-headed about our place and
role in today’s world.
China’s gross domestic product is the third largest
in the world, but in per capita terms it is only one tenth
of that of developed countries. China has enjoyed more
than 30 years of rapid growth, but its further
development faces energy, resources and
environmental constraints. It is a leading producer of
many important products, but it remains at the lower
end of the global industrial chain. China is a big
trading nation, but its exports are low in technology
content and value added. In many cases, we have to
rely on imports to meet the demand for core
technologies.
China’s coastal areas and some of the large and
medium-sized cities are thriving after modernizing, but
many places in the central and western regions and the
vast rural areas are still rather backward. Moreover, we
have 150 million people living below the poverty line
set by the United Nations.
The life of the Chinese people has improved
significantly, but we do not yet have a full-fledged
social security system. Moreover, we are confronted
with high employment pressure. Our people are more
and more actively engaged in the country’s social and
political development, and citizens’ basic rights and
interests are better protected, yet our democracy and
legal system still have room for improvement and such
social ills as inequity and corruption still exist.
China has come a long way in modernization. It
is fairly advanced in some areas of development but
remains backward in others. And it faces
unprecedented challenges brought by problems both
old and new.
Taken as a whole, China is still in the primary
stage of socialism and remains a developing country.
Those are our basic national conditions. That is the real
China.
China has set the strategic goal of achieving
modernization by the middle of this century. As they
look to the coming decades, the Chinese people will
continue to advance along the path of reform, opening
up and peaceful development. That path has changed
China’s destiny and has benefited people throughout
the country. We must stay on that path and make
further improvements. There is no reason whatsoever
for us to deviate from it.
China will continue to focus on developing the
economy. Development is our top priority, as it
constitutes the basis for addressing all issues. We will
rely mainly on our own efforts in pursuing
development.
As China’s industrialization and urbanization
progress, hundreds of millions of farmers will move to
towns and cities, which will create more domestic
demand than ever, open up broad market and
development space and serve as a powerful engine for
sustaining the growth of the Chinese economy as well
as the world economy at large. We will work hard to
transform the economic development pattern,
restructure the economy and set out on a path of
balanced and sustainable development.
China will continue to deepen institutional
reform. We will make consistent efforts to improve the
socialist market economy. We will unswervingly
strengthen and develop the public sector side of the
economy and also unswervingly encourage, support
and guide the development of the non-public sector.
We will pay greater attention to ensuring and
improving people’s well-being. We will further reform
the income distribution system and improve the social
security system, including old-age support, medical
care and unemployment benefit programmes. We will
endeavour to narrow the gap between urban and rural
areas, between different regions and between the rich
and the poor. We want to ensure that each and every
citizen shares the benefit of China’s reform, opening up
and development.
While deepening economic restructuring, we will
also push forward with political restructuring.
Otherwise, we cannot achieve the ultimate goal of
economic reform and we will lose what we have gained
from our modernization drive. We respect and protect
human rights, uphold social equity and justice and
strive to achieve free and all-around development for
our people. That is the important hallmark of a
democratic country under the rule of law and a basic
guarantee for any country’s lasting peace and stability.
China will be even more open to the world.
Mutually beneficial cooperation for win-win progress
is a long-term strategy that we will stick to in opening
up to the world. We will follow established
international rules in expanding business ties with
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other countries. We will continue to improve the
environment for foreign investors, optimize the
structure of foreign capital utilization and explore new
ways for overseas investment and cooperation.
We are committed to promoting the establishment
of a fair, equitable, inclusive and well-managed new
international financial order and an open and free
international trading regime. We are against
protectionism in all its manifestations. In the course of
modernization, we will not only continue to bring in
and utilize advanced achievements from the rest of the
world in the economic, scientific and technological
fields, but also boldly draw upon the achievements of
human civilization in the fields of social management
and cultural development.
China will continue to develop education, science
and technology. How can China narrow the
development gap with the advanced countries and
enhance the sustainability of its strong growth? I
believe two things are of fundamental importance: first
is education, and second is science and technology.
China has formulated medium- and long-term
development programmes on education and on science
and technology. Going forward, we will focus our
efforts on implementing those two programmes and
building China into a country strong in human
resources and innovation by 2020.
China will continue to carry forward its fine
culture. The development of a country and rejuvenation
of a nation require not only great economic strength,
but, more importantly, great cultural strength. The
moral values and wisdom drawn from the 5,000-year-
old Chinese civilization do not belong to China alone
but also to the world. We will vigorously develop
cultural programmes and accelerate the development of
a moral and ethical code that is commensurate with our
socialist modernization drive and consistent with the
traditional virtues of our nation.
We respect the diversity of civilizations and will
increase dialogue and exchanges with other
civilizations to forge a common cultural bond for
humanity. The Chinese nation, which has created an
economic miracle, will create a new cultural splendor
as well.
The world of the twenty-first century is far from
tranquil, but gone are the days when problems were
ultimately settled by war. Peace and development
remain the defining features of our time.
China will stay firmly committed to peaceful
development. One may ask what the essence of
peaceful development is. It is to foster a peaceful
international environment for our development and, at
the same time, contribute to world peace through our
development. That is something inherent in the concept
of socialism with Chinese characteristics.
In the course of development, China will continue
to take upon itself the duty of promoting the common
progress and prosperity of mankind. We will seek and
expand converging interests with other countries.
China’s development will not harm anyone or pose a
threat to anyone. There have been Powers who sought
hegemony once they grew strong. China will never
follow in their footsteps.
China values friendship and also adheres to its
principles. It firmly upholds its core interests. When it
comes to sovereignty, national unity and territorial
integrity, China will not yield or compromise.
China will continue to firmly support the leading
role of the United Nations in international affairs. We
will, as always, abide by the United Nations Charter
and fulfil in good faith our obligations under
international conventions. We will intensify
cooperation with fellow developing countries and
support their having a greater say in international
affairs. We will remain forever a good partner of and
brother to developing countries.
China’s stability and development is conducive to
a more peaceful international environment, a more
democratic international order, a more prosperous
global economy and a more harmonious and civilized
world. China’s development is an opportunity for the
world, and the world stands to gain from a China that
is better off. History will continue to prove that.
A China that develops peacefully, a China that is
full of vigour and vitality and a China that is willing
and ready to fulfil its responsibilities will always move
forward together with the world. Let us join hands to
work for a world of enduring peace and prosperity.