Zhang Yiming
On 18 October, at the opening of the national congress of the Communist Party of China which attracted worldwide attention, General Secretary Xi Jinping delivered a 3 hours and 25 minutes’ work report to 2287 representatives. The report, which is over 30,000 Chinese characters, is a comprehensive review of the work and historical changes in the last five years, a profound explanation on the strategies of the new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics.
As the world’s second largest economy and an emerging power, China will undoubtedly be endowed with new vitality by the Congress to its future development path, development model and development strategy. It is not only a major event for China’s development, but also for the whole world.
In 1949, Chairman Mao Zedong solemnly declared at Tiananmen Rostrum that the Chinese people had stood up, which put an end of the era when Chinese people had been suffering from invading and bullying over 100 years. In 1978, Comrade Deng Xiaoping led China to implement reform and opening up, and the Chinese people gradually grew rich. So far we have provided 1.3 billion people with food and clothing, lifted 800 million people out of poverty and our expected per capita GDP of 2017 is US$9 480. This year’s Ccongress will be a turning point of China, from “standing up” and “growing rich” to “becoming strong”, which is not only the rising concerning international status, economic development and military strength, but all-round development of economy, politics, culture, society and ecological civilization. It is a decisive period for China from now to 2020 on its road to a moderately prosperous society and China will achieve that goal, which is also the first “Centenary Goal” upon the 100th anniversary of the founding of CPC. China will basically realize the socialist modernization in 2035, and in 2049 it will realize the second “Centenary Goal” of developing China into a great modern socialist country that is prosperous, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious and beautiful.
The new era is an era when China will make efforts to build a community of shared future for mankind. The report starts with a remark, that CPC is a party seeking happiness of Chinese people and progress of mankind, and the CPC has always seen it as its mission, to make new and greater contribution to human society. That shows CPC’s international vision and care for the world.
China will hold high the banner of peace, development, cooperation and win-win, and promote the construction of the community of shared future for mankind. That concept is based on the spirit of traditional Chinese civilization, to seek the world’s unity and harmony. Its ideas and goals go beyond the differences between countries, parties and the systems, and conform to the common interests of the international community. It can be said that the Chinese characteristics originated in China but belong to the world. With the growing of China’s national strength, China will continue to uphold the principle of mutual respect, fairness, justice and win-win, deal with international affairs with more positive and confident diplomatic gestures, and always be a builder of world peace, a contributor of global development and a defender of world order. China will work with the rest of the world to actively cope with climate change, promote economic globalization and trade liberalization, and advocate an open world economy. China is willing to provide the world with China’s program, fulfill China’s responsibility and make China’s contribution, in the joint construction of the community of shared future for mankind.
The new era is an era of continued consolidation of China-Namibia relations. China’s development is an opportunity for Namibia. Namibia enjoys political stability, sound legal system, and harmonious ethnic relations. It is an “all-weather” friend of China, and China-Namibia relations take priority in China’s African policy. The Congress has indicated the right path for the development of China-Namibia relations. China will continue to consolidate the deep traditional friendship between the two countries and push forward the development of bilateral relations. A series of big projects such as Husab Mine, Walvis Bay Port expansion, Youth Training Center and Command and Staff College are the best embodiments of China-Namibia pragmatic cooperation. And our friendship is also vividly depicted by the Confucius Institute of UNAM, Chinese Medical Team and hundreds of Namibian oversea students in China. China’s “Two Centenary Goals” and Namibia’s Harambee Prosperity Plan and Vision 2030 share a lot in common.
Both the two countries are facing with the common challenges of promoting economy, improving people’s livelihood and coping with complex international affairs. China and Namibia should learn from each other and cooperate more, so that our relations could become more closely, and the friendly feelings between our people could get deeper. It is time we build the community of shared future for our people and embrace a new era of China-Namibia relations!
• Zhang Yiming is the Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to Namibia