China’s experience could aid others
China’s experience in governance, especially its successes in poverty reduction, have provided the world a solution to many social problems and a way to improve global governance, experts and entrepreneurs said at a seminar that concluded on Friday.
The seminar in Quanzhou, Fujian province, began Thursday and was aimed at exchanging experiences of governance among the BRICS member nations and other developing countries. It attracted more than 1,100 attendees.
During the seminar, the Chinese Academy of Governance and the China International Publishing Group signed a number of cooperation documents with think tanks and news organizations from countries including the other BRICS nations — Brazil, Russia, India, South Africa — as well as Thailand, Chile and Kazakhstan to boost information sharing, people-to-people exchanges and joint academic research.
Jorge Eduardo Navarrete Lopez, former Mexican ambassador to China, said that China has made “the most impressive improvement” in fighting poverty.
“A basic aim of global governance should be tackling inequality,” he said, adding that scholars, entrepreneurs and government officials should attempt to combat social inequality.
Raising his company’s construction projects in such countries as Brazil, Russia, South Africa and Pakistan, Sun Ziyu, vicepresident and chief engineer of China Communications Construction Co Ltd, said that the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative would not only benefit China and countries participating in the initiative along the ancient Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road trade routes, but also other BRICS countries.
Sun’s company is cooperating with countries to build the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative, he said.
Ronnie Lins, chief executive of the Center of China & Brazil Research and Business, said the Chinese model of social governance can be not only a good benchmark for the BRICS, but also for all developing countries.
“The final goal of President Xi Jinping is to provide a prosperous and comfortable life for all Chinese people,” he said, adding that many developing countries face challenges similar to those facing China.
Justin Lin Yifu, a professor and economist at Peking University, said that the secret to China’s success is its use of both the “invisible hand” and “visible hand”, forming an organic integration and mutual improvement over the functions of the market and the state.
“As a developing country, China’s predictions are rather similar to those in other developing countries,” he said. “Theories generalized from China’s experiences may thus provide useful lessons to other BRICS and developing countries for overcoming development challenges in their roads ahead.”