Analysts agree that vision puts China on right track
General Secretary Xi Jinping’s strong vision for building China into a more prosperous world power and Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era are sending stronger-than-ever repercussions around the world, where China watchers are taking notice.
Analysts agreed that the new theory is raised against a background of the world’s longtime pursuit of openness and globalism being challenged by political and policy uncertainties, such as the US withdrawal from the Paris climate accord and the UK decision to leave the European Union.
Peter Frankopan, author of the international best-seller The Silk Roads: A New History of the World and a professor of global history at Oxford University, said: “Major transition presents challenging circumstances for all — which is why Xi was keen to reassure those at home and abroad that China is able to offer stability, but also set out a vision for how to overcome economic problems and difficulties, and how China proposes to play a more active role in international affairs.”
On Xi’s vision of China’s international standing, Stephen Perry, chairman of The 48 Group Club, an organization promoting trade and cultural links between the UK and China, said: “President Xi Jinping is moving China to a new economic and foreign policy. It is part ‘feeling the stones’ and part pursuing a vision of 2021 and 2049. He knows what he is talking about, and his steps allow for unexpected errors to be managed.”
Perry added, “The world is transforming, and acceptance of different systems with shared good goals can enable the West to find growth again.
“Without Chinese growth and the Belt and Road Initiative, the West faces dark choices.”
Alan Wheatley, associate fellow for international economics at Chatham House, the Royal Institute for International Affairs, an independent policy institute based in London, said, “His repeated emphasis on a new era and the rejuvenation of China signaled to me a belief that China, under the CPC’s direction, is firmly on the right path not only domestically, but also internationally.”
Xi unveiled the new Thought while ushering China into to a new phase of historic development, which he said positions China “closer ever than anytime in history to its great rejuvenation”.
The road to China’s national rejuvenation won’t be a “walk in the park”, Xi said. Citing an old Chinese saying that “the last leg of a journey just marks the halfway point”, he said every Party member must “be prepared to work even harder toward this goal”.
Commenting on Xi’s emphasis on deepening and continuous reform and opening-up, Jim O’Neill, the renowned British economist who coined the term “BRIC”, said: “China continues to see growing its economy and the wealth of its 1.3 billion inhabitants as significant. If the economy grows above $12 trillion, it will be three times bigger than that of Japan.”
China’s rising consumer demand remains the single most important development in the world economy, O’Neill said, adding that another point Xi highlighted — China’s peaceful nature — suggests that China will continue on its path to greater global importance.
Erik Berglof, director of the London School of Economics’ Institute of Global Affairs, said Xi has acknowledged the enormous challenges his country is facing and is connecting with the concerns of his population.
“He showed that the leadership is serious about the … challenge and understands what it will take to address the problems,” Berglof said.