TOM HARPER
“BY FOLLOWING SOCIALISM WITH CHINESE CHARACTERISTICS, CHINA IS PROVIDING AN EXAMPLE FOR THE WIDER WORLD TO FOLLOW, WHICH FURTHERS THE IDEA OF A CHINESE FORM OF GLOBALIZATION.”
The 19th CPC National Congress introduced Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, for China’s longterm development. How do you think it will guide China’s future?
The idea of socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era represents the continuity within Chinese policy. In keeping with this, I believe that these ideas are best reflected in the concept of the Chinese Dream, in that China will seek to pursue its own path. It is somewhat difficult to describe the form that this path will take, but I believe that this will come in the form of the continued objectives of successive Chinese governments, which is the return of China to the power and prestige it once held, but on a possibly greater scale. I also believe by following socialism with Chinese characteristics, China is providing an example for the wider world to follow, which furthers the idea of a Chinese form of globalization.
President Xi Jinping said China has embarked on a “new era” in its development while spelling out a two-stage development plan for the country by the mid-21st century. What do you think of that? What is happening in China that impresses you the most?
I believe that the two-stage development plan is part of an effort to improve China’s environment as well as continuing the economic growth of the country, partially as a response to the pollution of the Chinese environment, which will require a new kind of industry. From my travels to China, what has impressed me the most about it — as well as the speed of China’s development — is how China has been able to modernize yet retain its unique identity, which in turn has translated into an alternative global vision.
President Xi Jinping has pledged to develop a modern economy. What are your expectations for that?
What I believe President Xi Jinping (also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee) means by developing a modern economy is to move China further up the technology tree and to move away from the days where “made in China” was a byword for cheap, poorquality goods, a notion I
Tom Harper, postdoctoral researcher at the University of Surrey
believe is already out of date. In this sense, China is following the established path of development, moving from simple to high-tech products.
China’s is still the world’s fastest-growing economy, and millions of people have been lifted out of poverty. What in your opinion has been the key to such achievements? And what do you think of the Chinese development model?
The key to China’s development has been its long-term approach to development as well as how prosperity has served as the bedrock of Chinese authority. China is also one of the few countries to retain a significant industrial capacity in an age where many developed nations have phased it out, which gives it a strategic advantage as well as an economic one. The Chinese model is also playing an increasingly significant role in developing nations, most notably on the African continent, since it is perceived as an alternative to the neoliberal model of the Washington Consensus.
China has also been making efforts to reform and develop the global governance system. How do you think China’s experience and wisdom can benefit countries and people around the world?
As with the previous question, I believe the Chinese experience of economic development has been China’s most notable contribution to international affairs so far. What I believe will be significant in the future is how Chinese visions of the world are grounded in different experiences to those of Western nations — as shown by the Chinese notion of globalization, which utilizes concepts from China’s experiences as an important power in Asia — which will require an understanding of these experiences to fully realize the benefits of them.