Daily Times

Whether one agrees or not, the fact remains that the world seeks hope from the 20th CPC National Congress, taking place on October 16, with an understanding of what is to be hashed out and laid down as blueprints for the future. What China decides to do with its policies will leave a lasting imprint on the geopolitical, geo-economic and geostrategic landscapes.

Given the conspicuous cognizance regarding immersed interdependency between China and the world, the high-profile political event has taken centre stage for the global community.

As time draws closer, international influencers have been keeping a tab on phase-wise developments. Loaded with envisioning impacts, the international community desperately desires for a beacon of light in the face of deep-rooted challenges relating to economic recession, inflation, climate change, politicization, protectionism, global disharmony, terrorism, war, food security and prejudices of superpowers. Leaving aside the few hell-bent holding their hegemony with a zero-sum narrative, the rest of the world is looking towards someone who can lead. Someone who works with them as a team. Someone who believes in partnership with a philosophy of co-existence, harmony, peace and a win-win development model for all.

The National Congress is coinciding with the US midterm elections, about to be held next month, whose results will set the direction of its relations with China. Russia-Ukraine War is also going berserk fueled by international players, especially NATO. Afghanistan issue is further in limbo. An Asia-pacific smothering issue like the flagrant defiance of Taiwan at the behest of the US and other Western countries is becoming a flashpoint. 10 days before the holding of the 20th CPC National Congress, the UN Human Rights Council rejected a Western-led motion to hold a debate on China’s alleged human rights violations in Xinjiang as 19 countries voted against the motion, 17 voted in favour, and 11 abstained. It’s only the second time in the UN body’s 16-year history that a motion has been defeated.

Beijing continues to encourage local officials to look beyond GDP as a key performance indicator and instead focus on low-carbon and sustainable growth models.

Besides all, it is fortunate that the world attaches hope to China having observed the past five years of an epic development programmed and implemented by the 19th CPC National Congress that created global positive ripples in the length and breadth of the world.

It happened because of CPC National Congress that China’s poverty eradication mechanism liberated 800 million people from extreme poverty in 2020 and inspired big wigs of the world with its workable paradigm, modalities, execution and results. The same year, China also announced the completion of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects as a part of CPC’s centenary goals.

During the past five years, the world felt the impacts of China’s people-first approach in the fight against COVID-19 that protect people’s lives and health. China achieved the best outcome worldwide in coordinating economic development and epidemic prevention and control. It also promoted high-quality development, and deepened reforms rapidly and steadily. It similarly made great efforts to boost ecological civilization, resolutely safeguard national security, modernize national defence and the military, and advance major-country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics. China also underscored efforts made in the anti-corruption campaign that aimed to guarantee officials “do not have the audacity, opportunity, or desire to engage in corruption.”

During the 13th Five-Year Plan period under the stewardship of the CPC and the leadership of President Xi Jinping, China made great strides in improving the economy, people’s livelihood and other fields. China has contributed over 30 per cent to global economic growth, with GDP hitting almost 100 trillion yuan ($14.9 trillion). Over 50 million people have been relieved from poverty, and 53.78 million new urban jobs have been created. New standard bearers in technology emerged, including high-speed trains, the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System and domestic passenger aircraft C919. This rapid technological development can be attributed to investment in research and development, which totalled 2.17 trillion yuan in 2019, accounting for 2.19 per cent of GDP and up 56.3 per cent from 2015. The world had to admire China for becoming the largest number of companies on the world’s top 500 companies list published by Fortune Magazine.

Experts believe that National Congress will focus on the “dual-circulation” plan, which is very significant for the world economy. Some interpret this as Beijing turning its back on the outside world, but that’s not what the plan says. It says policies should help unleash the full potential of the domestic market, facilitating firms to provide higher-quality goods and services to better stimulate domestic demand. And at the same time, Beijing promised greater access to foreign investors and encouraged Chinese companies to trade more with the outside world. Beijing wants this round of opening-up “to be on a greater scale, across more sectors and on a deeper level.”

The second key point to be looked into is “innovation,” mentioned 47 times in the final 14th Five-Year Plan. The new plan puts innovation at the heart of China’s plans. Beijing says it will strive to make breakthroughs in core technologies in key areas and become a global leader in innovation. Many predict there will be more of a policy push for higher spending in the coming years in emerging sectors, such as biotechnology, semiconductors and new energy vehicles.

Another area of focus is green growth. There are no rigid GDP targets for the next five years. Instead, “green growth” has been pinpointed 19 times in a sign that Beijing continues to encourage local officials to look beyond GDP as a key performance indicator and focus on low-carbon and sustainable growth models.

The CPC set two centenary goals: the first was to build a moderately prosperous society in all respects by 2021. The next goal is to build China into a great modern socialist country in all respects by the middle of the century to celebrate the centenary of the People’s Republic of China. Xi said the 20th CPC National Congress will be a very important event taking place at a crucial moment, with China embarking on a new journey to fully build a modern socialist country.

The writer is a senior Journalist. He is also President of Institute of International Relations and Media Research (IIRMR).