The Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China has attracted widespread attention and is of great significance. Many Pakistani friends care about the implications of this meeting on China-Pakistan cooperation and how Pakistan will benefit from China’s high-quality development process. I would like to share some of my thoughts and views on the above topics.
First, guided by the spirit of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, Chinese side stand ready to strengthen exchanges of state governance experiences with Pakistan, and jointly advance modernization in our respective countries.
President Xi Jinping pointed out that “Reform and opening up, China’s second revolution if you like, has not only profoundly changed the country but also greatly influenced the whole world. Especially since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2012, China has written a new chapter in its development, achieving the two miracles of rapid economic growth and long-term social stability. With nearly 100 million impoverished rural population lifted out of poverty, China has historically solved the problem of absolute poverty, and built a moderately prosperous society in an all-round way, contributing to over 70 percent of the international cause of poverty reduction, as well as over 30 percent of the global growth for years in a row.
This is fundamentally attributed to the leadership of General Secretary Xi Jinping, as the core of the CPC Central Committee and the whole Party, and the scientific guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. In particular, President Xi Jinping, with extraordinary political courage and strong historical responsibility, personally planned and guided the overall design of reforms, coordinated and promoted the overall progress, and provided firm leadership and guarantee for us to make such historic achievements and realize historic changes, and led the Chinese people to embark on a new journey of advancing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation through Chinese modernization.
Under the joint leadership of President Xi Jinping and Pakistani leaders, and through our joint efforts, China-Pakistan cooperation has made comprehensive progress.
It was at this critical time of building China into a great modern socialist country in all respects and advancing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts through the Chinese path to modernization, that the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee was successfully held in July this year. The most important outcome of this Plenary Session was the review and approval of the “Resolution on Further Deepening Reform Comprehensively to Advance Chinese Modernization”, which proposed over 300 important reform measures, and made systematic arrangements for further comprehensively deepening reform and advancing Chinese modernization. At present, over 1.4 billion Chinese people are actively implementing the spirit of the Plenary Session and the Resolution, applying the new development philosophy, building the new development paradigm, and promoting high-quality development, marching towards modernization. This has and will continue to enhance the overall strength of developing countries, bringing about the most progressive major changes in the international circumstances since modern times.
President Xi Jinping has pointed out, the modernization we are pursuing is not for China alone, but we look forward to achieving modernization together with all countries, including the vast developing countries”, and “no one should be left behind on the path to modernization”. We stand ready to provide new opportunities for world development with the new achievements of Chinese modernization, and would like to first share the experience of state governance with our ironclad friend Pakistan, and provide beneficial reference for Pakistan to promote multiple reform agenda and achieve modernization. Recently, at the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, President Xi Jinping delivered an important keynote speech, emphasizing that we should jointly advance modernization that is just and equitable, help ensure equal rights and equal opportunities for all countries; jointly advance modernization that is open and win-win, and build together a model for the delivery of the Global Development Initiative; jointly advance modernization that puts the people first, and ensure that all will benefit from the process; jointly advance modernization featuring diversity and inclusiveness, and strive together for more fruitful outcomes under the Global Civilization Initiative; jointly advance modernization that is eco-friendly, and jointly push for the global transition to green and low-carbon development; jointly advance modernization underpinned by peace and security, and work together to uphold world peace and stability.
This also has important guiding significance for China and Pakistan to jointly advance modernization. We stand ready to work with Pakistan, to learn from each other, support each other, through various methods such as party-to-party exchanges, practical cooperation, and talent training, so as to both share development experiences, and also provide development boost, and jointly write new chapters in the reform and development of our respective countries and contribute China and Pakistan’s efforts to the world modernization.
Second, by taking the implementation of the spirit of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee as opportunity, Chinese side stand ready to promote China’s high-standard opening up and accelerate the building of a China-Pakistan community with a shared future.
Under the joint leadership of President Xi Jinping and Pakistani leaders, and through our joint efforts, China-Pakistan cooperation has made comprehensive progress. President Xi Jinping exchanged letters with President Asif Ali Zardari, and also met with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif during his visit to China. They reached important consensus on advancing China-Pakistan all-weather strategic cooperation and CPEC construction. The relevant authorities of our two countries actively implement the consensus reached by our leaders, and have accelerated forging an “upgraded version” of CPEC while aligning it with Pakistan’s “5Es” Framework.
Efforts are being made to step up the negotiations on the upgradation the ML-1 and realignment of Karakoram Highway, and strive to realize the all year-round function of the Khunjerab-Sost pass at an early date. And we have basically decided on sending 1,000 agricultural talents to China for training, and have started coordinating on IT and AI talent training projects. For example, in Sindh Province, where I just visited, the Power Plant at Port Qasim Karachi provides low-cost and stable electricity, and the Dawood Wind Farm continuously supplies clean energy. The Peshawar-Karachi Motorway (Multan -Sukkur section) has reduced the travel time between the two places from 11 hours to within 4 hours. The export of dried chili from Sindh Province has become a bright spot in China-Pakistan agricultural cooperation.
The Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee pointed out that opening up is a defining feature of Chinese modernization. It is imperative for China to remain committed to the fundamental national policy of opening to the outside world, pursuing a high-standard opening up, building a multidimensional network to connect countries along the Belt and Road, and making coordinated efforts to advance both major signature projects and “small but beautiful” public welfare projects. This provides new opportunities and injects new momentum for China-Pakistan cooperation.
We stand ready to accelerate energy and infrastructure construction cooperation with Pakistan, speed up the upgradation of the ML-1 and the KKH realignment project, and strive for the early commercial operation of the Suki Kinari Hydropower Project, and to realize the all year-round function of the Khunjerab-Sost pass at an early date, and help Pakistan consolidate its development foundation. We stand ready to strengthen agricultural and mining cooperation with Pakistan in accordance with local conditions, increase the import of high-quality agricultural products from Pakistan, explore the development of oil and gas resources, and help Pakistan leverage its development advantages. We stand ready to strengthen cooperation with Pakistan in new energy, IT, and even the space field, to help Pakistan win the future of development. We stand ready to strengthen the construction of the Gwadar area with Pakistan, complete the construction of the new Gwadar international airport and hand it over within the year, implement more “small but beautiful” projects, such as distributing health kits to students in Balochistan, and help Pakistan narrow the domestic development gap.
Third, by taking the spirit of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee as a driving force, Chinese side stand ready to work with Pakistan to promote “Global South” cooperation and effectively safeguard international fairness and justice and the interests of developing countries.
The Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee pointed out that China’s modernization is modernization of peaceful development, which calls for an equal and orderly multipolar world, an universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalization, and getting involved in leading the reform and development of the global governance system. At present, peaceful development and win-win cooperation are where global opinion trends and the arc of history bends. However, there are always some countries that go against the historical trend and the common aspirations of the international community.
They hold Cold War mentality and the obsession with hegemony, pursue unilateralism, provok bloc confrontation, and contain and suppress other specific countries. They pursue domestic priority and winner-takes-all, promote protectionism, build “small courtyards with high walls”, and resort to sanctions and pressure at every turn. In the face of these problems and challenges in the world today, China advocates an equal and orderly multipolar world, which is to insist that all countries, refardless of size, are treated as equals, to reject hegemony and power politics, and earnestly promote the democratization of international relations, so that every country can find its own place in the multipolar world. And China advocates for an inclusive and universally beneficial economic globalization, which is to comply with the common aspirations of all countries in the world, especially developing countries, and work together to make the “cake” of economic globalization bigger and fairly share it, and to resolutely oppose unilateralism and protectionism, and firmly promote trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, to achieve mutual benefit, win-win results and common prosperity.
In this process, we attach great importance to cooperation with the Global South. In recent years, the Global South stands out with a strong momentum. In the economic field, Global South countries have contributed as high as 80 percent to world economic growth over the past 20 years, and their global share of GDP has increased from 24 percent to more than 40 percent in the past 40 years, profoundly drawing the world economic map. In the political field, the Global South is no longer the “silent majority” on the international stage, but has made their own voices firmly and loudly, regarded as the key force for international order transformation and the hope in the world undergoing profound changes unseen in a century.
To support the development and growth of the Global South, President Xi Jinping put forward the open and inclusive cooperation initiative for the Global South, and announced a series of measures to support Global South cooperation, for example to establish a Global South research center, to provide 100,000 training opportunities to Global South countries in the coming five years, etc.
We stand ready to work with Global South countries including Pakistan, to actively implement the initiative, to inject stronger impetus for the common development, solidarity and cooperation of the Global South, to join hands to take the lead in building a community with a shared future for mankind, and to effectively safeguard international fairness, justice and the national interests of vast developing countries.
The writer is Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China in Islamabad.