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Chinese Ambassador Cai Run to Israel Published a Signed Article Titled "The Code to China's Development"
2021-07-26 16:52

On July 26, 2021, Chinese Ambassador Cai Run to Israel published a signed article titled The Code to China's Development on Israel Hayom, the most widely distributed Hebrew newspaper in Israel. Below is the full text of Ambassador Cai's article.

China's rapid development attracts great attention from the international community. I'd like to tell our Israeli friends about China's path of development and decipher China's "secret code" of rapid growth.

When talking about China, what often comes to one's mind is a major country with a huge population, worldly renowned historical sites like the Great Wall, and the adorable pandas. As an ancient civilization with a history of 5,000 years, China had its glories and hardships. There were times when China had long been leading the world in its development. However, the following 100 years after the Opium War in 1840 witnessed incessant foreign aggression, wars and turmoil, and China was once on the verge of perishing. At the historic juncture where our nation faced existential threat, the Communist Party of China (CPC), founded in 1921, led the Chinese people in seeking revolution and strength. After making arduous efforts, we finally realized national independence and liberation, and founded the People's Republic of China in 1949.

New China had a rather rough start with extreme poverty and a national economy on the verge of collapse. More than 70 years into the nation's founding, particularly after the reform and opening up began in 1978, unprecedented changes have been taking place in China with development achievements of global recognition.

The living standards of the Chinese people rose remarkably. China is feeding nearly one-fifth of the world's population, or 1.4 billion people, with only 9 percent of the world's total arable land. Since reform and opening up began, more than 770 million of China's rural population living below the current poverty line have been raised out of poverty, accounting for more than 70 percent of the global total over the same period. China has a middle-income population of over 400 million. Our people's life expectancy rose from 35 to 77.3 years.

For years China has been contributing around 30 percent to the global economic growth as a robust engine. China is one of the most open economies in the world and the largest trading partner of more than 130 countries and regions. As a permanent member of the UN Security Council, China is a staunch force for world peace and common development.

What is the "code" to China's rapid development? First, it's a development path that suits China's national conditions, which the Chinese people, led by the CPC, embarked on after arduous exploration. That is socialism with Chinese characteristics. Second, it's China's fundamental policy of reform and opening-up. Reform is a strong impetus for development, and openness is the sure choice to make advances. Third, it's China's commitment to a people-centered vision on governance. As Chinese President Xi Jinping noted, governance is for the people and by the people. The CPC has been acting on its original aspiration of pursuing happiness for the Chinese people and rejuvenation for the Chinese nation, and the people have always been uppermost in its mind. Fourth, it's mutually beneficial international cooperation. We are committed to achieving common development and progress with other countries based on mutual respect and mutual learning.

We are well aware of the fact that despite the enormous aggregate economy, China's GDP per capita is only a little more than $10,000 with a world ranking of 60-plus, far from those of Israel and other developed countries. As the largest developing country, China's primary task at the moment is continued commitment to development and enabling more than 1.4 billion people to live a better life, which will take long-term, extraordinarily hard efforts.

In its development process, China will continue to open up wider to the world, enhance cooperation, exchanges and mutually learning with all countries including Israel, and work for mutually beneficial results.

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