On 31st March, Mr. Cheng Yan, Chargé d’ Affaires a.i. of the Chinese Embassy in Zimbabwe, published a signed article titled Chinese Modernization Provides Developing Countries with A Brand New Choice and Injects Stability and Positive Energy to World Peace and Development in the Herald. The full text is as follows:

As the world is undergoing major changes unseen in a century and is not in peace, the humanity has reached the  crossroads of history once again. Facing the question of the times of what is happening to the world and what will China do, Chinese President Xi Jinping clearly declared, in the report to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, that from this day forward, the central task of the Communist Party of China would be to lead the Chinese people of all ethnic groups in a concerted effort to realize the Second Centenary Goal of building China into a great modern socialist country in all respects and to advance the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts through a Chinese path to modernization. During the just-concluded “two sessions”, President Xi Jinping once again emphasized to accelerate Chinese Modernization. Chinese Modernization is the sure path for China to build a stronger nation and realize the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, and the sure path for China to seek progress for humanity and harmony for the entire world. 

I.Chinese Modernization provides developing countries with a new choice

Chinese Modernization offers solutions to many challenges facing human development. It busts the myth that modernization is westernization; it creates a new form of human advancement; and it provides an important source of inspiration for the world, especially developing countries; it has set a model for the majority of developing countries to move independently towards modernization, providing them with a new choice.

Chinese Modernization is the modernization of peaceful development. Fundamentally different from the Western modernization path, Chinese Modernization is not pursued through war, colonization, or plundering. It is dedicated to peace, development, cooperation and mutual benefit. It is to uphold true multilateralism, promote to build a community with a shared future for mankind, promote greater democracy in international relations, and make global governance more just and equitable. Chinese Modernization is opposed to any hegemonic, high-handed, and bullying act of using strength to intimidate the weak, taking from others by force and subterfuge, and playing zero-sum games.

Chinese Modernization is the modernization fitting in well with China’s national conditions. Modernization is not “an exclusive patent” of a small handful of countries, nor is it a single-answer question. China’s success proves that all countries, especially the developing countries, have the right and ability to independently explore the modernization path with their distinctive features based on their national realities and hold its future firmly in its own hands. 

Chinese Modernization is the modernization of common prosperity for all. It is about achieving both material abundance and cultural-ethical enrichment for the people, and is committed to harmony between humanity and nature. Modernization should not serve the interests of only a few countries or individuals. It should not make the rich richer and the poor poorer. Nor should it lead to cultural impoverishment, moral degradation or disorder. People around the world should all enjoy the rights to seek development as equals and pursue happiness. 

Chinese Modernization is the modernization of working hard in unity. China’s success proves that acting in disunity like a heap of loose sand will get us nowhere, and that only by striving in unity can we pool strength. We will persevere in carrying out the set blueprint until it becomes reality. Partisan rift, empty talk and frequent policy flip-flop as seen in certain country will only make even the best blueprint an illusion and a castle in the air.

II.Chinese Modernization inject stability and positive energy to world peace and development

China has always been committed to its foreign policy goals of upholding world peace and promoting common development, devoted to build a community with a shared future for mankind, and determined to be a force for world peace, a contributor to global development and a defender of the international order.

In March 2013, when speaking at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, President Xi Jinping observed that countries are linked with and dependent on one another at a level never seen before, and that mankind, living in the same global village, have increasingly emerged as a community with a shared future in which everyone's interests are closely entwined. 

This year marks the tenth anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) . Over the past decade, the initiative has attracted more than 3/4 of the countries and 32 international organizations in the world to participate, galvanized nearly US$1 trillion of investment, established more than 3,000 cooperation projects, created 420,000 local jobs, and helped lift almost 40 million people out of poverty. 

In April 2022, China put forward the Global Security Initiative (GSI) . The GSI is committed to the vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security, advocate peacefully resolving differences and disputes between countries through dialogue. With the active mediation of China, China, Saudi Arabia and Iran issued a Joint Trilateral Statement in March this year, and Saudi Arabia and Iran agreed to resume diplomatic relations and took a historical step forward. Not long ago, China released China's Position on the Political Settlement of the Ukraine Crisis, which reflects the broadest common understanding of the international community on the crisis and plays a constructive role in mitigating the spillovers of the crisis and facilitating its political settlement. These significant practices bring precious confidence and hope to the world overshadowed by instability.

Since the Global Development Initiative (GDI) was launched in 2021, more than 100 countries and many international organizations have supported the GDI and nearly 60 countries have joined the Group of Friends of the GDI. China has announced 32 important measures to implement the GDI, set up a Global Development Promotion Center, hosted a ministerial meeting of the Group of Friends of the GDI, and released the first batch of projects of the GDI project pool, including 50 practical cooperation projects on poverty reduction, food security and industrialization and more than 1,000 capacity building projects, which received high recognition by all parties.

Chinese President Xi Jinping introduced the Global Civilization Initiative at the CPC in Dialogue with World Political Parties High-Level Meeting on March 15, 2023, advocating the international community work together to open up a new prospect of enhanced exchanges and understanding among different peoples and better interactions and integration of diversified cultures, and make the garden of world civilizations colorful and vibrant.

A modernized China will strengthen the force for world peace and international justice, make even greater contribution and inject more stability and positive energy to world peace and development and human progress.

III.China firmly supports Zimbabwe to realize its modernization.

China and Zimbabwe are good friends, partners and brothers, and enjoy time-honored and unbreakable friendship. Historically, China has been determined to support Zimbabwe to realize its independence and national liberation. As the all-weather friend and comprehensive strategic partner of Zimbabwe, China has always helped Zimbabwe to follow the path of independent development, oppose interference and illegal sanctions by external forces, and maintain its own development. Looking ahead, China will remain the principles of sincerity, real results, affinity and good faith, and the commitment to the greater good and shared interests, stand firmly with Zimbabwe, and support Zimbabwe to hold its destiny tightly in its own hands, realize the Vision 2030 and develop a modernization path suiting its own national conditions.