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China's goal: Peace and development

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-11-09 07:51

Editor's note: The 4th World Forum on China Studies was held in Shanghai on Nov 6-7, where many scholars from home and abroad presented their views on China's development and its relationship with the rest of the world. China Daily brings readers the views of some of the scholars.

Wang Chen: Harmony and cooperation

Countries today have become more interdependent and the fates of people across the world are more closely connected. Hence, the trend of international relationships is establishing peace, seeking cooperation and promoting development.

The theme of the 4th World Forum on China Studies is "Harmonious Co-existence: The Way to Harmony in China and the World". The forum reflects Chinese people's hope for world peace, development, security and prosperity, and shows their openness, tolerance and eagerness to hold dialogues with people of other countries. It reflects their hope of building a harmonious world with permanent peace and shared prosperity, too. The forum is very important for presenting the true picture of China to the world.

Chinese people know full well the value of peace and development. The two world wars were disasters. The deaths of millions of people, the mindless devastation and the trauma have made people across the world, including in China, realize that peace can be established only through development, and development is the best guarantee for peace.

China's peaceful development differs from that of the other powerful countries. The quintessence of China's development lies in consolidating its domestic development and opening up to the outside world, connecting its peaceful development with world harmony and prosperity, and combining Chinese people's fundamental interest with those of the people in the rest of the world. China has always tried to achieve development through peace, cooperation and harmony, because it knows that is the only way for the sustainable development of humankind.

To follow the road of peaceful development is not expedient for China, rather it is its solemn choice. Looking ahead, Chinese people will continue to follow the road of reform, opening-up and peaceful development. This road has changed the fate of China and brought prosperity to its people. We have no reason to replace it. To understand China's confidence and determination on the road of peaceful development, one needs to know its relationship with the rest of the world on a broader perspective.

The first decade of the 21st century is about to end, and China's future is being increasingly connected with the other countries. China requires a peaceful, stable, harmonious and cooperative international environment for its development, and it is willing to contribute to creating such an environment. China is an integral part of the international community and is committed to making concerted efforts to meet the challenges facing the world to achieve sustainable economic and social development.

The author is the minister of State Information Office.

Wang Jisi: Consistent policy for future

China began its reform and opening-up policy in the late 1970s. As part of this profound strategic reorientation, the Chinese government re-assessed the country's foreign policy and, based on that assessment, adopted a foreign policy that emphasized national independence, while maintaining peaceful relationships with other countries. Thanks to the successful implementation of this new policy China has experienced no large-scale armed conflict with other countries. And this peaceful and stable environment has enabled China to accomplish rapid economic growth and social advancement over the past three decades.

After the end of the Cold War, China worked with its neighboring countries in an amicable way to resolve territorial disputes and promote regional stability and security. It made substantial efforts to set up a multilateral cooperative mechanism for security in the Asia-Pacific region and to denuclearize the entire region.

In recent years, in contrast to the rest of the world, which has been plagued by financial crisis, China has maintained its pace of economic growth. This has helped it to modernize its military forces and become influential in global affairs. These developments have attracted the attention of other countries, which have either cooperated with and praised China or suspected its intentions and criticized its actions.

Such contrasting reactions are inevitable and natural for a rising power. Equally true is that as China's national strength continues to grow it will become more confident in foreign affairs. For this reason, a part of the Chinese population wants the government to do more in terms of protecting territorial integrity and national interests, and do it in a more "aggressive" way.

With all these developments, China's relationships with other countries are becoming more complicated, especially with new issues cropping up. To meet such challenges, the Chinese government should maintain a balanced and cautious stance toward the international community.

As emphasized by the Chinese leadership of late, China remains a developing country. But it should not deviate from the reform and opening-up policy, and its strategy to achieve peace and development. This is the only strategy consistent with China's fundamental interests and global peace and development.

The author is a professor and dean of the School of International Studies, Peking University.