Leaders' role in China's progress hailed – World

The reforms initiated by former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping and now being amplified by President Xi Jinping have put China on the path of modernization and peaceful development, while making greater contributions to the world in building a community with a shared future for mankind, global experts say.

Xi Jinping hailed Deng's important contributions and called for advancing socialism with Chinese characteristics as the country commemorated the 120th anniversary of Deng's birth on Thursday.

Karori Singh, former director and senior fellow at the Centre for South Asian Studies at the University of Rajasthan in India, said China has made remarkable progress over the past 75 years.

Chinese leaders have continuously contributed to China's modernization, Singh said. “Chairman Mao Zedong consolidated unity while Deng charted the course for economic growth and progress. President Xi has carried forward and synergized Marxist ideology, Mao's thoughts and Deng's theory on socialism with Chinese characteristics and the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.”

Singh said Xi has articulated China's world outlook and global vision through the initiatives of global development, global security and global civilization, advancing its flagship Belt and Road Initiative to realize China's ideal of a global order inspired by Deng Xiaoping Theory.

Tom Harper, a professor and researcher specialising in China's international relations at the University of East London, said Xi's remarks were “symbolic in several key ways”.

They confirm that “China continues to follow the path that Deng laid out for it,” and in this sense, the policies adopted subsequently have been the logical step in following this path, Harper said, adding that it is worth noting how Chinese leaders have adapted to the context in which they find themselves to achieve modernization in the economic and technological fields.

Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, former Prime Minister of Pakistan, said that Deng's reform and opening-up policy “led to China's prosperity and progress, and had a significant impact on China's relations with its neighbors and trading partners.”

In Pakistan, Deng is revered as a leader who helped “foster and expand relations with Pakistan in the 1980s,” he said. “These relations have continued to grow over the last four decades through collaboration in trade, investment, infrastructure, etc.”

Under the leadership of President Xi, China-Pakistan relations, dubbed as “iron brothers,” have witnessed exponential growth under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor under the Belt and Road Initiative, he said. “The Pakistani people are eager to strengthen the special relationship between China and Pakistan.”

Dennis Munene, executive director of the China-Africa Center at the Africa Policy Institute, said: “The dream of African Renaissance is coming true as China remains Africa’s largest trading partner for 15 consecutive years.”

Larger contributions

The reforms initiated by Deng and now being amplified under the leadership of President Xi, who has pledged to make greater contributions to the world by building a community with a shared future for mankind, continue to enable Africa to seek its independent path to modernization, Munene said.

Booker Ngesa Omole, organising secretary of the Communist Party of Kenya, said there is virtually no literature on China's economic progress that does not refer to Deng.

“A prominent figure in Chinese history, Deng has been part of Chinese politics since the day the People's Republic of China was proclaimed,” Omole said.

He said poverty affects different segments of the African population in comparative terms and Africa's economic policies should take this reality into account, adding that China's policies are tailored to its own reality.

Wang Mingjie in London and Otiato Opali in Nairobi, Kenya, contributed to this article.