China will continue to open up further to the world, while holding onto the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics, Chinese President Xi Jinping said in a keynote speech on Tuesday commemorating the 40th anniversary of the country adopting the policy of reform of opening up in 1978
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 18th December, 2018) China will continue to open up further to the world, while holding onto the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics, Chinese President Xi Jinping said in a keynote speech on Tuesday commemorating the 40th anniversary of the country adopting the policy of reform of opening up in 1978.
"The practices of 40 years of reform and opening up have shown us: opening up can bring progress, while closing off can only lead to us falling behind. China cannot develop without the world, and the world's prosperity also needs China. We need to coordinate the domestic situation with the global environment, adhering to opening up as a fundamental national policy and implementing a proactive opening up policy," Xi said.
At the same time, the Chinese president stressed the importance of continuing to follow the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics.
"The direction can dictate our future and the path can decide our destiny. We need to hold our destiny in our own hands with strong determination of not changing our purpose and path ... The path of socialism with Chinese characteristics is a wide road that helped modern China catch up with the modern era and seek to take the lead. We must follow this path unwaveringly," he noted.
In addition, Xi also highlighted the importance of enforcing the absolute leadership of the Communist Party of China in all affairs and adhering to being guided by Marxism.
Following devastating power struggles during the early years of the communist party's rule in China after 1949 and almost 10 years of political turmoil from 1966-1976 during the Cultural Revolution, which only ended after the death of former Chinese leader Mao Zedong, China started to embrace market-oriented economic policies by introducing the reform and opening up policy, led by late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping in 1978.
The market-oriented economic reforms have been widely viewed as the key to China's explosive economic growth in the past 40 years, when the nation's annual GDP expanded over 82 times from accounting for only 1.8 percent of the global economy in 1978 to becoming the world's second largest economy with an annual GDP of $12.24 trillion in 2017.
During his speech on Tuesday, the Chinese president detailed the nation's achievements in the past 40 years after introducing the economic reforms.
"In the past 40 years, we have focused on economic growth and continued to improve social productivity. Our domestic GDP grew from 36.79 billion Yuan to 82.7 trillion yuan in 2017, with an annual growth rate of 9.5 percent, which is much higher than the 2.9 percent average economic growth rate globally during the same period ... Today, our nation has the second largest economy in the world and has become the largest country in terms of manufacturing, goods trade and foreign Currency reserves. Our country has also become the second largest nation in terms of goods consumption and foreign investments," he emphasized.
Xi also underlined how much living standards of ordinary people have improved in China in the past 40 years.
"In the past 40 years, we have always focused on ensuing and improving the living standards of ordinary people ... The average disposable income nationwide expanded from 171 yuan to 26,000 yuan, with an expanding middle-income group. The impoverished population dropped by 740 million and the poverty occurrence rate fell by 94.4 percent, writing a glorious chapter in the poverty alleviation history of mankind ... The average life expectancy improved from 67.8 years old in 1981 to 76.7 years old in 2017," he said.
During his speech, the Chinese president emphasized that the hardworking Chinese people make the nation's achievements in the past 40 years possible.
"The achievements in the past 40 years did not fall from the sky or came as the mercy of others. The Chinese people from different ethnicity dedicated their hardworking ethics, wisdom and courage to make all the achievements possible. We used only a few decades to complete the industrialization process developed countries spent centuries on. In the hands of the Chinese people, the impossible has become possible. We're immensely proud of the Chinese people who created this miracle on earth!" he said.
On behalf of the central leadership of the Communist Party of China, Xi expressed his sincere gratitude and ultimate respect toward people from all walks of life in China.
The Chinese president expressed optimism that the nation is determined to create bigger miracles in the future.
"People from different ethnicity nationwide need to tightly unite around the Party Central, uphold the flag of socialism with Chinese characteristic and be true to your origins and remember your mission. We must continue to push forward reform and opening up and help ordinary people pursue better lives. We are capable of creating new and bigger miracles of the Chinese people in the new era! We're capable of creating new and bigger miracles that will surprise the whole world!" Xi said.
Xi's speech came as Beijing is locked in a bitter trade war with Washington and plans to accelerate it economic reforms to stay competitive.
