Beijing’s New FM Qin Gang: China's Rise 'Busts Myth That Modernization is Westernization'
18:56 GMT 07.03.2023 (Updated: 12:46 GMT 19.06.2023)
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At his debut press conference as China’s new foreign minister, Qin Gang hailed the country’s development path, saying it had proven nations can industrialize and develop without colonial plunder and war, as the West has.
“Achieving modernization for a country of more than 1.4 billion people will be an unprecedented feat in human history, one of profound global significance in itself,” Qin told reporters at the meeting of National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s national legislature that meets for several weeks each year to handle essential business.
“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,” Qin added.
6 March 2023, 18:00 GMT
He listed five features he had identified of Chinese modernization:
Independence. “The reason why the Chinese path to modernization works is exactly because it is developed in China and rooted in Chinese culture, and fits in well with China’s national conditions. China’s success in development also proves that every country has the right and ability to choose its own path, and to hold its future firmly in its own hands.”
Putting people first. “Chinese modernization is the modernization of common prosperity for all. It is about achieving both material abundance and cultural-ethical enrichment for the people. 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.”
Peaceful development. “Chinese modernization is not pursued through war, colonization, or plundering. It is dedicated to peace, development, cooperation and mutual benefit, and is committed to harmony between humanity and nature. It is a new path different from Western modernization.”
Openness and inclusiveness. “Humanity’s modernization should not be a one-flower show but a hundred flowers in bloom. It is important to respect the right of every country to pursue a modernization path tailored to its national reality, and encourage exchange and mutual learning, so that all will flourish and prosper together.”
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 countries will only make even the best blueprint an illusion and a castle in the air.”
Qin served as Beijing’s ambassador in Washington, DC, until the start of the year, when he was appointed to head the Chinese foreign ministry. While in his time in Washington, Qin sought to ease US-China tensions by appealing to the better nature of the American people, in his new ministry position Qin has slammed US military encroachments in the western Pacific, including its continued support for the Chinese breakaway province of Taiwan.
28 February 2023, 20:04 GMT
At his Tuesday press conference, Qin told a reporter from a US media outlet that “no amount of guardrails can prevent the derailing” of US-China relations, warning that “there will surely be conflict and confrontation” if the US does not “hit the brakes.”
In 2018, the White House and Pentagon named “great power competition” with Russia and China as the US’ new strategic focus, claiming the two nations were seeking to upend the “rules-based international order” run by the United States since World War II. A trade war and waves of sanctions have followed, targeting China’s tech and defense industries in particular, and the US has stepped up its aerial and naval patrols off China’s eastern coast. It has also begun to more aggressively support Taiwan, with US President Joe Biden letting the mask slip and openly claiming the US would defend Taiwan from Chinese attack after decades of “strategic ambiguity” on the subject.
At home, Washington has worked to block US companies, universities, and research institutions alike from interacting with their Chinese counterparts, and one claim after another about Chinese efforts to undermine the US, including by creating or releasing the SARS-CoV-2 virus behind the COVID-19 pandemic, have, been paralleled by a sharp spike in violent, racist attacks on Asians and Asian-Americans in the US.
