Xi Jinping: The man who leads China's reform into a new era

Connecting the world

China's reform has benefited the world. China contributed to global growth by an annual average of 18.4 percent in the past 40 years, second only to the United States, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

In 2017, China accounted for 27.8 percent of global economic growth, more than that of the United States and Japan combined.

CRRC Corporation Limited (CRRC), the world's leading supplier of rail transit equipment, has improved infrastructure and brought jobs to more than 100 countries and regions since it was founded three years ago.

"President Xi visited our workshop in 2015, asking us to speed up innovation and create a brand for 'made-in-China' products, which has promoted our modern enterprise system reform and CRRC's integration with the global economy," said a CRRC executive.

Facing mounting protectionism and a stagnant world economy, Xi proposed to foster a new type of international relations featuring win-win cooperation and follow the principle of achieving shared growth through discussion and collaboration in engaging in global governance.

An important feature of Xi's reform is the integration of promoting domestic reform with the participation of global governance reform, said Shi.

Xi's proposition of building a community with a shared future for humanity reflects the pursuit of common values, Shi added.

When Xi was governor of east China's Fujian Province 18 years ago, he pushed for a demonstration project to help the Eastern Highland Province of Papua New Guinea with Juncao and dry-land rice planting.

The Juncao technology cultivates edible and medicinal mushroom from special wild grass so that trees do not need to be cut for mushroom growing. The technology has brought the hope of poverty eradication across the globe.

The success of Juncao is an epitome of the advancement of the Belt and Road Initiative, proposed by Xi to promote a shared prosperity of humanity by cooperation on trade and infrastructure. So far, more than 140 countries and international organizations have signed agreements with China to jointly build the Belt and Road.

Ecological degradation is a key global challenge. Xi attended the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris in November 2015. China is one of the first countries to sign the Paris Agreement on climate change. Xi personally handed over China's instruments of joining the Paris Agreement to then UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in September 2016.

In the past six years, China has kept its promise to protect the Earth through deepening domestic reforms, including the implementation of 10 air pollution prevention and control measures, the promotion of a river chief system and introduction of a national park mechanism. Many of the reforms were initiated by Xi.

Xi brought China's opening up to a new level. He designed and pushed forward the opening of the world's first import-themed national-level expo. At the China International Import Expo, he reiterated opposition to trade protectionism and commitment to an open world economy.

The expo, held in Shanghai in November this year, was attended by over 3,600 companies, including nearly 180 American companies. Agreements on intended one-year purchases of goods and services were valued at 57.83 billion U.S. dollars.

China announced a series of measures to further open up its economy, including broadening market access, easing foreign equity restrictions, lowering automobile import tariffs and increasing imports. The number of free trade zones has risen to 12 in five years.

"Openness brings progress while seclusion leads to backwardness," Xi said.

Xi led China to be more involved in international economic cooperation, turning the country into a more mature modern market economy, said Wang.