Plenum draws clear road map to modernization

The third plenary session of the 20th Communist Party of China Central Committee that concluded recently vowed to further deepen reform comprehensively to advance Chinese modernization. The resolution suggests a tapestry of solutions to today's challenges, some of which have been created by foreign powers amid rising geopolitical tensions.

Prior to the third plenary session, China critics in the West had been speculating on Beijing's upcoming economic policy to overcome the gloomy global outlook and boost the country's slowing economic growth. An abysmal scenario of the Chinese economy was relentlessly portrayed by the Western media with a plethora of conundrums raised under the West's lenses. The Western pundits were quick to respond with dismay when their pre-framed "concerns" were not heeded by the plenum.

Indeed, the trajectory of China's reform and opening-up has never been influenced by external forces, which at times pretend to represent market forces. A case in point is the timing and latitude of China's opening-up. When the West's rumour mills kicked into high gear with their dystopian portrayal of China, little did they anticipate that Beijing's 144-hour visa-free entry granted to citizens of a dozen or so countries would tear their lies into tatters.

Many vloggers from the West were excited to share their video clips of China's bustling streets and tourist spots, and their personal experiences in China on social media, starkly contrasting the doomsayers' accounts.

The plenum promises to intensify reform to modernize the national governance system and governance capacity, in a bid to facilitate further opening-up of the Chinese economy. This, in turn, will spur on reform. In short, reform and opening-up are codependencies that reinforce one another.

Domestically, the resolution adopted at the plenum details a raft of key initiatives focused on elevating governance to a new level in response to the people's rising need for a better life and the changing global dynamics. Taking cognizance of the "increasing uncertainties and unpredictable factors" impacting national development, China's efforts to strengthen its economic resilience and promote innovation are understandably set to take the centre stage in the next phase of development.

The reform tasks laid out in the plenum's resolution have been given a challenging time frame — to be completed by 2029 to mark the 80th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

Overall, the resolution constitutes a road map for China to build a strong socialist market economy underpinned by high-quality development.

In recent years, China's quantum leap in the realm of cutting-edge technologies has taken the world by storm. New growth drivers have turbocharged China up the global value chain, thus resulting in the West's anguish, hostility and restrictions on the exports of chips and chip-making equipment to China.

In the face of the West's increasingly aggressive attempts to contain China, Beijing's steadfast commitment to further open up its economy is a manifestation of its growing confidence in its economy and development policy. Beijing keeps its huge market wide open to exporters across the world.

In this context, China International Import Expo is a shining example. While the West is obsessed with "nearshoring" and "friend-shoring" in its bid to realign the global supply chains to exclude China, the world's second-largest economy remains committed to embracing the world and sharing with it the economic potential and development dividends accrued from its opening-up.

For China, pursuing innovation-driven high-quality growth and developing new quality productive forces are now the imperatives necessary to realize Chinese modernization. Time and again, China has demystified the myth that Westernization is the only template for achieving modernization. Alongside this, not only has China proven to the world that its mode of socialism is compatible with market economy, but more importantly, modernization can be achieved by adhering to a socialist market economy.

In further unleashing the vast potential of the socialist market economy, the resolution underscores the Chinese authorities' commitment to handling the State-owned and privately-owned enterprises even-handedly under the framework of "rule of law", and vows to better leverage the role of the market, along with efforts to foster a fairer and more dynamic market environment, all of which converge to make resource allocation as efficient and productive as possible.

From the perspective of global development, China's deepening reform and further opening-up signify the vast potential to provide the world with concomitant vigor and opportunities for economic recovery, alongside a viable template for multilateral cooperation amid rising de-globalization in the West. The success of China's socialist market economy has showcased an inspirational model to the world, notably among the emerging economies from the Global South which are in dire need of a development model to boost their economies. In this context, the Chinese template fits the bill perfectly.

To its 1.4 billion people, China's potential economic triumph looks set to help the country achieve the second centennial goal of building a modern socialist nation that promises to be prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced and harmonious by the middle of this century so long as peace continues to prevail. In this context, China's resolute commitment to maintain peace is apparent and understandable.

The author is president of the Malaysia-based Belt and Road Initiative Caucus for Asia Pacific.

The views don't necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

If you have a specific expertise, or would like to share your thought about our stories, then send us your writings at opinion@chinadaily.com.cn, and comment@chinadaily.com.cn.