The GuangYue International Community in Guangzhou, south China’s Guangdong province
The 20th CPC National Congress, which will end on October 22, is an occasion to stimulate and unify the minds and hearts of the people. China is on the right track and has sent positive and open messages to the world.
During the past decade, the country has achieved its goal of realizing a “moderately prosperous society”, which was defined in quantitative terms as a doubling of GDP and per capita income of urban and rural residents by 2020 as compared to 2010. By 2019, China had reached an annual GDP of 99 trillion yuan ($14.4 trillion) – already more than double the 2010 figure of 41.2 trillion ($6.37 trillion) – with a per capita GDP of $10,276.
However, the nation’s economic development, though a bright spot, is not the sole focus of building a moderately prosperous society. Major breakthroughs have also been made in other areas. There has been a real improvement in the living standards of Chinese people, as reflected by the steady rise of various indicators. China’s rating on the Human Development Index (HDI) has increased from 0.49 in 1990 to around 0.76 in 2019, while life expectancy is also well above the global average, reaching 77.3 by 2019.
Despite the progress in the areas mentioned above, the CPC is also concerned with ensuring that development is balanced. Over China’s 40 years of reform and opening-up, it has lifted nearly more than 800 million people out of poverty, accounting for more than 75 percent of global poverty reduction during this time.
In the past three decades, global poverty alleviation has lagged far behind the pace of globalization, and rising inequality has been the main cause of the recent wave of anti-globalization. This is why China’s achievements in poverty alleviation is of global significance and has the potential to contribute to the continuation of globalization and further steps toward global poverty alleviation.
China has leveraged its system and policy advantages on the way to building a moderately prosperous society. The government has taken advantage of its strengths in infrastructure, industrial development, education, healthcare, and environmental protection to foster development.
China invested heavily in education, increasing the higher education gross enrollment rate from 30 percent in 2012 to 57.8 percent in 2021. As of 2021, China’s nationwide basic medical insurance program now covers more than 1.3 billion people and its basic pension insurance scheme covers nearly 1 billion people. China also guarantees compulsory education for school-age children and teenagers in accordance with the law.
Nonetheless, when evaluating the reasons behind these remarkable achievements, we cannot ignore the benefits that globalization and opening-up have brought to China’s economic development. Poverty has been reduced because of international trade. “Trade is better than aid,” as former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said.
Over the past four decades, multinational companies (MNCs) have invested in China, accounting for about half of the country’s import and export trade, almost 20 percent of tax revenue, and one-tenth of urban employment. They have not only fostered economic development, but also provided an enormous amount of employment opportunities in China.
Moreover, since China joined the WTO in 2001, China’s GDP has expanded more than tenfold. There are nearly 300 million rural migrant workers in China, and the income of migrant workers at MNCs, and their remittances sent home have become an important part of China’s economic growth. Continued opening-up has also advanced China’s technological innovation. In the 2010s, the digital economy and e-commerce connected China with the world and drove it into an era of mobile payment.
Over the next five to ten years, high-quality development is crucial for developing a model of modernization that benefits all of society. As mentioned in the work report delivered by President Xi to the 20th CPC National Congress, the market has played a decisive role in the economic development, but science, technology and talent are also important resources for high-quality development and will continue to provide China with considerable momentum. All these imply that China will introduce more innovative policies to attract global talent.
Talent innovation is also part of China’s rapid development. China has gradually become a top choice for global talent and entrepreneurship. From 1978 to 2019, the total number of Chinese students studying abroad reached over 6.5 million, and 86.28%, or some 4.2 million, have chosen to return to China after their studies.
According to the Global Innovation Index Ranking 2022, China’s ranking has risen rapidly to the 11th from 29th in 2015. China also ranked first in the world in terms of the total number of R&D personnel and the number of international patent applications with more than 69,000 submissions.
The global need for talent will become even stronger in the post-pandemic era, with countries scrambling to introduce new policies to attract talent. In order to ensure China is no longer limited to simple core technologies, it must make greater efforts to attract top international talents.
Today, China has strengths in attracting global talents in the fields of artificial intelligence, quantum technologies and genetic engineering, and China must become more attractive to be competitive.
China has implemented many innovative policies to attract international talents in recent years, including the creation of an independent National Immigration Administration and adjusting its Green Card policy. However, we need to further improve supporting policies and create a more open and inclusive, convenient and livable social environment.
China can also provide greater policy incentives to attract the best international talents. The country has been providing a more open and equitable environment for international talents to work and start businesses, including easier visa application procedures, more accessible residency services, broader green card treatment, and an international living environment. Experience of Guangdong, as well as Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions (SARs) in reforming mechanisms for attracting talents can be replicated and promoted in other cities.
China has made remarkable progress in the first hundred years since the CPC was established. Looking into the future, to achieve its second centenary goal – which is to build a modern socialist country by 2049, the Party will face a set of new challenges that need to be tackled, such as the middle-income trap, an aging population and achieving its carbon emissions targets. Therefore, further reform and opening-up are necessary and vital to the country’s future while tackling these new difficulties and striving for its second centenary goal.
Despite the current complex international environment, further integration into the world economy will not only advance the country’s strengths in technology and innovation, but more importantly, increase China’s soft power by creating a more peaceful, friendly and lovable image on the world stage. Ultimately, one of the most important and challenging tasks for China is to increase mutual understanding, receive global recognition and expand its circle of friends internationally – something that cannot be achieved through economic growth alone. Wang Huiyao, GDToday*
*Wang Huiyao is the president of the Center for China and Globalization (CCG) and former Counselor to the State Council of China.
