China Matters releases an episode of talk show on Chinese modernization. The concept was one of the highlights at the 20th CPC National Congress.
In his report to the 20th CPC National Congress, General Secretary Xi Jinping described Chinese modernization as modernization of a huge population, of common prosperity for all, of material and cultural-ethical advancement, of harmony between humanity and nature and of peaceful development.
In this episode, China Matters talks to Harvey Dzodin, a senior fellow at the Center for China and Globalization, Professor Klaus Larres at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Professor Josef Gregory Mahoney at East China Normal University in Shanghai. They share with us their views on why the five elements have been chosen as the guidelines for Chinese modernization and what China’s top priority is in the next five years.
“The subtext of these five modernizations is that China needs to transform its development model and emphasize these kinds of values, in order to reach the higher stages of development,” said Mahoney.
China aims to realize modernization to a large extent from 2020 through 2035; and build China into a great modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious and beautiful from 2035 through the middle of this century.
“Given the past and ongoing challenges presented by Covid-19, the deterioration of international relations and the resulting shock to global supply chains, etc, ” said Dzodin, “I’d say that China is facing unprecedented headwinds.”
Larres pointed out that there is room for cooperation between China and the Western world and cooperation between the two sides can play a constructive role in China’s path to modernization.