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Wang Yi: The United States Should Respect the Development Path Chosen by the Chinese People

2022-09-23 19:50

On September 22, 2022 local time, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi delivered a keynote speech at the Asia Society headquarters in New York.

Wang Yi said, China welcomes an open and confident United States that enjoys growth and progress. The United States should also respect the Chinese people's choice of development path, i.e. socialism with Chinese characteristics.

This path is tried and tested by the Chinese people with a clear logic of history. In modern times, the Chinese people explored relentlessly for a path to save and revitalize the nation. Various models including Western systems were put into practice, but none of them worked when they failed to fit China's realities. By adapting Marxism to the Chinese conditions and to the traditional Chinese culture, the Communist Party of China successfully rallied the Chinese people and led them in a united endeavor to gain national independence and liberation. Eventually, China found a right path toward prosperity and strength.

This path has opened up bright prospects for China's modernization. We have built a moderately prosperous society in all respects, eradicated absolute poverty for the first time in the country's history, and in a span of a few decades, transformed China from a poor and weak nation into the world's second-largest economy. China has fed nearly 20 percent of the world's population with nine percent of its arable land. It now has a middle-income group that exceeds 400 million. The 1.4 billion Chinese people moving toward modernization and common prosperity will make a miracle come true in the history of development.

This path has brought true human rights and democracy to the Chinese people. The world's largest social security network and compulsory education system have been set up. People's all-round development is put front and center, and everyone stands a chance to reach one's full potential. By integrating electoral democracy with consultative democracy, and procedural democracy with substantive democracy, we have advanced a whole-process people's democracy that has won the people's full support. Leading U.S. opinion polls show that the Chinese people's approval rate of their government has stayed above 90 percent for several years running.

The Chinese people, with a time-honored civilization of 5,000 years, are confident and self-reliant, and humble and inclusive. China will unswervingly follow its chosen path and direction, and will forge ahead steadily along this path toward greater success. China will continue to draw upon the valuable experience of other countries and achievements of all civilizations, embrace the world with open arms and open its door even wider.

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