By Carlos Aquino
Under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC), China has made remarkable achievements, becoming the world’s second largest economy, the largest trading nation, as well as a major trading partner for over 120 countries and regions. It is an important engine driving global growth. Its success is inspiring many developing countries.
Over the recent years, Chinese President Xi Jinping has made important remarks on common prosperity for multiple times, stressing common prosperity is an essential requirement for socialism with Chinese characteristics.
Since the country began the reform and opening-up in 1978, it has maintained long-term economic growth. It has won the battle against extreme poverty and built a moderately prosperous society in all respects as scheduled the last year. These achievements all laid a solid foundation for the country to realize common prosperity for all.
In a 2019 visit to southwest China’s Yunnan province, I saw how the people there were living and working in peace and contentment. I was deeply impressed by the paired assistance mechanism adopted by primary-level CPC members there, which connected impoverished families to better educational, employment and medical resources. They were making concrete efforts to improve the wellbeing of the people.
China’s endeavors to promote common prosperity are shedding light on every country. At present, the world is seeing huge income gaps. Polarization between the rich and the poor has triggered social divide, economic polarization and rising populism in some countries. What’s more, low-income groups have been seriously impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Under such a background, every country needs to work for common prosperity and realize social harmony. In the global context, we must narrow the development gap between developed countries and developing countries and strive for fairer and more sustainable development.
China is playing a prominent role in coping with global challenges. The country has lifted more than 700 million impoverished rural people out of poverty, setting a good example for many developing countries in terms of fighting poverty. Through technology transfer to other developing countries, China is actively contributing to common development, which fully demonstrates the country’s sense of responsibility.
The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) proposed by President Xi has built a platform of win-win cooperation and common development for all participating countries. By building modern railways, ports, airports and other infrastructure facilities, China has significantly facilitated the flow of commodities and personnel, and enhanced its economic competitiveness. Every country should learn from this experience.
Many developing countries see an urgent need to upgrade infrastructure. They enjoy huge a potential in cooperating with China.
So far, China has signed over 200 Belt and Road cooperation documents with more than 140 countries and 30 international organizations, which fully mirrors the attraction of the BRI.
Peru and China signed a memorandum of understanding on Belt and Road cooperation in April 2019. The two countries enjoy economic complementarity and a huge potential in connectivity cooperation. They have constantly enhanced cooperation under the BRI framework.
Peru is the second largest investment destination of China in Latin America. China’s investment has forcefully driven Peru’s economic and social development, bringing tangible benefits to Peruvians.
At present, Chinese companies such as COSCO Shipping Ports are constructing the Chancay terminal to the north of Peru’s capital Lima. This major terminal is expected to become an important transport and logistics hub on the coast of the South Pacific and largely facilitate Peru’s foreign trade.
China not only drives global growth, but also promotes global governance. It is playing an increasingly important role in international affairs. Under the current international circumstances, the world needs China to keep reviving the global economy and play the role of a major country in maintaining multilateralism, as well as opposing unilateralism and hegemonism.
(Carlos Aquino is the director of the Center for Asian Studies, National University of San Marcos,Peru.)
