20 October 2017 11:36 am
THE HINDU, 19th OCTOBER, 2017-In a sweeping marathon address that lasted over three hours, President Xi Jinping unveiled his vision of China’s future of achieving “moderate” prosperity in the next four years, and emerging as an advanced socialist nation by 2050.
In his “work report” of the past five years read out at the inaugural of the 19th party congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) on Wednesday, Mr. Xi was unambiguous in declaring that China stood at “new historical juncture,” and would pursue its own path of developing “socialism with Chinese characteristics”.
This implied that a western style “opening up” was not on Beijing’s radar. Mr. Xi, in the presence of former leaders Jiang Zeming and Hu Jintao, also underscored that the Chinese path of the development, can be adapted appropriately by developing countries.
Some scholars such as Joshua Cooper Ramo have proposed that the “Beijing Consensus” supporting China’s economic development model can emerge as alternative to the Washington Consensus of policies advocated by the IMF, the World Bank and the US Treasury.
In his address, Mr. Xi highlighted that the Chinese model was “blazing a new trail for other developing countries to achieve modernisation”.
He added that the Chinese path offers “a new option for other countries and nations who want to speed up their development while preserving their independence…”