People's Republic of China, 2010

China is a member of the big family of the United

Nations, and China’s development and changes have

attracted worldwide attention. I wish to take this

opportunity to share with the Assembly my

observations on how one should get to know the real

China.

Since the founding of the People’s Republic, and

especially since the start of reform and opening up

more than 30 years ago, profound changes have taken

place in China, a big, ancient country in the East. Its

economic and overall national strength has

substantially increased. The lives of its people have

markedly improved. Its social and cultural programmes

have made considerable progress, and its exchanges

and cooperation with the outside world have continued

to expand. In sum, my country has made an historic

leap from mere subsistence to moderate prosperity.

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We in China are proud of our achievements,

which were made through strenuous efforts. At the

same time, we are clear-headed about our place and

role in today’s world.

China’s gross domestic product is the third largest

in the world, but in per capita terms it is only one tenth

of that of developed countries. China has enjoyed more

than 30 years of rapid growth, but its further

development faces energy, resources and

environmental constraints. It is a leading producer of

many important products, but it remains at the lower

end of the global industrial chain. China is a big

trading nation, but its exports are low in technology

content and value added. In many cases, we have to

rely on imports to meet the demand for core

technologies.

China’s coastal areas and some of the large and

medium-sized cities are thriving after modernizing, but

many places in the central and western regions and the

vast rural areas are still rather backward. Moreover, we

have 150 million people living below the poverty line

set by the United Nations.

The life of the Chinese people has improved

significantly, but we do not yet have a full-fledged

social security system. Moreover, we are confronted

with high employment pressure. Our people are more

and more actively engaged in the country’s social and

political development, and citizens’ basic rights and

interests are better protected, yet our democracy and

legal system still have room for improvement and such

social ills as inequity and corruption still exist.

China has come a long way in modernization. It

is fairly advanced in some areas of development but

remains backward in others. And it faces

unprecedented challenges brought by problems both

old and new.

Taken as a whole, China is still in the primary

stage of socialism and remains a developing country.

Those are our basic national conditions. That is the real

China.

China has set the strategic goal of achieving

modernization by the middle of this century. As they

look to the coming decades, the Chinese people will

continue to advance along the path of reform, opening

up and peaceful development. That path has changed

China’s destiny and has benefited people throughout

the country. We must stay on that path and make

further improvements. There is no reason whatsoever

for us to deviate from it.

China will continue to focus on developing the

economy. Development is our top priority, as it

constitutes the basis for addressing all issues. We will

rely mainly on our own efforts in pursuing

development.

As China’s industrialization and urbanization

progress, hundreds of millions of farmers will move to

towns and cities, which will create more domestic

demand than ever, open up broad market and

development space and serve as a powerful engine for

sustaining the growth of the Chinese economy as well

as the world economy at large. We will work hard to

transform the economic development pattern,

restructure the economy and set out on a path of

balanced and sustainable development.

China will continue to deepen institutional

reform. We will make consistent efforts to improve the

socialist market economy. We will unswervingly

strengthen and develop the public sector side of the

economy and also unswervingly encourage, support

and guide the development of the non-public sector.

We will pay greater attention to ensuring and

improving people’s well-being. We will further reform

the income distribution system and improve the social

security system, including old-age support, medical

care and unemployment benefit programmes. We will

endeavour to narrow the gap between urban and rural

areas, between different regions and between the rich

and the poor. We want to ensure that each and every

citizen shares the benefit of China’s reform, opening up

and development.

While deepening economic restructuring, we will

also push forward with political restructuring.

Otherwise, we cannot achieve the ultimate goal of

economic reform and we will lose what we have gained

from our modernization drive. We respect and protect

human rights, uphold social equity and justice and

strive to achieve free and all-around development for

our people. That is the important hallmark of a

democratic country under the rule of law and a basic

guarantee for any country’s lasting peace and stability.

China will be even more open to the world.

Mutually beneficial cooperation for win-win progress

is a long-term strategy that we will stick to in opening

up to the world. We will follow established

international rules in expanding business ties with

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other countries. We will continue to improve the

environment for foreign investors, optimize the

structure of foreign capital utilization and explore new

ways for overseas investment and cooperation.

We are committed to promoting the establishment

of a fair, equitable, inclusive and well-managed new

international financial order and an open and free

international trading regime. We are against

protectionism in all its manifestations. In the course of

modernization, we will not only continue to bring in

and utilize advanced achievements from the rest of the

world in the economic, scientific and technological

fields, but also boldly draw upon the achievements of

human civilization in the fields of social management

and cultural development.

China will continue to develop education, science

and technology. How can China narrow the

development gap with the advanced countries and

enhance the sustainability of its strong growth? I

believe two things are of fundamental importance: first

is education, and second is science and technology.

China has formulated medium- and long-term

development programmes on education and on science

and technology. Going forward, we will focus our

efforts on implementing those two programmes and

building China into a country strong in human

resources and innovation by 2020.

China will continue to carry forward its fine

culture. The development of a country and rejuvenation

of a nation require not only great economic strength,

but, more importantly, great cultural strength. The

moral values and wisdom drawn from the 5,000-year-

old Chinese civilization do not belong to China alone

but also to the world. We will vigorously develop

cultural programmes and accelerate the development of

a moral and ethical code that is commensurate with our

socialist modernization drive and consistent with the

traditional virtues of our nation.

We respect the diversity of civilizations and will

increase dialogue and exchanges with other

civilizations to forge a common cultural bond for

humanity. The Chinese nation, which has created an

economic miracle, will create a new cultural splendor

as well.

The world of the twenty-first century is far from

tranquil, but gone are the days when problems were

ultimately settled by war. Peace and development

remain the defining features of our time.

China will stay firmly committed to peaceful

development. One may ask what the essence of

peaceful development is. It is to foster a peaceful

international environment for our development and, at

the same time, contribute to world peace through our

development. That is something inherent in the concept

of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

In the course of development, China will continue

to take upon itself the duty of promoting the common

progress and prosperity of mankind. We will seek and

expand converging interests with other countries.

China’s development will not harm anyone or pose a

threat to anyone. There have been Powers who sought

hegemony once they grew strong. China will never

follow in their footsteps.

China values friendship and also adheres to its

principles. It firmly upholds its core interests. When it

comes to sovereignty, national unity and territorial

integrity, China will not yield or compromise.

China will continue to firmly support the leading

role of the United Nations in international affairs. We

will, as always, abide by the United Nations Charter

and fulfil in good faith our obligations under

international conventions. We will intensify

cooperation with fellow developing countries and

support their having a greater say in international

affairs. We will remain forever a good partner of and

brother to developing countries.

China’s stability and development is conducive to

a more peaceful international environment, a more

democratic international order, a more prosperous

global economy and a more harmonious and civilized

world. China’s development is an opportunity for the

world, and the world stands to gain from a China that

is better off. History will continue to prove that.

A China that develops peacefully, a China that is

full of vigour and vitality and a China that is willing

and ready to fulfil its responsibilities will always move

forward together with the world. Let us join hands to

work for a world of enduring peace and prosperity.