Research Center for Xi Jinping Thought on Diplomacy: Chinese Modernization is the Modernization of Taking the Path of Peaceful Development
The 20th National Congress of the CPC mapped out a grand blueprint for comprehensively building a modern socialist powerful country and comprehensively advancing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation through Chinese-path modernization. At the opening ceremony of a study session for new members and alternate members of the Central Committee, as well as principal officials at the provincial and ministerial levels, focusing on studying and implementing Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and the guiding principles of the 20th National Congress, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "Practice has proven that Chinese-path modernization is viable and steady; it is the only correct path for building a powerful country and achieving national rejuvenation." Chinese-path modernization is socialist modernization led by the Communist Party of China. It shares common characteristics with the modernization processes of all countries, but more importantly, it possesses Chinese characteristics based on our own national conditions. Our country does not follow the old path taken by some countries to achieve modernization through war, colonization, and plunder. Instead, we have consistently persisted in advancing modernization on a path of peaceful development, achieving development accomplishments that have attracted worldwide attention. We stand firmly on the right side of history and on the side of human civilization’s progress. We hold high the banner of peace, development, cooperation, and mutual benefit, seeking our own development while resolutely maintaining world peace and development, and in turn, better maintaining world peace and development through our own growth.
Following the Path of Peaceful Development is a Distinctive Feature and Inevitable Choice of Chinese-path Modernization
Following the path of peaceful development is one of the Chinese characteristics of Chinese-path modernization. China's exploration of the modernization path has always been accompanied by theoretical and practical innovations in adhering to peaceful development. Following this path is both an important prerequisite for the smooth advancement of Chinese-path modernization and its effective guarantee and powerful support. It reflects the CPC's proactive strategic shaping of a favorable international environment and endows Chinese-path modernization with a broad global vision and strong moral power.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, our Party vigorously advocated the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence [1], which serve as an important cornerstone of New China's foreign policy. After the Third Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee, our Party proposed that peace and development are the themes of the contemporary era. We set the goal and task of diplomacy as striving for a long-term international peaceful environment and a favorable neighborhood environment, laying an important foundation for the smooth implementation of reform and opening up and socialist modernization. Entering the 21st century, our Party explicitly proposed following the path of peaceful development, issuing the white papers China's Peaceful Development Road in 2005 and China's Peaceful Development in 2011, and writing the adherence to the path of peaceful development into the Party Constitution. Since the 18th National Congress, General Secretary Xi Jinping has emphasized: "China insists on following the path of peaceful development" and "No matter what stage of development it reaches, China will never seek hegemony or engage in expansion." In 2018, China wrote its commitment to the path of peaceful development into the Constitution, reflecting its firm determination. In the New Era, China's path of peaceful development and the road of Chinese-path modernization are both becoming increasingly broad.
The choice to follow the path of peaceful development is determined by the nature and purpose of the CPC and the nature of China’s socialist system. The CPC is a Marxist party, and the China it leads is a socialist state. Marxist parties shoulder a sublime mission, pursue lofty ideals, and possess a global outlook. The CPC seeks happiness for the Chinese people and rejuvenation for the Chinese nation, but it also seeks progress for humanity and "Great Harmony" [2] for the world, consistently taking the mission of making new and greater contributions to humanity as its own. The socialist system is an advanced social system; advocating peace is an essential attribute of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Domestically, socialist China pursues equity, justice, common prosperity, and social harmony; internationally, it upholds fairness, defends public principles, and promotes justice. Persisting in the path of peaceful development is an inevitable choice for Chinese-path modernization.
China's path of peaceful development opens a brand-new road for humanity to achieve modernization and pursue the progress of civilization. In their modernization processes, some countries engaged in external aggression, colonization, and plunder, bringing profound suffering to the peoples of many developing countries. Even today, individual countries still practice hegemonism and power politics. Chinese-path modernization does not rely on external military expansion or colonial plunder. Instead, it pursues win-win cooperation and joint construction and sharing with the world. By persisting in the path of peaceful development, it breaks the old modernization path of external expansion and plunder, aligns with the era's trend of human development and progress, and makes a significant contribution to humanity's exploration of modernization paths. Its significance is profound.
The Rich Connotation of Following the Path of Peaceful Development in the New Era
As socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a New Era, General Secretary Xi Jinping has delivered important discourses on a series of major theoretical and practical issues, such as why we must persist in the path of peaceful development in the New Era and how to continue walking this path well. These discourses possess rich connotations, deepening our Party's regular understanding of the path of peaceful development and guiding us to ensure this path remains viable, smooth, and successful amidst the "changes unseen in a century" [3].
Adhering to the path of peaceful development must be based on mutual respect and win-win cooperation. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Persist in following the path of peaceful development on the basis of mutual respect and win-win cooperation." This clarifies the direction and path for us, further enriching the strategic connotation of peaceful development. Peace requires mutual respect, and development requires win-win cooperation. Whether the path of peaceful development is viable depends largely on whether we can transform world opportunities into Chinese opportunities and Chinese opportunities into world opportunities, advancing through benign interaction and mutual benefit between China and the rest of the world. We must grasp the major propositions of national rejuvenation and human progress within a broad coordinate of time and space, and navigate China's forward direction and promote the development of all countries within the global context and the trends of the times.
Adhering to the path of peaceful development is a strategic choice made according to the trends of the times and our country's fundamental interests. As China grows stronger, the international community's attention to our strategic direction increases, a process that will accompany the entire journey of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. General Secretary Xi Jinping has coordinated the domestic and international imperatives, linking history, reality, and the future to elucidate the necessity of China’s peaceful development. He pointed out: "Following the path of peaceful development is China's response to the international community's concern about China's development direction, and even more, it is the self-confidence and self-awareness of the Chinese people in achieving their own development goals. This confidence and awareness stem from the deep roots of Chinese civilization, from the recognition of the conditions for achieving China's development goals, and from the grasp of the general trend of world development." China's path of peaceful development is an organic unity of ideological confidence and practical self-awareness. It is a strategic choice made by our Party based on the trends of the times and our country's fundamental interests. This has deepened our understanding of why we follow this path and effectively guided the international community to correctly understand and treat China's development.
Adhering to the path of peaceful development requires promoting all countries to follow the path of peaceful development together. General Secretary Xi Jinping noted: "China follows the path of peaceful development, and other countries should also follow the path of peaceful development. Only when all countries follow the path of peaceful development can they develop together and live in peace with one another." Peaceful development is a matter for the entire international community and a shared responsibility. Only when all countries plan for and protect peace together can they share peace. Linking China's peaceful development closely with global peaceful development is a significant evolution of the theory. It gains more external understanding and support for China while consolidating the consensus and strength of the international community committed to peaceful development, opening up broader space for our country's path.
Adhering to the path of peaceful development must uphold the bottom line of maintaining national core interests. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "No foreign country should expect us to trade away our core interests, nor should they expect us to swallow the bitter fruit of damage to our sovereignty, security, and development interests." Following the path of peaceful development and cooperating for mutual benefit is predicated on the bottom line of never giving up legitimate rights and never sacrificing national core interests. Maintaining China's national interests and promoting world peace and development are dialectically unified. China's sovereignty, security, development interests, and national dignity will never allow infringement by any force; meanwhile, no force can shake our conviction in persisting in peaceful development.
Modernization via the Path of Peaceful Development Makes a Massive Contribution to the Progress of Human Civilization
Chinese-path modernization benefits both China and the world. It has not only made China a "growth pole of world modernization" in just a few decades but has also created a new form of human civilization, making a massive contribution to the sublime cause of human peace and development. China's development represents an increase in the forces for world peace and an increase in new opportunities for global development. The CPC has united and led the Chinese people to advance Chinese-path modernization on the road of peaceful development, pushing the wheels of history toward a bright future.
It demonstrates China's responsibility in maintaining world peace. In the more than 70 years since the founding of New China, China has never initiated a single war or conflict, nor has it occupied an inch of another country's land. China actively participates in international arms control, disarmament, and non-proliferation processes, opposes arms races, and maintains global strategic balance and stability. It is the permanent member of the Security Council that dispatches the most peacekeepers and is the second-largest contributor to the UN peacekeeping budget. China adheres to objectivity and justice, persists in dialogue and consultation, and actively participates in resolving hot-spot issues such as the Korean Peninsula, the Iranian nuclear issue, and Afghanistan. Persisting in true multilateralism, China plays a constructive role in global security governance, building consensus, strengthening unity, and pooling efforts to fight the COVID-19 pandemic and jointly address regional disputes and global issues such as terrorism, climate change, cybersecurity, and biosecurity. China unswervingly pursues an independent foreign policy of peace, develops friendly cooperation with all countries on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, upholds the basic norms of international relations and international equity and justice, and remains a staunch defender of world peace.
It makes a Chinese contribution to promoting common development. China's economy has maintained stable growth for many years, with an average contribution rate to world economic growth exceeding 30% over the past decade. China advocated the establishment of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and the New Development Bank (BRICS Bank), pioneering the creation of multilateral financial institutions by developing countries. As an advocate, promoter, and practitioner of the global poverty reduction and development cause, China actively supports and helps developing countries, especially the least developed ones, to eliminate poverty. China has built and continuously expanded a global network of high-standard free trade zones, becoming a major trading partner for more than 140 countries and regions. It has pushed for the implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), hosted the China International Import Expo, and shared development opportunities with the world. China proposed the Belt and Road Initiative, joining hands with all parties to create the world's most extensive and largest platform for international cooperation. China will firmly pursue a win-win opening-up strategy, promote the construction of an open world economy, and cultivate new drivers for global development with all countries, ensuring that development fruits better benefit people everywhere.
It provides a Chinese solution for the progress of human civilization. Facing the question of the era—"Where is the world going, and what should humanity do?"—General Secretary Xi Jinping proposed the major concept of building a community with a shared future for humanity, leading the trend of the times and the direction of human progress. To solidify the consensus on values across different countries and civilizations, he proposed upholding and promoting the common values of humanity—peace, development, equity, justice, democracy, and freedom—providing a common value bond for strengthening international solidarity. Facing the challenges of increasing global deficits in peace, development, security, and governance, he proposed the Global Development Initiative (GDI) and the Global Security Initiative (GSI), contributing Chinese solutions to push the world toward a new stage of balanced, coordinated, and inclusive development and toward a broad road of lasting peace and universal security. China will continue to play the role of a responsible major power, promote the common values of humanity, strive to implement the GDI and GSI, inject more stability and certainty into the world, and inject new thoughts and concepts into solving global problems with Chinese wisdom and solutions, working with all countries to advance the building of a community with a shared future for humanity.