Illustration: Luo Xuan/GT
As globalization goes deeper, economic and trade ties between China and most other countries in the world have seen rapid growth. In this new era of high interconnectivity and win-win cooperation, China has learned from the development experience of countries worldwide with a humble attitude and honest diligence to form its unique "socialism with Chinese characteristics" development model. In this process, China borrowed experience from the world's most developed countries and set foot on a development path that was suited to its own situation. This model has powered the economic take-off and soaring growth of China.
There is no so-called China development model. What we have experienced is universal, to some extent. This experience not only belongs to China, but also to the world. It is part of globalization; China has pooled other countries' advantages and developed policies and guidelines that are in line with the trend of the new era and fit for China.
The US experience related to enterprise management, marketing and financial innovation has a great influence on how the "China model" took shape and progressed. These similarities have explained why US companies are willing to come all the way to China, open factories and expand their business.
The China model also has origins in European countries. European countries are more concerned about encouraging companies to utilize their innovation capabilities and develop high-quality manufacturing industries. This has become a major development strategy in Europe, and it greatly influenced China. Therefore, European countries are not unfamiliar with the "China model" and China's business environment. Even amid China-US trade tension, fewer European countries have picked on China's development model as the US does.
In China's 40 years of reform and opening-up, there was quite a long period when China borrowed Japan's experience. Japan's innovative, precise work style became a precious component of the development model with Chinese characteristics, and it helped drive economic growth in both speed and quality.
The "China model" successfully mixed development features from the US, Europe, Asia and Africa and became the most influential model with great vitality. It can withstand criticism and it will prove to be longstanding.
When the US government began to criticize and sought to alter China's development model, it was not surprising that Washington found some US legacies in the model. Since reform and opening-up was carried out, China has been taking the US as a role model. China sent many government officials to the US, Japan and Europe to study the restructuring of enterprises and marketization. These officials came back to pursue reform, putting the experience of the developed world into practice. They have become the main force in constantly pushing reform and opening-up. Every step of China's 40-year path has reflected its close cooperation with other countries.
China's development model belongs to the world. But it also has its uniqueness. Universality and uniqueness are two sides of one coin. Every country can see a lot of itself in China's path. So any country that opposes the Chinese model defies the development concept of the world.
China's development model is "practicality, hard work, innovation and cooperation," which is very attractive to developing countries. This model has proved that as long as a country's people work hard, they are bound to overcome poverty and realize a better life.
China remains a developing country, so its development experience and model are more relevant and workable for developing countries.
When setting its future development goals, China must pay attention to one reality and fact - that is, China is still in the primary stage of socialism, which will persist for a relatively long period.
We should not ignore this fact when it comes to making development plans. We may have the illusion that we are already well-developed and have become one of the world's powers. Such an illusion may derail our development plan from reality, which will lead to mistakes similar to those we have made in history.
We must truly understand the true meaning of the primary stage of socialism, so as to avoid any waste of money and time. "More haste and less speed" is what we should try to avoid.
The author is a senior fellow of the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China. bizopinion@globaltimes.com.cn
