Aerial photo taken on Sept. 17, 2020 shows the Houhai area in Nanshan District of Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province.(Photo: Xinhua)

The modernization of China with such a huge population will be a stronger boost for global economic recovery, China's State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang said at the Lanting Forum on Chinese Modernization and the World held in Shanghai on Friday.

Over the past decade, China has contributed more to global growth than all the G7 countries combined, Qin said. "With over 1.4 billion people on course toward modernization, a number larger than the combined population of all developed countries, China will give a much stronger impetus for the global economy," the foreign minister emphasized.

Qin said that the China Development Forum and the Boao Forum for Asia, which were successfully held last month, attracted many political and business leaders from around the world. "The most repeated call we heard was to seize the new opportunities that will come along with China's high-quality development and high-standard opening-up. The Number One unanimous view was to reject decoupling and move forward with China," he said.

Qin emphasized that the modernization of China with common prosperity for all will open up a broader path to the common development of all countries. 

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the Global Development Initiative (GDI) are public goods that China offers to the international community, which are also open platforms for pursuing common development and prosperity, said Qin. 

Ten years on since the start of the BRI, over 3,000 cooperation projects have been launched, involving close to $1 trillion of investment and creating 420,000 jobs for participating countries. As for the GDI, it is widely welcomed by the international community. With the support of over 100 countries and many international organizations, and with some 70 countries in the Group of Friends of the GDI, the Initiative is giving a strong boost to the early attainment of the UN Sustainable Development Goals for 2030.

Qin reiterated that China takes seriously the debt issue of developing countries. "We are actively and fully implementing the G20's Debt Service Suspension Initiative, and have contributed as much as 63 percent of the total debt payments suspended," Qin said.  

"It is fair to say that Chinese modernization has helped inspire confidence in many countries in their pursuit of modernization. As an African leader put it, the Chinese path inspires all developing countries to believe that every country is able to achieve development even from scratch," the foreign minister said.

Qin said that China will advance high-standard opening-up with more proactive efforts. China's modernization has made advances in the course of opening-up, and is bound to embrace a brighter future through opening-up. In hosting the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation and the China International Import Expo, China will deepen convergence of interests with the world. 

"We will invest more resources in global development cooperation, and do our utmost to help relieve the debt burdens of developing countries. We will endeavor to save international financial and currency circulation from the plight of speculation, manipulation, sanction and pressuring, and help it return to its fundamental purpose of serving the real economy and promoting modernization," he said.

Global Times