Member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Vice Premier of the State Council Ding Xuexiang meets with international delegates on December 2, 2024, in Beijing. Photo: Xinhua

The 2024 Understanding China Conference (Guangzhou), themed "Carry Through the Reform to the End - Chinese Modernization and New Opportunities for World Development," is being held in Guangzhou, capital of South China's Guangdong Province, from Monday to Wednesday. 

Before the conference, Member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Vice Premier of the State Council Ding Xuexiang met with international delegates on Monday in Beijing.  

During the meeting, Ding said that China is advancing the construction of a strong country and the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation through Chinese-style modernization. China will carry through the reform to the end, providing strong momentum for Chinese-style modernization. It will firmly expand high-level opening-up, and share development opportunities with countries around the world. It will focus on the primary task of high-quality development, promoting effective qualitative improvement and reasonable quantitative growth of the economy. and China will adhere to the path of peaceful development, offering more stability and certainty to the world, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Monday.

Former Ethiopian president Mulatu Teshome and former prime minister of Belgium Yves Leterme, among others, expressed their confidence in China's development and their willingness to play a positive role in helping the world "understand China," according to Xinhua.

After the meeting in Beijing, the participants took a chartered flight to Guangzhou.

According to a press release from the China Institute for Innovation and Development Strategy (CIIDS), one of organizers of the conference, the three-day gathering is bringing together approximately 600 attendances from both home and abroad, including over 100 representatives from the international community, as well as Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions. The number of foreign attendees attending this conference far exceeds that of previous conferences. 

This is a great gathering of people from around the world who have arrived to exchange views with Chinese partners, share updates on what's happening in China, and discuss outlooks for the future, Maria João Rodrigues, former Portuguese minister of employment, former member of the European Parliament and president of the Foundation for European Progressive Studies, a Brussels-based think tank, told the Global Times on Monday. 

Rodrigues believes that instead of being systematic rivals, China and Europe "should be global partners to improve global governance. This can make a big difference for the world." Hence, she said she greatly appreciates the discussion at the conference on how China and Europe can cooperate to address global challenges.

Kyle Ferrana, the US author of the book Why the World Needs China: Development, Environmentalism, Conflict Resolution & Common Prosperity, who is attending the event, told the Global Times that China is currently the most consequential country in the world. It is the largest trading partner for most countries and is now the world's renewable energy factory, which is even more significant. 

He said while the nationwide homeless population in the US is at its highest level, China is demonstrating that it's possible to improve the lives of everyone - and very rapidly at that. "I wanted to understand, and help others understand, the nature of the forces that are preventing positive change [in the US] and hindering development around the world, and why China has been such an exception." 

Ferrana told Global Times, "I'm sure you're familiar with the famous quote by Margaret Thatcher, 'There is no alternative to neoliberal capitalism.' I think there is an alternative, and that it is currently best represented by China."

The conference is jointly organized by CIIDS, the Chinese People's Institute of Foreign Affairs, and the People's Government of Guangdong Province, with the People's Government of Guangzhou Municipality serving as the host. The opening ceremony of the conference is set to take place on Tuesday.