Book on China’s rise at global stage launched

Participants ponder factors behind Chinese progress, challenges

ISLAMABAD:

A book authored by the Asian Institute of Eco-Civilisation, Research and Development (AIERD) CEO Shakeel Ahmad Ramay was recently launched in the federal capital.

The launching event of ‘China at 75: China Story – Standing Up to Getting Rich to Becoming Strong’, was jointly organised by the Institute of Regional Studies (IRS) and AIERD.

While speaking at the event, Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed said the ingredients of China’s success story were its quality leadership, ability to do course correction, continuity of policy and peaceful foreign policy.

Senator Sayed said China could be explained in three words - revolution, reform and rise, and each era was led by a leader right from the front.

He said if we look at all the leaders that have led China we would see that they were a product of merit-based system.

Giving the example of the current Chinese president, Xi Jingping, and its former leader Deng Xiaoping, Sayed said these leaders had integrity and had risen from the grassroots level.

Talking about course correction, the senator said when you feel that perhaps we are not on the right track, you do a course correction, which the Chinese leadership had done successfully.

He said other aspects were continuity of policy that had spanned decades, humility and the urge to learn from others. However, the most important ingredient was China’s peaceful foreign policy, he added.

Elaborating his point, Sayed said China was the only permanent member of the UN Security Council that had not fought a war with any country during the last 40 years.

He said President Xi Jingping was a leader with a difference, who was confident, competent and had strategic clarity.

He said by the time Mao Zedong died, China had resolved the core issues of its people, which were food, clothing, shelter, health and basic education.

He said Pakistan was fortunate to have China as its neighbour, which was its all-weather friend, strategic partner and iron brother. Delving on Ramay’s book, Mushahid Hussain Sayed said the author had told China’s story very well and had captured the country’s evolution in detail.

Speaking on the occasion, Shakeel Ahmad Ramay said he had divided his presentation into three parts – standing tall, getting rich, and becoming strong.

He said when the People’s Republic of China was established in 1949, the country faced several challenges.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 12^th, 2024.