Ambassador Xie Feng: In a turbulent world, China’s choice is to pursue Chinese modernization at home, and forge a community with a shared future for mankind internationally

On April 20, Chinese Ambassador to the United States Xie Feng attended the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024 and delivered a speech, elaborating on the global relevance of Chinese modernization and the vision of building a community with a shared future for mankind.

Ambassador Xie said that we are now living in a turbulent time. It seems that everywhere we look, we see powder kegs that can explode anytime. Energy, food and debt crises keep emerging. Non-traditional security challenges such as artificial intelligence, climate change and biosecurity are on the rise. The very survival of human civilization is at stake. The world is again at a crossroads. All countries are in the same boat. Amidst the raging torrents, we need to pull together, not pull apart. China's choice is clear and firm: At home, we will focus on achieving Chinese modernization; internationally, we will forge a community with a shared future for mankind.

A developing China will keep making contribution to building a world of lasting peace. Chinese modernization is for our 1.4 billion people. So far, less than 1 billion in the world have achieved modernization. Once China accomplishes its target, the global modernized population will be more than doubled. This is unprecedented, and will be an important contribution to world peace and development in itself.

Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, especially since the launch of reform and opening-up in 1978, China has come a long way. Once a poor and weak nation that could not even make a single iron nail, it is now the world's second-largest economy and biggest trader in goods. Meanwhile, though, China's per capita GDP still ranks after the 60th. Our per capita arable land and water resources are respectively less than half and only one-fourth of the global average. The way toward all-round modernization remains long and arduous, and development will continue to be our top priority.

Our goal is simple: to deliver a better life for each and every Chinese. Over the past decades, we have revitalized our country through reform and opening-up, and made notable progress within the existing international order. There is simply no reason why we should shut our doors and reinvent the wheel today. Instead, we will open up wider at a higher standard, advance high-quality development, and inject greater stability and positive energy into the world.