Xi's National Day speech boosts world's confidence in China's future

BEIJING - Chinese President Xi Jinping's speech during Tuesday's National Day celebrations was warmly embraced across the globe, with politicians and experts in different parts of the world expressing support for China's social and economic development.

"China's yesterday has been inscribed in human history while China's today is being created in the hands of hundreds of millions of Chinese people," Xi said. "China will surely have an even brighter future."

Marcelo Abi-Ramia Caetano, secretary general of the International Social Security Association, said Xi's speech briefly summarized the "remarkable socio-economic progress" achieved by the People's Republic of China (PRC) over the past 70 years.

"In terms of social protection, China serves as an excellent example in extending social security coverage and improving social security administration, and has much to share with the rest of the world," he added.

The "overarching theme" of China's National Day celebrations is "a comprehensive and integrated vision of why China's system works so well for China, and how, at the same time, it benefits the world," said Robert Kuhn, a leading US expert on China.

China's goal is "to improve the standards of living of all its citizens, and then to share the fruits of such development with the world in various forms," added Kuhn, also chairman of the Kuhn Foundation.

"China's role in the world has increased and (the) PRC has been making an important contribution to global governance and its needed reforms," said Fabio Massimo Parenti, an Italian scholar of international studies at the International Institute Lorenzo de' Medici.

The China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative is "for the entire world" and has received support from countries across the globe, he added.

Mahmoud Raya, director of the Lebanese website "China in Arab Eyes," said Xi's speech reflected strength and hope.

The strength comes from the glorious history of the Chinese nation and the confidence of the younger generation in their future, he added.

Xi's speech showed "solid confidence that China has," and revealed "future directions that China will follow," said Do Tien Sam, former director of the Institute of Chinese Studies under the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences.