In Harmony, with Different Outlooks Fu Ying, Chairperson of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the 12 th National People s Congress made a speech at the Brookings Institution on 12 th of June 2013. The following is some selected points of her speech. This is an important moment for China and US as President Xi Jinping and President Obama just had a historic meeting at Annaburge. I am very impressed by the harmonious atmosphere of all the form of meetings they had. One of the most important massages coming out is their commitment to working together to build a new model of relationship for the two countries heading for partnership not for conflict as some had feared. We hope it leads to many years of working together with excellent result coming on the way. There is no denying that China and the US have fairly different outlooks which influence their perspective one way or another. The importance is for us to try to understand why the other side thinks and does things the way they do and try to find a way working together for the interest of all. 1
China is often regarded as a world power now or even No 2 of the world and therefore will be competing for world power. Most people in China do not see things that way. For them, the per capita income is more real than the GDP total. It is widely shared in China that though we maybe a large country in size and population, we are far behind the developed world. We are confronting challenges and difficulties the outside world can hardly imagine. Thanks to the successful reform and open to the outside world, the lives of the Chinese people are completely transformed, and the time of shortage is gone forever. Is everyone happier? Not necessarily. Take for example those born in the 80s who are the first generation of Chinese knowing no hunger, they claim they are old and tired. They find themselves struggling to meet life s demands from high mortgage, competition in jobs to rising cost of living. The challenges for people today are no less daunting, though at a higher level. As China is going beyond the basic needs, people are embracing new dreams. They long for more stable jobs, more reliable social security, better education, better environment, and better cultural facilities. They want better application of the rule of law, greater 2
guarantee for their rights. They also want to take pride in the country in the community of nations. They want to have a sense of dignity as they become global citizens and assurance that the country and people are well protected. The concept of the Chinese dream proposed by President Xi Jinping came on time. He said: the Chinese dream is as much a dream of the whole nation as a dream for every individual. People should all share in the opportunities to fulfill his or her potential, to realize the expectation and to make progress along with the progress of the nation. The 18 th Party Congress set forth two centenary goals. The first is to double not only GDP, but also per capita income on the basis of 2010 for the 100 th year of the founding of the Party in 2021. The second is for 2049 or the 100 th year of the People s Republic, to turn the country into a strong, prosperous, democratic, culturally advanced and harmonious socialist society. The new Chinese leadership is firmly committed to continuing reform. They gave priority to sustaining stable economic growth. More reform measures are announced, including readjusting government functions to allow the market and society to take bigger role with proper regulations. The government will focus on providing fair 3
ground for competition and taking care of those falling behind. The country will strive towards industrialization, informatization, urbanization and agricultural modernization. The future urbanization in China will be the largest the world has ever seen, involving 600 million farmers, unleashing great stimulus for growth and expansion of consumer demands. The underlying condition is improved rule of law. The Standing Committee of the 12 th National People s Congress has laid down its program to step up legislation, making more laws mainly in the areas where people s concern is, improving the quality of laws, better enforce laws and foster the culture of law compliance. That is the direction China is heading and US can very well come to be Chinas important partner as US would only benefit from the many opportunities China s progress brings. China cannot achieve its purpose without good international environment and without working closely with the outside world, especially working constructively with the US. China s progress will add to peace and prosperity of the world. The past years gave rise to concerns that China s neighborhood has grown unquiet. I prefer to look at it in a historical and global perspective. In the years after the cold 4
war, Asia at large remained relatively peaceful, allowing most countries focused on economic progress and became successful. China s policy for regional peace and China itself maintained domestic stability and economic prosperity contributed to it significantly. It is very important for China to stay focused and avoid losing sight of its right direction. The new leadership in China has shown a lot of confidence and the wisdom to do so. China has on many occasions welcomed constructive role of US. The region expects China and US work to promote the positive trend in the region not the other way around. There is a lot the two countries can and need to do in Asia and this could be a ground where a new model of relationship between China and US start in operation. Now that the two leaders have charted a bright future for us and let try harder working together to make the world a better place in the 21 century. 5