Advancing the Peaceful China Initiative: A focus on sustainable development and international cooperation

"China will continue to improve and develop the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics and modernize China's system and capacity for governance," says the "Resolution of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Further Deepening Reform Comprehensively to Advance Chinese Modernization".

To achieve this goal, China will focus on seven objectives, one being advancing the Peaceful China Initiative to a higher level.

In an exclusive interview with Shanghai Daily, Huang Jing, a distinguished professor at Shanghai International Studies University, talks about how this will ensure China's sustainable development, and how China should present its achievements in this Initiative to the whole world.

Shanghai Daily: The Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee decides to focus on "advancing the Peaceful China Initiative to a higher level." What are the underlying meanings and the broader implications of this concept? How should we understand "higher level"?

Huang: I think "high level" means a high level of development and happiness or a high level of people's lives.

And then a high level of safety. I mean China has to be a safe country. Only by achieving those can China truly be a peaceful country. You cannot imagine that if a country is not peaceful inside, it can hardly be peaceful outside.

So "high level" is very important in all three areas we just mentioned -- development, happiness and safety.

Shanghai Daily: Given the current international and domestic contexts, what is the significance of raising this issue? What are the new requirements and critical steps towards a higher level of Peaceful China?

Huang: Deng Xiaoping said a long time ago that development is a hard truth.

So whatever China wants to do internally or externally, sustainable development is a necessary condition. If we look at the Third Plenum, I think all the requirements and all the principles raised at the plenum are about to guarantee that China's development will be sustained.

Only by doing that, can Chinese people achieve a high level of life or happiness; can China achieve a high level in terms of national capability and national influence. And on this level, China will play a much more positive role in today's world.

So, development is a key issue for us to understand today's China.

Shanghai Daily: In this process, how should China manage its international relations with other countries?

Huang: I think that several principles have long been established ever since the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949.

The first one is equality. China treats all the other countries on equal footing. And that doesn't matter if that is a small or big country.

The second is mutual respect. China does respect, as always, other countries and other peoples, including their choice of life, the way they choose to go, and so on.

Last but not least, China makes sure the relationship it has with other countries is mutually beneficial. The Chinese always want to say the win-win situation, that is, if we come together to work together in terms of cooperation, we have to make sure both sides will benefit from this relationship. If we have a multilateral relationship, then all the participants will have to benefit from this participation or cooperation.

Again, the foundation of that is equality and respect.

Shanghai Daily: How would you suggest China best presents its achievements in building a peaceful China?

Huang: Like the Chinese say heaven will not drop for anything for you or in the West, we say there's no free lunch. China has been today's China only because the Chinese people have paid a huge price, and have made extraordinary hard effort. Only on this foundation, can China contribute to the human being as a whole.

But please understand China first and foremost has come along with China never invade other people, never grab other people's benefit. It's only by hardship and hard work that China has achieved today's situation.