Interview: CPC's achievements unrivalled in history, says former Cypriot president

NICOSIA, June 16 (Xinhua) -- The Communist Party of China (CPC) has made brilliant achievements that were hard to attain in history, and will create new miracles in the time to come, George Vassiliou, former president of Cyprus, has said.

"One can only admire the CPC for its achievements," said Vassiliou, also the founder of the Cypriot United Democrats party, in a recent interview with Xinhua.

He said that over the past 40 years, China's gross domestic product (GDP) has been growing at a pace described by the World Bank as "the fastest sustained expansion by a major economy in history."

Such a growth rate has enabled China to double its GDP every eight years, he noted, citing data from the bank.

Speaking of the factors behind the feat, the ex-president pointed to the CPC's close relationship with the Chinese people, which "is the vital precondition for everything," and the party's vision for future development.

Thanks to these aspects, the Chinese ruling party is able to formulate policies based on national condition and safeguard the smooth functioning of the rule of law by bringing concrete anti-graft results, thereby continues to lead the country forward, Vassiliou said.

Under the CPC leadership, people have seen "a huge improvement in their (the Chinese people's) standards of living, and the strict implementation of the rule of law ... and the party has proved that it is able to face the various challenges that arise," he said.

Vassiliou stressed that the CPC has pushed forward the coordinated urban and rural development via such measures as tax policies, regional polices, and promoting technical training, while seeking an even broader space to develop, by deepening the reform and putting more efforts in the ever-opening of the Chinese market.

"I want to pinpoint that I am admiring the success of the economic policies adopted by the party in the last decades," he said, adding that eradicating absolute poverty was "a unique achievement for which the whole world is admiring."

Vassiliou said his "firm belief" is that the policies will still be effective in the future and worthy of continuing to be implemented.