China won’t tread path of Western modernization, which features polarization, plunder: Xi

Containers are transported by trucks at the Pacific international container terminal of Tianjin Port in north China's Tianjin, April 11, 2023. Photo: Xinhua

Chinese President Xi Jinping has stressed that China will remain steadfast in comprehensively deepening reform and expanding high-standard opening-up, while also emphasizing that Chinese modernization is essentially different from Western modernization, which has features such as polarization and plunder, according to the Xinhua News Agency on Thursday.

During his inspection tour in South China's Guangdong Province, a major economic powerhouse and trailblazer in China's reform and opening-up, Xi, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, also focused on high-quality development.

While visiting a research and development center of Guangzhou Automobile Group Co, Xi said that Chinese modernization is based on the country's realities and conditions, and has clear goals, plans and strategies. Chinese modernization is essentially different from Western modernization, he said, adding that China will not tread the path of Western modernization - with features including polarization and plunder - as such a path leads nowhere, according to Xinhua.

In the case of the US, Western modernization relies on resources and talents from all over the world and is often built on plundering the resources of other countries, and Western modernization means it can abuse its authority in the world market, which it treats as its own, Li Youhuan, a research fellow at the Guangdong University of Finance and Economics, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

"In terms of their starting points and their end goals, there are essential differences between Chinese modernization and Western modernization," Li said. He noted that Chinese modernization focuses on both domestic and international markets and pursues common development and common prosperity for the entire world.

During the inspection tour, his first since the national two sessions concluded in March, Xi also stressed the importance of the manufacturing sector and indigenous innovation.

On Wednesday, Xi visited LG Display's manufacturing base in Guangzhou and GAC Aion New Energy Automobile Co, where he learned about local efforts to promote high-standard opening-up and high-quality development of the manufacturing sector, and about how enterprises are boosting innovation and building self-owned brands, Xinhua reported on Thursday.

Xi pointed out not only the development direction of China's automobile industry and manufacturing industry, but also the main direction of Guangzhou Automobile Group's high-quality development, Zeng Qinghong, Party chief and chairman of Guangzhou Automobile Group, said at a company meeting on Wednesday, according to a statement the company sent to the Global Times on Thursday.

Zeng said that the company will resolutely achieve independent control of core technologies, establish a national car brand, build a world-class enterprise, and carry out its responsibilities and new actions in promoting the Chinese modernization, per the statement.

"The manufacturing sector is an important part of the Chinese modernization. At present, further expanding and strengthening the modern manufacturing industry and boosting the vitality of the manufacturing industry is a very important task," Li Chang'an, a professor at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, told the Global Times on Thursday.

Li Chang'an noted that this kind of focus from top officials signals that more policy support will likely be put in place to boost the high-quality development of the manufacturing industry and the broader real economy.

Moreover, China's focus on building a high-end manufacturing industry is also a crucial step in countering the US' relentless campaign to contain China's development, according to Li Youhuan.