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Hi, I am Stephanie Li. Thank you for joining this episode of CBN special.

The 2024 Understanding China Conference successfully concluded in Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong province on Wednesday.

The three-day event was themed “Carry Through the Reform to the End – Chinese Modernization and New Opportunities for World Development.”

The conference drew around 600 attendees from across the globe, including more than 100 foreign representatives, with delegates from Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions also in attendance.

This marked a record number of foreign participants, far surpassing previous years.

Since its inception in 2013, the Understanding China Conference has become a critical platform for fostering international awareness ofChina'sdevelopment strategies. The 2024 edition focuses on the nation's ongoing reforms and their role in shaping global modernization.

China'smodernization is deeply rooted in its cultural heritage. The country has achieved remarkable progress in poverty alleviation, lifting millions out of poverty, while placing a strong emphasis on environmental protection and green economic growth. At the same time,Chinais fostering emerging industries and upgrading traditional sectors to drive high-quality development.

Chinalooks forward to working with other countries to create a favorable environment for development, address various difficulties and challenges, and promote a model of global modernization characterized by peaceful development, mutually beneficial cooperation, and common prosperity.

Today’s episode of CBN special, we bring in Sharon Hu, our correspondents in Guangzhou who has just covered the conference earlier this week.

Stephanie: Hi, Sharon. Thanks for joining us. First, I’d like to talk to you about the opening ceremony. A video of the 93 year-old scholar Zheng Bijian delivered an impactful speech from his wheelchair went viral on social media. Since you were in the audience, could you tell me more and how did that moment touch you?

Sharon: Sure. I was honored to be there as a member of the media. On Tuesday morning, the 93 year-old Zheng Bijian told an audience of over 600 politicians, officials and scholars from home and abroad thatChina’s reform is only in progress, not completed.

Instead of sitting in a wheelchair to deliver his speech, the founding Chairman of the China Institute for Innovation and Development Strategy stood up from his wheelchair and bowed to the audience. Zheng won a standing ovation, among the many more times as he delivered a 30-minute speech in a standing position.

This is one of the heart-warming scenes I was able to witness at the 2024 Understanding China Conference.

This year is the eighth edition of "Understanding China", which is also the eighth time Zheng attended the conference, and he interpreted the great cause of understanding China with practical actions.

During his speech, Zheng said the theme of “Carrying out the Reform to the end” not only deeply reflects our strong determination to comprehensively promote China's building of a strong country and national rejuvenation through “Chinese-style modernization,” but also more prominently reflects our lofty mission to participate in the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.

Stephanie: This year's conference saw a significant increase in international participation, with 100 representatives from overseas,Hong KongandMacao, including nine former heads of state, 16 ministerial-level officials, two ambassadors toChina, and other leaders from diverse fields. This reflects the conference's growing global influence and the increasing desire for international dialogue and consensus-building. Sharon, you’ve talked to some of the foreign guests at the event. How do they understand this year’s theme and Chinese modernization?

Sharon: Participants found the conference theme inspiring, as it reaffirmed China's commitment to advancing reform and opening up.

For instance, Wolfgang Schüssel, Chancellor of Austria between 2000 and 2007, believes understanding needs mutual respects of each other’s interests. He calls on supporting multilateralism in solving global challenges.

(Schüssel: I think understanding requires first listening to each other, listening to the problems, to the divisions, to the opportunities, to the challenges of a country or a union like Europe or a country like China.

I think this conference is very interesting because we see a lot of parallel interests. We are interested in keeping the globalization in a different way, the more inclusive way, in a way benefiting not to the few privileged, but really to most of the people, all of the people, to give them the opportunity to live in a world which fits to their desires and their purposes.

Second, we are interested in supporting the multilateral approach, the international order, the international organizations, United Nations, World Trade Organization, World Health Organization. I think there is a need to stand up against protectionism, against undermining the effectiveness of the United Nations and the international organizations. Because we cannot deal with some problems alone. Climate change, for instance, cannot be solved by China alone or by Europe or by Russia or Africa. We have to do it together and no one can step outside the club to solve these problems.

Studying the Chinese model means also learning from mistakes and failures. First, China’s success has something to do with good leadership. Second it has something to do with opening. And it has something to do with the role of women, which some developing countries always forget. If you negate 50 percent of talent, then you’ll end up with where you are. Then of course the rule of law. Corruption is a big problem, and equality is important.

So I think there are a lot of elements in China’s success story. To study it carefully and to draw the right consequences, this is the only success. )

Sharon: Today’s China is pushing forward a new round of comprehensive deepening reform on the road of Chinese-style modernization.

“Chinese modernization is really a remarkable growth story, and many people who have looked at Chinese development would say it is a breathtaking development in the short space of time,” Chan Heng Chee, the Ambassador-at-Large at theMinistry of Foreign Affairsof Singapore, said at the sideline of the conference.

(Chan: Chinese modernization started a long time ago. I think it is the story of China's development. And most of us look at it from like 1949 onwards. It’s more than seven decades. And it's really how the Chinese people, the Chinese leadership, have brought a country out of poverty into development.

China today is the second largest economy in the world. If you take PPPS, it is the largest economy in the world. And China is considered to be a rising power, a recent power, and the United States considers China a peer power.

So it is really a remarkable growth story, a development story. And many people who have looked at Chinese development would say it is a breathtaking development in the short space of time.

And those of us who study development say development is never ended. You can always develop faster. In development the goal post changes. Every time you think you’ve moved ahead, the goal post goes further. For every country in the world, development is a continuing exercise. I believe the Chinese leadership is quite frank when telling the world they are developing and they still have to handle some of the less-developed inner regions of China.)

Stephanie: So as Chinais steadily advancing Chinese-style modernization through high-quality development, it not only fulfills the aspirations of 1.4 billion people for a better life butalso contributes to global peace and development. As former Ethiopian PresidentMulatu Teshomesaid, Chinese-style modernization is not just internal development forChina; it offers new opportunities for global development.

Sharon: Also, since the Understanding China Conference permanently settled in Guangzhou in 2019, the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, where Guangzhou is located in and served as the core engine, has become one of the hot topics during the conference.

For example, at the end of my interview, Chan used Cantonese to chat with me. She explained that she had been able to speak Cantonese since she was a child because her grandparents were of Cantonese origin. Chan was impressed by the development of the Greater Bay Area and said that everyone is now closely watching what new developments will take place here in the future.

Stephanie: Yes, the economic vitality and potential of the Greater Bay Area as a key driver of Chinese modernization are gaining worldwide attention. So Sharon, could you wrap up today’s episode by telling us your biggest takeaway from the conference?

Sharon: After attending the conference and talking with scholars and guests from around the world, I truly believe that only by understanding Chinese reform can one truly grasp China's past, modernity, and future, and only by understanding Chinese modernization can one appreciate China's grand blueprint for further reform. Understanding the significant changes in the progress of Chinese modernization provides valuable insights into the new opportunities China could offer the world.

Stephanie: Sharon, thank you again for sharing with us. And thank you all for listening. Until next time. Bye.

Executive Editor: Sonia YU

Editor: LI Yanxia

Host: Stephanie LI

Guest: Sharon HU

Writer: Stephanie LI

Sound Editor: Stephanie LI

Graphic Designer: ZHENG Wenjing, LIAO Yuanni

Produced by 21st Century Business Herald Dept. of Overseas News.

Presented by SFC