Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, proposed the Global Civilization Initiative and called on world political parties to closely integrate their own development with their national modernization drives, so as to continuously steer the course and marshal strength for modernization.

Xi, also the Chinese president, made the remarks while delivering a keynote speech on Wednesday at the opening ceremony of CPC in Dialogue with World Political Parties High-Level Meeting via video link.

The event, with the theme “Path towards Modernization: the Responsibility of Political Parties,” brought together more than 500 leaders of political parties and political organizations from more than 150 countries.

Global Civilization Initiative 

Under the initiative, Xi called for respect for diversity of civilizations, advocating the common values of humanity, highly valuing the inheritance and innovation of civilizations, and jointly advocating robust international people-to-people exchanges and cooperation.

In terms of the diversity of civilization, Xi stressed countries need to uphold the principles of equality, mutual learning, dialogue and inclusiveness among civilizations, and let cultural exchanges transcend estrangement, mutual learning transcend clashes, and coexistence transcend feelings of superiority.

Stressing the importance of common values of humanity, Xi said peace, development, equity, justice, democracy and freedom are the common aspirations of all peoples. “Countries need to keep an open mind in appreciating the perceptions of values by different civilizations and refrain from imposing their own values or models on others and from stoking ideological confrontation.”

He said that the inheritance and innovation of civilizations should be highly valued and countries need to fully harness the relevance of their histories and cultures to the present times, and push for the creative transformation and innovative development of their fine traditional cultures.

The Chinese president also called for jointly advocating robust international people-to-people exchanges and cooperation, saying countries need to explore the building of a global network for inter-civilization dialogue and cooperation, enrich the content of exchanges and expand avenues of cooperation to promote mutual understanding and friendship among people of all countries, and jointly advance the progress of human civilizations.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, also president of the African National Congress, and 11 other leaders of political parties and political organizations also addressed the dialogue. They spoke highly of Xi’s proposals in the keynote speech, and expressed their willingness to work with the CPC to play a leading and driving role in the modernization process.

“We fully agree with the four proposals put forward by Chinese President Xi in the Global Civilization Initiative,” Ramaphosa said, saying the initiative is vital to the world today.

Responsibility of political parties 

Xi pointed out in his keynote speech that in today’s world, multiple challenges and crises are intertwined, and humanity’s modernization process has once again reached a crossroads in history.

Political parties, as an important force steering and driving the modernization process, are duty bound to answer such questions as “what kind of modernization do we need and how can we achieve it,” he said.

The Chinese president called on political parties to put the people first and ensure modernization is people-centered.

He also called for upholding the principle of independence and exploring diversified paths toward modernization.

“For any country to achieve modernization, it needs to not only follow the general laws governing the process, but more importantly, to consider its own national conditions and unique features,” Xi said.

“Modernization does not fall into our laps automatically, it is the result of hard work with strong historical initiative,” Xi said, stressing that political parties should closely integrate their own development with their national modernization drives, so as to continuously steer the course and marshal strength for modernization.

Chinese modernization

Xi also hails the Chinese path to modernization, saying it’s a sure path for China to build a stronger nation and realize the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Chinese modernization is rooted in China’s national conditions and draws on the experience of other countries. It carries the imprint of history and traditional culture and also contains modern elements, Xi said.

He added that modernization is not “an exclusive patent” of a small handful of countries, nor is it a single-answer question. It cannot be realized by a cookie cutter approach or simple “copy and paste.” For any country to achieve modernization, it needs not only to follow the general laws governing the process but more importantly consider its own national conditions and unique features, Xi said.

He stressed that Chinese modernization is also a path the country must take to seek progress for humanity and harmony for the entire world. It not only delivers benefits to the Chinese people but also boosts the common development of the entire world.

China’s path toward modernization is on the right course of peaceful development, Xi noted. He added that in pursuing Chinese modernization, China will neither tread the old path of colonization and plunder, nor the crooked path taken by some countries to seek hegemony once they grow strong.

The CPC will continue to safeguard international fairness and justice and promote world peace and stability, Xi said.

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