China’s Prosperity Dream Comes into Focus

By JUSUF WANANDI

China was the center of human civilization for hundreds of years. During its long history, it became used to implementing defensive strategies externally while developing the country internally.

Historical records show that China was a powerful country in Asia until Western colonialists infiltrated the market during the destructive Opium Wars. Thereafter, Chinese territories were either encroached on or temporarily occupied by colonialists. Feeling under threat, Chinese people started to resist colonization and put up a long-lasting fight for their country. In 1949, the People’s Republic of China, led by Mao Zedong, was established. From the beginning, the new China targeted recovering the territories and sovereignties occupied by the West as its main mission. It repeatedly met various difficulties and challenges until 1978 when the policies of reform and opening-up were implemented. The striking improvement in the Chinese economy that these reforms triggered brought into focus the dream of a prosperous and strong China, a dream that has gradually become a reality in the nation’s 35-year-long journey.

Under the leadership of Xi Jinping, Chinese people are anticipating full realization of the Chinese Dream one day. The Chinese Dream has clear goals, and reforms formulated during the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee have specified the path China’s ambition is taking.

Aware of its challenges, China understands the reactions to the reforms from within its borders and the responses from outside. China now has to persuade the global community that they need the rise of China. Therefore, China must commit itself to its people and the world, but especially to its neighbors, by establishing a network in which all members share common interests. To sustain the network, ASEAN countries and China must work together. The participation of ASEAN and other partners in China’s development is also necessary for the growth and stability of the entire network. That’s the gift China’s neighbors have given towards the progress of the Chinese dream; and our world can also benefit from its realization.

JUSUF WANANDI is vice chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Foundation, Indonesia.