By He Yin, People’s Daily
Chinese President Xi Jinping reviewed the remarkable achievements China had made in 2023 and expressed the firm confidence of the Chinese people in forging ahead with resolve and tenacity in his 2024 New Year message, conveying a sincere desire of China to create a better future together with the rest of the world.
“We Chinese are keenly aware of what peace means. We will work closely with the international community for the common good of humanity, build a community with a shared future for mankind, and make the world a better place for all,” Xi said in the message.
The past year was the first year for fully implementing the guiding principles from the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. With an aim to advance the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts through a Chinese path to modernization, China has marched forward with solid and robust steps, in high spirits and with great confidence.
China achieved a smooth transition in its COVID-19 response efforts. The Chinese economy has sustained the momentum of recovery. Steady progress has been made in pursuing high-quality development.
Thanks to years of dedicated efforts, China’s innovation-driven development is full of energy. The Chengdu FISU World University Games and the Hangzhou Asian Games presented spectacular sports scenes, envisioning an inclusive and confident China for the rest of the world.
All these exhilarating activities have made the lives of the Chinese people richer and more colorful, and they mark the return of bustling life across the country. They embody people’s pursuit of a beautiful life, and present a vibrant and flourishing China to the world.
China’s long history and profound civilization have developed and flourished while being inherited, shining with brilliant glory and becoming the source from which Chinese people’s confidence and strength are derived.
The world has entered a new period of turbulence and transformation. At the critical juncture of history, China firmly upholds world peace and promotes common development, bringing valuable certainty and stability to the world filled with change and instability.
Last year, China held the China-Central Asia Summit and the Third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, and hosted leaders from across the world at many diplomatic events held in China. Xi also made four visits to foreign countries, attended international conferences, and met many friends, both old and new. He shared China’s vision and enhanced common understandings with them, conveying China’s confidence in jointly facing challenges and overcoming difficulties with all parties.
While pursuing its development, China has also embraced the world and fulfilled its responsibility as a major country. No matter how the global landscape may evolve, peace and development remain the underlying trend, and only cooperation for mutual benefit can deliver.
For any country or nation to thrive, it must follow the logic of history and develop in line with the trend of the times. What people in various countries long for is definitely not a new Cold War or a small exclusive bloc; what they want is an open, inclusive, clean and beautiful world that enjoys enduring peace, universal security and common prosperity. Such is the logic of historical advance and the trend of the times.
The overall direction of human development and progress will not change, the overall dynamics of world history moving forward amid twists and turns will not change, and the overall trend toward a shared future for the international community will not change. Building a community with a shared future for mankind is the right direction for human society leading to common development, lasting peace and security, and mutual learning between civilizations.
In the face of risks and challenges, China will always work with other countries to uphold the correct views of the world, of history and of the world’s overall interests, and act to translate the vision of a community with a shared future for mankind into reality.
Next year will mark the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. Steadfastly advancing Chinese modernization, China will remain clear-eyed and undisturbed in a volatile world, and stand firmly on the right side of history and on the side of human progress.
Dedicated to peace, development, cooperation, and mutual benefit, China will promote the common values of all humanity, implement the Global Development Initiative, Global Security Initiative, and Global Civilization Initiative, and build an open, inclusive, clean and beautiful world that enjoys lasting peace, universal security, and common prosperity.
