Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Chinese president, delivers a keynote address in Beijing to the CPC and World Political Parties Summit via video link on July 6. (FENG YONGBIN / CHINA DAILY)

General secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee Xi Jinping called for international cooperation for shared development and opposing technological blockades, scientific divides and development decoupling, saying any political manipulation for the purpose of blocking other countries’ development is doomed to fail.

He also called on the world’s political parties to shoulder their historic responsibility to promote development with results shared by people of all countries and improve the fairness, efficiency and coordination of global development.

Xi, also Chinese president, made the remarks while delivering the keynote speech in Beijing at the CPC and World Political Parties Summit via video link on July 6. More than 500 leaders of political parties and organizations from 160 plus countries, as well as over 10,000 party representatives participated in the online event themed “For the People’s Well-being: The Responsibility of Political Parties”.

Development is the right of all countries, instead of being a privilege of a small minority of countries, Xi said, adding that all countries should enjoy equal opportunities and rights for development.

He said the CPC will actively promote global governance to make new contributions to mankind in dealing with common challenges.

Xi underscored the need to uphold multilateralism, saying international rules should be recognized by all countries, not formulated by a small number of individuals. International cooperation should be for the purpose of serving the whole of mankind, instead of using group politics to seek world hegemony, he added.

In his speech, Xi also called on the world’s political parties to strengthen international cooperation to cope with the global risks and challenges.

Facing a COVID-19 pandemic that is still surging globally, countries should intensify solidarity and cooperation to narrow the vaccine gap, oppose politicizing the disease and jointly advance the building of a global community of health for all, he said.

Xi underlined the need for countries to improve governance in order to raise their capacity for enhancing people’s well-being.

People of all countries have the right to choose their own development path and institutional model, he said, and there are various ways of realizing democracy. Whether a country is democratic or not should be judged by its own people, not by a small minority of individuals, he added.

Xi also called on the world’s political parties to build up consensus for upholding the common value of humanity in promoting peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy and freedom. The parties were also urged to promote international coordination and cooperation and to advance the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.

Noting that the CPC remains true to its founding aspiration and mission for people’s happiness, Xi said it has also been striving to promote peace and development.

China has worked to be a promoter of world peace, contributor of global development and champion of international order, he added.

Xi said that the country will firmly pursue the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics to develop itself and at the same time benefit the world. A country’s efforts to independently explore a path that suits its national conditions to achieve modernization should be respected, he added.

The CPC will unite and lead the Chinese people to comprehensively deepen reform and expand opening-up and make new contributions to the common development and prosperity of all countries, Xi noted.

Saying that the trend for opening-up and cooperation remains unchanged, Xi pointed out that the CPC stands ready to strengthen communication with the world’s political parties to guide economic globalization to become more open, inclusive, mutually beneficial and balanced toward greater win-win results.

China is willing to intensify high-quality cooperation with the international community on joint construction of the Belt and Road, promote global mutual connectivity and enable more countries and their people to enjoy the development results, he said.

It is encouraging to hear China’s perspective on building a society with equal development opportunities under global cooperation, foreign experts said in highlighting the urgent need for this approach after the concept was expressed at the summit.

“It has to be equal and fair,” said Mustafa Hyder Sayed, executive director at the Pakistan-China Institute. “Development should not be a privilege for a few. And all people of the world should have equal opportunities to develop, whether it is in economic growth or in the COVID-immunization drive.” The theme of Xi’s speech is “people-centered”, which is “at the core of the development of the world”, he added.

George Koo, a retired international business adviser in the United States’ Silicon Valley, said the concepts revealed in Xi’s speech stand in marked contrast with the US position, with its focus on “America First”.

“Xi proposes collaboration and global unity,” he said. “In contrast, (US leaders) insist that in order for the US to win, you must lose. ‘You’ in this context is not just China but everybody else in the world. The world can see that the policy of ‘America First’ will accomplish nothing to resolve global warming, quell COVID-19 or put cybercriminals in prison.”

The overall message emerging from the summit was powerful and timely, said Carlos Martinez, a co-founder of the London-based No Cold War campaign.

“(It) accurately represents the needs and aspirations of the masses of the world, who want a collective global effort against poverty, against climate breakdown, against discrimination, and for peace and prosperity,” he said.

Martinez said Xi’s message of “opposing hegemony, opposing imperialism, opposing war, and building a framework of international relations in which every country is free to choose its own development path” resonates strongly with the Global South.

London-based China expert Graham Perry said Xi’s speech “lays down the principles that China will apply in its dealings with the rest of the world”.

Critics of China have attempted to frighten the world into thinking that China will be the seat of new imperialism. “Xi made clear this will not happen. China is fully aware that win-win is the only way forward,” Perry said. “As China becomes the leading economic power, Xi makes it clear that China will be different from past economic powers and will always use its influence to promote development by bringing greater benefits to all peoples in a fairer manner.”

Chandran Nair, the founder of the Global Institute for Tomorrow and a member of the Club of Rome, said: “Xi in his speech did not use it as a platform to attack the US or the West. This was in sharp contrast to the G7 meeting last month during which China, Russia, and Iran were targets.”

Nair, who attended the conference, said in each location hundreds of dignitaries were assembled as their leaders made speeches congratulating China on the 100th anniversary of the founding of the CPC.

Sayed from Pakistan also noted that Xi’s speech “highlighted the fact that China will continue to undertake peaceful development, the development that has no intention of hegemony”.

“It is noteworthy that Xi also emphasized this is the most important time for global cooperation, of joining hands. And the need to set aside political differences for the larger common values of civilization, of humanity, and to bridge the immunization gap,” Sayed said.

The expert also said Xi’s speech made a very important point, in terms of civilization, that one country cannot judge whether another is democratic, and only the country’s people have the right to judge that.

“Every civilization has its own history, its own culture, its own way of doing things, and its own customs. And we cannot impose different customs or cultures on civilizations,” Sayed said.

Dennis Munene, executive director for China-Africa Center at the Africa Policy Institute, welcomed Xi’s emphasis on all countries and nations being equally entitled to development opportunities and rights to development, which sets the stage for China’s peaceful rise, in contrast to the constant propaganda of the “coming war” proliferated by Western powers.

Successfully implementing both the Forum on China Africa Cooperation and the Belt and Road Initiative, Africa’s rising narrative under the framework of Agenda 2063 will be realized in tandem with China’s plan of building a modern socialist country that is democratic, prosperous, strong, culturally advanced and harmonious by 2049, Munene said.

In Russia, Vladimir Petrovsky, chief research fellow for studies in Russian-Chinese relations at the Institute of Far Eastern Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said the CPC exchanged experiences with other political parties and discussed future cooperation at the summit. That is meaningful for the world, he said.

Ren Qi in Moscow and Liu Xuan in Beijing contributed to this story.

Contact the writers at caodesheng@chinadaily.com.cn