Interview: U.S. writer, expert speaks highly of China's achievements

China has become more active and creative and assumed more responsibilities in global issues, said American author and China expert Robert Kuhn.

There is an inflection point occurring in China's diplomacy, as the country changes from reactive to proactive in its international relations, Kuhn said.

From climate change to international peacekeeping and to the "Belt and Road" initiative, China has been creative and has assumed more responsibilities in global issues, the 71-year-old expert told Xinhua in an interview.

Kuhn said that the "Belt and Road" initiative is a historic project to bring shared prosperity to the world in need of "common destiny," as instability in the world hurts all peoples and is fueled by low economic and social development.

"President Xi Jinping is changing China from a sometime reluctant follower to an often creative leader," he said. "China has re-emerged as a great power and there is no turning back."

After interviewing more than a dozen Communist Party of China (CPC) thought leaders and officials recently, Kuhn said he came away with a deeper, richer appreciation for the Party's sense of responsibility, sophistication of thinking, and commitment to competence.

On the foreigners who worried about China's emergence and the misunderstanding of the ruling CPC, Kuhn suggested that it is the CPC's responsibility to reach out to the world and communicate with global audiences.

"The best response to foreign misunderstanding is to engage in the global marketplace of ideas," he said.

"Although I marvel at China's astounding economic success, I still say that economic success is the contemporary CPC's second most important accomplishment," said Kuhn, who has visited China several times.

"The first is opening up Chinese people's spirits -- 'the emancipation of the mind,' enabling increasingly greater freedoms in personal and social lives," he said.

Moreover, China's entire vast population is finally free from widespread famine, pestilence, homelessness, illiteracy, and many of the social scourges of other eras, Kuhn said.

"Furthermore, the Chinese government has developed innovative ways to involve citizens in the process of governance, such as using the Internet to solicit feedback, attending to social media, and employing public polling to assess views, opinions and attitudes," he added.

He believed that for the CPC to retain its ruling status, it has a higher obligation to enhance standards of living and personal well-being, which includes increasing transparency in governance, public oversight of government, and rule of law, among others.

"President Xi states that the CPC, as the ruling party, should be governed by rules and procedures that are standardized and reasonably open to public scrutiny," he said.

"The CPC claims a historic mission," Kuhn concluded. "In a thousand years, when the long annals of political systems are compiled, China today may well be a case study of what happens when a country with a one-party political system seeks to construct a prosperous, democratic society." Endi