Five: The Figure to Decode China’s Future

Pulling Global Strength

China’s five-facet development concept has global relevance.

Innovation is of particular importance at a time when we are still reeling from the 2008 financial crisis and languishing under the lack of new drives in the world economy. Coordination is the solution to the disarray in the international economy and polity that has crimped the global governance system and leaves countries to fend for themselves. Green development has become a global consensus after mankind’s subsistence is threatened by climate change, a deteriorating natural environment, depletion of key resources and kinks in their circulation and distribution, which are the byproducts of industrialization in major economies worldwide that has led to a phenomenal increase in productivity. Opening-up is more relevant than ever when globalization falters, and multilateral financial agreements are stranded amid the surge of nationalism in certain world powers; and shared growth is a key to changing the current situation where some people can indulge in the best quality of life ever seen in human history, while others still struggle in poverty, illness, fear and ignorance.

It is in this circumstance that Chinese President Xi Jinping quoted Charles Dickens in his speech at the World Economic Forum in January 2017:“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” He later gave his advices on current pressing issues afflicting the world: building a dynamic innovation-driven growth model, pursuing a well-coordinated and inter-connected approach to develop a model of open and win-win cooperation, developing a model of fair and equitable governance in keeping with the trend of the times, and developing a balanced, equitable and inclusive development model. It is plain to see this vision meshes with the five-facet development concept in essence; but China knows too well that every country is in a different situation. It therefore opposes the practice of blindly copycatting the experience of others or imposing one’s ideas on other countries or political parties. So it didn’t bother to formulate an international version of the five-facet development concept that is modeled on its domestic policies item by item.

China and the rest of the world are similar in some ways, and at variance in others. It is just like all people are the same in the way they all have two hands with five fingers on each; but their hands are of subtly different shapes and their fingers of different lengths. When well coordinated, the five fingers can perform a myriad of functions – clutching to form a fist or stretching to play the piano. With the same flexibility and adaptability, the five-facet development concept serves social and economic development in China and beyond. Since the appearance of mankind on this planet, every man and woman has been toiling with their hands. The fruits of their work add up to the creation of human civilization. This course of history foretells the course of the future: the five-facet concept will guide China towards greater development and more interaction with the rest of the world. What’s more, it will help promote the consensus of a community of a shared future for humankind and nurture tangible results in this regard.