China’s Path of Peaceful Development

China develops itself through maintaining world peace and maintains world peace through its own development. While emphasizing to achieve development by virtue of its own strength and reform and innovation, it insists on opening up to the outside world and learns from the strengths of other countries; adapts to the trend of rapid economic globalization and insists on working with other countries for mutual benefit and win-win results and common development; and works with the international community to promote the establishment of a new type of international relations with win-win cooperation as the core.

Achieving peaceful development is the sincere desire and unremitting pursuit of the Chinese people. More than 60 years after the founding of New China, especially since the Reform and Opening-up, China has successfully embarked on a peaceful development path that adapts to its national conditions and the characteristics of the times. China is the largest developing country. China’s development and revitalization requires the hard work of many generations.

This requires a stable domestic environment and a peaceful international environment. To this end, we must hold high the banner of peace, development, cooperation and win-win results, and actively strive for a peaceful and stable international environment, good-neighborly and friendly surrounding environment, equal and mutually beneficial cooperative environment, security environment of mutual trust and cooperation, and China’s unwavering commitment to peaceful development is an inevitable choice based on socialism with Chinese characteristics. The socialist system determines that China’s development cannot rely on external aggression and plundering like the rise of capitalist countries in history, but only and must choose the path of peaceful development. The path of peaceful development is hard-won.

The Communist Party of China has always held high the banner of peace and has never wavered. In long-term practices, the Chinese government has put forward and adhered to the “Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence”, established and pursued an independent and peaceful foreign policy, made a solemn commitment to the world that it will never seek hegemony and expansion, and emphasized that China will always be a firm force to safeguard world peace. After the 18th CPC National Congress, the Party clearly put forward the goal of achieving the Chinese Dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. And this relies on a peaceful international environment. Taking the path of peaceful development is the inheritance and development of the Chinese nation’s outstanding peace-loving cultural tradition, and it is also an inevitable conclusion drawn by the Chinese people from the sufferings in modern times. The Chinese nation has always advocated the concepts of “upholding peace and harmony” and “harmony in diversity”. The desire for peace and the pursuit of harmony are always the spiritual characteristics of the Chinese people.

Taking the path of peaceful development, eliminating war, and achieving peace are the most urgent and deepest aspirations of the Chinese people in modern times. The Chinese people have an unforgettable memory of the sufferings caused by war, a tireless pursuit of peace, and they cherish peaceful and stable life. Taking the path of peaceful development is also an inevitable choice to follow the trend of today's world. Throughout the history of the world, external aggression and expansion relying on force will eventually fail. Seeking peace, promoting development and seeking cooperation are the common aspirations of the peoples of the world, and also an irresistible historical trend. The in-depth development of world multi-polarization and economic globalization has brought new opportunities to world peace and development, and striving for a peaceful international environment for a longer period of time is achievable. World prosperity and stability are opportunities for China, and China's development will also bring about opportunities for the world. Whether the path of peaceful development can be successful depends largely on whether we can transform the opportunities of the world into that of China, and transform the opportunities of China into that of the world, thus forging ahead in the benign interaction and mutual benefit between China and the world. We must insist on starting from the reality of our country and stick to our own path, while establishing a world vision, better integrating domestic development with opening to the outside world, linking China's development with world development, and linking the interests of the Chinese people with common interests of the people of all countries, continuously expanding mutually beneficial cooperation with other countries, actively participating in international affairs, jointly addressing global challenges, and striving to contribute to global development.

China's path of peaceful development doesn’t mean to give up the legitimate interests of the country nor sacrifice its core interests. Only when all countries follow the path of peaceful development can all countries achieve common development and exist in peace. China's development will never be at the expense of the interests of other countries. China will never do anything that harms others but benefits oneself at the expense of neighbors, and will unswervingly act as a practitioner of peaceful development, a promoter of common development, a defender of the multilateral trading system, and a participant in global economic governance. China's unwavering commitment to peaceful development is of great significance to world peace and regional peace. Peaceful development path is a new development path. It breaks the traditional pattern where a rising power was bound to seek hegemony, and avoids the old path of capitalist development that establishes a colonial system, competes for sphere of influence, and seeks military expansion overseas. China has become stronger, and it resolutely opposes all forms of hegemonism and power politics. It will never seek hegemony or expansion. China is an important force for maintaining world peace. China's development and growth not only benefits the Chinese people, but also the people of the world. China's path of peaceful development will promote the international power to develop towards a relatively balanced direction and guide the evolution of the international pattern and the reform of the international system. A prosperous, democratic and rule-of-law, harmonious and stable China will surely make greater contributions to the world.