I am looking forward to China's future development

【Special Attention】

Guangming Daily reporters Ma Yuan and Wang Chuanjun

In the past few days, the convening of the two sessions of the Chinese People's Congress has become a hot topic of discussion in overseas Chinese-language media and overseas Chinese. While they are encouraged by the positive trend of China's economy, they are also full of new expectations for China's future development.

In the "Learning World" column, the "Japan Overseas Chinese Daily" network broadcast the "special topics of the two sessions" in the form of videos: "ten years, Xi Jinping's voice of the two sessions" and "ten years, Xi Jinping's two sessions moments", close experience and in-depth observation of the two sessions.

Japan's Overseas Chinese Daily commented on China's military expenditure increase in its "China Commentary". The commentary pointed out that on March 5, after China's two sessions announced that the defense budget expenditure for 2023 was about 1,553.7 billion yuan, an increase of 7.2% over the previous year, some Japanese and American media repeated the old tune of hyping up the "China threat".

The moderate increase in China's defense spending is, on the whole, appropriate and restrained. Compared with countries such as the United States, China's defense spending is still at a low level. According to public data, in recent years, China's military expenditure as a proportion of GDP has been below 1.5%, while according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute in Sweden, the United States, India, the United Kingdom and other countries have military spending to more than 2% of GDP, especially Japan also plans to increase the proportion of defense spending to more than 2% of GDP from fiscal 2027. Given the overall low share of GDP, the modest increase in China's defense spending is reasonable, and some Japanese and American media have no reason to say anything.

The moderate increase in China's defense spending is to effectively respond to various threats and challenges. In recent years, China's peripheral security situation has become increasingly complex. In the face of such risks and challenges, objectively speaking, China is required to maintain a moderate increase in military expenditure, and only by continuously enhancing its national defense strength can it better safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The commentary emphasizes that China's moderate increase in defense spending is to better maintain world peace and stability. The stronger China's defense power, the more it can provide a sense of security in an uncertain world. Facts have proved that China is not only not a threat, but also an important support for maintaining a stable regional security environment. In the more than 70 years since the founding of New China, China has never taken the initiative to provoke a war or invaded an inch of other countries' land. Since the beginning of reform and opening up, China has been committed to promoting world peace and has taken the initiative to reduce the number of military personnel by more than 4 million. China not only creates favorable conditions for its own development by safeguarding world peace, but also promotes world peace through its own development. China's future is closely linked to the future of the world, and China's military modernization will not pose a threat to any country, but will be a positive force for maintaining regional stability and world peace.

Japan's "Chinese Herald" tracked and reported on China's two sessions through the columns "Chinese News", "China News" and "News Express". The "Chinese News" column carried reports entitled "The Positive Trend of China's Economy", "The Long-term Plan of Working Together to Create Brilliant", and "Reflecting the Economic Growth Goals Undertaken by Major Powers". The report pointed out that China's economic upward trend has not changed, and the confidence of overseas Chinese and Chinese has been greatly encouraged. They are concerned about the resilience of China's sustainable economic development, and the package of economic growth policies introduced by the government is a strong guarantee for China's future development; The "China News" column carried out real-time tracking and reporting in the form of "Close-up View of the Two Sessions", "Observation of the Two Sessions", "One Picture Combing Foreign Minister Qin Gang's Press Conference"; The "News Express" column focused on the situation of He Naihe, president of the All-Japan Federation of Overseas Chinese and Chinese Organizations, attending the CPPCC National Committee as observers. During the meeting, on behalf of the All-China Federation of Japan, He Naihe submitted suggestions on overseas Chinese education and departments related to overseas Chinese.

Zhuo Wu, president of the Kenya Chinese Entrepreneur Association and chairman of the Zheng Group, told reporters that Premier Li Keqiang's government work report clearly pointed out the internal and external challenges and opportunities facing China's current development. From the perspective of the external environment, global inflation is still at a high level, the momentum of world economic and trade growth is weakening, and the United States is "pulling gangs" to comprehensively suppress and contain China in many fields such as high technology. As far as the internal environment is concerned, this year's government work report has replaced the "demand contraction" in last year's government work report with "insufficient demand is still a prominent contradiction", so he personally believes that China's demand has gradually recovered.

Zhuo Wu said that this year's government work report set the GDP target for 2023 at about 5%, reflecting a peaceful mentality of "stabilizing". There is an idiom in China called "accumulation of thick and thin", after three years of the epidemic, the economy needs a period of time to build a solid foundation, which is also for better development in the future. "I firmly believe that with the adjustment of epidemic prevention and control policies at the end of 2022, economic development in 2023 will usher in a relatively large improvement compared with the epidemic in three years." Zhuo Wu said that the government work report proposed to "promote the industry to move towards the middle and high-end", which may have relatively large opportunities for African countries, especially Kenya, in equipment technology transfer. Kenya is the most industrially developed country in East Africa, with relatively complete infrastructure such as electricity, transportation and communications, which effectively guarantees the basic education penetration rate in Kenya. With more than 70 per cent of the population under the age of 35, Kenya's tertiary enrolment rate has increased in recent years, providing a demand for a young workforce that meets certain technical requirements. In the context of China's manufacturing technology as the focus of development, there are certain conditions for the transfer of some manufacturing technology and equipment to Kenya. At the same time, Kenya's international return on investment is also at a high level, which is suitable for Chinese private capital to invest. Kenya is also one of the African countries that actively supports the Belt and Road Initiative, which will create conditions and opportunities for win-win cooperation between China and Kenya in the future.

Guo Chongfeng, vice president of the Ethiopia-China Chamber of Commerce and general manager of China-Earth Ethiopia Engineering Co., Ltd., said that this year is the first year of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and the tenth anniversary of the "Belt and Road" initiative, and how the Chinese government recovers and develops the economy is a topic of great concern at home and abroad. The government work report sets the economic development target for 2023 at about 5%, and puts forward the priorities of the government's work this year, including focusing on expanding domestic demand, accelerating the construction of a modern industrial system, attracting and utilizing foreign investment more vigorously, promoting the green transformation of development methods, ensuring basic people's livelihood and developing social undertakings. Ethiopia is a country that actively supports the "Belt and Road" initiative, the Asia-Kyrgyzstan railway is a flagship project of China-Africa cooperation and China-Ethiopia cooperation, in the past five years of operation, the Yaji railway is becoming the national economic artery of Ethiopia and Djibouti and the lifeline of the East African plateau, and China Civil Engineering is fortunate to participate in the construction and operation and maintenance of the Yaji railway. With the end of the two-year civil conflict, the Ethiopian government is working hard to promote post-war reconstruction and economic development, and China's economic improvement and Chinese-style modernization are steadily advancing, which will certainly provide major opportunities for cooperation between China and Ethiopia and Ethiopia's future economic and social development.

(Comprehensive Guangming Daily Tokyo, Addis Ababa, March 8)

Guang Ming Daily(Version 13, 09.03.2023)

Source: Guangming Network - Guangming Daily