Forum acknowledges Party's significance

With the theme "the Communist Party of China, China and the world", the ninth World Forum on China Studies opened in Shanghai on Monday, bringing views from nearly 200 experts about the CPC and its political, economic, social and cultural significance.

"The great success that Chinese people achieved under the leadership of the Party in the past 100 years has drawn more interest and attention from the world," Jiang Jianguo, deputy head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, said in the keynote speech.

"Sticking to the principle of seeking truth from facts, the study of China and the Party can offer wisdom and inspiration for the world."

The two-day forum consists of a plenary session and five parallel panels on topics such as China's path to modernization and global governance.

Boris Tadic, former president of Serbia, made a video speech to the forum, pointing out the importance of understanding the modernization of China through a new paradigm different from traditional Western thinking.

"China today is actually delivering the original and innovative overcoming of the mistakes and consequences of the Western type of modernization," he said. "China is changing the very nature of modernization, creating its own original way for thriving in the contemporary world. The way has been creating, not competing."

Wang Linggui, vice-president of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that since China has been more integrated into the world, Chinese concepts and practices are being accepted by the international community.

"The concept of building a community with a shared future for mankind was one good example that Chinese wisdom can help address the global problems in public health and climate change," he said.

Du Zhanyuan, president of China International Publishing Group, said global surveys on China's national image conducted by the group in recent years showed 80 percent of the interviewees have good impressions of Chinese cuisine and traditional Chinese medicine, and half plan to visit China.

"Confucius has said, 'Three men walk together, and one must be good enough to be my mentor.' We should strengthen exchanges and communications to expel the mist of bias and misunderstandings," Du said.

Zhang Weiwei, dean of the China Institute at Fudan University, said the CPC is a holistic-interest political party governing China through a people-centered approach.

"The tradition of a unified ruling entity in China can be traced back thousands of years," he said.

"Listening to the hearts and minds of its people was crucial for China's governance, which helped it avoid the trap of a 'vote-centered' development in the United States. The China model has been able to benefit the majority of its people."

Bert Hofman, director of the East Asian Institute at the National University of Singapore, echoed Zhang and said the Chinese government started to pay attention to the equality of wealth redistribution very early.

"It's concerned for creating common prosperity, that is sharing the pie and also growing the pie," he said.