With enterprise and fortitude

China is now one of the engines for global economic development, but also a powerhouse in political and military meaning without the consequences for the world and for the irreversibility of globalization.

China's international policy is oriented not toward world expansion, but is run from a pragmatic viewpoint — how Chinese policies may contribute to sustaining an external environment conductive to the social and economic development of China.

That is also the driving force or founding cause of the Belt and Road Initiative, which is making such an impression all over the world. The Belt and Road Initiative is one of the trademarks of the past 10 years. There are some people who are concerned or even afraid of this initiative. I am not. I put trust and hope in this initiative.

I expect that China's leaders will correctly address the domestic and international challenges and will find answers to address the domestic problems in a way that is compatible with the external position of China.

I think that it will be a positive achievement, if after the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, China's diplomats, intellectuals, media and politicians are able to convince the people in the rest of the world about the true Chinese agenda, aims, targets, and to convince the people that China is indeed working not only on behalf of the Chinese people but with accountability and responsibility, or co-responsibility, for the people everywhere. That requires more deeds, less words.

China will be able to avoid the so-called hard landing. China's economy will be soon bigger than the US economy even on the current exchange rate basis, not on purchasing power parity. China's society is aging, which will be a growing challenge for China, as is already seen in Japan or in each of the 27 countries of the European Union.

And I hope that China will not get involved in any external conflict, that China's international significance and influence will be only felt in a peaceful and economic manner all over the world. China will remain a promoter of sustainable global development, not a threat. These are my hopes and expectations for the future.

China has made a tremendous achievement in eliminating extreme poverty in the country, and it's probably the only country in the world to have done this, and to have done it 10 years ahead of the deadline agreed some time ago. I believe that the Communist Party of China is now beginning to look at the question of relative poverty, which exists in income inequality.

That will be a more difficult task, but the CPC has the record of being able to find very creative answers to difficult problems.

I believe the government has a lot of tools at its disposal to form a tax system that can help improve the general welfare of the people, create equal opportunities so that people's financial position will not become a barrier to them, and enable people to make bigger contributions to development because of their ability.

China has achieved very high economic growth rates and it's still on the ascent. I have every faith in the CPC as it has shown tremendous creativity in every stage of the struggle in China.

The structure that the CPC has created takes into account the nation's history and culture, and it has fashioned institutions that take all of those things into consideration and allow China's whole-process democracy to flourish. China upholds the concept of building a community with a shared future for mankind as the core of its diplomacy.

China generally adopts a win-win approach in its foreign policy and I think it's a model that really should not remain only for China. I think our world would be a far better place if this model becomes more universal.

I don't believe that international interests conflict with the national interests, and I believe that anything good that we can do to improve the international situation will benefit national interests as well. So I think the model of diplomacy adopted by China has given tremendous benefits particularly to us in the Third World, but also to the world as a whole. And I think it could be a model that other countries can follow.