On 28 October, an article by Ambassador Cao Zhongming was published by EU Reporter:

On October 22, the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) was successfully concluded. This Congress, drawing extensive attention, is of major significance for both China and the wider world. To learn about China, one must learn about this Congress. It has laid out strategic planning for building China into a modern socialist country in all respects and drawn up a grand blueprint for China’s development in the future. Embarking on a new journey toward building a modern socialist country in all respects, China will advance the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts through a Chinese path to modernization, and will work with all countries to contribute to world peace, common development, and building a human community with a shared future.

On the new journey, China will stay committed to an independent foreign policy of peace. China has always decided its position and policy on issues based on its own merits and has striven to uphold the basic norms governing international relations and safeguard international fairness and justice. China has always kept in mind the peace and development of humanity. President Xi Jinping has put forward the Global Development Initiative and Global Security Initiative, contributing to China’s vision and proposal to refocus international attention on development and reduce the peace deficit faced by humankind. We will work with other countries to implement these initiatives. Actively promoting the political settlement of hotspot issues, China believes that it is important to take a constructive part in resolving those issues under the precondition of non-interference in domestic affairs, on the basis of the will and need of countries concerned and with peace talks as the main channel. As the top contributor of peacekeepers among the permanent members of the UN Security Council and the second largest funding contributor to both the UN and UN peacekeeping operations, China has actively participated in international arms control, disarmament, and nonproliferation processes.

On the new journey, China will stay committed to its fundamental national policy of opening to the outside world and to the right course of economic globalization. We will accelerate efforts to foster a new pattern of development that is focused on the domestic economy and features a positive interplay between domestic and international economic flows. Some people outside China may wonder, does focusing on the domestic economy mean China will step back in opening up? In fact, focusing on the domestic economy does not mean purely relying on oneself. The new development pattern is an open one featuring both domestic and international economic flows, not a closed one only about the domestic economy. Just as China cannot develop in isolation from the world, the world needs China for its development. China will open its door ever wider and strive to create new opportunities for the world with its own development so as to deliver greater benefits to all people. China will continue to stand firmly on the right side of history, not be set back by headwinds or undertow, promote the building of an open world economy, uphold trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, and advance bilateral, regional, and multilateral cooperation. China opposes protectionism, opposes the acts of erecting walls and obstacles, decoupling and supply chain disruption, and opposes unilateral sanction and maximum pressure.

On the new journey, China will hold dear humanity’s shared values of peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy, freedom, and respect for the cultural diversity of the world. These shared values have their roots in the profound traditional Chinese culture, are founded on commonalities of values that transcend differences, highlight the shared aspiration of people of all countries for a better life, and provide the right guiding philosophy for jointly building a better world. By championing humanity’s shared values, we will promote the harmonious coexistence of different civilizations, and realize mutual benefits through cooperation. On top of that, it is important to firmly reject imposing one’s own values and ideas on others in disregard of countries’ different histories, cultures, systems, and development stages. Civilizations shine because of exchanges. Different cultures can prosper together only when diversity is respected. 

China and Belgium are all-around partners of friendly cooperation. Both as staunch supporters of multilateralism and an open world economy, the two countries have kept expanding common understanding and cooperation on promoting green development and circular economy, tackling climate change, and protecting biodiversity. Notable progress has been made in trade and investment cooperation between China and Belgium. In the first eight months of this year, bilateral trade exceeded 28.7 billion US dollars, increasing by 14 percent despite the challenges. This is mutually beneficial for the two countries to promote growth and improve people’s well-being and has made an important contribution to stable global industrial and supply chains and the post-COVID recovery of the world economy. China-Belgium people-to-people exchanges have enjoyed sustained development, and cultural, scientific, and educational exchanges and cooperation have benefited the people of both countries. I am convinced that the 20th CPC National Congress and its resolutions will inject fresh impetus into China-Belgium relations and bring new opportunities to Belgium’s development. China is ready to work with Belgium to expand common interests, pursue the cooperation of higher quality and at a higher level, and add more certainty to an uncertain world.