KUALA LUMPUR, June 23 (Xinhua) -- China's solid governance model has been a key factor in the country's ability to respond effectively to the COVID-19 pandemic and allowed rapid recovery, panelists at a virtual conference said Wednesday.
The "Governance of China: Perspectives from Southeast Asia" conference, organized by the Institute of China Studies at the University of Malaya, gathered government officials, scholars, and other participants from China and Southeast Asian countries to discuss topics related to China's political systems, economic development, social issues, anti-COVID-19 measures, poverty alleviation, technology, among others.
In his opening remarks, the Chinese ambassador to Malaysia Ouyang Yujing said devastating pandemic, economic recession, and governance difficulties are clear challenges facing all countries around the world. Under such circumstances, there has been a growing passion and interest among the international community to learn more about China's effective governance.
"In my opinion, the secret of China's effective governance is not enigmatic, instead it lies in China's political system, that is, the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics," he said.
China's political system follows the development path that is suited to its own conditions, with people-oriented being its fundamental philosophy and its outstanding advantage of the practice of pooling all necessary resources together to accomplish great tasks, he said.
"China stands ready to enhance communication and cooperation with all countries including Malaysia, share governance experience, promote civilized exchanges and dialogues, and work together with peoples from all over the world to build a community with a shared future for mankind, which will be a better world for all," he added.
Speakers from Malaysia and several other Southeast Asian countries pick apart the factors that allowed China to quickly mobilize its resources at all levels to respond to the unprecedented health crisis of COVID-19, concluding that the country's governance style had proven successful.
Ngeow Chow Bing, director of the Institute of China Studies at University of Malaya, said China's development has been one of the most significant events of the 21st century and reshaped the world for today and for the future. China has become the second-largest economy in the world and has achieved the goals of eliminating absolute poverty and building a moderately prosperous society.
China has made great achievements in COVID-19 pandemic prevention and control, and became the only major economy to achieve positive growth in 2020, he said.
China has also achieved rapid development in technologies, which are more advanced, reliable, and accessible, said Ngeow, adding that the achievement and experience of Chinese governance could serve as an important reference for developing countries, including Malaysia.
Wong Tze Ken, dean of Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Malaya, said China has made a miracle in the past 40 years by making significant progress in all aspects including economy, society, technology and education. The ability to realize development blueprints and achieve national development is a testimony of the advantages of Chinese governance.
The strength of Chinese governance capacity was again proven by its achievements of containing the COVID-19 outbreak, said Wong.
As a country of a 1.4-billion population, China not only brought the COVID-19 outbreak under control domestically but also demonstrated its responsibility to the international community by extending helping hands to neighboring countries and international partners, said Wong, pointing to the recent announcement by the Chinese government to donate COVID-19 vaccines to Malaysia and in promoting cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative. Enditem
