Beijing Review: What is your view of China’s road to a "peaceful rise?"

Li Junru: First of all, I would like to say that China’s road to a peaceful rise is a specific concept. It refers to the development course of China from the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in 1978 to the mid-21st century, when China is expected basically to realize modernization. It is the path of development China is taking in this period.

In brief, China is seeking to develop in a peaceful environment, and at the same time to promote world peace.

The nature of the concept is that under the theme of peace and development, China has found an independent path to build socialism with Chinese characteristics through involvement in, not isolation from, economic globalization.

Late leader Deng Xiaoping once said that the socialism China is building aims at developing productive forces and promoting peace.

All in all, I would like to say that the development path of Shenzhen (one of China’s first regions carrying out economic reform and opening) is an example of the peaceful rise of China. The concept of peaceful rise is a summary of China’s development over the past 25 years and a further development of the theory of building socialism with Chinese characteristics.

BR: What are the features of this peaceful rise?

LJ: In my view, it will be manifested the following ways:

First, we should continue putting economic construction at the center of our work and making development the priority of the peaceful rise. That is to say, China will not see political confrontation as its target, nor develop its economy through expansion or isolationism.

Second, China will participate in economic globalization and compete with others in the world market to realize a win-win result. Amid the acceleration of economic globalization in the 1970s, China decided to carry out the reform and opening policies and integrate itself into the process. In the 1990s when anti-globalization was on the rise, China still insisted on its opening policies and continued participating in globalization.

Third, China will persist in independent development when participating in economic globalization. That means China’s development will be based on its own strength. In dealing with problems arising from development, China should depend mainly on its own institutional innovation, structural adjustment, expansion of domestic demand and utilization of private capital at home. For example, China should depend on its own technological innovation to reduce energy consumption, or to develop new energy sources. In short, China will take advantage of world resources, but will not bring trouble to the world.

Fourth, China will deepen reform and seek coordinated development in all areas. Under the planned economy it was impossible for China to participate in globalization. So China must reform further and build a socialist market economy. But it will face new problems, such as the expanding gap between cities and rural areas and between different regions, deterioration of the environment, and contradictions between nature and humankind and between development of the national economy and opening. All these problems should be handled well during the course of development.

Fifth, in the international arena, China should play its due role as a big country, but it has no intention to seek domination in dealing with international affairs. History has proved that domination will inevitably lead to world disorder, so the Chinese leaders have pledged to the world that China will never seek hegemony, even after it basically realizes modernization.

BR: What does China’s rise mean to its neighbors and the region at large?

LJ: China’s rise will not damage the interests of other Asian countries. That is because as China rises, it provides a huge market for its neighbors. At the same time, the achievements of China’s development will allow it to support the progress of others in the region.

Here I should point out that when you provide opportunities to others, at the same time you win opportunities to yourself.

In the future, China and other countries in the region will form various interest groups. These groups, based on common interests, will differ from some international organizations like NATO, which has a leader and sphere of influence. I believe we can develop these groups using our own Eastern wisdom, so they are relevant to this part of the world.

BR: What will be the significance to the world order of China’s peaceful rise?

LJ: In recent history, the rise of big countries has generally been realized in two ways. One is war or military expansion. The other is extreme confrontation or Cold War.

But China is trying to find another way to rise: that is, to participate in economic globalization and compete with others in the world market in a mutually beneficial way. That is the meaning of peace as we refer to it here.

China firmly defends the authority of the United Nations and insists on the reform of the current international economic and political orders. In this sense, China aims to be a constructor and a reformer, not a destroyer.

(Beijing Review April 22, 2004)