China's rapid socioeconomic development and its effort to lift all Chinese people out of extreme poverty "is a miracle," said a former UN undersecretary-general as the country celebrates its National Day.
In a recent interview with the China Central Television (CCTV), Erik Solheim, former undersecretary-general of the United Nations and executive director of the UN Environment Program, shared his insights on China's development.
"The first time I came to China was back in 1994. There were no private cars, no skyscrapers, was one metro line in entire china, line number one in Beijing. No high-speed rail and frankly nearly all Chinese wore very boring clothes and ate very, very simple food. Now the Chinese cities are the most modern in the world. I mean, there are no more modern cities in the world than Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, or Shanghai, some of the most modern cities in the world, and it's happening in one long generation. So that total transformation, leading everyone out of poverty does so many benefits to the Chinese people," said Solheim.
Today, Solheim noted, China has become a global major power and the absolute leader in green economy. Facing that, he suggests, western countries should step up to compete, rather than adopting protectionism.
"Whatever you think of China, it is a dominant leader. The only real response for the West is to step up competition and make better products, and then they would have a spirit to the top rather than the downward spirit of protectionism, which would make everything more expensive. And we will all lose jobs in that competition," said Solheim.
Besides China's economic development, Solheim has also witnessed its dedication to environmental protection and the bountiful results.
"I've been jogging three times. All the times you could see the sun. It was bright and yellow, the sky was blue and you could inhale any amount of very nice fresh air. In Zhejiang Province, which is maybe the total leader in cleaning up river pollution in China, 99 percent of the waterways are cleaned up. Wonderful, beautiful, if you have a toddler or a son or daughter, you can send that child into the water. Just drink, no problem," said Solheim.
He also called on the United States to "learn from China" to focus more on people's well-being, global sustainability, and everything that truly matters, rather than aimless military expansion.
"If the United States reduced its military spending to the Chinese level, not per capita, but the Chinese level in absolute terms, the United States will save 500 billion American dollars. That's an enormous amount which could be used to improve education or infrastructure or health or whatever in the United States of America. So my advice to the U.S. is to learn a little bit from China, focus more on the economy, focus more on the ecology, and less on the military," said Solheim.
In the future, he believes that China will be one of the major leaders in world development and peace.
"China has brought every single Chinese out of extreme poverty. So it's a miracle for China and the world, I can only congratulate its enormous importance to the rise of China. And looking forward to China in the future, providing global leadership for environment, for development and for peace," he said.
Former UN undersecretary-general hails China's development as "a miracle"
