Interview: Chinese modernization attractive for common development, expert says

An aerial drone photo taken on Feb. 2, 2024 shows a container vessel berthing at the smart zero-carbon terminal of Tianjin Port in north China’s Tianjin. (Xinhua/Zhao Zishuo)

Khorsand noted that within the BRI framework, China has sought to expand South-South cooperation and gain access to more markets, promoting the development of the East Asian country and its partners.

TEHRAN, July 20 (Xinhua) — Chinese modernization represents “an attractive approach” to development for many countries given its win-win benefits, an expert has said.

Mehdi Khorsand, a Tehran-based analyst of China and Eurasia affairs, told Xinhua in an interview that many projects related to Chinese modernization, including the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), have contributed to growth in other countries. Within the framework, China has made hefty investments in developing states.

Khorsand, also the caretaker of Tehran Municipality’s Economic Diplomacy Department, said China’s assistance to developing countries in improving their economies also benefits China.

Chinese modernization contains elements common to the modernization processes of all countries, but it is more characterized by features unique to the Chinese context. It is the modernization of a vast population, of common prosperity for all, of material and cultural-ethical advancement, of harmony between humanity and nature and of peaceful development.

Khorsand noted that within the BRI framework, China has sought to expand South-South cooperation and gain access to more markets, promoting the development of the East Asian country and its partners.

Khorsand said Iran has reaped the benefits of China’s modernization and relations with the country, especially following the signing of the 25-year comprehensive cooperation plan with China in 2021.

A recent example is the contract signed between Tehran Municipality and Chinese firms to purchase electric buses, Khorsand said.

He added that another instance of China’s contribution to Iran was the supply of vaccines to the country during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, “which was an unforgettable help.”

Handicrafts are exhibited at the booth of Iran during the Seventh Silk Road International Exposition in Xi’an City, northwest China’s Shaanxi Province, Nov. 16, 2023. (Xinhua/Shao Rui)

The expert hoped that Iran’s new administration, under President-elect Masoud Pezeshkian, would have a clear strategy for cooperating with China.

Iran is not the only country that has enjoyed win-win outcomes from China’s modernization. Khorsand said the BRI brought economic benefits to all partner countries, adding that China helped many countries overcome the crises caused by the pandemic by providing vaccines.

Human capital is among the primary sources of development, allowing China to contribute to the economic growth of other developing countries and drive its own development, he said.

Khorsand said the BRI broke the monopoly on megaprojects by developed countries.

“Developed countries and the capitalist system seek to dominate the global economy,” he said. “For cooperation with developing countries through, for instance, giving the World Bank’s loans or extending the International Monetary Fund’s credit lines, the developed states want to impose their Western and desired structural reforms on these countries, forcing them to become liberal and acquiesce to their ideological desires to be able to monitor all pillars of their establishments.”

China has included many countries in Belt and Road cooperation, respecting their values and ideological systems, he said.

Khorsand emphasized that the entire process creates an economic cycle, enabling the participating countries to equally benefit from their unity and collective development, ultimately leading to economic prosperity.■

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