FROM EIR DAILY ALERT
China’s Leadership Exudes Thoughtful Optimism for the Future
Feb. 27, 2018 (EIRNS)—On the eve of the March 5 opening of the 13th National People’s Congress in China, Chinese media are painting a picture of thoughtful optimism coming from the country’s top leadership. This stands in stark contrast to most Western media which, like Britain’s Guardian, have been reduced to gnashing their teeth over “Dictator Xi Jinping’s” supposed power grab, as reflected in the decision to end term limits. “An increasingly powerful, forceful man is telling the world that he plans to run his increasingly powerful, forceful country for the foreseeable future,” the Guardian editorialized on Feb. 26.
Xinhua painted a very different picture:
“Su Quanke, a national political advisor, said he is confident about realizing the goal [of a moderately prosperous society by 2020], considering the remarkable progress made so far.”
And who is this Mr. Su, cited by Xinhua?
“Su is the chief engineer of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge (HZMB), the world’s longest sea bridge. The 55-km-long bridge took six years of preparation and eight years to build. Su said that 10 years ago, China had only one 2,000-ton floating crane for building the Hangzhou Bay sea bridge. The number of large floating cranes was five for the HZMB project, including one of 12,000 tons. All the five cranes were domestically built. He said the achievement has shown the advantages of socialism, which pools national resources to solve major problems. ‘We have achieved a lot in technological innovation, which will further drive the economy in the future,’ he said.”
(See “The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge—For China and the World,” EIR, Feb. 16, 2018, for more discussion of the cultural implications of the bridge.)
A second expert cited by Xinhua was Ye Hailin, an international relations researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, who said that
“building a great modern socialist country is not just a goal, but a process which will bring opportunities to the rest of the world. China’s economic development contributes more than 30% of global economic growth, which will generate a spillover effect. Through international cooperation mechanisms such as the Belt and Road Initiative, China will share its economic benefits with other countries and regions. ‘A successful China will set an example for a large number of developing countries and help upgrade the industrial chains of its neighbors,’ Ye said.”
