On September 26th, 2019, Indian mainstream media The Hindu, Business Line, Indian Express and Financial Express published special page on the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. The special page contained Chinese Ambassador Sun Weidong's National Day Message, Glorious Journey of the People's Republic of China and Seven Decades of China’s Achievements.

1. Ambassador's Message

October 1st this year marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. This is a moment of great historical significance. Over the past 70 years since the founding of new China, under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, the Chinese people have worked hard and forged ahead defying all difficulties. One miracle after another have been created. The future and destiny of the Chinese nation have been fundamentally changed. China’s economy has enjoyed sustained, sound and steady growth, the rule of law system has been improved, major achievements have been made in ethnic unity and progress, and remarkable progress has been made in promoting ecological civilization. People’s living standards have been constantly improved, gross national income per person stood close to $10,000 in 2018, and over 850 million people have been lifted out of poverty. China has blazed a path of socialism with Chinese characteristics and achieved great transformations from standing up and growing rich to becoming strong.

Over the 7 years since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the CPC Central Committee with comrade Xi Jinping at the core held high the great banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics, united and led the whole party and people of all ethnic groups across the country and pursued coordinated progress in the five-sphere integrated plan and balanced progress in the four-pronged comprehensive strategy. Historic changes have taken place in the party and various causes of the nation. Socialism with Chinese characteristics entered a new era. China is now the world’s second largest economy, largest trader in goods and largest holder of foreign exchange reserves. China has become the largest trading partner of over 130 countries and regions. China accounted for more than 30 percent of global economic growth, making it the most significant driving force. Guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, the Chinese people are united and working tirelessly to achieve the “two centenary goals” and realize the Chinese dream of great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

In the face of complicated and profound changes in the international landscape, under the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Diplomacy, China has stayed committed to the path of peaceful development, resolutely safeguarded China’s sovereignty, security and development interests, advocated multilateralism and economic globalization, promoted the building of a new type of international relations and a community with a shared future for mankind. China has contributed its wisdom and solutions for world peace, stability and development.

China and India are neighbors linked by mountains and rivers, partners of win-win cooperation and friends hand in hand on their way forward. As we are both major developing countries, our two peoples have supported each other in pursuing national independence and development and helped each other in upholding global free trade. In recent years, China-India relations have maintained a positive development momentum. President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi initiated the “hometown diplomacy” and held a historic Informal Summit in Wuhan, China, taking the closer developmental partnership between the two countries to a new height and putting it on the track of sound and stable development. Next year will mark the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and India. Let us make full use of the opportunity of celebrating the 70th anniversary and continue to implement the consensus reached by leaders of the two countries, focus on cooperation, seek common development and write a new chapter in China-India relations.

2. Glorious Journey of the People's Republic of China

The year 2019 marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Through seventy years of hard work, the Communist Party of China has united and led the Chinese people on a glorious journey. The Chinese nation has achieved a tremendous transformation: it has stood up, grown rich and is becoming strong. Socialism with Chinese characteristics has been established, developed and improved. The Chinese people have made a great leap from inadequate food and clothing to moderate prosperity. The Chinese nation, with an entirely new posture, now stands tall and firm in the East.

Standing Up of the Chinese People

On October 1, 1949, the first five-star red flag was raised in Tian'anmen Square in Beijing. The Chinese people, who had experienced bitter struggle since modern times, finally saw the dawn of the rebirth of the Chinese nation. With the birth of the PRC, the Chinese people became masters of the country, society and their own destiny. They began to embark on a great journey of realizing a strong and prosperous country, national rejuvenation and people's happiness with full pride.

With Mao Zedong as their main representative, the Chinese Communists led the Chinese people to secure a victory in the new democratic revolution, founded the PRC and established the basic socialist system. The photo shows at 3 p.m. on October 1, 1949, Mao Zedong announcing the establishment of the PRC's central people's government during the founding ceremony.

Spring Breeze of Reform and Opening-up

In 1978, marked by the third plenary session of the 11th CPC Central Committee, China started the historical process of reform and opening-up.

The reform and opening-up is a great awakening of the Communist Party of China, and a great revolution in the history of the Chinese people and the Chinese nation. It is the great revolution that has brought unprecedented and profound changes to China, making reform and opening-up the most distinctive feature of contemporary China.

Reform and opening-up is a key move to determine the destiny of contemporary China, and to achieve the two centenary goals and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

The development of Pudong in Shanghai is a highlight of China's reform and opening up. The farmland in the past has been turned into the Lujiazui International Financial Center dotted with high-rise buildings. The photo taken on June 27, 2018 shows the full view of Pudong new area.

Forging Ahead in New Era

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core has united the Chinese people of all ethnic groups to hold high the banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics and has been guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. It has promoted the coordinated implementation of the five-sphere integrated plan including economic, political, cultural, social and ecological advancement and the four-pronged comprehensive strategy consisting of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, deepening reform in all areas, advancing law-based governance and exercising full and rigorous governance over the Party. Historic achievements in reform, opening-up and socialist modernization have been made, historic shifts in the cause of the Party and the country have been promoted, and the socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era. China adheres to the vision of peace, development, and win-win cooperation, and constantly contributes Chinese wisdom and strength to foster world peaceful development. China and the people across the world will build a community with a shared future for mankind and jointly create a bright future for all!

The Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation opened in Beijing on April 26, 2019. Nearly 5,000 guests from more than 150 countries and 90 international organizations attended the forum. The photo shows Chinese President Xi Jinping and foreign leaders walking into the venue of the forum's opening ceremony.

China today stands at a new historical starting point. Though great achievements have been made, there are still many mountains to scale and many shoals to navigate. The Communist Party of China and the Chinese people will continue forging ahead on the road of socialism with Chinese characteristics while comprehensively deepening reform, pursuing high-quality development, further opening up, committing to peaceful development, promoting the building of a community with a shared future for mankind, creating more brilliant Chinese miracles in the new era, and making greater contribution to the cause of human progress.

3. Seven Decades of China’s Achievements

Economy

——China's economy has accelerated over the past seven decades, with gross domestic product rising at an average annual rate of 8.1 percent. From 1979 to 2018, China's economy grew by 9.4 percent annually on average, much higher than the world's average economic growth of 2.9 percent. In 1952, China's GDP was 30 billion U.S. dollars, while in 2018, its GDP reached 13.61 trillion U.S. dollars, an increase of 452.6 times. In 1978, China's GDP ranked 11th in the world, while in 2010, it overtook Japan to become the second largest economy in the world. Gross national income per person reached 9,732 U.S. dollars in 2018, higher than the level seen in middle-income countries. Forex reserves reached 3.07 trillion U.S. dollars at the end of 2018, topping the world for the 13th straight year, while it stood at only 108 million dollars at the end of 1952.

Politics

——With decades of hard work, socialism with Chinese characteristics has crossed the threshold into a new era. The Chinese nation has achieved a tremendous transformation and come to embrace the brilliant prospects of rejuvenation. We have actively developed socialist democracy and advanced law-based governance. The path, the theory, the system, and the culture of socialism with Chinese characteristics have kept developing, blazing a new trail for developing countries to achieve modernization. The overarching task of upholding and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics is to realize socialist modernization and national rejuvenation, and, that on the basis of completing the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects, a two-step approach should be taken to build China into a great modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious, and beautiful by the middle of the century.

Culture

——In 2019, China's total number of world cultural heritage sites reachs 55, ranking first in the world. China has yielded fruitful results in cultural exchanges and communication with other countries. By the end of 2017, China had signed cultural cooperation agreements with 157 countries, and the number of cultural exchange plans totaled nearly 800. Overseas Chinese cultural centers and Confucius Institutes, traditional Chinese cultures such as Chinese acrobatics, martial arts, calligraphy, Beijing Opera and Tai Chi have been further introduced to the world. By 2017, over 4,000 various cultural events took place in Chinese cultural centers in foreign countries, and over 8 million people were directly involved. By the end of 2017, 525 Confucius Institutes and 1,113 Confucius classrooms had been established in 146 countries and regions.

Society

——The 1.3 billion Chinese are no longer threatened by food or clothing shortages, more than 850 million Chinese are out of poverty, 770 million are employed, nine-year compulsory education is provided across the country, and China's universal health care system and social security system lead the world in scale. Life expectancy in 1949 was around 35 years, and it rose to 77 years in 2018. Maternal and infant mortality also decreased substantially, from 1,500 per 100 thousand and 200 per thousand 70 years ago, respectively, to 18.3 per 100 thousand and 6.1 per thousand in 2018, both meeting the Millennium Development Goals ahead of schedule. The number of impoverished people dropped from 770 million in 1978 to 16.6 million in 2018, and the poverty rate dropped from 97.5% to 1.7%. By the end of 2020, we will have taken all rural residents living below the current poverty line out of poverty, putting an end to absolute poverty in our country and creating a miracle in the history of development and poverty reduction. We are also on course to attain the first centenary goal by 2020, i.e. completing the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects.

Ecological Civilization

——Implementing its new concept of innovative, coordinated, green, open and shared development, China has exerted intensive efforts to treat pollution with the enforcement of much stricter environmental laws and problem-oriented environmental supervision. China has gained remarkable achievements in such fields as prevention and treatment of air and water pollution, ecological construction, low-carbon development, energy conservation and emission reductions. China's carbon dioxide emission per 10,000 yuan (nearly $1,500) of GDP declined 4 percent in 2018. By the end of 2018, China's installed capacity for renewable energy reached 728,000 megawatts, up 12 percent on a year-on-year basis.China had contributed to at least 25 percent of the increase in the global green leaf area since the early 2000s. Over the past 40 years, China's forest coverage rate has increased nearly 10 percent to 21.66 percent. China is home to the world's largest man-made forest in scale.

Diplomacy

——China’s diplomacy has established a fine tradition with distinctive features, including independence as the cornerstone of China's foreign policy, concern for the common good of humanity, pursuit of equity and justice, commitment to win-win outcomes, the mission of facilitating domestic development, and dedication to serving the Chinese people. Xi Jinping Thought on Diplomacy is the fundamental guideline of China’s diplomatic work in the new era. China firmly safeguards national sovereignty, security and development interests, and devotes itself to the joint construction of a new type of international relations and a community with a shared future for mankind with other countries. China is moving closer to the center stage of the world as a widely recognized promoter of world peace, contributor to global development and upholder of international order. China has dispatched 40,000 peacekeepers to around 30 UN peacekeeping operations since 1990, the most among all the five permanent UN Security Council members. It is also the second largest donor country for UN peacekeeping missions. China is playing an increasingly prominent role in providing constructive solutions to resolving international hotspot issues. China has been promoting the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to improve connectivity and cooperation on a transcontinental scale. China is firm in upholding the multilateral trading system and advancing trade and investment liberalization and facilitation. China has deeply engaged in regional and sub-regional cooperation, and concluded 17 free trade agreements with 25 countries and regions.