2019年3月5日上午,十三屆全國(guó)人大二次會(huì)議開(kāi)幕,國(guó)務(wù)院總理李克強(qiáng)在《政府工作報(bào)告》中指出,今年再減少農(nóng)村貧困人口1000萬(wàn)以上。
官方數(shù)據(jù)顯示,在過(guò)去40年中,中國(guó)已有超過(guò)7億農(nóng)村人口實(shí)現(xiàn)脫貧。農(nóng)村人口貧困率(生活在貧困線(xiàn)以下人口的比例)已從1978年的97.5%下降到2017年的3.1%。
美中貿(mào)易全國(guó)委員會(huì)主席克雷格·艾倫說(shuō),“在我看來(lái),過(guò)去40年里,相當(dāng)于一個(gè)人一生工作的時(shí)間,中國(guó)已經(jīng)從全球最貧困的國(guó)家之一發(fā)展為即將完全消除貧困的國(guó)家?!?/p>
印度尼赫魯大學(xué)中國(guó)研究教授維拉普拉薩德·謝卡·多拉也高度贊揚(yáng)了中國(guó)在消除貧困方面取得的成就。他說(shuō):“如果說(shuō)過(guò)去三四十年來(lái),全球貧困人口大幅下降,那么部分原因是中國(guó)消除貧困人口的貢獻(xiàn)。”
在芝加哥伊利諾理工學(xué)院斯圖亞特商學(xué)院經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)教授科瑞爾·圖爾克看來(lái),“很多國(guó)家都很仰慕中國(guó)取得的成績(jī),向中國(guó)學(xué)習(xí)經(jīng)驗(yàn)。”他補(bǔ)充說(shuō):“中國(guó)的經(jīng)驗(yàn)是基于建立現(xiàn)代的基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施,隨后建立經(jīng)濟(jì)特區(qū),這可以幫助欠發(fā)達(dá)國(guó)家實(shí)現(xiàn)工業(yè)化?!?/p>
國(guó)務(wù)委員兼外交部部長(zhǎng)王毅在記者會(huì)上說(shuō),“一帶一路”倡議已經(jīng)成為世界上規(guī)模最大的合作平臺(tái)和最受歡迎的公共產(chǎn)品。他指出,目前已有123個(gè)國(guó)家和29個(gè)國(guó)際組織簽署了共建“一帶一路”合作文件。
英國(guó)四十八家集團(tuán)俱樂(lè)部副主席基思·班尼特說(shuō),“一帶一路”倡議“是包容性的,為未來(lái)幾十年的投資和發(fā)展都提供了最大的機(jī)遇”。他說(shuō):“‘一帶一路’倡議聚焦于基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施建設(shè),最大可能地為推進(jìn)全面、綜合的經(jīng)濟(jì)發(fā)展,并在將來(lái)提高人民的生活水平奠定基礎(chǔ)?!?/p>
另一個(gè)熱點(diǎn)是外商投資法草案。
圖爾克說(shuō),外商投資法草案將使“外國(guó)公司在中國(guó)經(jīng)商更便捷”。
希臘伯羅奔尼撒大學(xué)政治學(xué)和國(guó)際關(guān)系學(xué)系助理教授索蒂里斯·彼得羅普洛斯也持同樣看法。他說(shuō),草案通過(guò)后,“新的外商投資法將減少外商投資的障礙,使外國(guó)公司在中國(guó)經(jīng)營(yíng)更便捷,更均衡?!?/p>
“阿拉伯眼中的中國(guó)”新聞網(wǎng)站總編穆罕默德·萊雅說(shuō),外商投資法草案“被認(rèn)為是中國(guó)外商投資管理體制的根本變化,將促進(jìn)投資環(huán)境的公開(kāi)、透明和可預(yù)測(cè)性”。艾倫說(shuō):“我認(rèn)為中國(guó)的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)層很聰明,他們認(rèn)識(shí)到以市場(chǎng)為導(dǎo)向的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)會(huì)促進(jìn)發(fā)展,而促進(jìn)發(fā)展的途徑之一就是允許外國(guó)公司在中國(guó)發(fā)揮更重要的作用?!?/p>
在今年的《政府工作報(bào)告》中,中國(guó)將2019年的國(guó)內(nèi)生產(chǎn)總值增長(zhǎng)目標(biāo)設(shè)定為6%到6.5%,并表示要促進(jìn)高質(zhì)量、可持續(xù)發(fā)展。
圖爾克說(shuō):“在中國(guó)經(jīng)濟(jì)發(fā)展的最初一些年,國(guó)內(nèi)生產(chǎn)總值達(dá)到了兩位數(shù)增長(zhǎng)。如今,中國(guó)正追求高質(zhì)量和可持續(xù)發(fā)展。”他還說(shuō):“中國(guó)的發(fā)展驚艷了世界,使中國(guó)成為世界工廠(chǎng)。如今,中國(guó)創(chuàng)造了人數(shù)最龐大的中產(chǎn)階級(jí)。”
喀麥隆智庫(kù)泛非發(fā)展研究院西非分院商業(yè)和公共政策講師兼研究員蘇利亞曼·圖拉伊說(shuō),中國(guó)的經(jīng)濟(jì)增長(zhǎng)讓非洲國(guó)家真是大開(kāi)眼界。他說(shuō):“高科技投資的穩(wěn)步增長(zhǎng)說(shuō)明了中國(guó)保持穩(wěn)定和高質(zhì)量增長(zhǎng)的決心”, 非洲人民需要向中國(guó)人民學(xué)習(xí),從而在國(guó)際貿(mào)易中獲得競(jìng)爭(zhēng)優(yōu)勢(shì)?!爸灰袊?guó)繼續(xù)升級(jí)經(jīng)濟(jì)結(jié)構(gòu)以促進(jìn)高質(zhì)量增長(zhǎng),在科技創(chuàng)新的推動(dòng)下,其發(fā)展將繼續(xù)為非洲國(guó)家提供機(jī)會(huì)。”
喀麥隆雅溫得第二大學(xué)教授埃爾維斯·恩格爾·恩格爾表示,中國(guó)的創(chuàng)新促進(jìn)了其他國(guó)家的經(jīng)濟(jì)和社會(huì)發(fā)展,幫助他們培養(yǎng)本國(guó)人才。他舉個(gè)例子說(shuō),中國(guó)的農(nóng)業(yè)科技“正把非洲的荒地改造成良田”。他表示:“隨著中國(guó)從改革中獲益更多,中國(guó)人民將繼續(xù)弘揚(yáng)創(chuàng)新精神,對(duì)人類(lèi)的進(jìn)步作出更大貢獻(xiàn)。”(《中國(guó)日?qǐng)?bào)》供稿)
In the government work report delivered at the opening of the annual NPC session on March 5, China pledges to reduce its population of rural poor by over 10 million this year.
Official figures show that over the past 40 years, China has lifted more than 700 million of its rural residents out of poverty, and the poverty rate—the proportion of people living below the Chinese poverty line—had fallen among the rural population from 97.5 percent in 1978 to 3.1 percent at the end of 2017.
“For me, it is just a miracle that over 40 years, over the course of one working lifetime, China has gone from one of the poorest countries in the world to one that is about to eliminate absolute poverty, ” said Craig Allen,president of the US-China Business Council.
Varaprasad Sekhar Dolla, a professor of Chinese studies at India's Jawaharlal Nehru University, also spoke highly of China's achievements in poverty reduction.
“If global poverty came down quite substantially in the last three or four decades, it’s partly because of the Chinese contribution to reducing poverty within its own national boundaries,” said the Indian scholar.
In the eyes of Khairy Tourk, a professor of economics with the Stuart School of Business at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, “many countries look up to China to learn from its experience.”
“The Chinese experience is based on building a modern infrastructure and then on setting up special economic zones that would help underdeveloped countries to industrialize,” he added.
At a press conference on the sidelines of the ongoing Two Sessions, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said the initiative has become the world's largest platform for international cooperation and the most welcomed global public good. He noted that a total of 123 countries and 29 international organizations have signed BRI agreements with China.
Keith Bennett, vice chairman of Britain’s 48 Group Club, a consultancy network for British companies seeking to do business with China, said that the BRI “is inclusive and offers the greatest opportunity for both investment and development in decades.” “Its emphasis on infrastructure and connectivity lays the best possible foundations for promoting allround, comprehensive economic development and improvement of people's livelihood in the future,” he said.
Another hot topic is the draft law on foreign investment .
The draft law, said Tourk, will make “it easier for foreign firms to do business in China.”
Sotiris Petropoulos, an assistant professor at the Department of Political Science and International Relations at the University of the Peloponnese in Greece, voiced a similar opinion. Once passed, “the new law is expected to decrease barriers to foreign investment and render foreign companies’operations within the country easier and more balanced than before,” he said.
Mahmoud Raya, editor-in-chief of the “China in Arab Eyes”news website,said the draft law is “considered as a fundamental change in China’s foreign investment management system, which will improve openness,transparency and predictability of the investment environment.”
“I think that the Chinese leadership is very wise, and that they realize that market-oriented competition will lead to greater growth, ” said Allen.“And one way to spur that growth is to allow foreign companies to play a stronger role in China. ”
In this year’s government work report, China sets its gross domestic product (GDP) growth target for 2019 at 6-6.5 percent, and vows to promote high-quality and sustainable growth.
“During the initial years of the country's economic miracle, China experienced double-digit growth rates. Now it is pursuing high-quality sustainable development,” said Tourk. “The Chinese development has fascinated the world. It has made the country the workshop of the world. It has also created the biggest middle class in history,” he added.
To Suliaman Turay, a lecturer and researcher on business and public policy with the Pan African Institute for Development West Africa, a think tank in Cameroon, China's economic growth is a real eye-opener for African countries. “The steady increase in high-tech investment speaks volumes of the determination of China to maintain stable and quality growth,”he said, adding that Africans need to gain a competitive advantage in international trade by learning from the Chinese people. “As long as China continues to upgrade its economic structure for quality growth, driven by innovations in science and technology, its development will continue to offer opportunities for African countries,” Turay noted.
Elvis Ngolle Ngolle, a professor at the University of Yaounde II in Cameroon, said Chinese innovation is helping to boost economic and social development in other countries, and helping them cultivate their own talent. A good example, Ngolle said, is the Chinese agricultural technology which “is transforming barren land into fertile farmland in Africa.” “As China continues to realize more benefits from its reform, the innovative spirit of the Chinese people will continue to flourish, which will contribute even more to the progress of mankind,” he added.