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Robert Kuhn still remembers the 2006 talk with Chairman Xi Jinping, when Xi was the secretary of the Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee.
Although Zhejiang was one of the fastest-growing regions in China at the time, Kuhn, chairman of the Kuhn Foundation and winner of the China Reform Friendship Medal, recalled that Xi Zeng told him: “We should evaluate our achievements carefully. We will never We should overestimate our achievements or indulge in our achievements”.
It is precisely under the guiding ideology of “continuous improvement” that Xi Jinping proposed China’s future growth strategy this year, including reducing relative poverty, narrowing the gap between the rich and the poor, and achieving common prosperity after announcing a comprehensive victory over anti-poverty. He pointed out the absolute poverty in rural areas. Xi Jinping also emphasized the implementation of the rural revitalization strategy in the next step.
“This must be a long-term commitment from China, and he (Xi) will not delay the transition period,” Kuhn said at the recent Vision China event.
He went on to explain that the creation of common prosperity embodies China’s long-term vision to 2035 and 2050, when China’s goal is to become a “fully modernized socialist country.”
“Without common prosperity, there will be no social stability and no national rejuvenation,” he said.
The event was held after Zhejiang Province was named a demonstration zone for high-quality development and common prosperity in the official guidelines issued earlier this month.
The guidance proposes that by 2025, Zhejiang’s per capita GDP should reach the level of middle-income and middle-income population. By 2035, Zhejiang will basically achieve common prosperity, and its per capita GDP will reach developed countries, including urban and rural residents.
“An important part of the plan is rural revitalization and narrowing the gap between urban and rural areas,” Kuhn said.
His trip to Zhejiang brought him to Anji County, where Xi Jinping promoted the county’s groundbreaking transformation from a mining and cement production center to an eco-friendly green center for agriculture, industry, and tourism.
The famous saying “green water and green mountains are golden mountains and silver mountains” is also in the county, and Kuhn said that Anji proved him right.
In 2012, Anji became the first county in China to receive the UN-HABITAT Medal of Honor for improving the environment.
Kuhn provided another example of Zhejiang’s innovative practices in environmental protection, also known as the ecological compensation mechanism.
In order to solve the problem of river pollution in the upper reaches of Qiandao Lake, Qiandao Lake is a famous tourist attraction and an important water source in the region. The provincial departments of Zhejiang and Anhui, where the upper reaches of the lake are located, have established a 2012 mechanism.
“Under this mechanism, if the water in Anhui meets the agreed standard, Zhejiang will pay to Anhui. If not, then Anhui will pay to Zhejiang,” he explained.
“If the environment is still heavily polluted, the Chinese nation will not be able to rejuvenate. Zhejiang’s ecological compensation system is a novel idea, a new way of thinking, that can help solve problems that once seemed difficult,” he added.
Kuhn said that those who recognize China’s unprecedented success in epidemic prevention and control and poverty alleviation must also recognize that China’s commitment to environmental protection is serious and lasting.
“They must also recognize its direct relationship with the party’s overall leadership and a strong, command-style, party-led government,” he said.
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