Pakistan China Monitoring Desk Islamabad
China Program at the Institute of Regional Studies (Official) organized a seminar on “China’s Remarkable Socioeconomic Transformation under the Leadership of the Communist Party of China and Its Growing Contributions to Global Public Goods,” in the context of commemorating the 105th anniversary of the Communist Party of China (CPC). Panelists unanimously agreed that people-centered governance was at the heart of China’s socioeconomic transformation, which holds practical lessons for Pakistan.
Amb. Jauhar Saleem, President IRS , opened the session by describing China’s rise as one of the most remarkable transformations in contemporary history, and identified meritocracy, people-centric governance, and a firm stand against corruption as the core lessons of China’s development experience for Pakistan and other developing countries.
Mr. Shi Yuanqiang, DHM Embassy of China , highlighted three key factors contributing to the CPC’s success based on General Secretary Xi Jinping’s July 1 address: a people-centered approach, a global vision for the common good, and rigorous party self-governance guided by “seeking truth from facts.”
He said China moved from winning the battle against poverty to building a transport network exceeding six million kilometers and making rapid advances in artificial intelligence, biomedicine, and quantum technology.
Describing CPEC as a pilot project of the BRI that had brought more than 25.5 billion US dollars in direct investment and over 260,000 jobs to Pakistan, he reaffirmed China’s commitment to an upgraded “CPEC 2.0” as the two countries mark 75 years of diplomatic relations.
Rana Ihsaan Afzal, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Commerce , attributed China’s success to a long-term vision, disciplined implementation, and continuous learning and experimentation. He further said that a true measure of any governance model lies in its impact on people’s lives.
He pointed to China’s record of improving public livelihood as evidence of a model that has effectively delivered results.To highlight the CPC’s diplomatic statecraft, Amb. Masood Khalid stated that China always sought peaceful development, and it aims to mend the international order rather than dismantle it, with a vision to become fully modern by 2049.
Professor Gao Jian, Secretary General of Shanghai International Studies University , said that modernization cannot be equated to westernization. China’s ability to chart its own path to modernization, rooted in its national realities, demonstrates that every country must adapt its development model to its own social conditions.
He contrasted Western and Chinese governance, noting that the CPC’s “people-oriented” approach prioritizes collective well-being over individual concerns.
Amb. Moin ul Haque , detailed China’s contributions to global public goods across infrastructure connectivity, development financing, poverty reduction, science and technology, public health, green development and human capital, citing CPEC projects, the provision of COVID-19 vaccines as a global public good, and training and scholarship opportunities for Pakistani students, officials and farmers.
Pakistan’s former Ambassador to China, focused on the CPC’s engagement with the Global South. He traced the evolution of Chinese foreign policy from the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence and the 1955 Bandung Conference to President Xi Jinping’s global initiatives, under which China had moved from a recipient of development assistance to a development provider.
Ambassador Masood Khalid , Pakistan’s former ambassador to China, traced the CPC’s journey from its founding in Shanghai in 1921 to the current 15th Five-Year Plan. He highlighted China’s system of five-year planning, begun in 1953, as systematic, scientific, and pragmatic, with built-in course correction and a strong emphasis on data accuracy.
He emphasized the Party leaders’ critical role in setting the stage for China’s socioeconomic ascent, delineating the policies from Mao to Xi era. He also opined that China is steering the rise of Asia as well. China’s rise, he said, had been peaceful; it sought not to dismantle the international order but to seek adjustments reflecting new realities, and aimed to become a fully modern country by 2049.
Ambassador Jauhar Saleem, in concluding remarks, said the seminar’s central message was that political systems are a means to an end and not an end in themselves: “Politics is for people; people are not for politics.” He said people-centric governance, meritocracy, and a firm stand against corruption lay at the heart of China’s success.
While acknowledging Pakistan’s challenges, from out-of-school children to stagnant growth, he said China’s experience offered valuable lessons not only for Pakistan but for many developing countries and opened new avenues of partnership as China advances in emerging technologies.
The event was moderated by Ms. Nabila Jaffer, Senior Research Analyst and Head of China Program at the IRS.
