The Chinese Modernization and China-Tonga Friendly Relations & Cooperation

Twenty-four years of close relationship

This Month marks the 24 th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Tonga. Over the past 24 years, rapid progress has been made in the friendly relations and cooperation between China and Tonga based on mutual respect, mutual trust and mutual learning. The relations between China and Tonga have set a role model for country-to-country relationship.

China believes that countries, whether big or small, strong or weak, rich or poor, are equal members of the international community. China is a country with 1.4 billion population, Tonga is an island country, both are different in aspects of territory and population. But China and Tonga respect each other, help each other and work to safeguard world peace and stability. China and Tonga are friends, partners, brothers and sisters.

The good relationship at the government level has created very favorable conditions for the Tongan people and the Chinese people to get to know each other, to learn from each other, to support each other and to do business with each other. This has helped our mutual understanding and improved our standard of living.
China is one of Tonga’s development partners.

China’s partnership with Tonga in development is like help between brothers and sister. More than twenty economic & technical agreements have been signed between our two countries over the past 24 years, with which China provided substantial assistance to Tonga to support its social and economic development. China has offered aids to Tonga with hundreds of projects in various forms, such as complete projects, goods and materials, technical cooperation, public facilities and infrastructure, human resource development cooperation, medical teams, emergency humanitarian aid, etc.

Just in this year, China has provided much assistance to Tonga , such as the heavy machinery, which is worth TOP $26 million, the customs inspection equipment, with a value of more than TOP $30 million. China is the first country to provide emergency supplies to Tonga in the aftermath of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcanic eruption and the tsunami in January this year.

From a broader perspective, both China and Tonga are developing countries. But China has been providing aid to the best of its ability to Tonga and many other developing countries. The purpose of China’s aid is to help recipient countries to strengthen their self-development capacity, enrich and improve their people’s livelihood, and promote their economic growth and social progress.

Through foreign aid, China has consolidated friendly relations as well as economic and trade cooperation with Tonga and other developing countries, contributed to the common development of the world with the goal to build a community of shared future for mankind. 

The secret code of China’s success

China has created two miracles in history over the past four decades, one is long-term fast economic growth, the other is long-term social stability. There are many reasons behind China’s fast development. The most important success code for China is that China has found a development path suited to its national conditions. We call this development path socialism with Chinese characteristics under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

To better understand the secret code of China’s success, you’d better know more about the CPC. Without the leadership of the CPC, China would not have made such great achievements in the past decades. CPC is the largest Marxist governing party in the world, with over 96 million members and a history of 101 years. The CPC requires that all the Party members stay true to their fundamental purpose of serving the people wholeheartedly, maintain a people-centered mindset, and carry out the mass line to follow the principle of “from the people, to the people,”. All the Party members respect the pioneering spirit of the

Chinese people and ensure that the Party is acting for the people and relying on the people in everything it does. All the Party members accept criticism and oversight from the people. The CPC is a future-oriented party with strong actions. For example, CPC holds its National Congress every five years to lay out the blueprint for China’s development in all aspects, with all the Chinese people working to achieve the development goals in the blueprint.

The 20 th National Congress of the CPC concluded last month. It was a meeting of great importance, and it took place at a critical time as the entire Party and the Chinese people embark on a new journey to build China into a modern socialist country in all respects. From now on, the central task of the CPC will be to lead the Chinese people of all ethnic groups in a concerted effort to realize the Second Centenary Goal of building China into a great modern socialist country in
all respects by the middle of this century and to advance the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts through a Chinese path to modernization.

To build China into a great modern socialist country in all respects, the CPC has adopted a two-step strategic plan: the first step is to basically realize socialist modernization from 2020 through 2035; the second step is to build China into a great modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious, and beautiful from 2035 through the middle of this century.

The CPC is dedicated to pursuing happiness for the Chinese people and rejuvenation for the Chinese nation. It is also dedicated to human progress and world harmony. In international affairs, the CPC shall hold dear humanity’s shared values of peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy, and freedom, shall expand its global vision and respond to the general concerns of people of all countries, and shall play its part in resolving the common issues facing humankind. With an open mind, the CPC will draw inspiration from all of human civilization’s outstanding achievements and work to build an even better world.

The Chinese modernization and its impact on China-Tonga cooperation

Since the launch of reform and opening up in 1978, China has succeeded in advancing and expanding Chinese modernization. Chinese modernization is socialist modernization pursued under the leadership of the CPC. It contains elements that are common to the modernization processes of all countries, but it is more characterized by features that are unique to the Chinese context.

It is the modernization of a huge population. China is working to achieve modernization for more than 1.4 billion people, a number larger than the combined population of all developed countries in the world today. It is the modernization of common prosperity for all. Achieving common prosperity is a defining feature of socialism with Chinese characteristics and involves a long historical process.

The immutable goal of Chinese modernization drive is to meet the people’s aspirations for a better life. It is the modernization of material and cultural-ethical advancement. Material abundance and cultural-ethical enrichment are fundamental goals of socialist modernization. It is the modernization of harmony between humanity and nature.

Humanity and nature make up a community of life. China will continue to pursue a model of sound development featuring improved production, higher living standards, and healthy ecosystems to ensure the sustainable development of the Chinese nation. It is the modernization of peaceful development. In pursuing
modernization, China will not tread the old path of war, colonization, and plunder taken by some countries.

Instead, China is dedicated to peace, development, cooperation, and mutual benefit, and will make greater contributions to world peace and development through our own development. China will stand firmly on the right side of history and on the side of human progress.

The essential requirements of Chinese modernization are as follows: upholding the leadership of the Communist Party of China and socialism with Chinese characteristics, pursuing high-quality development, developing whole-process people’s democracy, enriching the people’s cultural lives, achieving common prosperity for all, promoting harmony between humanity and nature, building a human community with a shared future, and creating a new form of human advancement.

Chinese modernization will turn its enormous market into enormous opportunities for the world, and as a result, it will bring important opportunities and tangible benefits to countries around the world. This means that Chinese modernization will enhance the strength of developing countries including Tonga, and make greater contributions to the development and progress of humanity. Specifically to Tonga, Chinese Modernization means that China will continue to be a reliable development partner and a mutually-beneficial trading partner of Tonga, with more grant aid from China to Tonga and more exports from Tonga to China to help Tonga be more resilient in national development.

Cooperation in climate change

China believe that everyone living on Earth is part of a big family and humanity is one community; and that climate change is a common challenge to all, and we humanity must come together to rise to that challenge. Under the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Eco-Civilization, which is an important component of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, China has acted on the idea that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets.

China is committed to a green and low-carbon path to development that prioritizes ecological conservation. China has announced the targets of carbon peaking in 2030 and carbon neutrality in 2060, under which China will make the biggest reduction in carbon emission intensity in the world and move from carbon peaking to carbon neutrality in the shortest time span in world history.

China has worked steadily to adjust the energy mix. Today, China has the world’s largest installed capacity and power generation from wind and solar power, and leads the world in the output and sales of new energy vehicles. China has engaged extensively in South-South cooperation on climate change, implemented the Global Development Initiative, and worked with all parties for a green Silk Road. 

China will work with other countries around the world to support the United Nations in playing a central role and to practice true multilateralism. With each doing its level best and all working in solidarity and with real action, we will be able to protect our shared planet and leave a better world to future generations.

China is committed to harmonious development between man and nature, and to building a community of life for man and nature. In this process, China will try to help Tonga achieve the goal of clean energy with technical and economic cooperation, upgrading Tonga’s energy structure in solar power stations, biogas demonstration project and training officials and professional personnel specializing in climate response.

A wind power farm is now under preparations for construction to generate more clean energy. Cooperation on solar power generation will also be engaged in the future. These efforts will help Tonga be more
resilient to climate change.

Every country has the right to development. On the path of development and modernization, no country should be left behind. While committed to its own development on the Chinese path to modernization, China will continue to share development opportunities with all developing countries, including Tonga, to achieve common progress of mankind.