Recently, many Qatari friends who care about China have been asking the same question to me: How do you view the latest 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC)? What does it mean to the world? In my views, the most fundamental feature of the 20th National Congress is that it demonstrates China’s certainty, continuity and predictability. It brings the world a strong sense of stability against the backdrop of an unstable, uncertain global environment. This is a blessing for China and also for the entire world.


China’s leadership is of certainty
“A strong engine drives a fast train”. The reason why China has achieved today’s development is that we have a strong collective central leadership. At this year’s Congress, we have elected the new CPC central leadership with General Secretary Xi Jinping as the core, along with a number of capable, young and experienced officials at key posts. Whoever is capable of leading the country to achieve development and good lives for the people will be supported and chosen by the people. The election results reflected the common aspiration and firm confidence of hundreds of millions of people in General Secretary Xi Jinping as the “backbone” leader. On the new journey, we will face higher risks and greater challenges, even turbulence and difficulties. With General Secretary Xi Jinping as the navigator, the giant ship of China will undoubtedly sail against the winds and waves and steadily travel along the correct course. China’s political certainty at the highest level guarantees the continuity of China’s policies, which is of great importance to China and the world.


China’s development path is of certainty
The report of the 20th National Congress of the CPC proposed to “advance the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts through a Chinese path to modernisation”. After long-term of exploration and practice, China has taken on a development path that is different from that of the West. For the first time in human history, China has advanced large-scale modernisation through peace instead of war, and has demonstrated a new path for developing countries in modernisation, which we summarise as a “Chinese path to modernisation”. This path is deeply rooted in the soil of the Chinese civilisation. Warmongering is not in the genes of the Chinese people. The Chinese path to modernisation is a people-centred path of peaceful development and win-win co-operation. China’s success proves that there are far more than a single way to achieve modernisation, and that modernisation is not the monopoly of a few countries, but a common destination that any country could reach following its own path.
The direction of China’s economy is of certainty. At present, the Covid-19 pandemic, geopolitical conflicts, global inflation as well as unilateralism and protectionism are posing significant downward pressure on the world economy. As the world’s second largest economy, the direction of China’s economy will affect the whole world’s growth. Some people may ask, will China take fast growth as its goal again? Will the “dual circulation” policy lead to a decline in China’s opening to the outside world? As a matter of fact, these worries are unnecessary. China’s high-quality development will not stop, and the door to the outside world will only open wider and wider. The report of the 20th National Congress of the CPC stated that “to build a modern socialist country in all respects, we must, first and foremost, pursue high-quality development”. China will “promote high-level opening up, steadily expand institutional opening up with regard to rules, regulations, management, and standards, promote the high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative, and contribute its share to building an open global economy”. Over the past decade, China’s average contribution to global economic growth has reached 38.6%, becoming the “cornerstone” and “propeller” of global development. In the future, China’s new development will continue to provide new opportunities for the world.


China’s foreign policy is of certainty
Looking around the globe, great changes unseen in a century are rapidly evolving, and the world has once again reached a crossroads in history. How should we respond to the call of our times and ride on the trend of history? The report of the 20th National Congress of the CPC made it clear that “China has always been committed to its foreign policy goals of upholding world peace and promoting common development, and it is dedicated to promoting a human community with a shared future”. It is in this spirit that China has put forward the Global Development Initiative and the Global Security Initiative, and we are ready to work with the international community to put these two initiatives into actions. We sincerely call upon all countries to hold humanity’s shared values of peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy, and freedom, and join forces to meet all types of global challenges. Facing the future, we will stand firmly on the right side of history and on the side of human progress, and always be a builder of world peace, contributor to global development, defender of the international order, provider of public goods and mediator of hotspot issues, and strive to build a community with a shared future with all countries to create an even brighter future for mankind.
Certainty is not only the advantage of China’s development, but also a basis for China-Qatar relations. Since the establishment of diplomatic relations, China and Qatar have always supported each other on issues concerning each others’ core interests, helped each other in exploring development paths independently, and learned from each other through exchanges of civilisations, setting an example to illustrate “Amity between the people holds the key to sound state-to-state relations”. 
Following the closing of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, His Highness the Amir and His Highness the Deputy Amir sent congratulations to General Secretary Xi Jinping, wishing the friendly Chinese people and bilateral relations continued success and growth. Next year will be the 35th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Qatar. Standing at this new historical point, we are willing to work together with our Qatari brothers to build a China-Qatar community of a shared future, turn the certainty of bilateral relations into greater vitality and further progress, and inject more positive energy to our common development and world peace and stability.