by Moacyr de Oliveira Filho
Director of Journalism at Associação Brasileira de Imprensa, Brazil
When the president of the Brazilian Press Association – ABI, Octávio Costa, nominated me to represent the organization at the 2024 Belt and Road Journalists Forum in Chongqing, I was thrilled at the prospect of finally being able to visit the People’s Republic of China.
My political and emotional relations with China are historical and go back to my youth when, as a militant in the student movement, I took part, in the late 1960s and early 1970s, in the fight against the civil-military dictatorship that was installed in Brazil in 1964, working in a clandestine organization – Ação Popular, which followed a Maoist orientation, under the inspiration of the Chinese Revolution of 1949, led by Mao Zedong.
Coming to China is, therefore, the realization of a long-held dream and the chance to see up close the political, economic and social transformations carried out by the People’s Republic of China.
The transformation that China has undergone in the last 75 years, since the creation of the People’s Republic in 1949, is impressive. Between 1978 and 2022, China’s GDP multiplied by 68. From a poor and eminently agrarian country, it has become the world’s second largest economy and a dynamic industrial and technological hub. In addition, in the same period, 700 million more people were lifted out of poverty.
On February 25, 2021, the Chinese government announced that the last 100 million people living below the poverty line had been lifted out of poverty through the efforts of the Chinese people and government, thus ending absolute poverty in China. The achievement is considered extraordinary in such a populous country with an economy that has developed in just three decades.
The Communist Party of China, endorsed by the People’s Congress, wants to advance the revolution. Among the goals approved are “personal income growth in line with economic growth”, “a basic balance of payments”, “grain production of more than 650 million metric tons” and “continuous improvements to the environment”.
The Report on the Work of the Government, released on March 11, 2024, includes targets for the Policy for Economic and Social Development. Firstly, the Communist Party proposes to continue the binomial of development and growth.
China launched the Belt and Road Initiative in 2013, presented by President Xi Jinping as the construction of a new Silk Road, the ancient route of trade and cultural exchange that once existed between Asia and Europe. The initiative began by focusing on Central Asian countries, but has evolved into a major program of investment, connectivity and international cooperation covering 148 countries around the world. In 10 years, more than US$1 trillion has been invested in infrastructure projects.
To come to Chongqing is to see the full and irrefutable proof of the reality of these numbers.
To see up close the strength of industrial and technological development in Chongqing Province; the robustness of its plan and its logistics routes; the beauty, strength and joy of the 198 cultural projects, especially those for the manufacture of ceramics in the Rongchang district, Intangible Cultural Heritage, and traditional festivals, such as the History and Culture Week; the efficiency of the Administrative Service Centers, as we have seen in Rongchang District, which makes life easier for citizens and solves their problems quickly; the technological advancement of the cars produced by Changan and the new surgical techniques and innovative and revolutionary treatments of Haifu Technology, under the leadership of Professor Zhiibiao Wang, which minimize the harm to patients with serious pathologies, especially oncological and gynecological, both in Liangjiang district; and the high quality of food products from the ASEAN International Food Industry Park in Banan District, shows the strength of this New Era experienced by the People’s Republic of China.
Another important point to highlight is the significant presence of women in prominent positions everywhere we visit, whether as exhibitors of the work developed there, or even in management and command positions, which proves another achievement of China today: the appreciation of women.
Visiting Chongqing is an exciting journey into the future that further strengthens the belief in socialism and the recognition of the success of the public policies adopted by President Xi Jinping’s government.
Brazil wants to talk to China about joining the Belt and Road Initiative, the New Silk Road. President Lula has already announced that he will attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting between November 14 and 16 to discuss Brazil’s entry into the New Silk Road with China.
During a meeting with Brazilian Vice President Geraldo Alckmin in June 2024, several significant agreements were signed. In the Joint Action Plan of the China-Brazil Entrepreneurs Committee, the two countries pledged to deepen cooperation in several areas over the next five years, including information technology, artificial intelligence and the aerospace industry.
President Xi Jinping said at the meeting that China would take the opportunity of celebrating the 50th anniversary of its diplomatic ties with Brazil to strengthen exchanges and cooperation between the two countries’ legislatures, political parties, localities, culture, education, tourism, youth and other areas.
And Wang Shouwen, China’s vice-minister of commerce, highlighted the need to further strengthen cooperation ties, inviting Brazilian companies to take part in the China International Import Expo (CIIE) and the Canton Fair.
China has long known that innovation and technology are the key to development. Even before 1978, when it began its process of reform and opening up, China was already investing heavily in education and science. By the time Mao Tsetung died in 1976 and Deng Xiaoping entered the scene, China had practically eradicated illiteracy. Before 1949, the illiteracy rate in China was 80% and life expectancy at birth was only 35 years. When Mao Tsetung died, illiteracy in China was 6% (in Brazil today the rate is 7%) and life expectancy had doubled to 70 years. The number of scientists and technicians rose from 50,000 in 1949 to 2.5 million in 1966 and 5 million in 1979. Between 2000 and 2019, more than 6 million Chinese students left the country to study abroad, according to China’s Ministry of Education. Thanks to the government’s generous plans for talent repatriation, an increasing number of Chinese scientists graduating abroad are returning to China, bringing their newly acquired skills and knowledge with them.
During our visit to Chongqing we were able to see this up close, with the dedicated, generous and efficient participation of the young volunteers, whom I pay tribute to in the person of the young Selena Chen, and the interpreters, whom I pay tribute to in the person of Sandro Perry, and other professionals who accompanied us on this exciting journey into the future.
Selena Chen and Sandro Perry are examples of this new generation of young Chinese who have prepared themselves with diligence and dedication for the mission of helping to build and write the history of New Age China.
It was well worth the shock of reality that the beautiful, vibrant and historic Chongqing, on the banks of the Yangtze and Jialing rivers, the historical and cultural center, gave us!
*The views and opinions expressed in the articles are solely those of the individual authors and do not reflect the position of the Secretariat of the Belt and Road Journalist Network.