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Two Sessions 2021
ChinaDiplomacy

China’s officials play up ‘rise of the East, decline of the West’

  • Ahead of Communist Party centenary in July, cadres have hailed ‘extraordinary accomplishments’ at meetings in Beijing
  • With pandemic largely under control, President Xi Jinping says young Chinese can ‘stand tall and feel proud’ when they go abroad

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China’s annual legislative sessions are under way in Beijing. Photo: Xinhua
William Zheng

“The East is rising while the West is declining” has become a common refrain for Chinese officials ahead of the Communist Party’s centenary this summer.

It has also been a popular discussion point at the annual legislative sessions under way in Beijing, where China’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic has been lauded.

On Friday, the former party boss of the far western Xinjiang region said China had made “extraordinary accomplishments” last year, during talks with National People’s Congress deputies from Hubei. Zhang Chunxian described 2020 as a “watershed year” for China.

“Since no country could escape the major test of the pandemic last year, this trend that the East is rising while the West is declining has become very obvious,” he said, according to a briefing summary.

“The phenomenon of China advancing and the US retreating has also been conspicuous,” he added. The party is expected to hold a series of celebrations in July to mark 100 years since it was founded and the next phase of the country’s modernisation drive.

Zhang, who was transport minister from 1998 to 2005, also quoted a French media report that said Chinese would soon overtake Americans with a higher average life expectancy, concluding that China’s rise was unstoppable.

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