Editor's note: Dennis Etler is a current affairs commentator who holds a doctorate in anthropology from the University of California, Berkley. He conducted archaeological and anthropological research in China throughout the 1980s and 1990s and taught at the college and university level for over 35 years. The article reflects the author's opinions, and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

On the first day of the fourth Session of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang gave the government work report for 2021. This is a very important report made during the Two Sessions as it sums up the government's work during the past year and provides an outline of what needs to be done in the future to realize the goal of transforming China into a fully modern, prosperous socialist country by 2035.

Premier Li's report is not only widely followed in China but is being watched around the world. The following impressions summarize Premier Li's report from one foreign perspective.

Any objective foreign observer who listens to Premier Li's talk will be struck by how China, under the most trying circumstances following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic was able to win decisive victories on all fronts. Although confronted with a hostile foreign environment, China was nevertheless able to rally its people to defeat the novel coronavirus and recover economically. At the same time, it forged ahead with its poverty alleviation work and won a decisive victory fulfilling the pledge to lift all remaining people out of extreme poverty.

Looking from afar, it's been noted that China's control and containment of the COVID-19 pandemic within its own borders is unprecedented in the world history. Its ability to quickly respond and devise methods and strategies to prevent its spread provides invaluable lessons for the world in how to stem the spread of future potential pandemics.

It has also been noted by many foreign observers that China's victory in the elimination of extreme poverty through targeted poverty alleviation is likewise unprecedented and provides a model for similar programs throughout the world.

Premier Li explained that China's ability to avoid the negative effects of the pandemic was made possible by supporting those most severely affected, allowing the economy to quickly recover and regain its momentum. Many people abroad have also been impressed that despite the challenges it faced, China was still able to score breakthroughs in a wide variety of scientific and technical fields including space exploration, quantum computing, AI, and many other disciplines.

Any unbiased foreign observer must acknowledge that all these accomplishments are quite impressive when considering how ineffective the West has been in addressing COVID-19 and other long-standing social and economic problems.

Being from the U.S., China's ability to marshall its resources and solve problems both new and old seems extraordinary. The inadequate U.S. response to COVID-19 revealed many fissures in society that have festered for generations without being resolved. Systemic racism, health care, and educational inequities, intractable urban and rural poverty, income disparities, and many other social ills seem to be intractable as one American administration after another fails to effect any meaningful change.

In contrast, Premier Li outlined advances China made in providing social services, including housing, medical care, and educational opportunities for the Chinese people. The commitment and resolve of China in dealing with these issues shone through Premier Li's report. All of these successes provide the material basis for China's future endeavors which Premier Li continued to outline in his work report.

In the U.S., politicians talk a lot and promise voters what they want to hear, but seldom are their promises actually delivered. During the second part of Premier Li's report, he discussed the steps China will be taking in the coming year to build on the success of its anti-pandemic and poverty alleviation work. He outlined the measures that will be taken to promote balanced and sustainable economic growth, including support for small and medium-sized enterprises, rural revitalization, urban renovation, ecological restoration, and the creation of jobs for graduating university students. 

Support for all sectors of society will also be enhanced as the social security system, medical services and pensions will all be expanded. Given China's track record there is every reason to believe that the promises made will be kept.

Premier Li said that China is moving into a new era of economic and social development in which all factors must be mobilized to meet the Chinese people's desire for a better life. He acknowledged that China is still in the primary stage of socialism and faced many new challenges, but is on the threshold of a new era that will lead to the fulfillment of the Chinese dream of creating a modern, prosperous and strong socialist nation in which no one is left behind. 

There should be no question in anyone's mind that the Communist Party of China under President Xi Jinping's visionary leadership is charting a new course for China's future development. From a foreigners' vantage point there is every reason to believe that China will continue to advance and reach its goals.

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