While China took only four decades to become the world’s second largest economy, Western countries are amazed as it took them a long time to reach this level of economic development. It isn’t less than a miracle. The West had been extending its support and assistance to China, when China was rather poor. But today China has emerged as a rich country, with much better living standards, higher purchasing power, better health care and educational facilities and the West is rather jealous or just cannot digest this.

Recently, China is also emerging as a global geopolitical power. It has attracted worldwide attention and is on the world radar, especially in the West. Many nations are monitoring China closely. Friends are monitoring to learn about China's development and enemies are monitoring to curtail China.

Edelman Trust is a US based Non-Governmental Independent research organization. It publishes reports on various aspects globally and they are being used by many governments, organizations, and enterprises, etc., as foresight or guidance to formulate future strategies, plans, course of actions. In one of their recent published reports on China, it revealed that public trust has been enhanced in China, as stated below:

“The 2018 Edelman Trust Barometer revealed that China rose to the top of the Trust Index among the 28 markets that were surveyed, jumping seven points to 74 among the general population. China is also the market that saw the most significant increases in trust across all of the key institutions: governments, media outlets, NGOs and businesses.

This year’s results are unprecedented in the history of the study, with trust in its government China reached its highest recorded level. The Government experienced the most growth among the general population, jumping eight percentage points to 84 percent, and three percentage points to 89 percent within the informed public. In the survey, 68 percent of people believe that, of the four institutions, the government is most likely to lead the country to a better future. This is a genuine reflection of the general population’s confidence to both economic and social achievements in China.

In fact, during the past five years of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s government, China has achieved new dimensions of development. With the launch of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), opportunities of trade and development have increased tremendously. China’s domestic market was saturated and further development was rather slow, but the BRI has opened new markets and unlimited opportunities for Chinese enterprises. Chinese Enterprises are mature, experienced, and financially strong and are ready to engage in any overseas venture. The Chinese government has not only allowed, but encouraged them to promote business overseas. There are almost 70 countries who joined the BRI, which means there's a very big market to tap into.

China’s commitment to not only keeping on track of the open-door policy but to further open to the rest of world has globalized China. People are more confident and have more courage, and as a result, China’s global image has improved significantly. In 18th and 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, measures were taken to improve the internal systems and facilitate its citizens to grow further. The massive anti-corruption drive has also helped to get rid of unhealthy practices by a minority of greedy businessmen and corrupt officials.

Today, common citizens are enjoying a comfortable life, better food, state-of-the-art health care and educational facilities, better legal protection and much improved social life. People are happy and satisfied; in return, they trust the government. I believe the government is very sincere with the public and understands the problems and issues of common man, and tries its best to solve any issues. 

(Professor Zamir Ahmed Awan is a sinologist at the National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Islamabad, Pakistan, and a former diplomat of the Pakistani embassy in Beijing. The article reflects the author's opinion and not necessarily the views of CGTN.)