Editor's Note: A seminar titled "Advancing world common modernizations with Chinese modernization: Prospects for the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) period" was held in Beijing on April 17. It was co-hosted by the Academy of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, Renmin University of China and RUC Press, in collaboration with the China Public Diplomacy Association. At the seminar, Wang Yiwei's book The Global Commitment of Chinese Modernization: Building a Community with a Shared Future for Humanity was released. Four experts shared their insights on the subject.

Navigating external risks toward modernization

With the world economy in recession, international financial markets in turmoil, global exchanges constrained, globalization facing headwinds, protectionism and unilateralism on the rise, and geopolitical risks escalating, China is pursuing modernization in an increasingly uncertain world. To ensure sustainability, it is crucial to maintain strategic resolve and guard against systemic risks in the global context.

External risks are no longer isolated frictions; they are interconnected and spreading along industry chains. These include technological dominance, bans on chips, and restrictions on artificial intelligence computing power imposed by high-tech nations, all aimed at confining China to the lower end of global industry, supply, and value chains.

Moreover, moves toward decoupling, "de-risking", and "friend-shoring" aim to undermine China's role as the world's factory. Heightened geopolitical risks can threaten shipping lanes such as the Strait of Hormuz, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and the Strait of Malacca, potentially disrupting the supply of energy, food and raw materials.

From a macroeconomic perspective, the global recovery remains sluggish, with persistent inflationary pressures and protectionism, shrinking external demand, and stalled traditional growth drivers of export-oriented models.

In emerging domains such as cyberspace, the deep sea, polar regions, outer space and biosecurity and in areas that lack clear legal and regulatory frameworks, China faces strategic encirclement and an overstretched concept of national security.

Several factors contribute to these challenges. Chinese modernization — an initiative of unprecedented scale involving 1.4 billion people — represents a reconfiguration of global resources. Sluggish growth in the global existing markets has heightened anxiety among traditional powers concerned about the potential erosion of their advantages.

At the same time, the achievements of Chinese modernization, which demonstrate that developing countries can independently choose their own paths to development, are viewed by some major powers as a "systemic challenge". Moreover, modernization has inherent vulnerabilities. Modern and integrated social systems depend heavily on energy, information, and logistics, making them far more susceptible to massive disruptions than pre-modern societies.

In response, three significant shifts are underway in China. First, the external pressure in the high-tech sector has reduced reliance on foreign technology and fostered nationwide endogenous innovation, support for domestic substitutes and the return of scientific research talent.

Second, concerns over issues such as energy security have heightened awareness of the need to build strategic depth, aligning with national strategic reserves, advancing the development of China's western region and cultivating new quality productive forces.

Third, skepticism about the fairness of the Western financial system is growing, as evidenced by concerns over asset security following arbitrary sanctions.

Confronted with these pressures, the country must shift its development drivers.

The first should be self-reliance. Building greater resilience and the capacity to withstand stress will allow Chinese modernization to take firm root.

Chinese modernization is transitioning from a reactive response to proactive evolution, reflecting a collective endeavor in human advancement.

Strategies to address risks include maintaining full control over technological and industrial systems to counter external technological encirclement. Establishing a strong foundation for energy and food security through diversified alternatives is also crucial. Ultimately, effective crisis management and strategic resolve are necessary to prevent sporadic regional conflicts from escalating into a war that could derail the global modernization process.

Modernization is a marathon.

For China, intensifying external risks serve as a crucible for growth. The key lies in leveraging the current period of peace to move toward self-sustaining development.

Western modernization inherently flawed

Western nations have long dominated the discourse on modernization, leading many scholars to view Westernization as the sole pathway to modernization.

However, amid global transformations, the inherent drawbacks of this approach — characterized by five defining features — are becoming increasingly apparent. First, the global economic growth momentum is weakening. Even before the war between the United States and Iran, the World Bank had projected in 2023 that average annual growth rate through 2030 would be merely around 2.2 percent.

Second, the pitfalls associated with democracy are becoming evident. Political polarization is intensifying, and populism is on the rise. Support for certain populist forces in the European Parliament has increased from around 7 percent in 1998 to over 25 percent in 2018.

Third, social progress is stagnant. Economic development is uneven, societies are deeply fractured, and the wealth gap continues to widen.

French economist Thomas Piketty argues that wealth inequality in developed Western nations has approached levels not seen since the peak of the early 20th century.

Fourth, there is chaos in global governance. Unilateralism and hegemonism are rampant. Institutional reforms, such as those needed for the United Nations, face significant obstacles, while the US has withdrawn from numerous key international organizations, hindering effective global governance.

Fifth, safety risks have been overshadowed by escalating debt risks, and non-traditional crises are occurring more frequently and with greater intensity. For example, in 2025, the average debt level among G7 nations was 123.2 percent, with the highest reaching 250 percent.

Moreover, the majority of developing countries that adopted Western models after World War II have struggled to achieve full modernization, with many experiencing stagnation in their development.

The World Bank has highlighted this issue in two special reports on the "middle-income trap", noting that out of more than 100 countries, only a dozen or so have successfully transitioned from middle-income to high-income status.

Critical reflections on Western modernization by both Chinese and foreign scholars have a long history. In the early 20th century, Liang Qichao, a prominent Chinese thinker, critiqued the limitations of Westernization in his book based on his observations in Europe.

In the 21st century, American scholar Francis Fukuyama discussed the developmental challenges facing Western nations, while Piketty argued that Western free-market economies are inherently unable to fully address issues like inequality.

The limitations of Western modernization provide reference for China's explorations. Chinese modernization presents an alternative pathway to modernity, embodying both the general laws of modernization and its distinctive characteristics.

The Chinese government has clearly articulated an integrated framework of Chinese modernization covering goals, features, pathways, tasks and measures as well as the forces for advancement.

The role of the economy is crucial, as economic progress is the foundation of overall modernization. Advancing Chinese modernization is a systematic endeavor, with economic development serving as the cornerstone and key driver of this process.

Agricultural and rural development key to modernization drive

Agricultural and rural modernization is the most challenging aspect of Chinese modernization. To realize comprehensive modernization, it is essential to ensure that this does not become a constraint.

A defining achievement was China's eight-year battle against poverty from 2012 to 2020, which lifted nearly 100 million people out of destitution. Only when this was achieved did the country build a moderately prosperous society in all respects.

China is now implementing a three-pronged strategy for agricultural and rural modernization: new industrialization, new urbanization, and all-round rural vitalization.

New industrialization — exemplified by rapid advances in robotics and AI — is progressing swiftly. However, China still has 450 million rural residents. Over the next decade, around 200 million people are expected to migrate from the countryside to cities.

It is crucial to focus on how new industrialization can benefit this vast number of rural migrant workers, helping them establish roots in urban areas and integrate into the evolving industrial landscape.

China's urbanization rate is now 67 percent. The country currently boasts a middle-income group of around 400 million people, a figure that is expected to double to 800 million, with the greatest potential for growth among the rural population.

Additionally, many people still hold rural household registrations while living and working in cities. China has robust policy frameworks in place to support these individuals in establishing a stable urban presence, although the complete transition may take two to three generations to achieve.

The third is all-round rural vitalization. To fully achieve Chinese modernization, agriculture and rural areas must be developed robustly. This is why the country has prioritized agricultural and rural development as a fundamental principle.

Even in Beijing, where the agricultural population is relatively small, significant attention is given to issues concerning agriculture, rural areas and rural residents.

Rural areas in the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta and some suburban areas of major cities are catching up with their counterparts in economies such as Japan and the Republic of Korea.

For the vast rural populations in China's central and western regions, migration to cities and participation in new industrialization and urbanization remain essential pathways for engaging in Chinese modernization.

China's experience in advancing agricultural and rural modernization offers valuable lessons for addressing global challenges. Through its targeted poverty alleviation efforts, China has contributed to over 70 percent of global poverty reduction during this period.

Despite the challenges, China has both the capability and confidence to achieve agricultural and rural modernization.

The fact that large rural areas and the agricultural sector are still progressing toward modernization underscores that China remains a developing economy.

Chinese modernization carries global relevance

As a nation with an exceptionally long history, a massive population, and a legacy of poverty, as well as the world's only uninterrupted civilization, China has effectively addressed national development and civilizational continuity with Chinese modernization.

By forging a path tailored to its unique national conditions, China has dispelled the myth that modernization equates with Westernization. Instead of becoming a mere reflection of the West, China has achieved self-actualization on its own terms.

Today, Chinese modernization transcends the weaknesses of Westernization, giving rise to 10 significant relationships in the new era that merit reflection.

These relationships illustrate how Chinese modernization is reshaping China, the concept of modernization, and the world.

In achieving modernization, Europe positioned itself as modern and civilized, while labeling others as backward and barbaric. Similarly, the US' approach to modernization categorized nations into developed, developing and underdeveloped groups.

In contrast, Chinese modernization aims to achieve progress for all of humanity. It avoids the historical routes of colonization and exploitation, as well as the pursuit of hegemony, instead opting for a path of peaceful development.

Chinese modernization has inspired more countries in the Global South to pursue paths of development tailored to their own national conditions. This approach moves beyond unidimensional and alienated forms of modernization, as well as the linear models that often dismantle traditional cultures.

It also prompts the West to reflect on and refine its own models of modernization. Building on a strong foundation of confidence, Chinese modernization fosters a self-awareness that pushes modernization forward to drive globalization.

Through the Belt and Road Initiative, it unlocks the productive potential of the Global South, enhances global production relations, promotes shared modernization worldwide, builds a community with a shared future for humanity, and creates a new form of human advancement.

Chinese modernization emphasizes independence while embodying a vision of a shared future.

It fosters a global network of connectivity through the BRI to promote collective modernization for all humanity. This approach transforms the aspirations of people worldwide for a better life into reality, supporting their free and well-rounded development.

The views don't necessarily represent those of China Daily.