For over 30 years, Robert Lawrence Kuhn, a renowned expert on China and the President of the Kuhn Foundation, has been studying China’s development, especially for the process of China’s reform and opening up. Kuhn was awarded the China Reform Friendship Medal in 2018.

China has brought about 100 million people out of abject poverty since 2012. Nowhere else could make such mega-projects work as they worked in China. And China’s success is due to the leadership and organizational capacity of the Communist Party of China (CPC), said Kuhn in an exclusive interview granted to the Southern Metropolis Daily.

Southern Metropolis Daily: What do you think of China's changes over the past century?

Robert Lawrence Kuhn: I have given deep thought over the years as to what has brought about China’s development miracle, and I consider some principles as follows.

Firstly, people in China all work hard to improve their lives and the destiny of their country. Also, the government solicits and pays attention to people’s opinions, and it is good at setting long-term goals, mid-term objectives, and short-term policies.

Southern Metropolis Daily: This year marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China. How do you evaluate the leadership wisdom of the CPC?

Robert Lawrence Kuhn: I think one good example is China winning the war to eradicate extreme poverty.

China’s targeted poverty alleviation campaign's success brought about 100 million people out of abject poverty since 2012. Nowhere else could make such mega-projects work as they worked in China. And the reason they worked is that the party-led system works for mega-projects.

The operational leadership of the CPC - not just giving directives and making pronouncements, but implementing programs and operating projects through the CPC organizational structure - central government and five levels of local government (provincial, municipal, county, township, village).

Also, the CPC Central Committee leaders set an example that local leaders and officials follow. Almost everywhere they go, they stress poverty alleviation and encourage party officials to visit impoverished areas regularly to interact with poor people directly.

Southern Metropolis Daily: How do you evaluate China's performance in fighting against the COVID-19 pandemic?

Robert Lawrence Kuhn: Due to pandemic control, China’s mobilization was unprecedented in global health history: locking down Wuhan and neighboring cities; house-to-house temperature checks; postponing hundreds of millions of travelers' return to work after the Lunar New Year break.

In early February 2020, soon after Wuhan was locked down, I went on record in the media, expressing confidence that China would contain the escalating epidemic.

I based my confidence not on the prophetic gift but my knowledge of China. I saw revealing parallelism between China winning the war to control the epidemic and winning the battle to eradicate extreme poverty. The common root was the leadership and organizational capacity of the CPC.

Southern Metropolis Daily: What do you think of the future of the China-US relationship?

Robert Lawrence Kuhn: This year also marks the 50th anniversary of Ping-Pong Diplomacy between China and the US. I have long stated that the bilateral relations between China and the US affect the entire world.

I advocate being candid, with each side stating to the other side what it believes. Those of us on both sides believe that good US-China relations are in the best interest of the American and Chinese people and critical for the peace and prosperity of the entire world.

 

For more:

Martin Jacques: China’s path could be an example for developing countries

Stephen Perry: The experience of China's dealing with the poverty of great value to the world

Yves Leterme: China’s new 5-year plan a bold step

Bruce Haigh: The CPC has been a force for change

 

Author | Weng Anqi，Yu Yijing，Xiang Xueni

English version | Will

English editor| Wing, Nan, Jerry