Qamar Bashir
Press Secretary to the President (Rtd)
Former Press Minister, Embassy of Pakistan to France
Former Press Attaché to Malaysia
Former MD, SRBC | Michigan, USA
Seventy-five years ago, on May 21, 1951, Pakistan became one of the earliest countries to establish diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China. Few could have imagined then that this bilateral relationship would evolve into one of the world’s most enduring strategic partnerships—surviving changing geopolitical landscapes, economic transformations, regional conflicts, and shifting global alliances.
Today, as both nations celebrate the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations, the friendship stands not merely as a testament to diplomatic continuity but as a remarkable example of mutual trust, shared respect, unwavering support, and common aspirations for peace and development.
Yet, the celebration of this milestone coincides with another extraordinary story—the unprecedented rise of modern China. Within the span of a few decades, China has transformed itself from one of the world’s poorest nations into the second-largest economy, the world’s largest manufacturing nation, the world’s largest trading country in goods, the global leader in high-speed rail, renewable energy, electric vehicles, digital commerce, and advanced infrastructure.
According to the World Bank, China has averaged annual economic growth of around 9 percent for more than four decades and lifted nearly 800 million people out of extreme poverty, accounting for more than three-quarters of global poverty reduction during that period. Few achievements in modern economic history rival this transformation.
As someone who has spent decades serving Pakistan in public communication, diplomacy, and strategic affairs—including as Press Secretary to the President of Pakistan and Press Minister at Pakistan’s Embassy in France—I have had the privilege of witnessing many societies at different stages of development. During my diplomatic assignment in Malaysia, I observed firsthand how visionary leadership transformed that country into one of Southeast Asia’s fastest-growing economies. Later, while serving in Europe, I travelled extensively across France and many other European nations and also visited Canada and the United States. Each represented different models of prosperity, governance, and technological advancement.
Here’s a stronger and more historically connected version of the paragraph. It naturally links your personal observation to Xi Jinping’s leadership in Fujian and sets up the rest of the article. (One factual refinement: Xi Jinping served in Fujian from 1985 to 2002, including as Governor of Fujian Province (1999–2002), before becoming Party Secretary of Zhejiang and later China’s top leader.)
However, my visits to China left an altogether different impression. In 2012, I was part of an official delegation that visited Fujian Province. China was already advancing rapidly, yet Fujian stood out even among China’s most dynamic provinces. We witnessed world-class highways, meticulously planned cities, modern ports, thriving industrial parks, advanced research institutions, efficient governance, and an impressive level of economic vitality. What struck me even more was the discipline of the people, the cleanliness of public spaces, and the remarkable harmony between rapid urbanization and environmental stewardship. Having just completed four years in Malaysia, itself regarded as a development success story, I found Fujian’s pace and scale of transformation truly exceptional.
Only later did I fully appreciate that much of what I had witnessed bore the imprint of Xi Jinping’s leadership. President Xi spent nearly eighteen formative years in Fujian, serving in a succession of senior leadership positions before becoming Governor of Fujian Province from 1999 to 2002.
During this period, he championed export-oriented growth, modernization of ports, improvement of transport infrastructure, ecological conservation, private-sector development, administrative efficiency, and greater openness to international investment.
Equally important, he emphasized balanced development, insisting that economic progress should advance alongside environmental protection and improvements in people’s quality of life. Many of the policies, governance practices, and development concepts he pioneered in Fujian would later reappear on the national stage after he assumed China’s highest leadership.
Looking back, my visit to Fujian was more than an opportunity to observe one of China’s most prosperous provinces; it was, in many respects, an early glimpse of the governing philosophy that President Xi would subsequently apply across the country.
The disciplined administration, integrated infrastructure, technological advancement, environmental consciousness, and people-centred development model that I observed in Fujian later became defining features of China’s broader modernization under his leadership. Understanding Fujian, therefore, provides an important window into understanding Xi Jinping’s vision for China’s national rejuvenation.
When I returned to China in 2024, the transformation was even more striking. The China I encountered was more technologically sophisticated, more environmentally conscious, and more confident than before. High-speed rail seamlessly connected distant cities. Electric buses and new-energy vehicles had become commonplace. Mobile payments had virtually replaced cash. Artificial intelligence, robotics, and digital technologies were integrated into daily life. Modern airports, innovation parks, smart manufacturing zones, and clean urban landscapes reflected not only economic prosperity but also a society embracing the future with confidence.
Such a transformation did not occur by chance. It was the outcome of long-term strategic planning, institutional continuity, disciplined governance, sustained investment in human capital, technological innovation, and above all, visionary leadership.
Under General Secretary Xi Jinping, China’s modernization entered a new phase—one focused not simply on rapid growth but on high-quality development, technological self-reliance, ecological sustainability, common prosperity, disciplined governance, and a more active role in global affairs.
To understand this transformation, one must read President Xi’s remarkable works—Xi Jinping: The Governance of China, Up and Out of Poverty, and Xi Jinping on the Belt and Road Initiative. Together, these books explain not merely policies but a comprehensive philosophy of governance.
In Xi Jinping: The Governance of China, President Xi repeatedly emphasizes that “the people are at the center” of national development. Economic growth is meaningful only when it improves people’s lives, strengthens social harmony, protects the environment, advances innovation, and ensures that prosperity is broadly shared.
The volumes discuss governance reform, Party discipline, ecological civilization, modernization, technological innovation, national rejuvenation, and China’s vision for international cooperation. Rather than presenting abstract theories, the books demonstrate how long-term planning, institutional discipline, and implementation can translate policy into measurable national progress.
The roots of this philosophy are deeply personal. Xi Jinping was born in Beijing on June 15, 1953. His father, Xi Zhongxun, was a respected revolutionary leader who later fell victim to political persecution during the Cultural Revolution. As a teenager, Xi Jinping experienced the hardship of political upheaval. At the age of fifteen, he was sent to Liangjiahe Village in Shaanxi Province, where he lived for seven years in a cave dwelling, performing manual agricultural labor alongside ordinary villagers.
Those years profoundly shaped his worldview. Rather than distancing him from the Chinese people, they immersed him in the realities of rural poverty. He experienced first-hand the absence of modern infrastructure, the difficulties of agricultural life, and the aspirations of ordinary citizens. These experiences, as reflected in his writings and speeches, convinced him that genuine governance must begin with understanding people’s everyday lives.
This philosophy is perhaps best illustrated in Up and Out of Poverty, a collection of Xi Jinping’s reflections during his leadership in Fujian Province. The book rejects the notion that poverty can be eliminated through temporary relief alone. Instead, it argues that sustainable development requires empowering people through education, infrastructure, healthcare, employment, industrial development, and local initiative. In essence, it advocates teaching people how to create lasting prosperity rather than simply providing short-term assistance.
China’s implementation of this philosophy has few historical parallels. Between 2012 and 2020, China completed what the United Nations described as the eradication of extreme rural poverty under its national standard. Nearly 100 million rural residents were lifted above that threshold through targeted poverty alleviation programs.
Millions of officials were deployed to villages to identify the precise causes of poverty for individual households. Assistance was tailored through vocational training, industrial development, relocation from inhospitable regions, improved education, healthcare, housing, and modern infrastructure. According to the World Bank, China’s broader poverty reduction since reform and opening-up remains the single largest contribution to global poverty reduction in recorded history.
This achievement illustrates one of the central themes running throughout The Governance of China: development succeeds when governments invest not merely in projects, but in people.
(To be continued in Part II.)
