Three decades ago, China’s commencement of reform and opening-up changed their lives.

Over the past 30 years, they followed different paths to success: One became a venerated diplomat; one became a highly-successful entrepreneur; and one became a world-renowned scientist.

Over the past 30 years, they witnessed China’s rapid evolution in the course of reform and opening-up. Behind their success is a nation now ever more stable and ever stronger.

A young Wu Jianmin.

June 2003: Jacques Chirac, then the president of France, awards Wu Jianmin with the Grand Officer, Legion of Honor, in recognition of his outstanding contribution to Sino-Franco relations.

2006: Attending a conference in Brussels in his role as president of China Foreign Affairs University, Wu Jianmin meets with former US Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger.

Wu Jianmin receives media interview.

2004: Serving as the chairman of the Bureau of International Expositions, Wu Jianmin addresses the Shanghai World Expo International Forum.

In 2003, after returning from France, he became president of China Foreign Affairs University, and he has since remained devoted to the education of Chinese diplomats.

In December 2003, Wu was elected as chairman of the Bureau of International Expositions (BIE), the first person of Asian birth to serve in the position, and he was later reelected in 2005. In November 2004, he was elected as a member of the European Academy of Sciences.

In 1978, the Third Plenary Meeting of the 11th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) heralded a tremendous change in all aspects of Chinese society, including diplomacy. Over the course of the following three decades, leaders of Western industry and governments progressed in their views of China. First there was doubt; then there was perceived threat; today the nation is increasingly considered to be a partner in global responsibility and peace.

Altering Adversity

From 1978 to 1989, the Cold War cloud hung over the globe and most Western nations viewed the former Soviet Union as their primary and potentially most dangerous competitor. For the most part, the West did not project that China would realize appreciable modernization in the near future. Throughout this period, China realized a total of $15 billion in foreign investment. Today, that figure is nearly $800 billion.

In 1983, I joined in the Policy Research Office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. At that time China relied on an underdeveloped telecommunication infrastructure. To remedy the obsolescence, the nation decided to import telecom equipment and technology from the West. The Belgium-based ITT Bell Company intended to establish a joint venture with China to manufacture program-controlled telephones. However, due to the technical barrier established by the Coordinating Committee on Export Controls, the project would have been aborted without the consent of the United States. Wu Xueqian, then foreign minister of China, asked the Belgian foreign minister to lobby the United States. Eventually, based in Shanghai, Bell Company established a telephone joint venture.

After the political turmoil between the spring and summer of 1989, Western countries imposed sanctions on China, and some mistakenly jumped to the conclusion the nation would soon collapse.

From January 1989 to December 1990, I worked with the Chinese embassy in Belgium and the Chinese Delegation to the European Commission (EC). After the 1989 political turmoil, high-ranking Belgian and EC officials closed the door on China. On many occasions, Chinese diplomats did not receive the official respect they rightly deserved.

Responsible Rise

In July 1997, a financial crisis was sweeping across Asia, and many Asian countries were forced to substantially depreciate their currencies. Of course, their respective stock markets dropped. It was then no surprise that some noted Western economists predicted the Asian economic miracle would come to an end.

The financial crisis also greatly hampered China’s economic growth. Many Western economists projected that China would depreciate its currency to recover. To their surprise, however, the Chinese government pledged that it would not do so. This action rescued Asian nations from a second round of currency depreciation.

The Chinese government also implemented measures to encourage domestic consumption. The year 1997 marked an important turning point in China’s economic development. Over the 11 years since 1997, the nation realized increasing levels of improvement in its infrastructure. In 1997, China had only 2,000 kilometers of expressways. Today, it has formed an expressway network, with a total length of 54,000 kilometers. Furthermore, China’s rapid growth has injected vigor to the economies of Asia. The prediction that Asia’s economic miracle would come to an end thus proved incorrect. Today, Asia boasts one of the most energetic economies in the world.

China’s performance in the Asian Financial Crisis brought the world to reconsider the Eastern country. From 1998 to 2003, while I served as the ambassador to France, I heard on many occasions that French officials, including Jean-Claude Trichet, then chief of the Bank of France and current president of the European Central Bank, praised China for its responsible actions in the face of the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis.

After the Asian Financial Crisis came to an end, the West realized that China’s emergence was inevitable. However, the theory that China would become a threat began to prevail in the West. This thinking was based on the Soviet model. That is: The former Soviet Union, under the leadership of the Communist Party, chose the road to aggressive expansion, so would China follow a similar path.

On September 21, 2005, at the National Committee on United States-China Relations, then US deputy secretary of state Robert B. Zoellick delivered a speech titled “Where Will China Go?” He stated that China should be accepted as a “responsible stakeholder” in the international system. The speech marked a fundamental change in how the West viewed the nation of China.

The annual World Economic Forum (WEF) held in Davos, Switzerland, is considered to be an event where one can take the pulse of the world. At the WEF Annual Meeting 2007, a seminar titled “What Kind of World Does China Want?” took place. Cheng Siwei, vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of China, attended, together with many celebrated politicians and experts from Europe and America. Perhaps this was the first time since the 1840 Opium War that Western countries posed such a question to China.

The year 2008 brought to realization the long-cherished dream of the Chinese people: To host the Olympic Games. Some 4.5 billion people across the world watched the Games on TV. I personally heard many times foreigners from America, Europe and Japan speak highly of the Games, as well as of China’s remarkable contributions to the international event.

Although some Westerners still misunderstand China, none can deny that the nation is advancing and continuing to contribute to world peace and development.