Joseph Lotfy

Writerjoe99@hotmail.com

AS an American, I understand China has a different political system.

How has Chinese President Xi Jinping fared since he took office? Since he became the general secretary of the Communist Party of China in 2012 and Chinese president in 2013, he has cracked down on bribery and corruption, built cooperations with other countries and proposed the Belt and Road Initiative, to name just a few.

Since I began to live in Shenzhen several years ago, I’ve seen firsthand how the rapid changes have elevated China’s morale and integrated higher standards. Xi has visited many countries and has encountered many different types of cultures. He has sought ways of implementing cultural diversity in China so as to make China a world class leader in tourism, safety, convenience, and modern design in order to attract expats and intellectuals.

His objectives for his tenure are enormous, and he started immediately by cracking down on bribery and corruption to eliminate any illegal activity that may cause a disaster. His team has investigated all of Chinese officials’ financial income and investments, and any member that accepts any bribery, abuses his power, or uses any other corrupt practices would face punishment. His team punished almost 300,000 officials in 2015, according to a BBC article. Anti-corruption is at the heart of his policy to create equal opportunities for all, and to lure talent from all around the world.

I read a quote once: “No relationship is all sunshine, but two people can share one umbrella and survive the storm together.” China would encounter difficult problems along the way by doing it alone, but by cooperating with other countries it will be able to weather any storm that comes against it. In several instances, wherever President Xi traveled, he was looking to cooperate in import and export commodities, technological advancement, sports and military improvement. At last year’s G20 summit in Hangzhou, President Xi met with Russian President Vladimir Putin to cooperate on infrastructure construction, energy, aviation, aerospace and high technology, and to strengthen bilateral military exchanges and security cooperation, according to a China Daily article. In my view, such cooperation creates a win-win situation.

A remarkable step which he has taken is the Belt and Road Initiative in 2013. Its objective is to build trade routes between China and countries in Central Asia, Europe and the Indo-Pacific’s littoral countries. The initiative has two parts: The “belt,” the land-based “Silk Road Economic Belt,” which will connect China with Central Asia and Europe, and the “road,” the sea-based “21st Century Maritime Silk Road,” which will connect China with South-East Asia, Africa and Central Asia.

The initiative, if successfully implemented, will yield astonishing results with at least 65 countries on the routes, which have 4.4 billion people and account for 40 percent of the global GDP. About US$1 trillion has been invested already with several trillion dollars to be invested in the coming decade. Progressive growth is needed not only for China, but other countries as well. I see Xi’s initiative as beneficial to the countries involved because one country cannot stand alone on its own feet without help from others.

While creating all these initiatives, he is also able to improve the Chinese economy and allow the people to have a better education system, better and more job opportunities, monthly income to support their family financially, and in return the people are spending money back into the economy.

Over the past several years, my love for China, Chinese culture and Chinese people has been growing. The dramatic changes that have taken place in China are amazing. As an American expat, I enjoy living in China and seeing the new opportunities arising.

Yes, there have been some problems — for example, the younger generations are spenders instead of the previous generation who are savers, and some young people take high-interest loans to purchase expensive consumer goods. But President Xi’s past performance can only prove that he will continue on to improve China by any means necessary.

(The author is a businessman and freelance writer from America.)