Interview: China's modernization drive very impressive, says Turkish expert

Guven Sak, managing director of the Economic Policy Research Foundation of Türkiye (TEPAV), receives an interview with Xinhua in Ankara, Türkiye, on April 28, 2023.

China's long-term plan towards modernization has proven successful and the result is very impressive, said Guven Sak, managing director of the Economic Policy Research Foundation of Türkiye (TEPAV). (Photo by Mustafa Kaya/Xinhua)

ANKARA, April 30 (Xinhua) -- China's long-term plan towards modernization has proven successful and the result is very impressive, said Guven Sak, managing director of the Economic Policy Research Foundation of Türkiye (TEPAV).

The Turkish economist from TEPAV, an Ankara-based think tank, told Xinhua in a recent interview that China's modernization has changed the global political and economic landscape, and provides inspiration for other nations, especially developing ones, including Türkiye.

"China had an impressive performance in terms of growth, job creation, and structural transformation in the last 40 years," he stressed.

Sak pointed out that China has utilized the global environment for driving growth by opening up and getting more and more foreign direct investments in the context of a long-term plan by using all those means that globalization is providing.

"I think that China has achieved an impressive transformation process," Sak said.

Over the past several decades, China has been modernizing a country home to 1.4 billion people or one-fifth of the global population, to become the world's second-largest economy, said Sak, who also hailed the high-quality development of the Chinese economy through the deepening of opening-up.

"The planned modernization of China is a great success...as a result of this transformation process China has become a higher middle-income country," Sak stressed.

By going on this path, Sak noted, China has created an environment that is harmonious and sustainable between the state and its citizens.

"The Chinese modernization is an experiment that has produced results perfectly, continuously over the years," he said, praising the country for pushing forward for the well-being of its citizens.

"When I went to China about 10 years ago, I saw a developing country that has solved all of its infrastructure problems in such a short span of time. It was very impressive," he said.

"Now what we are seeing in this whole region are Chinese investments, and now China is a country that is investing more outside of China," Sak said.

China has learned how to produce many things, and now it is producing these things in other countries by making direct foreign investments in other countries, including Türkiye, he said.

The expert said that Chinese modernization provides a source of inspiration for the world, noting that it is important for different countries to pursue their own development paths with their own features. 

Guven Sak, managing director of the Economic Policy Research Foundation of Türkiye (TEPAV), receives an interview with Xinhua in Ankara, Türkiye, on April 28, 2023.

China's long-term plan towards modernization has proven successful and the result is very impressive, said Guven Sak, managing director of the Economic Policy Research Foundation of Türkiye (TEPAV). (Photo by Mustafa Kaya/Xinhua)