China is undergoing globally significant transformations and providing the world with more public goods, says a U.S. scholar on China.

With the Communist Party of China (CPC) as its backbone, a rising China "would have a tremendous impact on the world," Khairy Tourk, a professor with the Stuart School of Business of the Illinois Institute of Technology, told Xinhua in a recent interview.

VISION AND TOOLS

Speaking highly of China's achievements in the past five years, Tourk noted that China has maintained a spectacular pace of economic growth, kept the yuan stable amid many difficulties, reduced its debt, and adopted innovative strategies.

Meanwhile, thanks to its long-running civilization, China has developed a unique disposition of patience and pragmatism, enabling the country to achieve its economic miracle in three decades and build a moderately prosperous society in a gradual way, he said.

The professor noted that China's per capita income was less than 200 U.S. dollars in 1979, but it is now more than 8,500 dollars. "This is a huge success," he commented.

"What makes China different from other nations is that it always has a long vision and it has tools to implement and transit the vision to reality," Tourk said.

"EXTREMELY POSITIVE" INFLUENCE

With its economy going through important structural reforms, China is expected to become a strong industrial nation by 2025 and a knowledge-intensive country on a par with other advanced nations by 2049, Tourk predicted.

As China focuses on producing sophisticated technological products, many of the labor-intensive industries and heavy industry plants will move from China to other nations, he said, adding that this will help reshape the global supply chain.

He noted that even though its per capita income is not as high as those of advanced nations, China is already providing the world with public goods, such as sending peacekeepers, fighting piracy, and sending medical missions to really poor countries to take care of the people who cannot afford to have good medical treatment.

"China has already had tremendous influence in other nations," he said.

Another of China's contributions to the world is the increase of Chinese tourists overseas, he pointed out, noting that the number has skyrocketed to hundreds of millions today since the start of China's opening-up in 1978.

"Can you imagine the number of tourists China will send to the world when its per capita income doubles (from the 2010 level), which is going to happen very soon in 2020?" Tourk said.

"China's influence on the world is extremely positive and overreaching, and all of these are done in an environment of peace and harmony," he added.

"GREATEST PROJECT IN HISTORY"

Another Chinese move that will influence the world is the Belt and Road Initiative, said Tourk, referring to a vision proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping to link Asia with Europe and Africa with trade and infrastructure along and beyond the ancient Silk Road trade routes.

China will help countries, mainly developing ones, along the Belt and Road build modern infrastructure and industrial facilities, he said. "We should expect the welfare of developing nations as well as advanced nations would improve."

Calling it "the greatest project in history," he said the initiative is to become the "engine of growth in the future" and "have the most influence on the world economy in the long run."

So far over 100 nations and international organizations have expressed support for the initiative, and dozens of them have signed cooperation agreements with China.

The initiative, Tourk pointed out, is likely to help the involved countries lift their infrastructure and industry to degrees that have never been experienced in history.

"The West is no longer capable of providing the input to global growth, as its productivity has been growing at slow pace," he said, noting that China, which has the ability to keep its economy growing and allows other nations to share this growth, is the only hope.

"The Chinese future now goes with other nations' dreams," said Tourk, citing China's aspiration to build a community of shared future for all mankind.

"BACKBONE OF CHINA"

In China's achievements, the CPC plays a very important role, said the professor, adding that the party is a product of China and a combination of the country's many experiences in the past.

"China is a huge country and the CPC is the backbone of China," he said. "It provides the country with a vision, and transits this vision into the reality."

Impressed by how open the CPC is in dealing with challenges, he said the openness, along with resilience and adaptability, has ensured the survival of the CPC, which was founded in 1921.

Noting that Xi, who is also general secretary of the CPC, calls upon party members to be role models for others, he said "this is the development of the party with unique Chinese characteristics."

As regards the upcoming 19th National Congress of the CPC, set to open on Oct. 18 in Beijing, he said he expects China to be "more open in the future," which will help increase China's inbound and outbound investment.

"I'm very optimistic about China," Tourk said. "I think other parties should look at the CPC and learn from its experience of how to deal with both domestic challenges and foreign challenges."