SANTIAGO, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- China has been developing by leaps and bounds over the past few decades and its success can serve as a model for other countries, said former Chilean Ambassador to China Fernando Reyes Matta.
This year marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. In just seven decades, the country that had suffered invasions and extreme poverty was able to turn things around, said Reyes Matta, who served as Chilean ambassador to China from 2006 to 2010.
"It made a historic transformation like no other country ... jumping from one level of socio-economic development to another," he told Xinhua in a recent interview.
This is why China has key influence in the development of both the global economy and globalization, said the former diplomat, who is now the director of the Center for Latin American Studies on China at Chile's Andres Bello University.
Actively involved in exchange activities between Chile and China, the veteran expert has also been trying to present China's development to the world, including the publication in 2017 of a book titled "China, Innovation and Tradition."
"The technological transformation the world is undergoing has different players, but there is one player that is fundamental, and we all know that it is China," he said.
Asked about the relationship between the East and West, Reyes Matta cited two great philosophers, Confucius and Socrates, whose thinking helped shape societies in their respective regions.
While the two thinkers sprang from different cultures and circumstances, they had "things in common" and so do the world's different regions, he noted.
As societies become increasingly technological and interconnected, they are also bound to grow closer, added the scholar.
Against that background, Chile has endorsed the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative, aimed at spurring global growth and inter-regional integration, he said.
He noted that Chilean President Sebastian Pinera and his predecessor, Michelle Bachelet, respectively attended the 2019 and 2017 edition of the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing.
Commenting on China's success, Reyes Matta said the Chinese experience in driving development during the past 70 years can serve as a model for other countries.
By striking a balance between the state, market and society, China is demonstrating the possibility of "creating new forms of contemporary governance," he said.
This model is "perhaps the biggest contribution" that the Chinese approach has made to the rest of the world in recent years, he added.
