US scholar 'impressed by openness of Chinese people

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-10-16 10:50

NEW YORK -- David Shambaugh, a well-known expert on contemporary Chinese affairs, said recently in an interview with Xinhua that he was deeply impressed by the openness of the Chinese people and government.

"First of all, what has impressed me most about the reform process is the openness of the Chinese people and government to learn from abroad and to embrace the globalization process," said Shambaugh, director of The China Policy Program at George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs.

Professor Shambaugh is also a nonresident senior fellow in the Foreign Policy Studies Program at The Brookings Institution.

Since the late 19th century, "China has sought to selectively learn from abroad," he said. "But in this latest phase of China's century-long search for modernization, the learning from abroad has been far more comprehensive than ever before."

Speaking of Deng Xiaoping, the architect of China's reform and opening up that was initiated 30 years ago, Shambaugh noted that "Deng Xiaoping had great wisdom not only to engage in 'gaige' (reform in Chinese), but especially 'kaifang' (opening up in Chinese)."

In the process, China has adapted many foreign procedures to its own national conditions -- and this has served to stimulate innovation in a wide variety of fields, he said.

Shambaugh, a widely published author, also spoke highly of the role that the Communist Party of China (CPC) has played in this project of reform and opening up.

"The CCP created the conditions for reform and opening up -- but it has been the Chinese people themselves that have accomplished it," he added.