World big enough for diverse systems to coexist

More than a year ago when the United States triggered a trade conflict with China, many expected the two sides to meet each other halfway and settle their differences and resume normal trading relations. But those expectations remained just expectations.

Despite facing many challenges in the past seven decades, China has registered fast and steady economic growth to become the world's second-largest economy. However, China's rapid socioeconomic development prompted some US (even a few Chinese) scholars to assume the country's governance system, too, would undergo a transformation - that China would increasingly resemble Western democracies, especially the United States which boasts a presidential form of government.

But that has not happened. Instead, the Communist Party of China has navigated the country through turbulent waters and further consolidated its standing in the international community.