On the morning of December 3, 2021, Prof. Tao Yitao was invited by China Institute for Innovation & Development Strategy (CIIDS) to attend, in an online manner, the 2021 “Understanding China” International Conference (Guangzhou). The event was co-sponsored by the CIIDS, Chinese People’s Institute of Foreign Affairs (CPIFA), People’s Government of Guangdong Province, and the Carter Center and organized by the People’s Government of Guangzhou Municipality. She delivered a speech in the conference. Prof. Tao is director of China Center for Special Economic Zone Research (CCSEZR), Shenzhen University and president of the Belt and Road Research Institute (Shenzhen) for International Cooperation and Development (BRRI).
The conference has been successfully held in Beijing and Guangzhou for five sessions since 2013. The conference was highly valued by the Chinese central government. President Xi Jinping personally met with international attendees and sent congratulatory letters three times, respectively, and Premier Li Keqiang, Zhang Gaoli, Liu He, Li Xi, Yang Jiechi, Huang Kunming and other party and state leaders attended the opening ceremony and delivered speeches. The conference has become an important platform to introduce the major policies of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and China and to communicate between China and the world.
Prof. Tao delivered her speech with the theme of “Special Economic Zone and the Reform Wisdom of the Communist Party of China” from four aspects: “The China's Path”, “Special Economic Zones and China's Path", "Special Economic Zones and China's Progressive Reform", and “The Reform Wisdom of the CPC Testified by Shenzhen Miracle". She stated that special economic zones (SEZs) are no longer a mere product of special policies or even a stopgap measure, but a logical starting point for the change of China's social system and China's Path. It forms an important connotation of China's Path. It can even be said that there would be no practice of China's reform and opening-up without the establishment of SEZs; no universal establishment and development of socialist market economy without the demonstration of SEZs; no exploration of China's Path without the "pilot implementation" of SEZs; no accumulation of development in comprehensively building a moderately prosperous society in all respects without the pioneering and leading of SEZs; and no solid institutional and material power to realize the Chinese Dream without the expansion and innovation of SEZs. She pointed out that the growth history of Shenzhen was not only the development of this young city, but also the exploration of China in institutional change, the struggle of the Chinese nation for becoming rich and powerful, and a unique development path indicated by the Chinese people's unremitting efforts towards modernization. The short growth history of Shenzhen recorded and witnessed the practice of China's reform and opening-up for more than 40 years. If Shenzhen miracle testifies the reform wisdom of the CPC, then the successful practice of China’s reform and opening-up demonstrates the power of the CPC’s ideology and path. The power of this ideology and path will be engraved in the development history of the CPC as a precious institutional wealth.
