Interview: Lebanon's main party leader hails China's global role
Xinhua
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China has played an important role in  solving international issues and provided opportunities for countries to revive their economy through the Belt and Road Initiative, a Lebanese politician said.

In a recent interview with Xinhua, Doureid Yaghi, vice president of Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party, a major party in Lebanon, said that China has undergone profound changes in its transformation toward a more innovative, powerful and prosperous country.

"Following true reforms that have led to China's development and growth in economy, the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) shows the consistency of the policy that China has embraced ... when it started the reform process," said Yaghi.

The success of China's policy is self-evident, since China has made a quantum leap forward over the past two decades, he added, expressing the hope that the 19th CPC National Congress' decisions will better boost China's development.

He also noted that China's engagement in international affairs is based on moral values and mutual respect, unlike Western countries, Yaghi said.

"Some voices often talk about democracy and freedom, while they only aim at incitement and divisions, and these models exist in our Arab World. The U.S. tanks entered Iraq to install democracy, and look where we have reached," Yaghi said.

With regard to China's foreign policies, the Lebanese politician said that as a permanent member of the United Nations (UN) Security Council, China has helped solve various international issues, based on the principle of noninterference in other countries' internal affairs and insistence on the use of peaceful means.

In particular, Yaghi expressed admiration for the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative, saying that it provides new development opportunities for participating countries that were once closely linked in history.

Proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013, the Belt and Road Initiative aims to promote trade, financial integration, infrastructure connectivity and people-to-people exchanges along and beyond the ancient Silk Road trade routes.

Once the Belt and Road infrastructure network is completed, there will be great opportunities for participating countries to revive their glories both in culture and economy, he added.

"The Silk Road is based on cultural and humanitarian exchanges, while the U.S. and Western communication with others is based on wars and selling weapons so that these people would fight each other. So which road is better? A road for wars and destruction or a road for civilization?" he asked.