It's hoped that the international community would be wise enough to "embrace China with respect and an offered hand of friendship" rather than "a sense of rivalry, suspicion and fear," a former U.S. state legislator has said.
Greg Cusack, a former member of the Iowa House of Representatives, spoke "very positively" of China's efforts to help other countries fight the COVID-19 pandemic, and of the country's vision of building a community with a shared future for mankind.
"Wouldn't a 'community of shared future for humankind' be great? That was the kind of dream that fueled my efforts throughout my life," Cusack told Xinhua in a recent interview.
Earlier in March in an article published by Shanghai Daily earlier, he noted that the pandemic reminded people of "how we are intimately linked as human beings despite our being of different nationalities."
"How I wish we could extend this lesson to other fields as well: we all have so much to gain by working together for common goods rather than engaging in futile quarreling," wrote the politician.
He also believed that what China has done over the past 50 years is "one of the greatest success stories of which I know," and the world need to "learn a few things from China."
"What China has done in the past 50 years is incredible, moving from a largely rural society of great poverty and suffering from decades of war to already substantially becoming a 'moderately prosperous' society," he noted.
Specifically, Cusack mentioned that China's pledge and determination to reduce poverty has impressed him greatly.
"One of the most impressive things about China's goals has been how its leaders have publicly pledged to severely reduce, if not entirely eliminate, poverty within just a few years," he said.
"In such a society ... I believe that far more of the people will genuinely prosper, attaining the realization of what Thomas Jefferson called the pursuit of happiness," he added.
Overall, the former official pointed out that China's "government-directed approach to tackling poverty and encouraging wide-spread development" should be studied by other countries.
In terms of global issues, he hopes China will continue to encourage the rest of the world to build the kind of working partnership "we desperately need if we are to have a chance" in combatting global warming.
As China's annual "two sessions" are underway, Cusack said he follows the subjects discussed in the meetings and is curious to see "how recent developments are handled and what resolution or action steps come from them."
The "two sessions" are the country's key annual political sessions of the National People's Congress and the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, which have been postponed until this week because of the COVID-19 epidemic.
"Since China has risen to such prominence in the world already, every decision China makes has significance for, and probable impact upon, the rest of us," he said.
