Introduction

The book, the Governance of China, by President Xi Jinping is a collection of his major work and wisdom on experiences, policies and perspective of the entire Communist Party's leadership, as well as vision for the future of world's most populous country, over the first two years in office. It is broad based and includes various dimensions of China's policies related to energy, economy, technology, environment, security, governance, corruption and international cooperation.

The 500-plus page book contains almost 80 speeches, talks, interviews, instructions and correspondence. It will contribute to interpreting the concepts and principles of governance of the CPC leadership, and it will help the international community to learn more about and better understand China's ideas, its path of development, and its domestic and foreign policies, and its response to international concerns about China as well as the future of China. The book is currently published in ten languages, namely simplified Chinese, traditional Chinese, English, French, Russian, Arabic, Spanish, Portuguese, German and Japanese. Khmer language edition of the book will be available in a very near future.

The book demonstrates the Chinese Dream, which, in essence, means making China prosperous and strong, rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, and happiness for the Chinese people. It is the dream of the country, of the nation, and of every Chinese, because it brings together the interests of the nation and of individual citizens. The book also emphasizes President Xi Jinping's strong confidence in socialism with Chinese characteristics, which consists of a path, theory and system. The path of socialism with Chinese characteristics is a way to reach the goal; the theory offers a guide to action; and the system provides a fundamental guarantee. He also believes that unique cultural traditions, historical experience, and national conditions determine that the Chinese must take a development path that suits Chinese characteristics.

To further build a stronger socialism with Chinese characteristics, President Xi Jinping presents his overall vision of deeper reform and opening up, in particular how reform will impact upon China's economy, politics, culture, society, ecology and national defense. He emphasizes that deeper reform and opening up is the only way to solve development problems, and that reform and opening up is always ongoing and will never end. To this end, a broad blueprint of reforms was developed, which includes more than 330 reform measures in 15 areas related to the economy, politics, culture, society, ecological progress and Party building.

After 36 years of rapid growth and development thanks to its reform and opening up, China now is the second largest economy in the world in terms of aggregate economic activity. If it is measured by Purchasing Power Parity (PPP), China is undoubtedly the first largest economy. Inevitably, China will in the very near future take first place. By 2020 the per capita income of urban and rural residents in China will be double that of 2010. With the ongoing reform and opening up suggested by President Xi Jinping, China will continue to improve and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics, and promote modernization of the state governance system and its governing capacity, so as to lay a solid foundation for the country's development in the long run. China will promote new industrialization, urbanization and agricultural development, and encourage investment and consumption.

China finds itself confronted by a series of challenges, such as unbalanced development, drawbacks in scientific and technological innovation, rising social conflict, gaps between rural and urban development and income, and corruption. If these problems are not solved, China's development will be hampered, and the Chinese Dream may not be materialized.

Several articles of the President's articles devote to his thinking and policy measures on improving work conducts and combating corruption. The new central leadership, committed to a policy of zero-tolerance with regard to corruption, is firm in its determination to catch both "tigers" and "flies", which is referred to high-ranking officials guilty of corruption as well as petty ones.

He stresses the importance of upholding responsibility, faith and determination. The President believes that to be responsible means to adhere to principles with a sense of responsibility and to have the courage to take resolute action when confronted by major issues of principle, to tackle difficulties head-on and never to shy away from conflict, to face all kinds of crises, to admit one's part in mistakes, and to resolutely fight against misconduct. For faith and determination, President Xi refers to political faith/firm beliefs and strategic determination.

Many articles in the book present the President's ideas on diplomacy and international relations. He has stressed on a number of occasions that we live in a global village, and should be conscious of our common destiny. He thinks that zero-sum thinking is outdated, and that we must blaze a new trail of win-win cooperation. He has also made win-win proposals, such as building a new model of major-country relationship; the Silk Road Economic Belt, and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. Concerning China's relations with other countries, the President highlights the path of China's peaceful development, that is, friendship, sincerity, reciprocity and inclusiveness.