A guest reads a think tank report titled "Answering the Questions of Our Time: The Global Significance and Practical Value of China's Public Intellectual Goods," during the opening ceremony of the 2025 Global South Media and Think Tank Forum in Kunming, southwest China's Yunnan Province, Sept. 6, 2025. The report was released on Saturday during the opening ceremony of the 2025 Global South Media and Think Tank Forum by Xinhua Institute, a think tank affiliated with Xinhua News Agency. (Xinhua/Gao Yongwei)

KUNMING, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- A new think tank report underscoring China's contributions to global public intellectual goods was released on Saturday during the opening ceremony of the 2025 Global South Media and Think Tank Forum in southwest China's Yunnan Province, drawing strong resonance among scholars from Global South countries.

The report, titled "Answering the Questions of Our Time: The Global Significance and Practical Value of China's Public Intellectual Goods," was released by Xinhua Institute, a think tank affiliated with Xinhua News Agency.

The report says that achieving modernization is the right and inevitable choice for the people of all countries -- and the key lies in finding development paths that suit their specific national conditions and the laws governing human social progress.

Chinese modernization, rooted in China's national conditions and drawing on the outstanding achievements of human civilization, offers the world a new model of modernization. It has rewritten the paradigm of global modernization and created a new form of human advancement, according to the report.

"There is no single path to modernity. Every nation has the right to follow its own course, drawing on its own history, while engaging openly with others," said Ambreen Jan, vice minister of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of Pakistan, at the forum held in the city of Kunming.

The report also highlights the broad relevance of China's new development philosophy -- innovation, coordination, green development, openness and shared benefits, noted Sun Ming, vice president of the Academy of Contemporary China and World Studies.

Sun added that innovation-driven growth has revitalized China's economy and sparked technological breakthroughs, offering important insights for Global South countries pursuing industrial upgrading and economic competitiveness.

Chinese modernization represents a significant leap beyond the theories and practices of Western-style modernization, shattering the myth that "modernization equals Westernization," and offering valuable lessons for other countries, especially those in the Global South, as they strive to address development challenges and achieve prosperity and progress, the report says.

China's modernization demonstrates that there is no single universal model for development. Instead, it underscores a comprehensive path built on development prioritization, state guidance, shared benefits, openness and cooperation, and ecological sustainability, said Koh King Kee, president of the Center for New Inclusive Asia in Malaysia.

China's approach offers Global South countries a way to avoid past pitfalls and provides a new frame of reference for exploring alternative forms of modernization worldwide, Koh King Kee added.

Hamed Vafaei, director of the Asia Research Center at the University of Tehran in Iran, highlighted China's sustainable and inclusive development models tailored to Global South needs, which challenge Western neoliberal frameworks -- prioritizing local contexts over one-size-fits-all policies.

Chinese modernization is firmly people-centered, a key concept in the report, which is echoed by Shamsun Nahar Khan, executive editor of United News of Bangladesh.

"Modernization must be people-centered, driving growth while protecting cultural identity, social cohesion and sustainability. By adopting people-centered modernization pathways, countries can ensure that growth is inclusive, sustainable and reflective of Southern priorities," Shamsun Nahar Khan said. ■