Boris Tadić, former President of Serbia gave a video speech at the plenary meeting of the 9th World Forum on China Studies held on October 18.

The following are excerpts from Tadic's speech：
When we talk about China’s success, we can line-up and enumerate fascinating numbers and illustrations of Chinese achievements, but in my opinion, above all these figures it is important to point at the wider picture in which China is changing the whole world.

Giving a new meaning to the term modernisation, China is offering a role model to the whole world that has been stuck for a long time in the trap where the traditional Western meaning of modernisation does not respond to contemporary challenges anymore. In other words, regardless of the fact that modernisation as a theory, vision and practice has its origins in the West, I believe we are facing a revolution where it will be reborn and transformed in Chinese ideological and practical implementation.

Let us recall at this point, the thoughts of Confucius, who said that only great inequality is worse than poverty. And that is exactly why the time has come for a New Global doctrine of Harmonization, which is a precondition for sustainability and global peace, not just development.

While not denying the enormous contribution of Western civilization to the overall development of the world, we must bear in mind the terrible sufferings and problems that the same world faced during global and regional wars and the huge socio-economic differences resulting from neoliberal political philosophy and global order in which humanity still functions today.

Every country has the right to choose its own modernization path. The Chinese model of modernization offers a new option to other countries and nations who want to speed up their development while preserving their independence. It also offers Chinese wisdom and a Chinese approach to solving the problems facing humanity.