China News Service, Beijing, Oct. 11 (Wu Xinni) — Zlatko Lagumdzija, former Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, stated in Beijing on the 11th that the world at large is closely watching China's development miracle. What impresses him most, however, is the long-term thinking China has demonstrated amid a rapidly changing world.

The Tongzhou Global Development Forum (2026), hosted by Renmin University of China, opened in Beijing on the 11th. In an interview with China News Service on the sidelines of the forum, Lagumdzija shared his insights from multiple visits to China.

“The speed of China's development and transformation across all sectors, including economy, education and healthcare, is like nothing I have seen anywhere else in the world,” said Lagumdzija. He noted that in today's world, some politicians fix their sights only on winning the next election, whereas China takes a decades-long perspective and plans for long-term development.

When Lagumdzija first visited China in 2002, a new airport was being planned and built in Shanghai. The Chinese side showed him part of the plans for the new airport, as well as a site several times its size. “They told me this was reserved for the next phase of construction,” Lagumdzija recalled. Looking back on that experience today, he believes few countries in the world can think about the future on a 20 to 30-year time horizon the way China does.

In Lagumdzija's view, since the launch of reform and opening up, China has blazed a path no other country on the planet has ever taken. It is this long-termism that enables China to develop itself while selflessly assisting other countries around the world. “Because in the long run, a better world will benefit everyone,” he said.