The Cyrillic Mongolian editions of two books by Chinese President Xi Jinping are unveiled in Mongolia on Dec 2, 2024. [Photo/Chinese Embassy in Mongolia]

When Chilean President Gabriel Boric met with President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the 31st APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Lima, Peru, in November, he unexpectedly picked up a Spanish edition of the fourth volume of Xi Jinping: The Governance of China from the table and invited the Chinese president to sign it.

The Latin American leader got the book from the Santiago International Book Fair held in Santiago, Chile, a few days ahead of their meeting. Of course, his wish was granted.

Boric was one of the millions of foreign readers of the book since the first volume of Xi Jinping: The Governance of China was published in 2014. The series now has expanded to five volumes and has been translated into 42 languages.

According to an official statement issued on Wednesday, the fifth volume has been published by Foreign Languages Press in both Chinese and English and is now available at home and abroad.

The latest volume contains a compilation of 91 spoken and written works of Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, from May 27, 2022, to Dec 20, 2024, along with 41 photographs taken during this period of time. It is divided into 18 sections by topic.

Now available in over 180 countries and regions worldwide, statistics showed that the series of volumes has become the most widely translated, most broadly distributed, and most influential work by a world leader.

Many foreign leaders and experts have hailed the series of volumes for offering key insights into the "China miracle", saying that China's remarkable achievements have inspired many developing countries to explore development paths suited to their own national conditions.

In a foreword written for the Uzbek version of the book's first volume, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev said it is "a book that contains the profound political thoughts of this influential leader of a major country, and his analysis of the complexities of the current trends in globalization".

"Today's China has astonished the international community with its rapid yet stable development. Over a very short period it has grown into a locomotive of the world economy. Therefore, our people and our readers should consider themselves fortunate in having the opportunity to read President Xi's book in our native language," he wrote.

Rajan Bhattarai, a reader of the book and head of Nepal's Bagmati province, where the South Asian country's capital Kathmandu is located, said that China's unprecedented development trajectory over the past four-and-a-half decades has significantly altered global narratives.

"It offers new models of governance efficiency, effective poverty alleviation, and increasingly, leadership in technological innovation and high-tech advancement," he said.

During a readers' forum held in Dhaka, Bangladesh, in May, Shafiqul Alam, press secretary to the chief adviser of the country's interim government, said that by reading the book, people in Bangladesh can better understand and learn from China's approach to governance, as well as gain insights into how China has achieved remarkable success in poverty alleviation and development.