TEXT: Communist Party of China (CPC) celebrates her 100th Founding anniversary on July 1, 2021. Since the existence, the CPC has being always committed to its original aspiration and founding mission of seeking happiness for the Chinese people and realizing the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, whether in good or bad times and perseveres in marching towards its goal, winning wholehearted support of the Chinese people. During the revolutionary wars, in order to win national independence and people's liberation, it led the people to succeed in the New Democratic Revolution and established the People's Republic of China, and made it possible for the people to be the masters of the country after years of painful struggle.
After the founding of the People's Republic, in order to modernize the country, it has been leading her people to establish socialism as China's fundamental system and advance socialist construction by working hard and rising to challenges. During the years of promoting reform, opening up, and socialist modernization, the CPC led the Chinese people to open up a socialist path with Chinese characteristics by freeing the mind and seeking truth from facts, and enable the country to catch up with, and stand proud among, the nations of the world. Now in the new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics, Chinese people are closer to, more confident, and more capable than ever before of making national rejuvenation a reality. The followings are the valuable experience from 100 years of the CPC.
First, adhere to adapting Marxism to the Chinese context.
The CPC has always taken Marxism as its guide to action, insisted on combining the basi principles of Marxism with China's specific reality, and constantly promoted to adapt Marxism to the Chinese context, and constantly opened up new horizons of Marxism, resulting in Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory, the Theory of Three Represents, the Scientific Outlook on Development, and Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era.
The great era calls for great ideas, great ideas lead the great era. Since the Party’s 18th National Congress, the CPC Central Committee, with Xi Jinping as the core, has put forward a series of groundbreaking new ideas and new strategies in the great practice of leading the whole Party and the whole country to promote the cause of the party and the country, and created the Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. In the face of the severe and complicated international situation and the difficult and heavy task of domestic reform, development and stability, under the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, the CPC Central Committee has maintained its strategic determination, accurately judged the situation, carefully planned and deployed, acted decisively and made painstaking efforts, and led the people to create a miracle of rapid economic development and a miracle of long-term social stability that is rare in the world.
Practice has proved that Marxism has provided a powerful ideological weapon for China's revolution, construction and reform, enabling China, a large and ancient oriental country, to create an unprecedented development miracle in human history.
Second, adhere to the people-centered philosophy of development.
The original aspiration and the mission of the CPC is to seek happiness for the Chinese people and realizing the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. The purpose of the Party is to serve the people wholeheartedly. Since its birth, the Party has always put the interests of the people in the highest position. During the revolutionary war, large number of CPC members sacrificed their lives for the liberation of the people and the independence of the nation. During the period of construction and reform, the CPC has been always putting her people first. In face of the sudden new epidemic of Covid-19, the CPC insists on the supremacy of the people and life, and every life, from newborn babies to 100-year-old are fully protected. The CPC adheres to the people-centered development ideology, completed the task of poverty eradication in the new era as scheduled, eliminated absolute poverty and overall regional poverty, creates a miracle in the history of human poverty reduction, achieves the poverty reduction target of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development 10 years ahead of schedule, and makes a significant contribution to the development of global poverty reduction and human development progress. This is a vivid interpretation of the CPC's philosophy of governing for the people, and it fully proves that the CPC is the most reliable backbone of the Chinese people when storms come, and will surely receive the heartfelt and firm support of the overwhelming majority of the Chinese people.
Third, adhere to strengthening the party's own organizational development.
An important reason why the CPC has grown from small to large and from weak to strong, is that it has the consciousness and courage of self-revolution, and through self-revolution it has resolved the various factors that weaken the Party's advancement and damage its purity. Based on the Marxist theory of strengthening parties, the CPC has developed rich theories of its self-reform such as reinforcing Party members' ideals and convictions and their Party consciousness, enforcing strict Party self-governance, being strict with intra-Party political activities and conduct, developing both regular and intensive education, carrying out regular criticism and self-criticism, strengthening internal scrutiny, accepting supervision from the public, purifying the thinking, organization and conduct of the Party, and keeping it always in good condition. The CPC’s firmness in exercising strict self-supervision and self-governance has been enabling the party to constantly implements the self-purification, self-improvement, self-renovation, self-improvement, in order to continuously enhance the party's political leadership, ideological leadership, mass organization, social appeal, to ensure that the Party has always been the core of strong leadership for the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics.
Forth, adhere to reform and innovation.
Openness brings progress, while isolation leads to backwardness. China cannot develop in isolation from the rest of the world, and the world needs China for global prosperity. The CPC needs to give overall consideration to domestic development and the international situation, adheres to the fundamental national policy of opening up, and adopts a proactive opening-up policy. In this way, the CPC has established a multidimensional, multitiered and wide-ranging framework for opening up which creates a favorable international environment for China to enjoy a broad space for development. The CPC has been pursuing the philosophy that innovation is the primary impetus and talent is the resource of first importance. The CPC implements the innovation-driven development strategy, improves the national innovation system, and speeds up innovation in key and core technologies, to create new engines for social and economic development.
Fifth, adhere to consolidating band developing the patriotic united front.
The united front is an important way to ensure the success of the Party’s cause, and the CPC maintains long term commitment to it. It upholds the banner of patriotism and socialism, strives to achieve great unity and solidarity, balances commonality and diversity, and expands common ground and the convergence of interests. In handling its relationships with other Chinese political parties, the CPC is guided by the principles of long-term coexistence, mutual oversight, sincerity, and sharing the rough times and the smooth, and it supports these parties in performing their duties in accordance with the requirements of the Chinese socialist system for their participation in governance.
The CPC fully implements the policies concerning ethnic groups, heightens public awareness of ethnic unity and progress, and creates a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation. It encourages more exchanges and interactions among different ethnic groups, helping them remain closely united like the seeds of a pomegranate that stick together, and work jointly for common prosperity and development.
The CPC fully implements the Party’s basic policy on religious affairs, uphold the principle that religions in China must be Chinese in orientation and provides active guidance to religions so that they can adapt themselves to socialist society. It encourages intellectuals who are not Party members and people belonging to new social groups to play the important roles they have in building socialism with Chinese characteristics. It forms a new type of cordial and clean relationship between government and business, promotes healthy growth of the non-public sector of the economy, and encourages those working in this sector to achieve success. It maintains extensive contacts with overseas Chinese nationals, returned Chinese and their relatives and unites them so that they can join the endeavors to revitalize the Chinese nation.
Sixth, adhere to the strategy of peaceful development.
The CPC holds high the banner of peace, development, cooperation, and mutual benefit and upholds its fundamental foreign policy goal of preserving world peace and promoting common development. The CPC remains firm in its commitment to strengthening friendship and cooperation with other countries on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, and to forging a new form of international relations featuring mutual respect, fairness, justice, and win-win cooperation, and working together to build a community with a shared future for mankind. The CPC respects others, discusses issues as equals, resolutely reject the Cold War mentality and power politics, and take a new approach to developing state-to-state relations with communication, not confrontation, and with partnership, not alliance. The CPC has been committing to settling disputes through dialogue and resolving differences through discussion, coordinate responses to traditional and non-traditional threats, and oppose terrorism in all its forms.
The CPC remains firm in pursuing an independent foreign policy of peace. It respects the right of the people of all countries to choose their own development path, upholds international fairness and justice, and opposes acts that impose one’s will on others or interfere in the internal affairs of others as well as the practice of the strong bullying the weak. The CPC pursues a national defense policy that is defensive in nature. China’s development does not pose a threat to any other country. No matter what stage of development it reaches, China will never seek hegemony or engage in expansion.
The century-long history of the CPC is a history of unremitting struggle, ideological exploration and self-construction. These 100 years have been a hundred years of carrying out the original aspiration and the mission, a hundred years of laying the foundation, and a hundred years of creating a brilliant and open future. One hundred years is the time to be in the prime of life, and one hundred years is still a long journey. In the new journey of building a modern socialist country in all aspects, the Chinese people will closely rally around the CPC Central Committee with Xi Jinping at the core, follow the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, hold high the banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics, remain true to the original aspiration and bear the mission firmly in mind, keep firmly in mind the need to maintain political integrity, think in big-picture terms, uphold the leadership core and keep in alignment, reaffirm confidence in the path, theory, system, and culture of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and uphold General Secretary Xi Jinping’s core position in both the CPC Central Committee and the CPC as a whole and uphold the authority and centralized, unified leadership of the Central Committee, work tirelessly to realize the second centenary goal, and the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation.
Li Bijian, Consul General of China in Karachi
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021