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Herald Correspondent
The Communist Party of China (CPC) is a unique institution whose complexity is amazing and a clear blueprint of how an organisation can be both steeped in history and represent the future at the same time.
The CPC turned 100 years this past July, but there can be no doubt about its future, its strength and achievements for the Chinese people and humanity across the globe.
The just-ended sixth session of the 19th Meeting of the Central Committee of the CPC gave a glimpse into the profile and dynamism of China’s governing party while showing how this organization is an institution of the future.
While the party is self-conscious and self-aware, it is also alive to the external world and its role in shaping and influencing the globe politically, socially, economically and in other ways.
This, in turn, makes the CPC a subject of key interest and study, something seen in the media coverage of the event in the past week.
The governing party met last week and adopted the resolution on the major achievements and historical experience of the party over the past century and the resolution on the convocation of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.
While the media, especially from the West, chose to focus on a narrow scope of the event, a number of key highlights of the session bear emphasis, demonstrating that the party is much more complex than the simplistic framing propagated by Western media.
A number of issues and outcomes emerged. China’s governing is party is conscious of its glorious history and its leading lights and has drawn experiences from each stage to build an impressive continuum anchored on key figures, ideologies, theories and thoughts.
These range from Chairman Mao who introduced Marxism-Leninism and refined it with his own “Mao Zedong Thought”; reformist Deng Xiaoping and his eponymous “Deng Xiaoping Theory”, the “Theory of Three Represents” under Jiang Zemin; the “Scientific Outlook on Development” under Hu Jintao, and the current leader Xi Jinping and his profound “Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era”.
For a period of 100 years, these leaders and their philosophies and thoughts on leadership represent remarkable continuity. The CPC has also demonstrated that it is systematic in both thoughts and action, continuously reflecting on its journey and building on its successes.
President Xi stands at an historical moment, apart from the coincidence of presiding over the centenary of the CPC.
He has obliged his place in history by being a profound thinker himself with both a strong eye on history as well as the future for the party, his country and the globe.
It is an honour that his leadership has been recognized, and his position in the party strengthened at the core.
This is not an aberration. Western media wrongly, but predictably, misrepresented this to imply that President Xi is self-glorifying and distorting history.
President Xi’s leadership has come at a crucial time in the history of the world and he is doing great to propel the globe towards a new trajectory, through his Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era.
This philosophy, building on previous leaders, is not just about China, but the whole world with profound frameworks in areas that range from economic advancement, multilateralism, global security, health to climate change.
Few leaders in both China and outside have had such consummate and holistic impact.
The session thus noted that under President Xi, “The concept of a human community with a shared future has become a banner leading trends of the times and human progress.”
Matter of factly, as noted during the session, China has broken new ground in its diplomatic endeavours amid profound global changes and turned crises into opportunities amid complex situations on the international stage resulting in a marked increase in China’s international influence, appeal, and power to shape.
President Xi’s place in the annals of China and CPC’s history cannot be gainsaid.
As he spearheads Marxism of contemporary China and of the 21st century, President Xi has done well to show the world “the best of the Chinese culture and ethos in our times and represents a new breakthrough in adapting Marxism to the Chinese context”, as noted in the communique of the just-ended plenum.
The CPC has achieved a lot in the past 100 years, and this is well captured by the description that Chinese people have been freed from bullying, oppression, and subjugation, become the masters of the country, of society, and of their own fate, and are now seeing their aspirations for a better life become a reality.
Today, with a China that has eradicated poverty and achieved rapid industrialization and economic growth to become a world beater – which is still ongoing – the CPC carries vital experiences for humanity in the modern era.
It is not an exaggeration that, as stated by the party at the just-ended session, CPC has become “a forerunner of the times” thanks to its principles and leadership.
Other parties across the world, especially like-minded ones, could learn a number of things from the CPC through its philosopher-leaders, the conduct of the party as an organization and the projection of global leadership.
All these continue to inspire.
Online Reporter