. Communist Party of China celebrates 100years
H.E. WANG XUEFENG
Chinese Ambassador to Botswana
Founded in July 1921, the year 2021 marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC). Over the past 100 years, the Party has taken an extraordinary journey and grown from strength to strength. From a group of dozens of people to a political party with over 91 million members, the CPC has grown into the world’s biggest Marxist party, and has been a ruling party in China, the world’s biggest socialist country, for more than 70 years.
China is a large country with a 5,000-year-old civilization. However, in modern times, owing to the aggression of the Western powers and the corruptness of China’s feudal rulers, China was gradually reduced to a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society, and the Chinese nation experienced suffering of unprecedented proportions. To save the nation, countless patriots struggled for decades to explore the path forward and even sacrificed their lives. They tried political systems including constitutional monarchy, parliamentarism, multiparty system and presidential system, yet all these endeavors ended in failure.
In 1921, the CPC was born in the process of integrating Marxism-Leninism with the Chinese workers’ movement, a path that suited China’s national conditions and eventually succeeded. Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the CPC points out that the emergence of the CPC is an epoch-making event, which profoundly changed the course of Chinese history in modern times, the fate and future of the Chinese people and nation, and the direction and pattern of world development.
In its momentous 100-year history, the CPC, relying closely on the Chinese people, has surmounted obstacle after obstacle, and gone from victory to victory, making great, historic contributions to the Chinese nation. Under the strong leadership of the CPC, the Chinese people have managed to achieve the miracles of rapid economic growth and sustained social stability for many decades. Today, China has become the world’s second largest economy, the largest trader of goods, and a country that possesses complete industrial sections.
China’s GDP has exceeded US$14.7 trillion and its per capita GDP has exceeded US$10,000, contributing over 30 percent to global economic growth for many years in a row. We have won a complete victory in the fight against poverty by eradicating absolute poverty under current standards, thus realized the Chinese nation’s dream of thousands of years. Faced with the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, the CPC has all along been adhering to the governing philosophy of “people and life first”, and led people of the whole country with concerted efforts through this life-and-death battle against the virus. Up to now, China has made major strategic achievements in COVID-19 response and led the world in economic recovery, creating a remarkable feat in humankind’s fight against diseases.
With the First Centenary Goal achieved, China has entered a new development stage with new development philosophy and new development paradigm. The CPC Central Committee with General Secretary Xi Jinping at the core has drawn a new blueprint for us to achieve the Second Centenary Goal in two phases. From 2020 to 2035, we will build on the foundation of the moderately prosperous society with a further 15 years of hard work to basically realize socialist modernization. From 2035 to the middle of the 21st century when we celebrate the centenary of the People’s Republic of China, we will develop China into a great modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious, and beautiful.
Standing on the people’s side represents the fundamental political stance of the CPC who comes from the people, has its roots among the people, and is dedicated to serving the people wholeheartedly. With striving for the wellbeing of the people as its ultimate mission, the CPC always maintains close ties with people, unites and leads them to create historic achievements.
Back in November 2012, General Secretary Xi Jinping made a solemn promise that the CPC’s goal is to meet the people’s aspiration for a better life. Recently, General Secretary Xi reiterated that the founding mission of the CPC is to strive for the people’s better life. As the Chinese old saying goes, “He who wins over the people wins the country.” The CPC has always been prioritizing the interests of people and thus win the hearts of the people of the whole nation.
The CPC’s 100-year history is a journey of seeking happiness for the Chinese people and rejuvenation for the Chinese nation, and the CPC has won sincere and firm support of the Chinese people. A report by Harvard University last year based on its survey in China spanning 13 years shows that the Chinese people’s overall satisfaction toward the Chinese central government exceeds 93 percent.
The CPC’s history proves that the leadership of the CPC is a choice of history and of the people. Without the CPC, there would be no New China, not to mention the progress China has made so far. The great achievements made by the CPC and the Chinese people fully reflect the Party’s capability of governance, China’s institutional advantages and the strength of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era.
Since the CPC’s 18th National Congress in 2012, the CPC Central Committee with General Secretary Xi Jinping at the core has united and led the entire Party and the people of all ethnic groups across China in successfully resolving long-standing tough problems and realizing long-sought hard objectives. With historic progress made in the cause of the Party and the country, in building a moderately prosperous society and in the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, Socialism with Chinese Characteristics has entered a new era.
General Secretary Xi Jinping’s core position of the Party has been formed in the practice since the 18th National Congress of the CPC. It has been proven by facts that with General Secretary Xi at the core of the Party and its Central Committee, and with the entire Party and people of all ethnic groups working together in solidarity, we are bound to overcome any difficulty and further push forward Socialism with Chinese Characteristics in the new era.
The CPC strives for both the wellbeing of the Chinese people and human progress. It always regards it as its mission to make greater contributions to mankind. Having gone through hardships, the CPC and the Chinese people know only too well the value of peace and development. Therefore, the guiding principle of China’s foreign policy is to maintain world peace and promote common development. While working hard to realize its own development, China has contributed to world peace and added momentum to the common development of all countries. Committed to the path of peaceful development, China is always a builder of world peace, a contributor to global development, and a guardian of global order. China stands ready to expand convergence of interests with other countries, promote the construction of a new type of international relations with win-win cooperation at the core, and forge a community with a shared future for mankind with Chinese wisdom and strength.