China, CPC and Xi: An iron triangle
THE much “debated” and “awaited” the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CPC) will be held in Beijing, on 16 October 2022.
It has become a hot topic in the international media due to which Western “speculations”, rumours, false, fake and fictional “propaganda” is getting momentum.
It seems that the US, EU and Indian social media “secretive groups” and “goons” are trying to chase their wild dreams of socio-economic, geopolitical and geostrategic domination against China in merely making “castles in the air” by disseminating rumours on social media about so-called military coup in China. 2,296 delegates will represent the CPC.
The CPC Central Committee, under the leadership of Chinese President Xi Jinping will review the country’s major socio-economic policies, programs and projects.
Hopefully, it will also announce its future “strategic priorities” to achieve the desired goals of socio-economic development in the new era and elect China’s new central leadership.
The CPC and Chinese President Xi Jinping have been playing a “constructive” role in promoting dialogue among civilizations in the world with an open Chinese vision to all, in accordance with the principle of “the common future of mankind”.
To achieve this strategic goal, the “CPC” maintains regular communications with more than “400 parties” and political organizations in more than “160 countries” in the world and expands its circle of friends.
It seems that the “CPC” is keen in strengthening communications with all of the parties of the world, share party-building and state-rule experiences, conduct exchange and dialogue among civilizations, enhance strategic mutual trust and work with the peoples of the world to advance the “building of a community with a shared future for mankind and the building of a better world hand in hand”.
Furthermore, the Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, while attending the 77th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), shared the “holistic and futuristic” vision of China for achieving greater political understanding, equitable economic development as well as peace and harmony in the world.
In this regard, he shared that “peace instead of war”, “development instead of poverty”, “openness instead of closeness”, “cooperation instead of confrontation”, “unity instead of division” and “equity instead of bullying” should be mantra of every government in the world which also vividly reflects CPC persuasions of “Civilizational Dialogue” among different civilizations and last but not the least, Xi’s universal philosophies of “Global Development Initiative”, “Global Security Initiative” and “Shared prosperity”.
Therefore, the upcoming 20th National Congress of the CPC has great significance not only for China and its people but also for the rest of the world.
The CPC was founded in 1921 with a total membership of 50 people. The CPC has been acting as a magnetic force for an equitable and balanced social revolution in China.
It has actually transformed poverty into community development which is commendable. According to Chinese official data (2021-2022), the CPC has over 95.1m members and nearly 4.9m primary-level organizations.
It has 27.45m female members, representing 28.8% of the total strength. There are 7.135m members from minority ethnic groups, accounting for 7.5% of the total, and around 52%, roughly 49.51m, of the membership has obtained a college degree or above.
So, despite Western propaganda about the CPC so-called authoritarian rule structure it has complete “transparency”, “accountability”, “openness” and “separation of power” because it has its own integrated, productive, participatory and functional “democratic model” of delivery and sharing & caring having humanistic values.
It also shows rich “ethnic diversity” and multidimensional multiculturalism in China and its national politics.
Moreover, it shows that 134,000 of the current members devoted themselves to the party before October 1949, when the People’s Republic of China was founded.
As of 5 June 2021, the number of applicants for CPC membership had reached 20m which reaffirms nation-wide popularity of the CPC which has actually maintained an irrevocable trust level with the people.
By 2020, China eliminated absolute poverty. Its global efforts for poverty eradication remained 70%. Moreover, China has announced it will achieve carbon neutrality by 2060.
Basic medical insurance was extended to 1.36b people in China till April 2020. Basic old age insurance extended to more than one billion Chinese people.
It shows the CPC’s holistic and human centric philosophies and policies. In terms of infrastructure development, the CPC introduced the concept of integrated mechanism to achieve world-class means of communications in the country.
During 2020, China road network totalled 5.2m KM.99.4% of administrative villages/counties had bus service. Rail network extended 146,000 KM in which 38,000 KM had speed rail.
CPC in terms of protecting and respecting the rights of ethnic minorities has been playing a tremendous role to achieve the optimal level of multiculturalism.
All “55 ethnic minorities” groups have deputies at the NPC and members in the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).
In terms of building a global community of shared future CPC economic policies and mega projects of BRI, CPEC and many others are creating economic stabilization and sustainability in the world.
One Belt and One Road Initiative (BRI) could lift 7.6m people from extreme poverty and boost trade by 2.8% to 9.7% for the corridor economies and 1.7% to 6.2% for the remaining world.
To conclude, CPC has successfully institutionalized consensus building people’s friendly policies and participatory governance where everybody “irrespective of their geographical location, rank within government domain and within the societal system has equal opportunity to excel.
In this connection, the CPC social projects of the century “combating corruption (zero tolerance) and eradication of poverty (850 million people out of the extreme poverty) has further increased public trust, augmenting confidence in the Party’s continuing leadership.
The CPC philosophy of human rights is different from the Western human rights view which has been notorious for its planned actions of using humans and their rights as clones and tools to crack down on other countries politically or economically.
On the contrary, the Chinese concept of human rights has developed the fight against the “three mountains” of imperialism, feudalism and bureaucrat-capitalism, and promoted the socialist construction and reform and opening-up.
The CPC ensured economic, social, cultural and environmental rights, put in place the world’s largest social security system and coordinated the protection of civil and political rights.
China’s achievement in human rights, especially since the reform and opening-up, has been witnessed by the international community which proves the validity and rationality of the human rights patterns with Chinese characteristics and strategic significance of the CPC.
It has successfully introduced new norms of social contract doctrine in China which consequently revolutionized social norms, society, civility and governance.
Afterward, rigorous structural reforms succeeded in gradually transforming the economy and people’s lives in China.
It geared up the development of a socialist economy and promoted a strong centrally planned system and a government and stable political structure.
—The writer is Director, the Centre for South Asia & International Studies Islamabad & regional expert, China, CPEC & BRI.
