CPC marks 99th anniversary

Party’s people-centred principle continues to win global recognition

The Communist Party of China (CPC), founded with an aspiration and the mission to seek happiness for the Chinese people and rejuvenation for the Chinese nation, celebrated its 99th founding anniversary recently.

From 57 party members represented by 13 deputies back in 1921 at the CPC’s first national congress on a rented tourist boat on South Lake in the city of Jiaxing, east China’s Zhejiang Province, the party now has more than 91 million members across the country.

All through the decades, the CPC has not only remained committed to its people-centered philosophy and led the Chinese people to achieve development miracles, but has also made great contributions to the peace and development of mankind, winning worldwide recognition.

According to a recent survey by the Pew Research Centre, China topped the 2019 global rankings in terms of levels of satisfaction with government performance, with over 86% of the Chinese surveyed expressing satisfaction, far above the global average of 47%.

“For the CPC, everything starts and ends with the people. This has put their people in the centre of all that they do. The people are paramount above all,” Richard Todwong, deputy secretary general of Uganda’s ruling National Resistance Movement party, said.

Indeed, just as Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, called the people “the foundation and lifeblood of the CPC”, the party has always put the well-being of the

Chinese front and centre, and the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic serves as a telling example.

In the face of a ballooning caseload at home, the CPC decided that it would protect the lives and health of the people even at the cost of a short-term economic downturn and a temporary shutdown.

More than 39 million CPC members fought the disease at the front line and over 13 million volunteered their services. Nearly 400 CPC members have defended others’ lives and safety at the cost of their own.

The leaderships of Wuhan city and Hubei province were reshuffled, with some officials sanctioned for irresponsibility and dereliction of duty and others honoured and promoted for their dedication and sense of responsibility.

“China has rolled out perhaps the most ambitious, agile and aggressive disease containment effort in history,” said a report released in late February by the World Health Organization (WHO)-China Joint Mission on Covid-19. DEW Gunasekera, general secretary of the Communist Party of Sri Lanka, said all structures within the highly institutionalised CPC, from local to national levels, “were geared up for the immediate task of containing the Covid-19 pandemic”.

“The Chinese leadership took strict and effective actions and the people responded,” he added.

Lauding the CPC’s “unique leadership” in fighting the pandemic, Ahmad Jawad, central secretary on information of Pakistan’s ruling party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, said facing every challenge and threat, it is always the leaders who become an important factor because they will not only secure their people but also guide and lead the people to overcome the challenge and threat.

Taking the happiness of the people to heart, the CPC has been devoted to leading China’s homestretch toward building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, and has helped the country achieve development miracles especially in poverty eradication.