Success of the CPC Inspires More Overseas Research
Overseas scholars generally believe that under the leadership of the CPC, China has shown a strong ability to adapt to various challenges and crises in an innovative fashion and maintain institutional resilience.
IN 2006, the Brookings Institution, one of the most influential think tanks in the United States, launched the John L. Thornton China Center, calling for a constant focus on a rising China. Overseas research on the Communist Party of China (CPC) has long been carried out by government agencies, scholars, think tanks, and media groups.
Changing Themes at Different Stages
The theme of overseas studies on the CPC is constantly changing with China’s political and economic development. Between the 1940s and 1980s, many achievements were made in overseas research on Mao Zedong Thought. In his Mao: A Biography (1999), China specialist Ross Terrill from Harvard, commented that as an affectionate and respectful name that helps to overcome cultural barriers, “Chairman Mao” has become a household term in many countries. He also noted that in the 1960s, the number and editions of translations of Quotations from Chairman Mao eclipsed even that of the Bible.
From the late 1970s to the mid-1990s, more focus went to the study of Deng Xiaoping Theory. Ezra Feivel Vogel (1930-2020), a prominent expert on Asian studies, in his book Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China (2011), commented that Deng accomplished a mission that no other Chinese leader during the previous 150 years had accomplished. From the early 1990s to the turn of the century, the study of the important theory of the “Three Representatives,” and during the period from the 16th to the 18th National Congress of the CPC, the Scientific Outlook on Development has attracted much attention in overseas research on the CPC. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese characteristics for a New Era has become the focus of overseas research.
In January 2017, Cheng Li, director of the John L.
Thornton China Center, highly praised China’s achievements in economic transformation, anti-corruption, military reform, and diplomatic relations since the CPC’S 18th National Congress. “It is Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, and the new central leadership that have restored Chinese people’s confidence,” he said. The international community tries to explore the reasons behind China’s success from its governing party, the CPC.
German scholar Thomas Habel points out that political science obviously has not developed appropriate tools and theories to make a more detailed classification of the economic and social development and stability of a political system like China. As a result, many scholars have begun to think it necessary to take a deeper look into the governance of the ruling party in order to decipher China’s success.
CPC’S Ability to Adapt to New Changes
Overseas scholars generally believe that under the leadership of the CPC, China has shown a strong ability to adapt to various challenges and crises in an innovative way. It also has been able to quickly and effectively fix its existing problems through correction mechanisms and maintain institutional resilience.
In the book The Chinese Communist Party in Reform (2006) by a Danish expert on China Kjeld Erik Brødsgaard and China expert Zheng Yongnian, the authors point out that it is because the CPC can adjust itself according to the changing trends that it has been able to succeed in its governance of the country; contrary to many expectations, the Communist Party of China has not been overwhelmed by the rapid social and economic changes of the past years, but has reformed itself by adapting to them.
China’s political system has shown flexibility and adaptability, first and foremost, in adopting an experimental governance model. China has set up special economic zones and free trade zones in which the government takes preferential measures such as tariff
reduction and exemption to create a favorable business environment and to introduce advanced technology and scientific management methods. Once being proved feasible and effective, the practice would be promoted nationwide.
Second, the CPC and Chinese government attach great importance to the key role of strategic planning in national governance, and continue to promote national progress in accordance with one five-year plan after another. This model is conducive to maintaining the stability and continuity of various policies and systems. American scholar John Naisbitt (1929-2021) said strategic planning could result in feasible goals that can be achieved through top-down and bottomup cooperation.
Third, the CPC’S consultative governance with other democratic parties allows it to pool the wisdom of the masses. The CPC is recognized to be adept at coordinating relationships and exploring consultative bodies and mechanisms to achieve good governance.
More Objective Studies
The problem scholars in the West have at the moment, by and large, is that their conventional approach to understand China is still based on a Western perspective. Besides, there are still scholars holding the stereotype that China’s development is a threat to the world.
The international academic research conducted on the CPC is becoming more and more systematic. When analyzing the unique experience of contemporary Chinese governance, more and more scholars are using multiple perspectives to understand the century-old big party. Bias still exists, but objectification is inevitable.
In terms of research content, scholars have gradually abandoned the macro perspective of viewing China’s development mainly from its political system in the past, and are paying more and more attention to the process of China’s governance, and objectively analyze the effectiveness, characteristics, and experience of China’s governance. British sociologist Martin Albrow, among others, believes that the core leadership of the CPC in national governance is the key to unlocking the code of China’s governance. Some also believe that the formation of adaptive governance and experimental governance models combined with Chinese characteristics emerges from the unique tradition and experience accumulated by the CPC during the revolutionary years.
In addition, American political scientist Lucian Pye (1921-2008) explored the ideological sources of China’s governance from the long history of traditional Chinese culture, especially Confucianism, such as “inclusiveness,” “collecting the talents of a hundred schools,” and “governing by the able and the virtuous.”
Under the leadership of the CPC, China’s development has been acknowledged to be of great global significance. British scholar Martin Jacques fully affirmed the significance of China’s development to the world, and praised the rapid development of China’s productive forces, which in his eyes has set a model for the modernization of developing countries, contributed to the common progress of the world, and provided new solutions for the peaceful development of mankind. As he put it, China will provide a political model and paradigm that is completely different from the West, and its history, culture, language, values, institutions, and enterprises will gradually influence the whole world.