World’s political parties can learn from CPC’s experience in governance

Leadership capability seen as crucial factor in China’s success

Editor’s note: As the Communist Party of China celebrates the 100th anniversary of its founding this year, China Daily is publishing a series of stories to show how the Party leads the country and people to development and prosperity.

In 1974, Abbas Zaki, the head of the Palestinian Fatah party’s commission on Arab-Chinese affairs, visited China for the first time as a member of a delegation of the Palestine Liberation Organization. That trip was followed by a dozen more visits to China over the past four decades. A witness of China’s breathtaking change, Zaki spoke highly of the Communist Party of China’s governance practice and achievements.

In just one generation, China has transformed into a strong, modern country that has successfully addressed prominent challenges, including meeting the basic needs of 1.4 billion people for food and clothing, Zaki said.

Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, the CPC has led the Chinese people in creating economic miracles and long-term social stability.

Over the past eight years, the final 98.99 million impoverished rural residents have all been lifted out of poverty. This means that absolute poverty no longer exists in the world’s most populous country.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the CPC. The centenary not only depicts extraordinary success but also a history of dedication.

‘Incredible’ growth

During his China visits, Zaki noticed that China’s villages and towns are growing at an “incredible” rate.

“What used to be poor villages have been transformed into productive, rich ones almost overnight. Some backward and desolate places in the past have become vibrant industrial parks,” he said.

In the 1990s, he visited a suburban village near Beijing that was surrounded by empty land with no decent roads. But when he came to the same place in 2018, he found a bustling town with a number of high-rise buildings.

To Zaki, the CPC’s leadership and the political system with Chinese characteristics are admirable.

The Party adheres to a people-centered development philosophy and takes people’s aspiration for a better life as its goal, he noted.

In Zaki’s view, the CPC has a farsighted national development strategy, which not only focuses on economic development and industrial construction, but also values education, science and technology.

All these measures have provided the driving force for China’s growth, navigating the Chinese economy toward high-quality development, he said.

Zaki places high value on the CPC’s new concept of green development, saying that such a concept indicates that the Party is placing ecological civilization and environmental protection in a more important position in the country’s governance.

China’s 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) includes green development in all aspects of the nation’s economic and social development.

“It’s a very smart strategic plan,” Zaki said, adding that China’s green development will benefit all mankind.

Zaki said other political parties around the world can learn from the CPC’s experience in governance and administration of state affairs.

To guide the country’s new journey, the CPC Central Committee unveiled in October last year the strategy of fully building a modern socialist China as well as comprehensively deepening reform, advancing the rule of law and strengthening CPC discipline.

The focus has been shifting from poverty alleviation to rural vitalization.

The Government Work Report delivered in March at the annual session of the National People’s Congress, China’s top legislature, set a five-year transition period for China to consolidate and expand its achievements in poverty alleviation and continue to promote rural vitalization.

Amid the country’s green transition to pursue a “Beautiful China”, a set of interim rules for management of carbon-emissions trading took effect in February, marking a key step toward meeting the country’s goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2060.

The outstanding leadership capability of the CPC is “a very important factor” for China’s success, Zaki said.

The Chinese people’s support rate for the CPC and the government has been above 90 percent for years. The CPC as China’s governing party is a choice of history.

Public support is seen as the key to the CPC’s strength and confidence in long-term governance.

Mohsen Basurra, a member of Yemen’s Islah Party, said that the CPC has united Chinese people of all ethnic groups and provided them with political guidance, which is why China has achieved so much today.

Hailing the CPC’s achievements in the 100 years since the Party’s founding, Basurra, who is also deputy speaker of Yemen’s House of Representatives, said that developing countries, including Yemen, are expected to draw inspiration from China’s experience in developing trade, technology and culture, among other areas.

Ibrahim Al-Shehabi, a member of the board of trustees of Egypt’s Coordination Committee of Party’s Youth Leaders and Politicians, said the CPC’s success in leading the Chinese people through the COVID-19 health crisis mirrors the great solidarity of the ruling party, the government and the Chinese people.

As the CPC achieves its first centenary goal — completely building a moderately prosperous society in all respects — it also has embarked on a journey toward the second — building a great modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious and beautiful by 2049, the centenary of the People’s Republic of China.

Former Thai foreign minister Tej Bunnag has witnessed China’s opening-up to the outside world and its transformation from an impoverished backwater into a major contributor to the world’s economy.

Tej, 77, was the Thai ambassador to China from 1986 to 1990.

“When I first went to China in 1973, Shenzhen was just a small fishing village. Now it’s an international city of more than 10 million residents and a high-tech hub,” he said.

“What impresses me most is the rapid growth of the general wealth of China,” Tej said. “It’s obvious that without the CPC, China would not be what it is today.”

He is amazed by China’s infrastructure development. In his days as an ambassador to China, it took more than three hours to travel from Beijing to Tianjin — a distance of around 110 kilometers. The journey now takes just half an hour by high-speed train.

Source of strength

Throughout its 100-year history, the CPC has been firmly marching on the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics, flexibly adapting to changes and improving its policies, which Tej believes is a source of the Party’s strength.

China has been committed to its reform and opening-up, has pursued innovationdriven development, raised proposals such as the Belt and Road Initiative, and promoted a new type of international relations and the building of a community with a shared future for mankind, making contributions to the world’s development, he said.

Faraj Itmeiza, secretary general of Jordan’s Communist Party, praised China’s comprehensive achievement under the CPC’s leadership, saying the CPC and the Chinese people have been engaged in unceasing endeavors for a better future.

“What struck me the most was that some projects that usually take several years in other countries can be finished only in a few months or weeks in China,” he said.

“It seems that China is in a race against time for realizing the best future for the Chinese people and humanity,” he added.

Itmeiza, who has visited China twice, said that though some Western media have slandered and misrepresented the facts about China, the reality he has witnessed is that “China is a large productive country and open to other civilizations and international dialogues”.

Suggesting that other countries learn from the CPC’s governance experience, Itmeiza said, “It is not to fully copy it, but we have to act like China by first studying issues, and then adopting the positive sides to serve our country and people.”

Drawing inspiration

Veteran leaders of Indian Communist parties seek to draw inspiration and lessons from the CPC to reclaim the relevance of India’s Communist parties among the masses and to regain the lost support base.

The Left Front, comprising the Communist Party of India, the All India Forward Bloc, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Revolutionary Socialist Party, enjoyed its golden period in electoral politics in the 1990s and early 2000s.

The Left Front parties generally suffered in India’s recent elections, except in the southern state of Kerala, where the Communist-led Left Democratic Front government made history by winning a second successive term, thanks to sound governance by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

“The CPC is a lighthouse of hope,” said M.A. Baby, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) politburo leader from Kerala. “Now on the occasion of celebrating 100 years of the CPC, it has succeeded in removing acute poverty from the country.

“The CPC is currently concentrating on addressing important issues like economic disparities, environmental degradation and focusing to fight corruption. We definitely should draw inspiration from China to address the same challenges in India,” Baby added.

The CPC has continuously been reforming itself for decades, and generations of CPC leaders have been transforming Marxist theories with Chinese practices and have persisted in shaping a socialist system with Chinese characteristics, including Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era.

What struck me the most was that some projects that usually take several years in other countries can be finished only in a few months or weeks in China. It seems that China is in a race against time for realizing the best future for the Chinese people and humanity.”

Faraj Itmeiza, secretary general of Jordan’s Communist Party

Xinhua News Agency and Aparajit Chakraborty in New Delhi contributed to this story.

LI MIN / CHINA DAILY