Xi Jinping at the G20 Summit expounds a vision of peace, cooperation and sustainable development

We are very pleased to print the text of President Xi Jinping’s speech, delivered by video link on October 30, to the G20 Summit in Rome. In his speech President Xi makes five key calls to the international community, namely to:

1. Work in solidarity to combat COVID-19
2. Cooperate to promote recovery
3. Embrace inclusiveness to achieve common development
4. Pursue innovation to tap growth potential
5. Promote harmonious coexistence to achieve green and sustainable development

Taken together, these five themes represent a comprehensive programme for humanity to overcome its present grave challenges and advance to a better future. It represents the antithesis of the new Cold War peddled by the various imperialist powers even whilst they also intensify an increasingly ill disguised contention between themselves. President Xi’s proposals constitute a programme around which the broadest united front of countries at various levels of development can coalesce and should be supported by all progressive forces.

Your Excellency Prime Minister Mario Draghi,
Dear Colleagues,

I wish to begin by sincerely thanking Italy, the G20 President, for the great efforts it has made in hosting this Summit.

Continue reading Xi Jinping at the G20 Summit expounds a vision of peace, cooperation and sustainable development

Is China the world’s worst climate culprit?

This very interesting article by Aaron Bastani, first published in Novara Media, takes on the dominant narrative around China and climate change – that China is largely responsible for the climate crisis – and highlights the extraordinary progress China has made in recent years in the fields of renewable energy, afforestation and low-carbon transport. Republished with permission.

One of the most striking statistics in grasping the speed at which we are transforming the planet is how China consumes more concrete every three years than the United States did in the whole of the 20th century. 

Alongside the acceleration of how we use resources, this fact highlights the unique role China now plays in climate change. The world’s largest country, with a population greater than Europe and the Americas combined, has leapt into industrial modernity. This may be one of the most important events in human history, but it carries an immense ecological cost.

Continue reading Is China the world’s worst climate culprit?

Dee Knight: War threats add to climate change danger on eve of COP26

On the eve of the COP26 Conference in Glasgow, we are very pleased to publish this timely article contributed by Dee Knight, member of the Anti-War Subcommittee of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) International Committee, showing how the two vital struggles, against climate catastrophe and imperialist war, are inextricably linked and relating this to US imperialism’s many decades of implacable hostility to the Chinese revolution in particular as well as to socialism and national liberation in Asia generally. 

In the buildup to the World Climate Change summit, slated for Halloween and the first week of November in Glasgow, a NY Times report said “China must pivot away from coal immediately” to avoid climate disaster. The article says “attention is riveted on China and whether it will do more to cut emissions.” It quoted a British member of Parliament saying “China is responsible for almost a quarter of all global emissions right now.”

The Times article acknowledges that China leads the world in hydroelectric, solar and wind power. While admitting the United States has released more human-generated carbon dioxide over the past century than any other country, the article says “China is the biggest current emitter now by a wide margin,”. But on a per capita basis, China’s emissions are less than half the U.S. total. And China is converting to renewables much faster than the U.S.

Continue reading Dee Knight: War threats add to climate change danger on eve of COP26

Danny Haiphong: Taiwan shows the American empire is a paper tiger

In this powerfully-argued piece on Black Agenda Report, Danny Haiphong exposes the US’s longstanding efforts to use Taiwanese separatism as a means of destabilising the People’s Republic of China. Danny connects this history to the present New Cold War being waged by the US and its allies, directed against not only China but against the entire Global South and the very idea of a multipolar future.

Mao Zedong often referred to U.S. imperialism as a paper tiger. This is truer today than it was in the mid-20th century when Mao frequently employed the phrase. No matter how bellicose the American empire becomes, its strength is more appearance than fact. Brutal violence and exploitation are thus signs of weakness, not legitimacy or credibility. The U.S.’s recent military maneuvers around the issue of Taiwan clearly signal a growth in the decay of the American Empire.

Taiwan has been a topic of conversation in the U.S. corporate media throughout the month of October. Headlines have circulated that claim China has escalated military tensions by flying military aircraft over Taiwan’s so-called Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ). The ADIZ was created by the United States after World War II and isn’t recognized by international law. In fact, Taiwan’s so-called ADIZ includes large portions of mainland China. This hasn’t stopped the U.S. media from beating the drums of war with China.

The U.S. Department of Defense under Joe Biden has affirmed its commitment to threatening war with China over Taiwan. Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby has warned China that its so-called “pressure campaign” on Taiwan requires the United States to step up efforts to “protect” the island from “danger.” Just days after Kirby’s speech, U.S. and Canadian warships sailed through the Taiwan Strait in a show of joint military force not seen since the U.S. normalized relations with China in 1979. This blatant intensification of military aggression came just a week after reports surfaced that the U.S. had spent the last year secretly deploying special forces to Taiwan.

The American empire has a long history of using Taiwan to meddle in China’s affairs. After pouring heavy financial and military support into the Kuomintang’s (KMT) brutal war against the Communist-led revolution of 1949, the U.S. supported the KMT’s exile to Taiwan. The U.S. heavily militarized Taiwan and even threatened to use nuclear weapons in an attempt to undermine the Chinese revolution. More than two decades would pass before the U.S. cease the prevention of the People’s Republic of China to gain full recognition at the United Nations in place of the “Republic of China” government located in Taiwan. In 1972, the U.S. signed the Shanghai Communiqué —a document that stipulates U.S. recognition of Taiwan as part of China and clearly articulates that the U.S. will cease all attempts to military intervene in its affairs.

That Taiwan is part of China is not controversial outside of the parasitic lens of U.S. and Western imperialism. Taiwan has experienced centuries of colonial incursions. This includes a half-century of Japanese colonialism that ended only after Chinese resistance forces sacrificed more than fifteen million people to win historic victories against fascism in World War II. The return of Taiwan to China is thus an important victory for the anti-colonial movement. And it is this victory that the United States is currently working hard to reverse.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump and current President Joe Biden have provided staunch support to the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), the separatist political party ruling in Taiwan. In 2019, Trump signed the TAIPEI Act into law which encourages the U.S. to facilitate deeper ties between international organizations and Taiwan’s separatist-led government. This blatant violation of the One-China policy has been followed up with billions worth in military arms deals to Taiwan. After Trump approved $1.8 billion in arms sales to Taiwan to end his administration, Biden signed off on $750 million more in military weapons transfers to Taiwan which included 40 M109A6 Medium Self-Propelled Howitzer Systems. These maneuvers bolster the Western-oriented government in Taiwan led by President Tsai Ing-wen, a devout separatist who has openly called Taiwan “vibrantly democratic and Western.”

U.S. interference in China’s relations with Taiwan has made a profound impact on U.S. public opinion. More than half of Americans now support U.S. military intervention in Taiwan . Of course, the poll conducted by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs added “if China invades” to the question for added anti-China effect. That the poll would promote the propaganda that China could invade its own province should come as no surprise. The Chicago Council on Global Affairs is funded in large part by the Pritzker Foundation . The Pritzker family’s enormous wealth derives not only the from the Hyatt hotel but also from its deep connections to war profiteering and the CIA.

Taiwan is the clearest expression of the U.S.’s agenda to reassert neocolonialism in the Asia Pacific as a means to counter China’s rise. However, attempts to bully China over Taiwan have no legitimate end goal. China will not bow down to the claims that Taiwan is an “independent country” since no such thing is acknowledged by international law. The United States must think long and hard about escalating militarily with China. Despite an enormous shift of U.S. military resources to the Indo-Pacific Command, war strategists and profiteers alike would face heavy casualties in a direct conflict with China’s high-tech military armed with a nuclear deterrence.

Unlike the first Cold War, the American Empire is in precipitous decline. Economic immiseration is all the American Empire has to offer the vast majority of humanity. U.S. military policy only facilitates death, destruction, and displacement. U.S. domestic politics are mired in stagnation and lack the capacity to address any fundamental problem facing working class and oppressed people. The paper tiger of American Empire is being ripped apart by its own contradictions. Crisis is the only stable feature left remaining of the American Empire’s so-called dominance.

China does not possess such problems. China’s government has shown consistent respect for international law with regard to Taiwan. China’s stable, prospering socialist economy has eliminated extreme poverty and contained COVID-19. These achievements alone have gained China’s socialist model immense prestige both with the Chinese people and the people of the Global South. Still, the American Empire remains dangerous precisely because its desperation requires the escalation of a New Cold War that threatens to bring about a confrontation between two nuclear powers.

Taiwan is but one piece on a chessboard designed by the United States to undermine China and thus the world from charting a course of history free of imperialist domination. Anyone who calls themselves “the Left” would be foolish to follow the imperialist paper tiger into a trap of its own making with regard to Taiwan or any other feature of the U.S.’s New Cold War against China. Yet this is exactly what has happened. Most of the “left” has abdicated its responsibility to oppose U.S. imperialism and therefore shares responsibility with the right for the U.S.’s hostilities toward China. U.S. interference in China’s affairs regarding Taiwan should thus be seen as an opportunity to reverse this dangerous course and place the demand for the U.S. to respect international law at the forefront of the movement.

Rania Khalek interviews Ken Hammond about Taiwan

In this detailed and useful interview on BreakThrough News, Rania Khalek interviews history professor and China expert Ken Hammond about the rising tensions surrounding Taiwan. They cover the history of the island, the question of China’s representation at the United Nations, the One China policy, the differences between Trump and Biden, and the US’ longstanding attempts to destabilise and balkanise China.

Zheng Zeguang: China will honour its climate pledges – look at the changes we have already made

We are pleased to republish this article by Zheng Zeguang, Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to the United Kingdom, originally published on The Guardian website on 27 October 2021.

The article explains that a national consensus already exists in China around tackling climate change and protecting biodiversity. It details the progress China has already made in terms of climate action and its plans for the coming decades; however, Ambassador Zheng also makes the point that China, still a developing country, cannot be expected to decarbonise as quickly as the developed countries.

In the run-up to the climate conference in Glasgow, there are suggestions that without real participation and greater contribution from China, neither the conference nor the global response to climate change will get anywhere. The unstated worry is this: will China honour its pledges to reduce emissions?

Continue reading Zheng Zeguang: China will honour its climate pledges – look at the changes we have already made

Infographic: China leads the fight against climate breakdown

With COP26 coming up, Western media and politicians are trying to shift responsibility for the future of the planet on to China, as the world’s biggest emitter (in absolute terms) of greenhouse gases.

They present a distorted and hypocritical narrative that fails to mention some important facts:

  • China’s per capita emissions are less than half those of the US, and its average household power consumption is 1/8th that of the US.
  • China is the world leader in renewable energy, with a total capacity greater than the US, EU and Britain combined.
  • China’s target of peak emissions by 2030 and carbon neutral by 2060 will be the fastest journey from carbon peak to carbon neutral in history.
  • China is making a concerted effort to reduce its reliance on coal. Coal is currently 56% of China’s power mix, down from 74% in 2005.
  • China’s forest coverage has increased from 12% in the early 1980s to 23% today. It has established national parks covering 230,000 km squared.
  • China leads the world in electric cars, trains and buses – around 99 percent of the world’s 400,000 electric buses are in China.

In summary, China is making remarkable progress on climate change. Let’s shift the focus back to the developed countries – which are responsible for the bulk of cumulative atmospheric greenhouse gas – to show leadership and provide support to the rest of the world.

China’s climate change white paper confirms its green commitments

This timely article from CGTN by Andrew Korybko, written in the lead-up to the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26), provides a summary of the newly-released white paper Responding to Climate Change: China’s Policies and Actions, issued by the State Council Information Office of China. The paper reiterates China’s strong continuing commitment to tackling climate change and its leadership in the development and deployment of renewable energy. It also emphasises that China is still a developing country and must forge a path that combines its development needs with protecting the environment. The paper reaffirms China’s adherence to the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities in which the developed countries, responsible for the bulk of cumulative greenhouse gas emissions, to move fastest towards zero-carbon.

China released its white paper on “Responding to Climate Change: China’s Policies and Actions” on October 27. The State Council Information Office (SCIO) then held a press conference discussing this very important document, with Vice Minister of Ecology and Environment Ye Min elaborating on its main points and answering the press’ questions. He emphasized how the white paper is based on Xi Jinping Thought’s concept of ecological civilization envisioning global solutions to this challenge in order to create a community of common destiny.

Continue reading China’s climate change white paper confirms its green commitments

China calls on the US to remove its illegal sanctions against Zimbabwe

We are pleased to republish this article from Global Times, reporting on China’s support for the Southern African Development Community’s Anti-Sanctions Day initiative and its consistent opposition to the Western countries’ cruel and suffocating sanctions against Zimbabwe.

China stands in solidarity with Zimbabwe in a consistent call for the unconditional removal of Western sanctions. African ambassadors in Beijing thanked China for the positive support on the third Anti-Sanctions Day on Monday.

“While the guns of the revolution fell silent in 1979, sanctions are a continuation of an unwarranted and unprovoked war against Zimbabwe by the West… 20 years of sanctions have negatively impacted all sectors of the Zimbabwean economy and its people…and even undermined Zimbabwe’s credibility and national image,” Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to China Martin Chedondo said at the event at the Zimbabwean Embassy in Beijing.

Continue reading China calls on the US to remove its illegal sanctions against Zimbabwe

Ambassadors commend China for upholding multilateralism at the UN

We are pleased to republish this article from Global Times, featuring quotes from the ambassadors of Russia, Iran, Cuba, Zimbabwe and the African Union to China about China’s role promoting a multipolar world order and standing up for the developing world against hegemonism and imperialism.

The ambassadors of Russia, Iran, Cuba, Zimbabwe and the African Union commended China’s role in the UN for upholding multilateralism and being a responsible major power on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the restoration of the People’s Republic of China (PRC)’s lawful seat in the UN.

On October 25, 1971, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) voted to restore all lawful rights of the PRC in the United Nations. Russian Ambassador to China Andrey Denisov told the Global Times in an exclusive interview that it was indeed a historic moment 50 years ago. Since then, the PRC, as a responsible member of the international community, has contributed a lot to world peace and development.

Continue reading Ambassadors commend China for upholding multilateralism at the UN

Nine key moments that changed China’s mind about climate change

This article from Carbon Brief gives a very detailed and useful summary of how the Chinese government’s attitude towards climate change, and its understanding of its own responsibilities, have changed over the last two decades. The article is quite long but is well worth the effort for those wishing to understand this important issue.

Over the past year, China’s president Xi Jinping has made three key commitments to tackle climate change.

In September 2020, he told the United Nations general assembly: “We aim to have CO2 emissions peak before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060.”

Then, last month, he offered a further commitment to the same gathering of world leaders. China “will not build new coal-fired power projects abroad”, he said via videolink.

Continue reading Nine key moments that changed China’s mind about climate change

Speech by Xi Jinping marking the 50th anniversary of the restoration of China’s seat at the UN

Below we republish the speech by Chinese president Xi Jinping marking the 50th anniversary of the restoration of the lawful seat of the People’s Republic of China in the United Nations. Recognising the successful passage of Resolution 2758 as “a victory for the Chinese people and a victory for people of the world”, President Xi notes that China has consistently upheld the founding principles of the UN. It has been a firm supporter of the right to sovereign development, and has always advocated for peace, development, justice, the equality of nations, and the celebration of diversity. Xi reiterates China’s commitment to the UN-based system of international law and cooperation, as well as its opposition to attempts by any one country or bloc of countries to impose their hegemony. Xi closes by calling on the countries of the world to join hands and “work tirelessly for the lasting and peaceful development of the world and for building a community with a shared future for mankind.”

The English translation of the speech was originally posted on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Your Excellency Secretary-General António Guterres,
Your Excellencies Diplomatic Envoys and Representatives of International Organizations,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Friends,
Comrades,

Fifty years ago today, the 26th Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted, with an overwhelming majority, Resolution 2758, and the decision was made to restore all rights of the People’s Republic of China in the United Nations and to recognize the representatives of the Government of the People’s Republic of China as the only legitimate representatives of China to the United Nations. It was a victory for the Chinese people and a victory for people of the world.

Continue reading Speech by Xi Jinping marking the 50th anniversary of the restoration of China’s seat at the UN

Former African diplomats recall joys at China’s restoration of lawful seat at UN

The support of the independent African nations was crucial for the restoration of China’s legitimate seat at the United Nations fifty years ago, on 25 October 1971. This article from Xinhua captures the excitement and emotion of that day.

Fifty years ago today, the 26th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted Resolution 2758 with an overwhelming majority and decided to restore the lawful seat of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in the world body.

In the conference hall at the UN Headquarters located in New York City, thunderous applause and cheers echoed from all sides of the hall.

Continue reading Former African diplomats recall joys at China’s restoration of lawful seat at UN

China makes further key pledges around carbon neutrality and renewable energy

The following article, first published in Xinhua on 25 October 2021, summarises a new document jointly released by the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council, reiterating China’s pledges to reach peak carbon emissions by 2030 and zero carbon by 2060. It includes a new commitment to increase the share of non-fossil energy consumption to at least 80 percent by 2060.

Chinese authorities on Sunday unveiled a guiding document on the country’s work to achieve carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals under the new development philosophy, laying out key specific targets and measures for the coming decades.

By 2030, China’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions will peak, stabilize and then decline, and by 2060, China will be carbon neutral and have fully established a green, low-carbon and circular economy, it says, reiterating the country’s previous pledge.

Continue reading China makes further key pledges around carbon neutrality and renewable energy

From grassroots to lawmaker: A glimpse of China’s ‘whole-process democracy’

Republished below is a valuable article from CGTN discussing the meaning of “whole-process people’s democracy” and explaining how Chinese people at every level engage with the democratic process. It includes the moving story of Liu Li, a deputy to the National People’s Congress from a poor rural family in Anhui, who consistently represents the needs of migrant workers and the rural population in China’s top legislative body.

The notion of Chinese democracy is not the same as that in the West. The political system in China is more about consensus building within a greater voice rather than the protracted bargaining to arrive at decisions common in the West.

The country’s application of democratic principles follows an approach Chinese President Xi Jinping has termed “whole-process people’s democracy.” The concept was put forward about two years ago, during Xi’s visit to a civic center in Shanghai. 

Based on people’s congress system, the “whole-process people’s democracy” enables the Chinese people to broadly and continuously participate in the day-to-day political activities at all levels, including democratic elections, political consultation, decision-making and oversight.  

Continue reading From grassroots to lawmaker: A glimpse of China’s ‘whole-process democracy’

Educational Forum: No New Cold War Against China (Saturday 23 October)

Saturday, 23 October 2021
2pm US Eastern / 11am US Pacific / 7pm Britain
University of Minnesota
Nicholson Hall Room 155 / 216 Pillsbury Dr SE / Minneapolis, MN 55455

LIVE STREAM: Facebook

On Saturday 23 October, the Freedom Road Socialist Organization is holding a hybrid-mode forum opposing the New Cold War on China.

Speakers

  • Danny Haiphong, Contributing Editor of Black Agenda Report, Co-Host of The Left Lens, co-editor of Friends of Socialist China
  • Mick Kelly, Freedom Road Socialist Organization
  • Autumn Lake, Anti-War Committee

Details

The U.S. government is increasingly aggressive in statements and actions against China. Many are calling this a developing New Cold War on China. A New Cold War is not in the interest of working class and oppressed people in the U.S. We must oppose it.

Come learn more about the New Cold War targeting China and the anti-Asian racism that it generates in the U.S., what we can do about it, why both political parties are part of it, and the incredible accomplishments of socialist China that the imperialists don’t want you to know about in ending poverty, fighting climate change, defeating the coronavirus, and helping developing countries that Western imperialism has devastated or abandoned.


This is an in-person event. Danny Haiphong will join us virtually, while the other speakers will be in person. We will have a space that allows appropriate distancing. Masks required. Vaccination and/or current negative COVID test required.

John Riddell: Effort for social equality in China arouses concern on Wall Street

We are very pleased to republish this insightful piece by the Canadian Marxist John Riddell, general editor of the Communist Publishing Project. The article, originally posted on the author’s blog, assesses the significance of ‘common prosperity’ and the anxiety it has induced among the imperialist ruling classes. John calls on socialists worldwide to oppose the evolving New Cold War and to demonstrate solidarity with China.

Addressing the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Committee on 17 August 2021, Xi Jinping, president of the Chinese People’s Republic, stressed the need for “common prosperity” as a fundamental requirement of socialism.[1] The Central Committee responded by calling on high-income individuals and businesses to “give back more to society.”[2]

Big-businesses media in the West have reacted to this development with expressions of concern. “The End of a ‘Gilded Age’: China is Bringing Business to Heel,” declared A New York Times headline. “Where once executives had a green light to grow at any cost,” the Times continued, “officials now want to dictate which industries boom, which ones bust.”[3]

From a capitalist viewpoint, it’s a troubling prospect. A study by the Brookings Institute, a U.S.-based corporate brain trust, warned darkly that the “common prosperity” policy could lead to a possible $1 trillion wipe-out of Chinese corporate market values.[4] In fact, stock markets in the People’s Republic of have remained stable.

According to Brookings, the government’s new regulatory measures provoked a public debate within China between “those favoring bold measures” and “more establishment-minded advocates” who support the nurturing of “innovation and entrepreneurship.”

Brookings highlighted the role of a “previously low-profile blogger” in China, Li Guangman, who called for a “profound revolution” to correct the inequalities capitalism has wrought.” According to Brookings, Li’s essay went viral and “was republished online by party and state-controlled media.”[5]

China’s commitment to “common prosperity” follows on two major social mobilizations aiming to put this principle into practice. Firstly, a massive campaign to end “extreme poverty,” more ambitious than any similar effort in world history, succeeded in lifting the living standards of hundreds of millions of Chinese citizens, assuring that each individual had access to food, shelter, clothing, basic medical care, and education.

In February 2021, China reported the achievement of these ambitious goals. The gains were made in large part through the efforts of a host of Chinese revolutionary cadres who spent months in the villages helping to work out individualized solutions for impoverished residents.

Even as the anti-poverty campaign was wrapping up, China was undertaking a new collective effort – this time to combat the Covid-19 pandemic. The People’s Republic has now become a unique pandemic-free zone embracing one-fifth of humankind.

These gains have been consolidated in the teeth of an ominous U.S.-led “cold war” marked by unprovoked trade, diplomatic, and military reprisals against China. China’s recent social achievements were recently evaluated by a global webinar of the International Manifesto Group, with participation of a prominent Chinese Marxist.[6]

China’s economic gains have been achieved though an economy in which capitalist market relations play a significant role – albeit under close government direction. Some observers within the international Left have publicized the social conflicts that arise in this environment. A comment received recently by this blog, for example, highlights the 2018 protest of workers at Jasic Technologies, which employs about a thousand workers at several locations in China. According to this submission, the response of state bureaucrats and repressive forces was to “fire the workers, beat the workers, jail their leaders and outlaw the various political groups” that began to form to support them.

This blog is not in a position to pass judgment on the events at Jasic. However, reports from a variety of sources indicate that social protests in China, often related to workplace relations, are relatively frequent.[7] Surely this is a testimony to the health of Chinese society. China’s 300-million-member trade unions are sometimes criticized as lacking independence. Still, the scope of labor representation in China contrasts favourably with the situation in the United States, where 90% of workers have no form of union whatsoever and labour protests are correspondingly infrequent.

The comment received by my blog went on to call on the Chinese proletariat “to sweep away the bureaucratic-military and capitalist classes which have sold their labor power by the tens of millions to foreign imperialists.” It is hard to find evidence that could lend credence to this projection. The population of China is on the Internet down to the village level. The country enjoys a culture of intense online discussion. Despite this fact, we do not see many reports of revolutionary anti-government groups in China. Political refugees from China are relatively few. The reported level of incarceration in China is no higher than that in Canada and only one-fifth of that in the United States.

The people of China travel freely: 166 million tourists left the country in 2019; more than 99% returned home. In recent years there have been close to 400,000 students from China studying in the United States. Most of them, after completing their education, return home. The Washington Post reports that there are fewer Chinese students in the U.S. these days, quoting a student from Hangzhou who abandoned his spot at the elite New York University: “America may be good, but it’s not too friendly to us nowadays,”

Eighteen months ago, I wrote on this blog that, given the prevalence of market relations in the Chinese economy, “the government, whatever its intentions, cannot avoid accountability to capital.” Social production, I added, “is shaped by capitalist ownership and exploitation, organized to maximize corporate profit and to withstand the challenge of cutthroat global competition and worker contestation. Predominantly capitalist production generates the all-too-familiar evils of inequality, alienation, and exclusion.”

In retrospect, I find that this statement gives insufficient weight to the social context in China or to prevailing class relations. Yes, Chinese society is marked by the contradiction between the capitalist sector of its economy and the needs of the people, between the goals of a handful of billionaires and those of a multitude of workers. But in China – unlike in the imperialist countries – the billionaires do not give instructions to the government. On the contrary, the government gives instructions to the capitalists.[8]

Elsewhere in my 2020 article, I described social inequality in China with reference to the “GINI” coefficient:

[B]y the “Gini” measure (2016-17), social inequality in China (38.5), although less than in the U.S. (41.4), is considerably greater than in Canada (33.8).

Here it should be noted that the largest factor causing social inequality in China is the gulf between economic conditions in the city and those in the countryside. This factor looms large among most peoples emerging from colonial oppression. In advanced capitalist countries such as the United States and Canada, this economic divide was largely overcome many decades ago. In China, the campaign against extreme poverty has brought massive resources to bear to reduce this gap.

Another sentence in my article provides a better guide:

“Chinese society today rests on the heritage of a great socialist revolution 75 years ago … deepened and developed by the efforts of working people and the revolutionary government they established.”

Surely what is most significant about China today is the degree to which, through its great revolution and subsequently, it has made headway in resisting the dehumanizing tendencies of colonialism and capitalism.

As for the longer term outlook, there is much discussion today among China specialists in mainstream Western media regarding the challenges they say China will soon face in terms of demographic distortions, ecological barriers, and the structure of its work force. While these issues are important, China’s future will surely be decisively influenced by the evolution of global politics. We must take warning here from recent revelations that former U.S. President Donald Trump, during the final weeks of his presidency, spoke of launching an unprovoked nuclear attack on China.

Trump’s threats were recently revealed by Mark Milley, then chief of staff of the U.S. armed forces. The U.S. general took the danger sufficiently seriously to twice inform his counterpart in China that he would not permit the U.S. president to launch a nuclear strike on the People’s Republic of China.

All indications are that China will not be left in peace to develop socialism.

Socialists worldwide need to actively oppose the threats against China. In so doing we can help ensure that the Chinese people can freely choose among the many possible paths of development now open to them. Even more, solidarity with China is urgently needed to help protect the planet as a whole from nuclear and climate disaster.

China Solidarity Groups

Notes

[1]. For a review of how the concept of “common prosperity” has been utilized during the history of the Peoples Republic of China, see Mick Dunford, “On Common Prosperity.”

[2]. Ryan Hass, “Assessing China’s ‘Common Prosperity’ Campaign,” at bookings.edu. Brookings also reported major donations by leading Chinese private corporations to support the “Common Prosperity” vision, including a donation equivalent to US $15.5 billion from technology giant Alibaba.

[3]. Paul Mozur in the New York Times, 5 October 2021.

[4]. The Brookings warning was based on an article in Wall Street Journal published on 5 August 2021, that is, prior to the “Common Prosperity” announcement. The WSJ article is concealed by a corporate firewall.

[5]. Brookings, op. cit.

[6]. See “State Capitalism or Market Socialism: The Social Character of the People’s Republic of China,” organized by the International Manifesto Group, of which I am a member.

[7]. For a critical report on workplace conflicts in China see China Labor Watch.

[8]. I owe this observation to Carlos Martínez.

Chen Weihua: US should correct wrongs by ending propaganda war against China

We are pleased to republish this article by Chen Weihua, chief of China Daily EU Bureau, originally published in China Daily on 15 October 2021. The article is based on the author’s speech at our recent webinar, The Propaganda War Against China. The video of the speech is embedded below the article.

For decades, US politicians have been engaging in smear campaigns against China, an apt example being the reckless China bashing in almost every presidential campaign. The propaganda war against China escalated after the Donald Trump administration took power and further intensified when it launched all-out trade, tech and ideological wars against China, reversing decades of US policy.

The Joe Biden administration has not withdrawn those disastrous Trump policies despite criticizing them during his presidential campaign. Although the Biden administration comprises many officials from the Barack Obama administration, its China policy resembles more that of the Trump era than Obama’s presidency. And it includes the relentless propaganda war against China.

Continue reading Chen Weihua: US should correct wrongs by ending propaganda war against China

Danny Haiphong on the collapse of the ‘Uyghur genocide’ narrative

On October 10th, the Associated Press released a report that walked back Western media claims of a “genocide” in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. In the video embedded below, FoSC co-editor Danny Haiphong reviews this and other sensational claims about human rights in China to set the record straight.