The first exclusive Friends of Socialist China (FoSC) delegation has just returned from a 10-day visit to the People’s Republic of China.
Invited by the China NGO Network for International Exchanges (CNIE), which works under the direction of the International Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (IDCPC), 14 comrades (11 from Britain, two from the United States and one from Ireland) visited Beijing, Hangzhou and Jiaxing (Zhejiang province), and Changchun and Siping (Jilin province) from April 14-24. Our packed program featured visits to public service and community facilities, historic revolutionary sites and museums, political, scientific, cultural, industrial, and agricultural organisations, exhibition centres and cooperatives, and famous scenic spots among others.
Bilateral meetings, lectures and roundtable discussions with our hosts, as well as at three party schools and two university departments of Marxism, along with other organisations, enabled us to explore a wide range of issues, including the contribution of Xi Jinping Thought to contemporary Marxism, the development of socialism with Chinese characteristics and whole process people’s democracy, latest developments in theoretical study and publishing on issues of socialism and capitalism in China and the west, the early development and spread of Marxism in China, China’s distinctive modernisation, the building of an ecological civilisation, the opportunities and challenges posed by AI (Artificial Intelligence), and other topics.
All members of the delegation learned a great deal and came away with a deeper understanding of China’s revolutionary past, present and future, along with a renewed commitment both to building friendship with socialist China as well as to applying what we have learned to all of our political work in the struggle against imperialism, for the rights of working people and for the development of the socialist movement in our countries.
We take this opportunity to once again warmly thank our comrades at CNIE and all the organisations and institutions, and Chinese people from many walks of life, for their meticulous arrangements and kind hospitality every step of the way. It was an unforgettable experience.
We will be publishing further articles on the visit in the coming weeks.
We’d be in a lot less of a mess if more people were willing to visit, meet, and talk with China and its people and see for themselves what is really going on. Thanks for your efforts.
Good! We need to know more about Chinese democracy, and their debates about the way forward.