We are pleased to publish below the text of a pre-recorded speech by Professor Cheng Enfu for the London conference marking the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.
Cheng Enfu is one of China’s leading Marxist economists. He is former President of the Academy of Marxism, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; President of the World Association for Political Economy; Editor-in-Chief of the World Review of Political Economy; and Editor-in-Chief of the World Marxism Review.
In this speech, which is based on his contribution to the edited volume People’s China at 75 – The Flag Stays Red, Professor Cheng discusses the significance of, and progress towards, China’s second centenary goal of building a rich, strong, democratic, civilised, harmonious and beautiful modern socialist country.
Challenging the view typically held by bourgeois economists that there was very little development in pre-reform China, Cheng opines that “the first miracle of creating a preliminarily rich and strong China was achieved before the reform and opening-up”. He explains that New China broke out of underdevelopment, pushed forward science and technology, established an independent industrial system, significantly improved living standards, and achieved comprehensive development in education, culture, health and sports. In the period 1952-78, China’s GDP growth rate was more than twice the global average of 3 percent.
Development accelerated even faster from 1978, with the result that “China’s economic growth rate since the founding of New China has exceeded that of almost all capitalist countries, which vividly illustrate the historic achievements of China’s economic development.”
Professor Cheng observes that the US and its allies are trying to prevent China’s further rise. However, China’s consistent foreign policy – promoting peace and rejecting hegemonism – puts it at the heart of a global multipolar process in which the countries of the South and East are gaining importance. “Even if the US-led West launches a cool war, a cold war or a hot war against China, and keeps increasing illegal sanctions to the extent of a total blockade, China will be able to unite the vast number of developing countries and the countries of the South to fully realise the second centenary goal in a self-reliant manner.”
He advocates the adoption of a new Marxist internationalism, with three core aims:
First, to promote the development of the community of human destiny on the basis of the common values of humankind; second, to promote the development of world socialism on the basis of the core values of Marxism and socialism; and third, to unite all progressive forces at the international level to counter the hegemonic forces and monopolistic oligarchies that have attempted to besiege peace-loving countries and socialist forces such as China, Cuba, North Korea and Iran.
Professor Cheng concludes by calling for a broad unity in “opposition to neo-hegemonism, neo-imperialism, neo-colonialism, neo-racism, neo-liberalism, and neo-fascism, especially in the struggles against Russian-Ukrainian conflicts and Middle Eastern conflicts triggered by the US-led West, and against their attempts to trigger conflicts in a number of Indo-Pacific regions.”
A video of the speech is embedded below the text.
Dear comrades and friends,
First and foremost, congratulations from me and the World Association for Political Economy that I represent to the opening of the conference in commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China co-organized by the British Communist Party and Socialist Friends of China.
As we all know, the Chinese nation, under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC), has gone through the bitter modern history of a semi-feudal and semi-colonial society, and finally established a new China in 1949, which not only cleansed itself of the humiliation of being constantly invaded by imperialist powers, but also set off a brand-new situation of becoming stronger. Nowadays, on the basis of fully realizing the first goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects in the first century after the founding of the Party, the second goal of building a rich, strong, democratic, civilized, harmonious and beautiful modern socialist country in the first hundred years of the founding of the country is being rapidly realized. I have submitted articles on this subject to the conference. Here I would like to share two points.
1. China has been continuously surpassing the United States in various economic respects and will become the world’s largest economy and a “top country in the center”. The growth rate of China’s economy since 1949 suggests that it will surpass the United States by 2049.
The first miracle of creating a preliminarily rich and strong China was achieved before the reform and opening-up. The founding of the New China put a definitive end to the semi-colonial and semi-feudal state of poverty and weakness in China, and to the frequent wars that had the country had suffered for more than 100 years since the Opium War. Under the leadership of the CPC, the great socialist practice and exploration of China began in a poor and backward country. Science and technology began to develop as marked by the “two bombs (nuclear bomb and missile) and one satellite project”; an independent industrial and national economic system were initially established; comprehensive development was seen in education, culture, health and sports; the population grew rapidly and people’s livelihood were significantly improved; China successfully restore its legitimate seat in the United Nations (UN) and its Security Council; and China had a great influence among the vast number of third-world countries. All these show that the new China got rid of the image of a poor and weak country of the old China in international economic, political and military arena, and truly stood up and became preliminarily rich and strong. This is the “first miracle” in the economic development of the new China.
Statistics for this stage show that while in 1952, China’s GDP was only RMB 67.9 billion yuan, it was as high as 364.52 billion yuan in 1978. China’s average nominal annual growth rate during the period of 1952-1978 was as high as 6.68%. During this period, the average annual growth rate of China’s real GDP was as high as 6.15%, and the average annual growth rate of real per capita GDP was as high as 4.05%. With the average growth rate of the world economy during this period being 3%, China’s development rate was more than twice that of the world.[1]
The second miracle was created after the reform and opening-up as a stage of becoming intermediately rich and strong. The convening of the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh CPC Central Committee in 1978 marked the entry of China’s socialist practice into a new period of reform and opening-up. As of 2012, China’s industrial output value and foreign exchange reserves jumped to the first place in the world; its total economic output steadily ranked second in the world; the development of education, culture, health and sports were remarkable; people’s livelihoods were raised from subsistence to moderately prosperous level; Hong Kong and Macao were successfully returned to China; and China’s political and military status were rising internationally. These changes indicated that China is in the position of a “secondarily rich and strong” country. It is the “second miracle” of China’s economic development.
The third economic miracle has been created in the new era, with the formation of a “quasi-center” in the world economic system at the stage of becoming intermediately rich and strong. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the CPC Central Committee, with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, has adjusted the direction in the advance of the CPC and the state and ushered in a new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics. China’s average annual GDP growth rate was as high as 9.4% from 1978 to 2023, and its total GDP in 2023 amounted to $17.52 trillion. These figures powerfully demonstrate that China’s economic growth rate since the founding of New China has exceeded that of almost all capitalist countries, which vividly illustrate the historic achievements of China’s economic development.
Through implementing the “people-centered” development philosophy, the “Five-Sphere Integrated Plan,” and the “Four-Pronged Comprehensive Strategy,” and through international cooperation such as “Belt and Road Initiative,” “BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa)” the “SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization),” “AIIB (Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank),” etc., China has contributed the Chinese wisdom and provided Chinese solutions for human development, promoted the construction of a community with a shared future for humanity. With its growing international appeal and influence, China has become a “quasi-center” country in the world system, marking China’s status as an “intermediately rich and strong” country, and is presenting the “third miracle” in new China’s economic development.
China is able to achieve step by step its centenary goal of moving from its current position of a “quasi-center” in the world economic system to that of a “top center.” Relevant data calculations show that if China basically realizes modernization in 2035, it will be a “second-highest rich and strong” country in the “center” of the world economic system; if it realizes full modernization in 2049, it will be a rich and strong country ranking among the “top countries” in the center of the world economic system. Assuming that by 2049 China’s total population reaches 1.3 billion people, that of the United States reaches 335 million people, the exchange rate remains unchanged, with China’s total GDP of $17.52 trillion and US total GDP of $27.36 trillion in 2023, and assuming after calculation 5% for China’s annual GDP growth and 2.5% for the United States in 2024–2049, then through comprehensive calculation we can know that by 2049 China’s total GDP would reach $59.94 trillion far exceeding the $49.69 trillion of the United States.
Even if the US-led West launch a cool war, a cold war or a hot war against China, and keep increasing illegal sanctions to the extent of a total blockade, China will be able to unite the vast number of developing countries and the countries of the South to fully realize the second centenary goal in a self-reliant manner.
2. China has been continuously transcending hegemonism and narrow nationalism at the international level and promoting a community with a shared future for humanity and a new internationalism. This is a Chinese-style innovation to realize the prosperity and development of humanity at the present stage, as well as an exploration in Marxism and sinicized Marxism on the development of world history. In this process, the idea of a community with a shared future for humanity lies in the core of the Belt and Road Initiative, the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, the Global Civilization Initiative, the Global Artificial Intelligence Governance Initiative, and the No-First-Use of Nuclear Weapons Initiative.
The “Chinese School of Innovative Marxism,” led by myself, has in recent years advocated a new internationalism of Marxism, with three specific meanings: first, to promote the development of the community of human destiny on the basis of the common values of humankind; second, to promote the development of world socialism on the basis of the core values of Marxism and socialism; and third, to unite all progressive forces at the international level to counter the hegemonic forces and monopolistic oligarchies that have attempted to besiege peace-loving countries and socialist forces such as China, Cuba, North Korea and Iran.
At present, the pattern of international politics is mainly manifested as the rise of the East and the decline of the West, with cooperation between China, Russia, the Middle Eastern countries and other countries of the South in the fight against hegemonism and the gradual decline of the collective West. This new political pattern is in fact predicated by the new international economic pattern. Since the financial and economic crisis broke out in the West in 2008, the world has witnessed this rise of the East and decline of the West in the economic sphere. Even though the West is still relatively stronger, the currently weaker East is demonstrating the potential to win. In 2022, the GDP share of the BRICS countries in total global GDP exceeded that of the G7 countries. Under current circumstances, effective international economic and political governance can be truly realized only in the great struggles of the countries of the South in an united opposition to neo-hegemonism, neo-imperialism, neo-colonialism, neo-racism, neo-liberalism, and neo-fascism, especially in the struggles against Russian-Ukrainian conflicts and Middle Eastern conflicts triggered by the US-led West, and against their attempts to trigger conflicts in a number of Indo-Pacific regions.
The above are the two points that I want to share today. Finally, my best wishes to you for a successful conference.
Thank you all!
[1] Cheng Enfu, “The Constitution of China is the Fundamental Legal Basis and Theoretical Crystallization of the Reform and Opening-up: An Interview with Professor Cheng Enfu, Member of the Committee of Education, Science, Culture and Health of the National People’s Congress,” Marxism Studies, no. 11, 2018.
