Month: November 2024

Xi Jinping meets Keir Starmer in Brazil

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer held his first in person meeting with China’s President Xi Jinping on November 18, on the sidelines of the G20 summit, being held in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro. The two men had previously held a telephone conversation on August 23.

In his opening remarks, borrowing from the British Labour Party’s stated policy goals, Xi noted that the new government was “working to fix the foundations of the economy and rebuild Britain.” He added that while the two countries differ in history, culture, values, and social systems, they share extensive common interests and enjoy vast space for cooperation in such areas as trade and investment, clean energy, financial services, healthcare and people’s well-being, which should be further expanded to better benefit both peoples.

Starmer responded by saying that, in advancing their shared goals, his approach would be consistent, respectful and pragmatic.  The Prime Minister’s office’s read out of the meeting, added: “On climate, in particular, both said that this should be high on the agenda and there was more work to be done to accelerate global progress towards net zero. Both the UK and China have an important role to play in support of the global clean power transition.”

The British Prime Minister welcomed the recent visit to Beijing and Shanghai by Foreign Secretary David Lammy, looked forward to the planned China visit by Chancellor Rachel Reeves, planned for early next year, and expressed hope for the resumption of full, high-level bilateral engagement with China, which has been interrupted over recent years.

However, much of the goodwill generated by the meeting would have been spoiled by Starmer’s tactless and undiplomatic behaviour in publicly raising a number of contentious issues, in particular the case of Jimmy Lai, publisher of the former scurrilous newspaper, Apple Daily, who has been described by the Chinese Embassy in London as, “one of the most notorious anti-China elements bent on destabilising Hong Kong…  Jimmy Lai was a major plotter and instigator of the anti-China riots in Hong Kong. He blatantly colluded with external forces in jeopardising national security, solicited foreign support, and committed various sinful deeds.”

It is, of course, an act of the most revolting and blatant hypocrisy for Starmer, who has defended and abetted Israeli genocide in Gaza, the most egregious violation of human rights in the world at present, and who continues to do so; and whose government is engaged in a brutal campaign of politically motivated persecution and attempted intimidation of journalists who dare to point out the truth of what is happening in Gaza and elsewhere in the Middle East, such as Richard Medhurst, Sarah Wilkinson and Asa Winstanley, to accuse the leaders of other countries of abuses of human rights or violations of press freedom.

In its editorial comment on the meeting, the Morning Star described it as “long overdue”, noting:

“There is plenty of room for growth, especially in exports to China, where Britain lags far behind Germany, France and Italy. Relaxing the US-inspired ban on selling key electronic, micro-processing and [supposed] ‘dual use’ (civilian-military) engineering products to China would help.

“Restrictions on Chinese investment in Britain already hold back the roll-out of 5G technology and the application of quantum physics – in which China leads the world – to computing, communications, geology and medicine.”

The following articles were originally published by the Xinhua News Agency and the Morning Star.

Xi calls on China, Britain to adopt rational, objective perspective on each other’s development

RIO DE JANEIRO, Nov. 18 — China and Britain should adopt a rational and objective perspective on each other’s development, Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Monday.

Xi made the remarks when meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on the sidelines of the 19th G20 Leaders’ Summit.

The two countries should enhance strategic communication and deepen political mutual trust to ensure a steady, substantial, and enduring development of bilateral relations, he said.

Noting that the world has entered a new period of turbulence and transformation, Xi said that China and Britain, both as permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and major global economies, share the responsibilities of advancing their respective national development and addressing global challenges.

Both countries should stick to their strategic partnership, adhere to the principles of mutual respect, open cooperation, and mutual learning, strive for mutual benefit and win-win outcomes, and jointly write the next chapter of healthy and stable development of bilateral relations, he added.

Continue reading Xi Jinping meets Keir Starmer in Brazil

Xi Jinping: Building a just world of common development

From November 13-17, Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Peru at the invitation of his Peruvian counterpart Dina Ercilia Boluarte Zegarra, to attend the 31st APEC [Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation] Economic Leaders’ Meeting and to pay a state visit to the country. He then visited Brazil from November 17-21 at the invitation of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to attend the 19th G20 Summit and pay a state visit.

The first session of the G20 Summit was held on the morning of November 18 and was chaired by President Lula as the host. Its focus was on the “fight against hunger and poverty” and, on Brazil’s initiative, was preceded by the launch of the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty.

Xi Jinping made a speech at the session, taking as his theme, “Building a Just World of Common Development”.

The Chinese President began by noting that, “today, transformation of a scale not seen in a century is accelerating across the world. Humanity faces unprecedented opportunities and challenges.” He recalled his previous observation that, “prosperity and stability would not be possible in a world where the rich become richer while the poor are made poorer, and countries should make global development more inclusive, beneficial to all, and more resilient.”

To build a just world of common development, he noted, “we need to support developing countries in adopting sustainable production and lifestyles, properly responding to challenges like climate change, biodiversity loss and environmental pollution, enhancing ecological conservation, and achieving harmony between people and nature.”

China’s development is an important part of the common development of the world. “We have lifted 800 million people out of poverty, and met the poverty reduction target of the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development ahead of schedule.

“This achievement did not just fall into our laps. It is the fruit of the strenuous, unified efforts of the Chinese government and people. Everything China does, it always places the people front and centre, and it solemnly declares that ‘not a single poor region or person should be left behind.’”

Reflecting on his own life’s journey, he added: “I have worked from village to county, city, provincial and central levels. Poverty alleviation has always been a priority and a major task I am determined to deliver.”

“China’s story is proof that developing countries can eliminate poverty… If China can make it, other developing countries can make it too. This is what China’s battle against poverty says to the world.”

Noting that “China will always be a member of the Global South, a reliable long-term partner of fellow developing countries, and a doer and go-getter working for the cause of global development,” Xi went on to list eight actions for global development being taken by China.

We reprint below the full text of President Xi’s speech. It was originally published on the website of the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

Your Excellency President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva,
Colleagues,

It gives me great pleasure to attend the G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro. I thank President Lula and the Brazilian government for the warm hospitality extended to the Chinese delegation.

Today, transformation of a scale not seen in a century is accelerating across the world. Humanity faces unprecedented opportunities and challenges. As leaders of major countries, we should not let our vision be blocked by fleeting clouds. Rather, we must see the world as one community with a shared future, and shoulder our responsibility for history, take historical initiative and move history forward.

I pointed out at this forum that prosperity and stability would not be possible in a world where the rich become richer while the poor are made poorer, and countries should make global development more inclusive, beneficial to all, and more resilient. At the Hangzhou Summit, China placed development at the center of the G20’s macroeconomic policy coordination for the first time, and the Summit adopted the G20 Action Plan on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the G20 Initiative on Supporting Industrialization in Africa and Least Developed Countries. The Rio Summit this year has chosen the theme “Building a Just World and a Sustainable Planet.” It places fighting hunger and poverty at the top of the agenda, and decides to establish a Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty. From Hangzhou to Rio, we have been working for one and the same goal, that is, to build a just world of common development.

To build such a world, we need to channel more resources to such fields as trade, investment and development cooperation, and strengthen development institutions. There should be more bridges of cooperation, and less “small yard, high fences,” so that more and more developing countries will be better off and achieve modernization.

To build such a world, we need to support developing countries in adopting sustainable production and lifestyle, properly responding to challenges like climate change, biodiversity loss and environmental pollution, enhancing ecological conservation, and achieving harmony between man and nature.

To build such a world, we need an open, inclusive and non-discriminatory environment for international economic cooperation. We should promote a universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalization, energize sustainable development with new technologies, new industries and new business forms, and support developing countries in better integrating in digital, smart and green development to bridge the North-South gap.

To build such a world, we need to stay committed to multilateralism. We should uphold the U.N.-centered international system, the international order underpinned by international law, and the basic norms of international relations based on the purposes and principles of the U.N. Charter.

Continue reading Xi Jinping: Building a just world of common development

The Global South, with China in the forefront, is the key driver towards true multilateralism

The China Institute of International Studies (CIIS), a specialised research institution directly under China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Xi Jinping Thought on Diplomacy Studies Centre of CIIS, hosted a launch on November 11 of their latest report, entitled ‘True Multilateralism: Conceptual Development, Core Essence and China’s Practice’.

Held at Beijing’s Diaoyutai State Guest House, the meeting was attended by more than 220 people from around 70 countries, including diplomats from 66 embassies in Beijing and representatives from three international organisations. 18 embassies were represented by their Ambassador or Head of Mission. They were joined by Chinese officials, scholars, researchers and students, along with foreign students studying in China.

Friends of Socialist China Co-Editor Keith Bennett attended and spoke at the conference, representing the Institute of Independence Studies and its Xi Jinping Thought Study Group.

Speakers at the event were:

  • Chen Bo: Secretary General, Xi Jinping Thought on Diplomacy Studies Centre; and President, China Institute of International Studies (CIIS)
  • Miao Deyu: Assistant Minister, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, China
  • Mauricio Hurtado: Ambassador of Chile to China
  • Ahmed Mustafa Fahmy:  Head, League of Arab States’ China Representative Office
  • Oleg Kopylov: Deputy Secretary General, Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)
  • Ren Hongyan: Special Research Fellow, Xi Jinping Thought on Diplomacy Studies Centre
  • Chhem Kieth Rethy: Senior Minister, Royal Government of Cambodia; Chairman, Economic, Social and Cultural Council, Cambodia
  • Wu Zhicheng: President, Institute of International Strategy, Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (National Academy of Governance)
  • Keith Bennett: Xi Jinping Thought Study Group, Institute for Independence Studies, UK
  • Wang Lei: Deputy Director, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
  • Gafar Kara Ahmed: Researcher, China-Arab Research Centre on Reform and Development, Shanghai International Studies University; former Sudanese Ambassador to China; and
  • Jia Lieying: Dean, School of International Relations & Director, UN Research Centre, Beijing Language and Culture University.

The full text of the Report may be found here.

The following is the text of Keith’s remarks to the meeting.

I welcome the release of your report today. Long ago, Engels, in his preface to ‘The Peasant War in Germany’, stressed the need to constantly “keep in mind that socialism, having become a science, demands the same treatment as every other science – it must be studied.”

This is why the foreign policy of a major socialist country like China, whilst naturally deciding each issue on its merits and specific characteristics, cannot be approached and determined in an ad hoc or impressionistic way but rather on the basis of the most advanced theory, itself based on the summation of long years of practice, which at the present time means the study and application of Xi Jinping Thought on Diplomacy.

President Xi Jinping always reminds us that we are witnessing and experiencing changes unseen in a century. We can see the veracity and profundity of his observation by looking at practically any field of human exploration and endeavour, most recently, for example, the immense opportunities and challenges presented by AI.

But most fundamentally, I believe that the significance of viewing things from this century-long paradigm is that it is just a little over 100 years since socialism graduated from being an ideal to becoming a modern programme of nation building. The concept of changes unseen in a century addresses above all the global ramifications of that historical turning point.

This year we have observed the 70th anniversary of the proclamation of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, which may be taken as the building blocks and guarantor of true multilateralism and a most fundamental reform of a global governance system hitherto dominated by a handful of oppressor nations, almost exclusively in Western Europe and North America.

The creation of the Soviet state meant that there were now countries in the world with fundamentally different political and social systems. The question therefore arose as to what type of relations should exist between those states and how should the relationship between them be handled. Faced with this question, Lenin formulated the policy of peaceful coexistence.

Some three-and-a-half decades later, it was clear that the existence of states with different social systems was no mere transient phenomenon but rather a long-term historical reality. It therefore fell to the Chinese communists to raise the issue beyond a tactical policy or temporary necessity, but rather to place it on a firm theoretical foundation, to elevate it to the level of science.

Today, in the new era, this issue, while losing none of its original cogency and vitality, has to be approached on a new basis and on a new level. If, seventy years ago, the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence gave the socialist countries, and the newly independent countries just embarking on the road of building a new society, freedom to breathe and room to manoeuvre, today we face a qualitatively different situation.

Continue reading The Global South, with China in the forefront, is the key driver towards true multilateralism

Richard Wolff: US shifts blame onto China because it cannot address capitalism’s flaws

In the following video interview with Global Times, prominent Marxist economist Richard Wolff explains the central contradiction in the US ruling class with respect to its relationship with China.

On the one hand, the US business community is eager to maintain good economic relations with China, which represents an important market, trading partner, avenue for investment, and source of investment. US companies “want to be able to produce in China, and even more, they want to sell into the Chinese market, which is one of the fastest-growing and largest markets in the world.”

On the other hand, the US political establishment is increasingly hostile to China. This hostility is driven to a significant degree by the fact that China is challenging the US’s global hegemony. “The last century has been the century of the American Empire, and it now sees its role in the world economy – financially, in export and import, and in other areas – being challenged above all by the People’s Republic of China.”

Meanwhile the US is facing a deepening crisis of capitalism, with growing inequality, economic instability, and a shrinking middle class. Politicians have identified two convenient scapegoats for these problems: 1) immigrants from Latin America; 2) China. Wolff points out: “Capitalism has always moved in this way. But because our politics are controlled by big business, politicians can never blame capitalism. They cannot blame the big businesses that fund them. So, who do they blame? China.”

Wolff conjectures that it may be possible to use this division in the US ruling class to pursue an agenda of peace and cooperation; that the peace movement may be able to work together with the business community to prevent a war with China.

China and Indonesia emphasise that the question of Palestine is the biggest wound to human conscience

Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto paid a state visit to China from November 8-10 at the invitation of his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping. Testifying to the great importance the Indonesian head of state is attaching to his country’s relations with China, this was his first foreign visit since he assumed office on October 20. Similarly, he had previously visited China from March 31-April 2 as his first foreign visit after being declared President Elect.

The two heads of state held talks on November 9.

Xi Jinping noted that Prabowo Subianto visited China on his first overseas trip right after he was elected as President in March this year and made his first state visit to China after officially taking office, which reflects the great importance President Prabowo Subianto attaches to developing China-Indonesia relations and demonstrates the high level and strategic nature of bilateral relations.

The two sides need to keep to high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, continue to operate well the Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway, advance cooperation on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Corridor and the “Two countries, Twin Parks” project, strengthen cooperation in digital economy, advanced manufacturing, circular economy and other areas, carry out joint maritime development cooperation, and continuously deepen all-round mutually beneficial cooperation, so as to better achieve integrated development and advance the two countries’ respective modernisation.

Xi Jinping emphasised that this year marks the 70th anniversary of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, and next year marks the 70th anniversary of the Bandung Conference. As major developing countries, emerging markets and major members of the Global South, China and Indonesia should jointly champion Asian values centred on peace, cooperation, inclusiveness and integration, enrich the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence and the Bandung Spirit with the imperatives of the new era, lead countries in the Global South to seek strength through unity, and work to make global governance more just and equitable. China is ready to work with Indonesia to carry out closer multilateral strategic coordination, oppose unilateralism and protectionism, advance an equal and orderly multipolar world and a universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalisation, and jointly safeguard regional peace and stability.

Prabowo Subianto said that China is a great country. Indonesia and China have a thousand-year history of friendly exchanges, and bilateral relations have maintained a sound momentum of development. Under the current complex international situation, Indonesia hopes to work with China to further strengthen all-round strategic coordination, become closer comprehensive strategic partners, and build a community with a shared future that has regional and global influence, which will not only benefit the two peoples, but also create a favourable environment for better achieving peaceful development in Asia. Indonesia is ready to work with China to continue high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, improve the “five pillars” cooperation pattern, and strengthen all-round cooperation throughout the industrial chains in infrastructure, energy and mining, medicine, agriculture, housing, joint maritime development, food security and poverty reduction. Chinese enterprises are welcome to invest in Indonesia. Indonesia fully supports the position of the Chinese government on the Taiwan question, firmly pursues the one-China policy, and steadfastly supports the efforts of the Chinese government to safeguard territorial integrity and realise national reunification. Xinjiang-related matters are entirely China’s internal affairs. Indonesia stands by the principle of non-interference in internal affairs and firmly supports China’s endeavours to safeguard development and stability in Xinjiang.

President Subianto thanked China for upholding fairness and justice on the Palestinian question. Indonesia adheres to its independent and non-aligned foreign policy, will not join any military alliance or “small clique” against a third party, and supports the three major global initiatives proposed by President Xi Jinping. Indonesia is ready to enhance communication and cooperation with China within the G20 and other multilateral frameworks in order to make positive efforts to safeguard the common interests of the Global South, and to promote a multipolar world along with the building of a community with a shared future for humanity.

The Indonesian President also met with Chinese Premier Li Qiang on the same day.

Premier Li called on the two sides to strengthen the synergy of their development strategies, further expand the scale of bilateral trade and investment, and explore the potential for cooperation on green minerals, photovoltaic wind power, digital economy, marine scientific research and environmental protection, so as to add more impetus to the two countries’ respective development.

China is willing to strengthen communication and coordination with Indonesia on multilateral platforms such as the UN, practice true multilateralism, safeguard international equity and justice, and safeguard the common interests of developing countries, he added.

Subianto said that Indonesia is willing to take the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries next year as an opportunity to intensify exchanges with China at all levels, expand mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields, strengthen key projects such as the Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway, and intensify exchanges in such fields as education and tourism.

Continue reading China and Indonesia emphasise that the question of Palestine is the biggest wound to human conscience

China is the indispensable country when it comes to tackling the climate crisis

Friends of Socialist China co-editor Carlos Martinez addressed a Young Communist League of Britain educational on capitalism and the environment, held on Zoom on 14 November 2024.

In his presentation, Carlos discusses the current trend in the West for blaming China for the climate crisis, on the basis of its having become the largest emitter of greenhouse gases. He points out the various flaws in this logic, including that China’s per capita emissions are around half those of the US; that China is the “workshop of the world” and, as such, has “imported” a huge volume of emissions from the West; and that, in terms of cumulative carbon emissions (the quantity of excess carbon dioxide currently in the atmosphere), North America and Western Europe are responsible for the lion’s share.

He notes that China’s environmental record is purposefully painted in a negative light in order to minimise the West’s historic responsibility and to imply that China – a developing country – should contribute at the same level as the West to the global fund for helping poorer countries with climate change adaptation and mitigation. This clearly runs counter to the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities – a principle enshrined in international law.

Carlos also highlights China’s remarkable progress in the last 10-20 years in pursuing an ecological civilisation, noting that environmental protection has become integrated into all levels of policy-making and economic planning. Credible analysis indicates that it has already reached its goal of peaking carbon emissions by 2030. Meanwhile, it has become by far the global leader in renewable energy, electric transport, biodiversity protection and afforestation. China’s innovations and investment in green energy have brought costs down globally by upwards of 80 percent, and, via the Belt and Road Initiative, China is helping countries of the Global South to leapfrog fossil fuel-based development.

Carlos goes on to explore the reasons that China in particular has emerged as a trailblazer in environmental protection, and concludes by pointing to the danger of a New Cold War impeding urgently-needed global cooperation around climate change.

FOCAC Summit marks significant step in long journey of Africa’s complete emancipation

The following article, outlining the political importance of this year’s Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), held in Beijing from September 4-6, was written by our Co-Editor Keith Bennett and originally published by ChinAfrica on September 12.

Keith notes that the “long historical connection between the peoples of China and Africa is all too often ignored, suppressed or dismissed in the West. Rhetoric from politicians and biased and ignorant media reporting all too often assert that China’s ties with Africa began only in the very recent period as an economically booming China required large-scale access to minerals and raw materials. This is far from the truth.”

Citing the support extended by China to the South African liberation struggle from at least 1954, as well as its support to the Eritrean liberation movement from the 1960s, Keith writes: “As a young communist in the 1970s, I heard from South African exiles how the arrival of copies of China Reconstructs (the forerunner of China Today [by whom the article was originally commissioned]), smuggled at considerable risk into the country, were eagerly awaited, and passed from hand to hand, as a source of inspiration and hope.”

Here, Keith refers principally, but by no means exclusively, to his close friend, comrade and mentor Melville Fletcher. The national organiser of the Textile Workers’ Union of South Africa and a member of the Congress of Democrats (which organised progressive white people and later merged into the African National Congress) as well as of the underground South African Communist Party (SACP), Melville is seen here (on the right of the photo), as a member of the delegation of the South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU) at the June 1955 Congress of the People, which adopted the Freedom Charter, the program of the liberation movement, together with his comrades, Moses Mabhida, later the General Secretary of the SACP, and Monty Naicker of the Natal Indian Congress.

Similarly, Melville’s friend Norman Levy, the father of the acclaimed novelist Deborah Levy, writing in his memoirs, The Final Prize, describing the events that were to lead to him facing charges of treason, recalled:

“The regime’s threats were followed up with police raids on 19 September 1955. On that occasion I came home to find two members of the special branch outside our front door, one of them waving a warrant authorizing them to investigate charges of treason, sedition and offences under the Suppression of Communism Act. Instructions to keep cool, think fast on your feet and have a steady hand during these encounters went out of my head as I thought of all the things that I should have taken care of in anticipation of these raids. I let the men in gingerly, trying hard to recall whether any incriminating documents, notes, names and papers were lying about, exposed. There were so many items to remember: banned publications, especially ‘Marxist-Leninist’ books; periodicals and journal articles from China, Eastern Europe and the USSR; lists of subscribers to Fighting Talk; names of people in the Congress of Democrats and the African Education Movement; and documents of the SACP. The illegal Party had not yet publicly ‘emerged’ and evidence of its existence was hardly anything I wanted to reveal through careless possession of its documents. In any case, membership of the illegal organization carried with it a severe jail sentence.”

Keith’s article goes on to note the different attitudes towards Africa displayed by China and the United States: “The contrast between the equality accorded in Beijing and the peremptory treatment bordering on racism accorded to them in Washington will not have been lost on the African leaders. In contrast with President Xi’s 40 bilaterals, when the US-Africa Leaders Summit was held in December 2022, US President Joe Biden could just about stir himself for one.”

Citing reports by the Financial Times, New York Times and Bloomberg, he writes, “Such is the stark contrast that, amidst the usual patronising cynicism, a hint of realism even managed to penetrate the Western media.”

He concludes that: “China is the greatest ally of the countries and peoples of Africa in [the] struggle for complete emancipation and the 2024 FOCAC Summit marks a significant step in that long journey.”

Meeting in Beijing from 4 to 6 September, this year’s Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) has been repeatedly described by China as its most important diplomatic event of 2024. 

Considering the frenetic pace of Chinese diplomacy, this is a bold claim. But it is also a modest one. It can also easily lay claim to being the most important global diplomatic gathering in 2024. 

Hosted by President Xi Jinping, the summit was attended by leaders from 53 African countries, along with the chairperson of the AU Commission and the secretary-general of the United Nations, as well as representatives of over 30 international and reginal organisations. 

Delivering a keynote address at the opening ceremony on the morning of 5 September, Xi said that, “Thanks to nearly 70 years of tireless efforts from both sides, the China-Africa relationship is now at its best in history.” On his proposal, bilateral relations between China and African countries having diplomatic ties with China have been elevated to the level of strategic relations and the overall characterisation of the China-Africa relations has been elevated to an all-weather China-Africa community with a shared future for the new era. 

Continue reading FOCAC Summit marks significant step in long journey of Africa’s complete emancipation

Donald Trump and the drive to war against China

In the following article, which first appeared in slightly shorter form in Labour Outlook, Carlos Martinez assesses the prospects for the US-led New Cold War against China under a second Trump presidency, and the possibility of military conflict between the world’s two largest economies.

The article begins by noting that US policy towards China has been relatively consistent for over a decade, starting with the Obama-Clinton ‘Pivot to Asia’ in 2011, followed by the Trump administration’s trade war, and then the Biden administration’s sanctions, tariffs, semiconductor war, military provocations and the creation of AUKUS.

What will change under Trump? Carlos notes that “a deepening of economic confrontation seems more than likely”, given Trump’s repeated promises to impose unprecedented tariffs on Chinese goods. And while Trump made noises during his election campaign about wanting to end the US’s “forever wars”, “the appointment of inveterate China hawks Marco Rubio and Michael Waltz as secretary of state and national security adviser sends a clear signal that Trump is planning to escalate hostilities”.

Marco Rubio is an anti-China fanatic, who stands for more tariffs, more sanctions, more slander, more support for Taiwanese separatism, more provocations in the South China Sea, and more destabilisation in Hong Kong and Xinjiang. Mike Waltz has long pushed for closer military cooperation with India, Japan, Australia and other countries in the region in preparation for war against China.

The article notes that China’s consistent offer to the West is based on working together “to tackle the urgent issues facing humanity, including climate change, pandemics, peace, nuclear proliferation, food security and development”. However, it is clear that only mass movements will force Western governments to take up such an offer.

Although the Pivot to Asia was initiated by the Obama administration – when then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was tasked with developing a strategy for “America’s Pacific Century” – it was the Trump presidency from 2017-21 that really turned up the dial in terms of US anti-China hostility.

Donald Trump campaigned in 2016 on a promise to protect jobs by addressing the US’s trade deficit with China: “We can’t continue to allow China to rape our country and that’s what they’re doing. It’s the greatest theft in the history of the world.”

In power, the Trump administration launched a full-scale trade war, imposing enormous tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars of Chinese imports. This was combined with a systematic attack on Chinese technology companies, removing Huawei from US telecoms infrastructure and attempting to prevent TikTok and WeChat from operating in the US.

Militarily, Trump ramped up the US’s presence in the South China Sea and sought to revitalise the Quad group (US, Japan, India and Australia), working towards a broad regional alliance against China.

The State Department oversaw a crackdown on Chinese students and researchers, and, with the arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic, Trump resorted to flagrant racism, talking repeatedly about the “kung flu” and the “China virus” – all of which fed in to a horrifying rise in hate crimes against people of East Asian descent.

As such, many breathed a sigh of relief when Joe Biden was elected four years ago. Unfortunately, however, Biden has essentially maintained the anti-China strategic orientation of his predecessor, albeit without the crassly confrontational rhetoric and overt racism. Biden in many ways has been more systematic in pursuit of military and economic containment of China, particularly when it comes to building an international coalition around US strategic interests.

In September 2021, the US, Britain and Australia announced the launch of AUKUS – a nuclear pact, manifestly contravening the Non-Proliferation Treaty, and evidently designed to counter China.

Biden has hosted numerous Quad summit meetings, at which the member states have reiterated their “steadfast commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific” – that is, to preserving a status quo in which the US maintains over 300 military bases in the region, along with tens of thousands of troops, nuclear-enabled warplanes, aircraft carriers, and missile defence systems aimed at establishing nuclear first-strike capability.

The combination of the Quad and AUKUS looks suspiciously like an attempt to create an Asian NATO. Meanwhile Nancy Pelosi’s 2022 trip to Taiwan Province was the highest-level US visit to the island in quarter of a century. In 2023, Biden signed off on direct US military aid to Taiwan for the first time; a BBC headline from November 2023 noted that “the US is quietly arming Taiwan to the teeth”. This undermines the Three Joint Communiqués – which form the bedrock for US-China diplomatic relations – and is clearly aimed at inflaming tensions across the Taiwan Strait and setting up a potential hot war with China over Taiwan. A recently-leaked memo from four-star general Mike Minihan predicted war over Taiwan in 2025: “My gut tells me we will fight in 2025”.

The Biden administration has expanded Trump-era restrictions against China’s technology industry, in particular by launching a ‘chip war’ to slow down China’s progress in semiconductor production, artificial intelligence, mobile phones and more. And while the US government under Biden has set several ambitious climate goals, it has also introduced sweeping sanctions on Chinese solar materials and imposed huge tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles.

The unfortunate truth is that there is a consensus among Democrats and Republicans. In Biden’s words, “we’re in a competition with China to win the 21st century” – and the US must win this competition at all costs.

To what extent can we expect the situation to change under a second Trump presidency?

Continue reading Donald Trump and the drive to war against China

China’s socialist road: a people-centred development strategy

We are pleased to publish below the text of a speech given by Eben Williams, Education Officer for the Young Communist League of Britain, at our September 28 conference celebrating the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.

The speech reflects on the strategy of the united front, and how the Chinese leadership applies it at an international level. Discussing the recent World Youth Development Forum held in China, Eben notes that “it was not a specifically socialist event as such”, and yet “it was revolutionary precisely because of this focus on development which naturally brings the developing or so-called ‘third world’ camp into conflict with US-led imperialism and neo-colonialism, which is also the primary obstacle to a more advanced level of socialist development, both in China, and the world”.

Eben goes on to describe some of the progress that has been made in youth development in China in recent years. For example: “This is the best educated generation in Chinese history, and over the past ten years, average years in education has increased from 12.7 to 13.8, and higher education enrolment has increased by 27.8%, with nearly doubled attendance in vocational schools.” Further, “thanks in part to nutrition subsidies and lunch programmes, in the last ten years, nutrition and fitness have increased in rural areas with 86.7% of students now passing physical fitness tests, up from 70.3% ten years before, and a huge drop in rates of malnutrition.”

The Communist Youth League, with a membership of 74 million, is involved in organising 90 million youth volunteers, “including the 5.5 million young people who volunteered during COVID-19 to provide medical care, transport supplies, and build medical facilities; the nearly six million youth volunteers who have been paired up with rural children with disabilities or in need of long-term support; and the more than 4.9 million youth volunteers who took part in relief efforts during the earthquakes in 2008 and 2010. These efforts are deliberately linked up with China’s wider socialist project and the promotion of young heroes of the Chinese revolution, like Lei Feng.”

Eben works as a Chinese translator, speaks and reads Mandarin, and has lived and worked in China.

Hi comrades, thanks very much for having me here, thanks to Friends of Socialist China for co-hosting this event and congratulations to all Chinese comrades on the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. My name’s Eben and I work as a Chinese translator but I’m here today as the Education Officer for the Young Communist League, so I’m going to be speaking a bit about what Chinese socialism means for the youth in China and Britain, as well as the importance of promoting socialist education and Marxist theoretical discussions through events like this one.

But first, I’d like to kick off with two basic Marxist-Leninist concepts which are really helpful in framing Chinese strategy and policy. Firstly, understanding that socialism is primarily the product of economic development, moving from an idealistic and moralistic framing toward a more scientific one that recognises capitalism as a system that has outstayed its welcome as a historical stage of human development, and that it is when the ever-increasing development of the productive forces of a country come into contradiction with the fetters of the private relations of production that it becomes necessary for a revolutionary break.

Secondly, Mao’s understanding of the need for a united front of different patriotic classes led by the proletariat against the primary threat of imperialism, but with the understanding that these other classes, and especially the national bourgeoisie, are unstable and untrustworthy and will later betray to the side of the enemy. The Chinese flag represents this understanding, with the four smaller stars representing the four main classes of Chinese society: the proletariat, the peasantry, the petty-bourgeoisie, and the national bourgeoisie, under the leadership and firm hand of the large star, representing the dictatorship of the proletariat and the communist party. So, we have here these two central elements of Chinese socialism: the focus on the development of the productive forces and the united front against imperialism.

Last month, the YCL sent delegates to China’s World Youth Development Forum which is a really good example of this socialist strategy in practice, just like China’s strategy regarding BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, the Belt and Road Initiative, and other development-focused united front projects. The World Youth Development Forum is an annual event ran by the Communist Youth League of China which looks to unite youth organisations from around the world and promote contributions to global youth development via the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. Aside from the small number of communist youth organisations like ours that have good relations with the Chinese Party, the forum was dominated by liberal NGOs, UN representatives, and charity projects from around the world who often could not make the political connection between socialism and China’s success. This meant that it was not a specifically socialist event as such, but it was certainly revolutionary.

Continue reading China’s socialist road: a people-centred development strategy

Confronting the great genocide illusion: Gaza and Xinjiang

The following essay by Russel Harland (trade unionist and Friends of Socialist China Britain Committee member) explores the bizarre phenomenon of “those apostles of ‘freedom’ [the Western ruling classes] wanting you to believe China is committing a genocide against the Uyghurs in Xinjiang whilst turning a blind eye to the most documented genocide in history, in Gaza”.

Describing the ongoing horrors being inflicted on the people of Gaza, of which there is an abundance of evidence, Russel notes that there is “not an atom of credible evidence” of genocide in Xinjiang, and yet the propaganda campaign against China is so pervasive that even many on the left have been taken in by it. He notes: “My own trade union, which has done some phenomenal work in advocating for the Palestinian cause, appears to be investing quite a lot of time and resources into targeting China, from a standpoint of political malice.”

The essay provides an overview history of Xinjiang, and highlights its strategic importance to China and to the growing cooperation between China and the countries of Central Asia. This strategic importance gives a valuable clue as to why the US would seek to foment instability in the region.

Russel concludes:

With the use of genocide both in reality and fiction now truly exposed as a political mechanism to maintain hegemony for US imperialism, the necessity to confront the great genocide illusion is about embracing our own humanity, preventing any more of the world’s children succumbing to the merciless fate of those in Gaza, and once and for all stopping US imperialism’s drive towards total domination through war.

‘Prometheus, in stealing the fire from the gods, lays the foundation for the evolution of man. There would be no human history were it not for Prometheus’ “crime.” He, like Adam and Eve, is punished for his disobedience. But he does not repent and ask for forgiveness. On the contrary, he proudly says: “I would rather be chained to this rock than be the obedient servant of the gods.”’ (Erich Fromm)

The epigraph above comes from a series of papers written in the 1960s by German-American social philosopher and psychoanalyst Erich Fromm, which became the book On Disobedience, published after his death in 1981. These dense texts illuminate the debilitating potency of US imperialism’s grasp on our everyday lives. Fromm, who fled Nazi Germany in the 1930s, wrote these papers at the height of the Cold War, when atomic confrontation was a distinct possibility, in a decade that witnessed trepidatious events such as the Cuban Missile Crisis, the intensification of the Vietnam war, and the Sino-Soviet split.  

In the midst of these papers, Fromm is describing how capitalism permanently tramples on the principles of solidarity and love to encourage the impersonal mechanisms of the market through individualism and egotistical action to regulate society while forgoing the expressed needs of the people. According to Fromm, the alienation into which humankind has been coerced is guided by bureaucracies of big enterprises through its consumers and workers under the illusion of freedom and independence. Granted that in writing these essays Fromm is stunned by the state of humanity under capitalism. He is also dismissive of the humanistic socialism being promoted in the Soviet Union or China, that finds inseparable the full development of the individual and society. Yet unbeknownst to Fromm, while the Soviet leaders, particularly from the time of Khrushchev, denigrated their predecessors to legitimate their own power, China navigated such incidences building on the legacy of each generation of leaders to set China on the path to national rejuvenation through Chinese-style modernisation. Thus far, the rejuvenation has included lifting around 900 million people out of extreme poverty to eradicate this scourge from China, whilst also helping the country become the second largest economy in the world. Unparalleled achievements gained in barely a few decades, to the contemporary despair of US Imperialism and its subordinates.  

Continue reading Confronting the great genocide illusion: Gaza and Xinjiang

Trump presidency threatens us all

What follows is a blog post by Sophie Bolt, the new General Secretary of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), on the threat posed by the Trump presidency to global peace.

Sophie notes that Trump has promised to “stop wars, not start them”, and yet he has already nominated several notorious warmongers to his cabinet, including Marco Rubio as Secretary of State, Michael Waltz as National Security Adviser, and John Ratcliffe as CIA director. Marco Rubio is an anti-China fanatic, who stands for more tariffs, more sanctions, more slander, more support for Taiwanese separatism, more weapons to Taipei, more provocations in the South China Sea, and more destabilisation in Hong Kong and Xinjiang. Waltz has long pushed for closer military cooperation with India, Japan, Australia and other countries in the region in preparation for war against China. Ratcliffe refers to China as “the top threat to US interests and the rest of the free world”.

The article points out that the incoming administration is likely to escalate the US-led New Cold War against China, as well as continuing the drive towards hot war:

As well as intensifying Trump’s protectionist ‘America First’ policy, by increasing tariffs on Chinese goods, a key focus will be racheting up a military confrontation with China. A military build up across the Asia Pacific has been underway for more than a decade, supported by 400 US military bases encircling China and the AUKUS nuclear alliance with Britain and Australia.

Meanwhile Trump’s climate denialism will be another major setback to global cooperation around the climate crisis.

This article was first posted on the CND website.

In Trump’s victory speech, he said he was going to stop wars, not start them. Excuse me if I’m not reassured. Based on his track record and the ultra-hawks he’s putting in the State Department, the threat of war and nuclear confrontation looks higher than ever.

Last time he was President, the US bombed Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq, carried out extra-judicial killings and developed ‘useable’ nuclear weapons. Under his leadership, the US withdrew from landmark nuclear arms control treaties including the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty, the Open Skies Treaty, and the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPoA). And it withdrew from the Paris Climate Agreement.

Trump’s new team for the State Department includes ultra China and Iran hawks, Marco Rubio, expected to be nominated for Secretary of State, and Mike Waltz, appointed National Security Advisor.  Certainly Trump’s victory and open support for annexing the West Bank has already emboldened Netanyahu’s genocidal expansionism. This increases the risk of an all-out war on Iran.

As well as intensifying Trump’s protectionist ‘America First’ policy, by increasing tariffs on Chinese goods, a key focus will be racheting up a military confrontation with China. A military build up across the Asia Pacific has been underway for more than a decade, supported by 400 US military bases encircling China and the AUKUS nuclear alliance with Britain and Australia. Richard O’Brien, former security advisor to Trump, laid out in Foreign Affairs what to expect next. ‘As China seeks to undermine American economic and military strength,’ O’Brien argues, ‘Washington should return the favor—just as it did during the Cold War, when it worked to weaken the Soviet economy.’  This prospect of a new cold war is truly horrifying , when we remember how the nuclear arms race in the 1980s, lead to a permanent state of nuclear danger.  

With speculation about what Trump will do in Ukraine, the new British government doesn’t want to take any chances of de-escalation. Starmer has again pressed Biden to agree to Ukraine’s use of its long-range Storm Shadow missiles, which could strike deep into Russian territory. He knows full well that Russia has changed its nuclear use policy in response to such an attack. This only reinforces the need for an urgent negotiated settlement.

NATO membership of Ukraine remains a key factor in the conflict and Ukrainian neutrality will be critical for de-escalating the crisis. But there is absolutely no evidence to back up concerns amongst NATO hawks that Trump will abandon the world’s most powerful nuclear alliance. On the contrary, Trump has called on NATO states to increase defence spending to 3% of GDP. So, continuing to push the burden of funding onto the populations of NATO states. This means the toxic combination of increased militarism, nuclear dangers and austerity policies will continue across Europe.

Trump’s election will strengthen the far right and fascists globally. In Britain, Farage and Tommy Robinson will be emboldened further to whip up hatred, justifying greater military spending for another world war.  

And, as the US is one of the world’s largest polluters, Trump’s decision to pull out of Paris Climate Accord again, is another major set-back for climate action and investment in green technologies.

This shows more starkly than ever how war, racism, austerity, climate breakdown and nuclear annihilation are increasingly interlinked. We can’t allow this recklessly dangerous leader to drag the world towards annihilation. This is why CND is working with all those who oppose Trump to help build the broadest alliance possible for peace, justice and a sustainable, nuclear-free future.

China-Slovakia relations elevated to strategic partnership

Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic Robert Fico paid an official visit to China, October 31-November 5.

He met with Chinese President Xi Jinping on November 1.

Noting that this year marks the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Slovakia, Xi said that after three-quarters of a century of development, the traditional friendship between the two countries is full of vitality, and the cooperation in various fields has yielded fruitful results, bringing tangible benefits to the people of both countries.

“We have decided to elevate China-Slovakia relations to a strategic partnership, which meets the future development needs of both countries and will inject new and powerful momentum into bilateral cooperation,” Xi said, adding that China is willing to work together with Slovakia to open a new chapter in bilateral relations and lift their ties to a higher level.

In order to expand pragmatic cooperation, Xi said the two countries should make good use of the newly established inter-governmental cooperation committee to strengthen synergy in new energy, transportation and logistics, infrastructure construction and water resources management. China encourages its enterprises to invest in Slovakia and welcomes Slovak enterprises to explore the market in China, he added.

Xi noted that the two countries need to strengthen international cooperation. In a complex and rapidly changing world, both sides should uphold true multilateralism, firmly safeguard the international system with the United Nations at its core and the international order based on international law, advocate for an equal and orderly multipolar world and universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalisation, embrace a vision of global governance featuring extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, and promote the building of a community with a shared future for humanity.

China attaches great importance to China-EU relations, Xi said, adding that next year marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the EU, and China-EU relations should demonstrate due maturity and stability.

The Chinese leader expressed the hope that the new EU institutions will adhere to the orientation of the China-EU partnership, adopt a positive and pragmatic approach, properly manage differences, and refrain from politicising economic and trade issues.

Fico said Slovakia firmly adheres to the one-China policy and recognises the government of the People’s Republic of China as the only legitimate government representing all of China. Slovakia opposes any interference in other countries’ internal affairs and advocates for respecting each country’s choice of development path.

Slovakia appreciates the three major global initiatives put forward by President Xi and is willing to strengthen exchanges with China on state governance experience and actively promote the EU’s commitment to handling differences through dialogue and consultations.

The two sides also exchanged views on the Ukraine crisis. Xi expounded on China’s consistent principle and position, commending Slovakia for adopting an objective, rational and impartial stance. He welcomed Slovakia, as well as more like-minded countries, to play a positive role in promoting peace talks.

Fico met with Chinese Premier Li Qiang the same day.

Li said that both countries should give full play to the role of the joint economic committee and the science and technology cooperation committee and promote cooperation in various fields including the China-Europe Railway Express, connectivity, and infrastructure construction.

For his part, Fico mentioned that China’s development accomplishments in recent years have set an example for countries around the world. He said Slovakia supports the global initiatives proposed by China.

The prime minister added that Slovakia opposes the extra tariffs imposed by the EU on Chinese electric vehicles, adding that the EU and China should seek a proper solution through dialogue and consultation. He said that Slovakia is willing to strengthen exchanges and coordination with China in international affairs to jointly tackle global challenges.

After their talks, Li and Fico witnessed the signing of multiple documents on bilateral cooperation in the fields of transportation, economy and trade, culture, tourism, and green and low-carbon development.

Also on November 1, Fico met with Zhao Leji, Chairman of the National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee.

Zhao said that China is ready to work with Slovakia to implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, consolidate the political foundation, expand the Belt and Road cooperation and China-Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC) cooperation, strengthen people-to-people exchanges, and take China-Slovakia relations to a higher level.

China and Slovakia issued a detailed joint statement on their establishment of a strategic partnership.

It noted that: “The participants accept that they do not have any significant open questions or unresolved issues between them. Friendship and cooperation have always been the mainstream of the bilateral relations and are in line with the common and long-term interests of the two peoples.”

Continue reading China-Slovakia relations elevated to strategic partnership

China and Cuba continue deepening their special, friendly bilateral relations

The close fraternal relations between China and Cuba were underlined and reinforced by the November 6-12 China visit of Esteban Lazo Hernandez, the President of Cuba’s National Assembly of People’s Power, at the invitation of his counterpart, Zhao Leji, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC).

The two men met on November 7.

Noting that next year marks the 65th anniversary of diplomatic ties between China and Cuba, Zhao said that China is willing to work with Cuba to implement the important consensus reached by the two countries’ heads of state, continue deepening the special, friendly bilateral relations in the new era, and promote the steady, far-reaching construction of a community with a shared future between China and Cuba. He added that China has always placed Cuba in a special position in its external relations and is willing to deepen political mutual trust and strategic coordination with the country.

Zhao thanked Cuba for its firm support on the Taiwan question and other issues concerning China’s core interests. He said China supports Cuba firmly in its just struggle against sanctions, blockades and external interference, and will continue providing Cuba with assistance and support within its own capacity. China is ready to strengthen practical cooperation with Cuba in various fields, make good use of coordination mechanisms under the Belt and Road, and deepen cooperation in such fields as agriculture, tourism, sports, biotechnology, clean energy, and information and communication.

He called on both sides to strengthen coordination and speak with one voice on safeguarding each other’s core and major interests, and to undertake dialogue and exchange in the areas of socialist-democracy and rule-of-law development, poverty reduction and public security. The two nations should also promote exchange in the fields of education, culture, youth and media, and consolidate the popular public support for China-Cuba friendship.

Noting that China’s rapid development is a growing force for world peace and has brought development opportunities to Latin America and the Caribbean, Lazo said the National Assembly of People’s Power is willing to strengthen its friendly exchange with China’s NPC, advance exchange and mutual learning in rule-of-law development and other areas, and give play to the positive role of legislative bodies in enhancing the bilateral friendship.

On the same day, Lazo also met with Wang Huning, Chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee.

Wang said that China is willing to work with Cuba to implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state and jointly build a China-Cuba community with a shared future.

Lazo congratulated the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China and the success of the third plenary session of the 20th Communist Party of China Central Committee, noting that Cuba firmly upholds the one-China principle and firmly supports China’s core interests and its major concerns.

Prior to his China visit, Lazo visited the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, November 2-3, and the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, November 3-6.

The following articles were originally published by the Xinhua News Agency.

China, Cuba vow to strengthen exchange in rule-of-law development

BEIJING, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) — Zhao Leji, China’s top legislator, and Esteban Lazo Hernandez, president of Cuba’s National Assembly of People’s Power, held talks on Thursday in Beijing, vowing to strengthen exchange in the area of rule-of-law development.

Noting that next year marks the 65th anniversary of diplomatic ties between China and Cuba, Zhao, chairman of the National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, said China is willing to work with Cuba to implement the important consensus reached by the two countries’ heads of state, continue deepening the special, friendly bilateral relations in the new era, and promote the steady, far-reaching construction of a community with a shared future between China and Cuba.

Zhao said China has always placed Cuba in a special position in its external relations, and is willing to deepen political mutual trust and strategic coordination with the country.

Zhao thanked Cuba for its firm support on the Taiwan question and other issues concerning China’s core interests. He said China supports Cuba firmly in its just struggle against sanctions, blockades and external interference, and will continue providing Cuba with assistance and support within its own capacity.

China is ready to strengthen practical cooperation with Cuba in various fields, make good use of coordination mechanisms under the Belt and Road, and deepen cooperation in such fields as agriculture, tourism, sports, biotechnology, clean energy, and information and communication, Zhao said. China is also prepared to translate the high-level political mutual trust between the two countries into further practical cooperation results, he added.

The NPC of China is willing to work with Cuba’s National Assembly of People’s Power to implement the cooperation agreement between the legislative bodies of the two countries, he said. He called on both sides to strengthen coordination and speak with one voice on safeguarding each other’s core and major interests, and to undertake dialogue and exchange in the areas of socialist-democracy and rule-of-law development, poverty reduction and public security. The two nations should also promote exchange in the fields of education, culture, youth and media, and consolidate the popular public support for the China-Cuba friendship.

Zhao also said that the legislatures of the two countries can promote the exchange of experience in strengthening key legislation areas and improving the quality of legislation.

Lazo said that Cuba adheres firmly to the one-China principle, supports the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative, and is willing to learn from China’s experience in reform and opening-up, as well as in party construction.

Noting that China’s rapid development is a growing force for world peace and has brought development opportunities to Latin America and the Caribbean, Lazo said the National Assembly of People’s Power is willing to strengthen its friendly exchange with China’s NPC, advance exchange and mutual learning in rule-of-law development and other areas, and give play to the positive role of legislative bodies in enhancing bilateral friendships.

Zhao and Lazo signed a cooperation agreement between their two legislative bodies following their meeting.

China’s top political advisor meets president of Cuba’s National Assembly of People’s Power

BEIJING, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) — China’s top political advisor Wang Huning met with Esteban Lazo Hernandez, president of Cuba’s National Assembly of People’s Power, in Beijing on Thursday.

Wang, chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee, said China is willing to work with Cuba to implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state and jointly build a China-Cuba community with a shared future.

The CPPCC National Committee is ready to strengthen exchanges and cooperation with Cuba and push the friendly exchanges and cooperation between the two parties, countries and peoples to a higher level, Wang said.

Lazo congratulated the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China and the success of the third plenary session of the 20th Communist Party of China Central Committee, noting that Cuba firmly upholds the one-China principle and firmly supports China’s core interests and its major concerns.

Cuba stands ready to work with China to implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state, strengthen bilateral exchanges and cooperation in various fields such as economy and party building, jointly build a community with a shared future between the two sides, and safeguard international fairness and justice, Lazo said.

China, multipolarity and the rise of the Global South

We are pleased to publish below an article by Francisco Domínguez, secretary of the Venezuela Solidarity Campaign (Britain) and Friends of Socialist China advisory group member, based on a speech he delivered to our September 28 conference celebrating the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.

The article begins by highlighting some of the parallels between the Chinese Revolution and the 20th century revolutionary movement in Latin America, particularly with regard to the role of the peasantry and the relative weight of the struggle against colonialism and imperialism. Francisco draws in particular on the work of Peruvian Marxist, José Carlos Mariátegui, in the 1920s.

Francisco goes on to outline the impact of Hugo Chávez’s strategy of regional integration and its complementarity with the global strategy of multipolarity – in which China plays a key role – as well as the blossoming economic and diplomatic relationship between Latin America and the People’s Republic of China.

The article concludes: “The rise of Latin America with the Pink Tide as a dynamic and active component of the Global South is a clear manifestation both of multipolarity and the region’s desire to play an leading role in building a Global Community of Shared Future.”

Introduction

The Chinese Revolution has reached 75 years and its extraordinary economic development has turned into the second largest economy in the world on the basis of impressive technological advances and becoming a highly beneficial hub to the Global South, which is the current manifestation of multipolarity. We examine how Latin America embarked on a process of progressive transformation and regional integration (known as the Pink Tide) leading, since about 1999, to enter into a growing collaborative and multifaceted relationship with the People’s Republic of China.

Significance of the Chinese Revolution

In 1957 Mao Zedong identified three key forces on a world scale: US imperialism engaged in policies and wars of aggression; other developed capitalist countries; and countries fighting for national independence and national liberation movements in Asia, Africa and Latin America. […] As for the oppressed nations’ liberation movements and countries fighting to gain national independence, the Party advocated giving them active support and developing extensive friendly relations with them. Regarding capitalist countries other than the U.S., the Party’s view was that China should also win them over and develop friendly relations with them. As to the United States, the Party advocated determined opposition to U.S. armed aggression and threats to China, on the one hand, while still striving for peaceful co-existence with the it and settling disputes between the two countries through peaceful consultation, on the other.[1]

The novelty of the Chinese Revolution, already a feature of the Russian Revolution, was an immense peasant base in a country where in 1949 there was hardly a working class. Well over 85% of the country was made of peasants and where the working-class movement had been destroyed by a combination of the Kuomintang’s brutal repression in 1925-1927, followed by the Japanese invasion (1931-1949). The proletariat had almost disappeared.

Thus, the Chinese Communist Party mobilised the peasantry endowing that mobilization with proletariat leadership and revolutionary dynamic, which, by demolishing its feudal structures, would lead to the accomplishment of the democratic tasks of the revolution. However, its consolidation required to move simultaneously to the undertaking of the socialist tasks by primarily start the construction of a proletarian state that rested on the power of the People’s Liberation Army under the leadership of the CCP. The latter gave the revolution its socialist character.

In this regard in 1959, Lui Shaoqi, a leader of the Revolution said, the Chinese revolution exerts a formidable “attraction for the peoples of backward countries that have suffered, or are suffering imperialist oppression. They feel that they should also be able to do what the Chinese have done.”[2]

A similar strategy had been put forward in Latin America by Peruvian Marxist, José Carlos Mariátegui as early as 1928.[3] He argued that due to its backward nature, the nations in Latin America had a weak, small and dependent bourgeoisie, subordinated to the landed oligarchy and imperialism, therefore, unable and unwilling to undertake the carrying out of the national democratic tasks to modernise society to fully develop capitalism. Thus, the only way to carry through the national democratic tasks was by a socialist revolution led by the proletariat enjoying hegemony over the majority peasantry for land reform as the sine qua non condition of its success.

Continue reading China, multipolarity and the rise of the Global South

Defense of China is solidarity with Palestine

The following is the text of the talk given by Larry Holmes, First Secretary of the Workers World Party (WWP), at the September 29 meeting held in New York City to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, which was initiated by Friends of Socialist China, together with WWP.

Larry begins by extending fraternal greetings to the Communist Party of China. on behalf of the WWP Central Committee, on the 75th anniversary.

After briefly reviewing the current situation in Palestine and Lebanon, he notes that this is part of a wider war against anti-imperialist forces around the world, including China, and explains:

“It’s against China… Why is this? Is it because China supports the Palestinians? That’s part of it. But that’s a small reason. China has, on a number of occasions, brought the Palestinian people together to try to help them forge unity… But the bigger reason… is because China is so powerful now. It’s so powerful and so developed as people are rising up and this has changed the balance of forces in the world. But we need to be very clear about something. China does not want war. China wants peace. It wants to continue its development in peace. It wants to help the world develop in peace, especially the people of the Global South who have been the big victims of imperialism and colonialism. It wants to help them, but US imperialism does not want peace. It doesn’t want China to develop in peace. It doesn’t want the world that it does not control to develop, and this is the problem.”

The text of Larry’s talk was originally published by Workers World.

First, on behalf of the Central Committee of Workers World Party, we would like to extend our fraternal greetings to the Communist Party of China on this historic occasion.

I think it’s relevant, even though our event is about China, to ask ourselves what we should make out of the assassination of the leader of Hezbollah two days ago.

This was so important to them — I’m not forgetting the genocide of Gaza — but this event, coming at this time — they dropped eight bombs on a neighborhood in Beirut. 2,000-pound bombs. One of these military analysts said the only thing bigger they could have dropped would have been a tactical nuclear weapon. These 2,000-pound bombs were given to Israel by who? The U.S. gave them thousands of them. I forget the exact number, but thousands of them.

I do not buy for a second this idea that, well we didn’t know about this, and they didn’t tell the secretary of war here. That’s BS. If they weren’t down with it, they could have stopped it. The message was just not from Netanyahu. It was from Washington, D.C. It was from the Pentagon.

And I’ll tell you why it’s relevant to China and the whole world. Everything in the world’s struggle is connected. Everything is dots all together. They wanted to let the world know that you don’t have to speculate about a wider war. You don’t have to lie to us about “why we don’t want one, and we have all this diplomacy trying to stop it.” That’s not what’s really going on.

The wider war is already here, and it’s not just against the Palestinians, although they are the main target, just as are the Lebanese, you know, the resistance forces of West Asia and, of course, Iran. It’s against People’s Korea, Cuba, Venezuela, the struggling people of West Africa, who, as you might notice recently, have been throwing the colonialists and the imperialists out.

And it’s against Russia through Ukraine, and ultimately, it’s against China.

It’s against China. Wow. Why is this? Is it because China supports the Palestinians? That’s part of it. But that’s a small reason. China has, on a number of occasions, brought the Palestinian people together to try to help them forge unity. Very, very important.

But the bigger reason, the bigger reason, is because China is so powerful now. It’s so powerful and so developed as people are rising up, and this has changed the balance of forces in the world. But we need to be very clear about something.

China does not want war. China wants peace. It wants to continue its development in peace. It wants to help the world develop in peace, especially the people of the Global South who have been the big victims of imperialism and colonialism. It wants to help them, but U.S. imperialism does not want peace. It doesn’t want China to develop in peace. It doesn’t want the world that it does not control to develop, and this is the problem.

And what this murder in Beirut tells us – and there have been almost 1,000 people who have been murdered in Lebanon over the past couple of weeks – and the genocide in Gaza, what it tells us is that U.S. imperialism is willing to go to almost any length, unimaginable lengths of violence and terror to maintain its empire, which is crumbling.

They are willing to flirt with World War Three, which could mean the end of all life on the planet Earth. And you know, when an empire is crumbling, that’s when it’s most desperate and dangerous. That’s when it’s most likely to resort to violence. And this is what we are witnessing, comrades.

There are some in the ruling class here who are afraid of war, a wider war, a world war. They don’t think the U.S. will win. As a matter of fact they think it would hasten the demise of U.S. imperialism. And we think that they are right about that, and they’d like to maintain U.S. hegemony by other means. But whatever that is for the ruling class, they are losing. They’re not in the driver’s seat.

It’s the warmongers who are in the driver’s seat. So we see the people rising up all over the world against the empire. We see the people demonstrating in the streets over the murder of the leader of Hezbollah. Actually, as I was leaving home, I saw on social media that there was a demonstration of thousands of people in Baghdad. They had entered the Green Zone and were trying to get into the U.S. Embassy.

There are people demonstrating everywhere, around the world and particularly in West Asia. It shows you that — this is a hunch — they’re not going to take it by lying down. As a matter of fact, it’s going to wave off the mere resistance and, of course, the countries that are under attack, in particular China, that are in the crosshairs of U.S. imperialism, are going to fight back to defend themselves. They can defend themselves.

But we have to ask ourselves this. Are we going to just leave it up to people in other places, to China, they’re willing to do it, they’ll do what they have to do, but are we just going to leave it up to them? Especially those of us who happen to be at the center of world imperialism, particularly here in the U.S. which they used to call the belly of the beast. We can’t do that. That’s not right.

We have to seriously consider what our responsibilities as anti-imperialist revolutionaries are, and we have to show them those responsibilities, and then we gotta, we gotta do whatever it takes. You see, the people of the world, they’re demanding this of us. History is demanding us. Save this planet if it could talk, is demanding this of us, that we do whatever is necessary, however we need to do it. However long it takes, and it doesn’t have to take too long for the anti-war and anti-imperialist forces to get so big and so strong that we can shut the world down to stop war. What real choice do we have?

We’ve got to get away from complacency if that’s an issue. I know that there are those of us who do whatever we are doing on a day-to-day basis, whenever we can. We’ve got to get away from our routine — what they call routinism. It’s almost like a semi-conscious feeling that, yes, that needs to be done, but somebody else can do it.

Sometimes, I think we have a partial kind of disconnect, a partial, you know, denial of what’s happening. Perhaps we can feel somewhat powerless, but all things we’ve got to push aside now, we got to push them aside, and we got to figure out what we are going to do.

I think, I’m not sure, that comrade Maduro in Venezuela, a couple of months ago, called for an international united front against imperialism. Not sure if it’s just something that he floated, or whether it’s real and how he’s following up on that. But I’ll tell you comrades, if there was ever a time for that, and I’m not talking about just a name — he seems to have a name — I’m talking about something flesh and blood and strength and power that’s real. If there was ever a time for that, it’s now.

I’m thinking about our own plan. The BRICS countries are meeting in Russia in the last week of October. And that’s good. People have talked about … and we can talk about that. But again we can’t just leave it up to the BRICS to push imperialism back, to marginalize it, to diminish its hegemony. We’ve got to do something! The masses have to do something. The working class has to do something decisive. And a lot of us are convinced that they can. And those who are not convinced, better get with it.

Long live the People’s Republic of China!
Long live the struggle for socialism! Defend China!

China-South Africa relations a model of solidarity and cooperation for developing countries

The “special and close relationship” between South Africa and China was underlined by the November 5-7 official goodwill visit to South Africa by Li Xi, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and Secretary of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, at the invitation of the African National Congress (ANC).

Li held talks with South African President and ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa in Cape Town. He also met with Speaker of the National Assembly and ANC National Executive Committee member Thokozile Didiza, as well as ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula, in Pretoria.

In his meeting with Ramaphosa, Li said China and South Africa have forged deep-rooted friendship, and their relations have entered a “golden era” in recent years under the guidance of the two heads of state.

China will fully support South Africa’s presidency of the G-20 in 2025, and deepen coordination and cooperation on international and regional issues with South Africa so that they might together play a leading role in the modernisation of the Global South and promote the building of a community with a shared future for humanity.

Underlining the special and close relationship between South Africa and China, Ramaphosa said the two heads of state have recently elevated bilateral relations to an all-round strategic cooperative partnership in the new era, a move that is bound to deepen bilateral cooperation in various fields.

South Africa applauds China’s openness to South Africa and Africa, viewing it as an important opportunity, he said, noting that South Africa’s Government of National Unity will maintain continuity in his country’s policy toward China, strengthen friendly cooperation and enhance coordination and cooperation through multilateral international mechanisms.

During talks with Didiza, Li said that since the establishment of diplomatic relations 26 years ago, China-South Africa relations have made enormous strides and set a model of solidarity and cooperation for developing countries.

Didiza thanked China for its valuable support during South Africa’s struggle for national independence and in its nation-building process. She expressed readiness to utilise the regular exchange mechanism between the two countries’ legislative bodies to enhance exchanges at all levels, strengthen ties between the two peoples, and foster cooperation in various fields to jointly uphold the interests of developing countries.

In his talks with Mbalula, Li said that the ANC is a major African political party with a fine tradition and extensive influence, and the relationship between the CPC and the ANC is a vital cornerstone of China-South Africa relations.

Mbalula said the ANC and the CPC have forged profound friendship through their long-term exchanges. He applauded the achievements of the CPC as a century-old party that has been pursuing reform and innovation and leading China’s development.

He added that the ANC is willing to learn from the CPC’s experiences in economic development, full and rigorous Party self-governance and anti-corruption efforts to better address internal and external challenges and foster new developments in South-South cooperation and China-South Africa relations.

During the visit, Li noted that the source of the overwhelming victory and comprehensive consolidation of China’s anti-corruption campaign lies fundamentally in the centralised and unified leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Xi Jinping at its core and with the adherence to the people-centered development philosophy.

This victory, he explained, was also achieved through China’s sustained high-pressure approach to fighting corruption, reinforced discipline and conduct, and coordinated measures that tackle corruption at all levels. China is ready to enhance anti-corruption exchanges and cooperation with South Africa.

Continue reading China-South Africa relations a model of solidarity and cooperation for developing countries

Trump’s return – the critical issue for Britain remains disengaging from the US war chariot

In this insightful article for Stop the War Coalition, Andrew Murray discusses the implications of Trump’s return to the presidency for the anti-war movement in Britain.

Andrew notes that the collapse in the Democrat vote “is surely in part attributable to the Biden-Harris administration’s sustained and unqualified support for Israel’s genocide of the Palestinian people”. While there is little prospect of a Trump administration being any better on this issue, the Democrats’ utter failure to stand up against the Gaza genocide has clearly lost them support among progressive voters.

In relation to China, while many had high hopes that Biden would adopt a less confrontational approach than Trump, in reality “Biden’s rhetoric and actions have been the most aggressive of any president since the 1960s”. Under the incoming Trump administration, “continuity in escalating confrontation is most likely”.

Andrew writes that, for the anti-war movement, “our fight is against imperialism” and, in Britain specifically, “the critical issue remains disengaging from the US war chariot”, regardless of whether it is driven by a Democrat or a Republican; regardless of whether its character is “centrist liberal war-mongering” or “populist chauvinist war-mongering”.

Andrew Murray is the political correspondent of the Morning Star. He has served as the Chair of the Stop the War Coalition, Chief of Staff at Unite the union, and as an adviser to Jeremy Corbyn MP when he was Leader of the Labour Party. The author of several books, he has contributed a chapter to the recently-released volume People’s China at 75 – The Flag Stays Red.

Donald Trump’s unexpectedly emphatic election victory clearly poses new challenges for the anti-war movement in Britain and globally, and calls for sober analysis.

Trump appears to have won the support of most working-class people who bothered to vote, including millions of Muslim Americans and larger minorities of African-Americans and Hispanic Americans than a Republican can usually expect.

Many issues obviously contributed to this, including the state of the US economy and cultural questions, broadly defined. However, war and peace impacted in two ways.

First, the huge collapse in the Democrat vote from 2020 (Trump’s poll also declined, but by much less) is surely in part attributable to the Biden-Harris administration’s sustained and unqualified support for Israel’s genocide of the Palestinian people.

This made the idea of supporting Kamala Harris quite impossible for millions, who may instead have voted for Green candidate Jill Stein, other progressive candidates where they made the ballot, or simply have sat the election out. There is an analogy here to the masses who refused to back Keir Starmer’s Labour in July because of its support for Israel.

Second, part of Trump’s base lies in sections of the working class sick of the “forever wars” in which a liberal-neoconservative elite send ordinary Americans to die for US hegemony. The Biden administration has sat squarely in that imperialist tradition.

To those voters can be added a larger number who are receptive to the position advanced by Trump, and more stridently by his vice-president J D Vance, that the vast sums being sent in military and economic aid to Ukraine to prolong the war with Russia would be better spent on other things, or not at all.

Trump’s own record and rhetoric on world issues is reactionary without doubt. However, he has made much of not starting any fresh wars when last in office, and of trying to extricate the US from direct engagement in those that he inherits, or at least diminishing its involvement.

Continue reading Trump’s return – the critical issue for Britain remains disengaging from the US war chariot

Imperialism fails to quash China’s EV revolution

The following article by Chris Fry, a retired autoworker who worked as an assembler at Chrysler’s Lynch Road Assembly in Detroit until the company closed the plant in 1980, addresses the crisis facing the car manufacturing industry in the US and Europe, noting that many of the largest car manufacturers are shedding thousands of jobs and closing plants.

Chris notes that car manufacturers in the West have failed to invest seriously in electric vehicles, and industrial policy has been shaped to a significant degree by the interests of the fossil fuel industry. Meanwhile, “China, due in large part to its socialist economic and social system and its social ownership of much of its production and its scientific planning, has developed the infrastructure of EV production in a vast scale capable of producing emission-free vehicles of high quality at an affordable price for working class consumers”.

Rather than develop a coherent industrial policy, successive administrations in the US have turned to protectionism, imposing tariffs on Chinese EVs “designed to deny workers in the U.S. affordable emissions-free vehicles, notwithstanding all the supposed ‘concern’ from Washington over global warming”.

Chris concludes: “The accomplishments by the Chinese workers and their workers’ government represent a pathway to victory for ourselves and our families for an empowered and prosperous future.”

This article was originally published in Fighting Words.

On October 18 tens of thousands of Italian auto workers held a nationwide strike and marched through the streets of Rome. Organized by three unions, this action was led by workers from the Italian-based conglomerate Stellantis, composed also by the French company Peugeot as well as the U.S. Chrysler Corporation.

Stellantis is the world’s fourth largest automaker. It is projected to end the year with a loss of $11.2 billion.

The worker’s militant action not only targeted the company, but also was against the right-wing Italian government. The unions are demanding incentives to allow workers to be able to afford electric cars.

This was the first such militant worker action in Rome in 20 years.

UAW lines up to confront Stellantis

On October 3, the UAW, led by President Shawn Fain, held a rally and march to the Michigan Sterling Heights Stellantis Stamping plant:

Outside the UAW Local 1264, about 400 UAW members listened to speeches from UAW leadership, including UAW President Shawn Fain, and chanted, “Keep the promise” and “Fire Tavares” (Carlos Tavares is the CEO of Stellantis, the automaker that owns the Jeep, Ram, Chrysler, Dodge and Fiat brands). They then marched about a half mile to Stellantis’ Sterling Stamping Plant.

“Are you ready to do whatever we have to do to save American jobs,” Fain asked the crowd. “This is our generation’s defining moment. Over this last year, we moved a lot of mountains, but we’ve got more mountains to move.”

The union is demanding that the company live up to the 2023 contract and reopen the Belvidere Assembly Plant, converted to an EV battery plant in Illinois and keep Dodge Durango production in Detroit.

The week before the company had announced plans for indefinite layoffs “across its footprint” and the firing of its “supplemental workers” but refused to give specifics.

It has already laid off 1,100 workers at its Warren Assembly plant.

The UAW action comes after an announcement by the union that it would hold a company-wide strike vote by Stellantis workers demanding that the company abide by the contract won last year after a six-week strike.

Of course, the auto company executives and their government minions blame Socialist China and its so-called “over capacity” for these massive job losses and broken promises.

EV crisis at capitalist auto companies.

It’s not just Stellantis that is facing this deepening crisis.

In September, the German company Volkswagen announced plans to lay off 30,000 of its 300,000 workers. VW’s software subsidiary is laying off 2,000 workers over the next two years.

Mercedes Benz is laying off workers in Seattle, Washington and London. ZF Friedrichshafen, a major parts supplier to 55 auto brands, announced it would lay off 12,000 of its workers, while another supplier, Bosch, announced that it was cutting 1,200 jobs.

Continue reading Imperialism fails to quash China’s EV revolution

Chen Weihua: China’s peaceful rise is a miracle unprecedented in human history

We are pleased to reprint below the speech delivered by Chen Weihua to our September 28 conference celebrating the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.

Chen describes the founding of the People’s Republic as a turning point in Chinese history: “Chairman Mao’s declaration 75 years ago that the Chinese people have stood up made Chinese extremely proud of being Chinese, after the nation had suffered a century of humiliation inflicted upon by imperial and colonial powers.”

China’s progress since then – lifting hundreds of millions out of poverty, developing universal healthcare and education, massively improving living standards, and becoming a global leader in green technology – has been remarkable, but has also raised alarm in Washington, which sees China’s rise as a threat to its strategy of hegemony.

This is the context for the trade war, for the US’s unilateral sanctions on China, and for the escalating military encirclement campaign. It also provides the context for a relentless propaganda war, in which China is demonised and labeled a threat to peace and democracy. “The US often portrays China as a major threat to global peace. The truth is that China has one of the best records for peace. The US has been engaged in constant wars and regime changes, from Afghanistan to Iraq to Libya, just to name a few.”

Chen points out that, in an interconnected world, “it is more important than ever for the world to come together to tackle common global challenges from climate change, nuclear proliferation and pandemic to economic growth and global governance”, and concludes by calling for a coordinated struggle against the New Cold War.

Chen Weihua is a prominent Chinese journalist and EU bureau chief of China Daily.

It’s a great honor for me to speak to you in my personal capacity at this important event marking the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.

I want to express my appreciation for Friends of Socialist China for your good work in advocating world peace and justice and in supporting China against the US new Cold War and its reckless smearing campaigns against China.

Chairman Mao’s declaration 75 years ago that the Chinese people have stood up made Chinese extremely proud of being Chinese, after the nation had suffered a century of humiliation inflicted upon by imperial and colonial powers.

China’s rapid peaceful rise, especially since the reform and opening up in the late 1970s, is a miracle and unprecedented in human history. China has lifted 800 million people out of poverty, greatly raised the living standards of its people, advanced its capacity in education, public health, science and technology. And China has become a global manufacturing powerhouse, including in renewable energy and other clean industries.

China has been playing an important and responsible role on the world stage and as a permanent member of the UN Security Council and as a voice for the developing world.

It’s exactly such China’s independent foreign policy, unique development path and rapid peaceful rise that have made many in Washington feel threatened in sustaining US global hegemony. That is why the US has been going all-out to contain China’s development.

The US has been waging trade wars and tariff wars against China. It has put hundreds of Chinese tech companies on its notorious Entity List of export control. The US has been forcing countries to choose sides in its bid to divide the world into Cold War type political blocs.

Continue reading Chen Weihua: China’s peaceful rise is a miracle unprecedented in human history

From despair to revolution: the Bronx’s path to defeating addiction

The following article by the Bronx [New York] Anti-War Coalition, which was originally published by Workers World, reports on their October 11 screening of the documentary film, ‘Dope is Death’. The event included a Q&A session with Walter Bosque, an acupuncturist and former Young Lord. 

The Young Lords were a youth organisation of the Puerto Rican national minority in the United States, who took up revolutionary organising and the study of Marxism-Leninism and who supported and forged links with socialist China. 

‘Dope is Death’ highlights the late Dr. Mutulu Shakur’s transformative work with the Young Lords and the Black Panther Party, who used acupuncture to combat drug dependency. Their efforts not only rescued individuals from addiction but also empowered the community to rebuild, laying the groundwork for revolutionary change. [Mutulu Shakur was a political prisoner and member of the Black Liberation Army and other revolutionary organisations as well as the stepfather of the rapper Tupac Shakur.]

Having drawn attention to the ‘Opium Wars’ waged by British imperialism against China in the 19th century, the article notes:

After the 1949 revolution, the People’s Republic of China swiftly eradicated opium production and consumption through revolutionary social reform… Mao Zedong’s landmark 1965 health-care speech and his June 26 directive emphasised accessible health care in rural areas, leading to the ‘barefoot doctors’ program. This initiative trained community health workers to provide basic medical services in rural areas, blending modern and traditional medicine to meet the needs of under-served communities. By 1968, this program became a key component of national health policy.

As we celebrate 75 years of the Chinese Revolution, China’s achievements in eradicating addiction, reducing poverty and advancing public health testify to the transformative potential of revolutionary movements. Ultimately, China’s rise as a global power signifies the rise of the Global South, as it extends a helping hand to nations historically oppressed by the US empire and sanctions.

It goes on to outline how the Palestinian resistance had created Muslim youth associations, community clubs and Islamic social gatherings to combat drug trafficking, help individuals overcome addiction and strengthen social cohesion and concludes:

“This history of social resilience and organized resistance across the Bronx, the People’s Republic of China and Gaza highlights the power of community-led healing in the face of systemic oppression.”

A synopsis of the film can be read here. 

The Bronx Anti-War Coalition hosted a film screening on Oct. 11 of the documentary “Dope is Death” as part of our guerrilla cinema series. The widely attended event featured a Q&A session with former Young Lord and acupuncturist Walter Bosque, where community members engaged in a lively discussion about continuing and expanding the revolutionary movement of healing.

In recent years, the Bronx, a predominantly Black, Brown and working-class borough in one of the most densely populated areas of Turtle Island, has experienced a sharp rise in opioid use, including oxycodone, street fentanyl and heroin. 

We recognize that drug use, particularly opioids, is not merely a personal struggle but a symptom of systemic issues rooted in capitalism and government neglect. This crisis profoundly harms our community. Those most affected by poverty, alienation and exploitation often turn to drugs for temporary relief from oppressive daily conditions. Addiction burdens those already suffering from state-imposed violence and capitalist exploitation.

Rather than supporting and uplifting working-class communities, capitalist society allows drugs like fentanyl, heroin and crack to infiltrate and erode social bonds, deteriorate health and stifle revolutionary potential. Addiction acts as a tool of oppression, weakening communities and diverting energy away from organizing and resistance.

Continue reading From despair to revolution: the Bronx’s path to defeating addiction