Month: November 2025

Why is the West waging a propaganda war against China?

In the following text, based on a speech given by at a Black Liberation Alliance day school in London, Carlos Martinez explains why China’s rapid rise and its policy of win-win cooperation with the Global South threaten Western hegemony and fuel today’s New Cold War.

Carlos begins by emphasising the extraordinary scale of China’s transformation: from one of the poorest countries in the world just 75 years ago to a global leader in renewable energy, infrastructure, telecommunications, AI, electric vehicles and other advanced technologies. This economic and technological leap has been accompanied by vast improvements in living standards – average life expectancy has risen from 35 in 1949 to 79 today – and China is steadily pursuing “modernisation of common prosperity,” ensuring the fruits of development are reaped by the whole population.

Carlos contrasts this progress with the West’s neoliberal trajectory of inequality and stagnation. Crucially, China’s rise has not been based on colonialism or war. Instead, China aligns itself with the Global South, strengthens multipolar institutions such as BRICS and the SCO, and forms partnerships grounded in sovereign equality and mutual benefit. China’s investments in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean come without the coercive conditionalities typical of Western trade and investment relationships.

China therefore challenges imperialism both materially and ideologically. Materially, it helps countries escape underdevelopment while defending their sovereignty. Ideologically, it presents the pre-eminent modern example of a socialist-oriented model delivering prosperity, stability and green development. As living standards for Chinese workers approach – and start to surpass – those in Western countries, the legitimacy of Western capitalism weakens by the day.

In response, the US and its allies are escalating their long-term containment campaign in addition to waging a propaganda war which portrays China as authoritarian, repressive, expansionist and predatory. Carlos concludes that progressive and anti-war forces in the West have a vital responsibility to challenge this war propaganda and stand in solidarity with China and the Global South.

I’ve been asked to speak about why China’s rise and its programme of win-win cooperation with the Global South pose such a threat to western hegemony – and how that manifests itself in a New Cold War and as red scare propaganda.

The first thing then is to understand the dimensions of China’s rise, which is really nothing short of remarkable.

China has gone from being one of the poorest and most technologically backward countries in the world, to being the world’s second largest economy in terms of nominal GDP, the world’s largest economy in terms of purchasing power parity, the world’s only renewable energy superpower, a world leader in telecommunications, advanced infrastructure, high speed rail, artificial intelligence, electric vehicles, quantum computing, space exploration, and a whole range of other cutting edge technologies.

And these advances have taken place in combination with an unprecedented improvement in living standards for ordinary people. China’s average life expectancy in 1949, at the time of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, was approximately 35 years, substantially below the global average. Today it’s 79 years, substantially above the global average, and surpassing that of the United States (actually in terms of its healthy lifespan, China is many years ahead of the US). The draft of the 15th Five Year Plan, which will kick off next year, sets out a roadmap for life expectancy to reach at least 80 years by 2030, which will put China in a very exclusive club.

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Socialist countries briefed on China’s Fourth Plenum

Following the October 20-23 Fourth plenary meeting of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), whose main agenda was to work on developing the country’s 15th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development, Liu Haixing, Minister of the International Department of the CPC Central Committee (IDCPC), met separately with the ambassadors of the other socialist countries to China to brief them on the main points of the session.

He met first with Pham Thanh Binh, Vietnamese Ambassador to China, on October 31.

Liu said, in recent years, under the personal guidance and active involvement of the general secretaries of the two Parties, the relations between the two Parties and the two countries have enjoyed vigorous development, setting a fine example of common progress, solidarity and cooperation between socialist countries and developing countries.

Having briefed on the main outcomes of the plenary session, he noted that the scientific formulation and successive implementation of the five-year plan are important governance experience shared by both the CPC and the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), as well as key political advantages of the socialist systems of the two countries. China stands ready to strengthen exchanges and mutual learning with Vietnam, share development opportunities, and work hand in hand along the path toward socialist modernisation.

Pham Thanh Binh said, under the strategic guidance of the top leaders of the two Parties and the two countries, the relations between Vietnam and China have achieved breakthroughs in various fields and are currently at the best stage in history. The inter-party relations between Vietnam and China play an important leading role in the bilateral relations. He believed that the goals of the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030) will be smoothly achieved and will also bring new dividends to Vietnam-China cooperation.

On November 5, Minister Liu met with Ri Ryong Nam, Ambassador of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) to China, as well as with Somphone Sichaleune, Lao Ambassador to China.

Speaking with the DPRK Ambassador, Liu said that the most important outcome of the session is the adoption of the Recommendations of the Central Committee of the CPC for Formulating the 15th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development, which has provided the top-level design and strategic planning for China’s development over the next five years. It marks another overall mobilisation and deployment as China seizes the momentum and advances the construction of Chinese modernisation and will undoubtedly have a significant and far-reaching impact on the causes of the CPC and the country. China is willing to work with the DPRK to implement the important consensus reached by the top leaders of the two Parties and countries, carry forward this fine tradition, strengthen communication and cooperation, and make due contributions to the development of bilateral relations.

Ri Ryong Nam thanked China for briefing the DPRK on the spirit of the fourth plenary session of the 20th CPC Central Committee. He said, this demonstrated the importance and trust that the CPC and the Chinese government placed on the WPK and the DPRK government, and their cherishing of the DPRK-China friendship. He noted that the adoption of the Recommendations of the Central Committee of the CPC for Formulating the 15th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development at the plenary session is not only of great significance to building socialism with Chinese characteristics, but also a tremendous encouragement to progressive forces worldwide, especially socialist countries and their people. The DPRK is willing to work with China to implement the important consensus reached by the top leaders of the two Parties and countries, and to promote greater development in DPRK-China relations.

This was Minister Liu’s second meeting with the DPRK Ambassador since his recent appointment to head the IDCPC.

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Former British MP extols Xizang’s development

We are pleased to republish the below interview with British political figure Mark Logan, which was originally published by Global Times on November 10, following his visit to the Xizang (Tibet) Autonomous Region, where he participated in the 2025 Forum on the Development of Xizang and visited Nyingchi City.

Logan stated that: “Despite its sparse population, high-altitude terrain and logistical challenges, Xizang has witnessed the common Chinese characteristics of success in the snow-covered plateau over past decades. Its level of infrastructure development is remarkable. Driving from Nyingchi Mainling Airport to the city, I witnessed modern highways winding through difficult landscapes – a testament to engineering feats seldom seen elsewhere.”

Regarding the status of the Tibetan language, he observes: “What impressed me most was the vibrant preservation and everyday use of the Tibetan language. Unlike certain Celtic languages in Northern Ireland – my homeland in the UK – which face varying degrees of endangerment, the Tibetan language is visibly alive in Xizang: on street signs, at formal occasions and in daily conversations among locals. It’s a living language, not a relic.” [Logan refers here to the Irish language along with Ulster Scots, also known as Ullans.]

Similarly: “Tibetan medicine also left a lasting impression… This form of medicine is not only culturally significant but also holds potential for broader commercial and wellness applications. These experiences reflect a living culture, well-integrated into modern life in the region.”

He also addressed the question of the natural environment: “Xizang’s natural landscape is truly stunning, distinguished by its incomparable scale and pristine condition. This is due in large part to the Chinese government’s firm commitment to ecological conservation. It is remarkable that more than 50 percent of Xizang’s total land area has been listed under ecological conservation protection. I observed no signs of pollution during my travel from Nyingchi to other parts of Xizang. This reflects a successful balance between environmental preservation and economic development – a model many nations struggle to achieve. This alignment of ecological and economic goals is not only inspiring but globally significant.”

He added: “It is unfortunate that some Western developed countries often criticise or attempt to corner China on issues like human rights. From my perspective, however, China demonstrates the right approach in terms of governance and public welfare. Though already boasting advanced infrastructure and a strong economy, China remains a developing nation in the most meaningful sense. It is not a static society, but a developing one: always evolving, always striving to deliver better lives for its people, which stands in stark contrast to the static perception of ‘developed societies.’”

Saying that, “based on my firsthand experience, I find many Western media narratives disconnected from the reality,” he concluded:

“We should encourage more people, including intellectuals, nature enthusiasts, climate researchers, linguists and culture seekers, to visit China, learn Putonghua and see it firsthand. That would do more to foster understanding than any political rhetoric.”

Formerly a British diplomat in Shanghai, Logan served as the Conservative Party MP for the north England constituency of Bolton North East, December 2019-May 2024. When then Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called a general election, he announced that he had quit the Conservatives and joined the Labour Party. He did not seek re-election to parliament. Whilst in parliament, he also served as a Vice Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on China.

GT: You recently participated in the 2025 Forum on the Development of Xizang and visited Nyingchi City in Southwest China’s Xizang Autonomous Region. Could you share the most unforgettable experiences from this trip? What unique impressions has Xizang left you with, and how does it differ from your experiences in other Chinese provinces and regions?

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The US war on China, Venezuela and the international left

Over the past two months, the US has been engaged in an alarming military buildup around Venezuela, launching lethal strikes in international waters and openly weighing plans for direct attacks on Venezuelan territory. It is the largest US military concentration in the region in decades.

The arrival of the USS Gerald R Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, along with three destroyers and more than 5,500 troops, has heightened fears of imminent assault. The Ford joins roughly 10,000 US troops already stationed in the region. Ostensibly, these deployments are to counter drug trafficking, but Washington has provided exactly zero to substantiate any such threat. Since early September, US forces have carried out at least 19 airstrikes, killing nearly a hundred people on boats in international waters. These attacks have been widely denounced as being extrajudicial killings and blatant violations of international law.

The article below, written by CODEPINK activists Megan Russell and Michelle Ellner for Counterpunch, argues that the escalation against Venezuela is part of a multi-front war – domestically through repression and abroad through sanctions, tariffs, proxy wars and military aggression – to maintain US hegemony; to assert control over natural resources; and to subvert the global trajectory towards a multipolar world. The US push for war against both China and Venezuela “is but a violent reaction to the impending truth that US hegemonic status is slipping, and with it, its control on global resources, political power, and the ability to dictate the terms of development and sovereignty for the rest of the world.”

A similar point is made by Jeremy Corbyn in a piece for the Stop the War Coalition, in which he writes that the attack on Venezuela “is about the United States reasserting power in its (imperially named) ‘backyard’. It is no coincidence that this action is being taken at a time when countries in Latin and South America are looking increasingly towards BRICS trading partners, particularly China. Military intervention is just one part of a concerted assault on multipolarity.”

Megan and Michelle observe that China’s growing partnership with Venezuela provides a crucial counterweight to US hegemonism. Through loans, infrastructure projects, and friendly, mutually respectful relations, China has provided indispensable support for Venezuela’s sovereign development.

China has, over the past few decades, maintained a strong alliance with Venezuela. Starting in the early 2000s, China began providing Venezuela with tens of billions of dollars in loans to be repaid in oil shipments. This has enabled Venezuela to fund social programs and infrastructure while bypassing Western-controlled financial systems like the IMF and World Bank… China has also helped Venezuela build railways, housing projects, and telecommunications infrastructure as part of its broader Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to foster development across the Global South.

In response to this latest escalation, China has taken a clear and principled stand, continuing to develop its bilateral cooperation with Venezuela and roundly condemning the US’s “unilateral and excessive enforcement operations”, stressing that these violate international law and the UN Charter. China has urged the US to return to proper judicial cooperation frameworks rather than acting as a self-appointed global policeman. In contrast to Washington’s coercion, China’s position rests on respect for sovereignty and international law, and an orientation towards peace.

The article concludes with a call for the broadest possible solidarity:

The struggle against US imperialism is a global struggle. To stand with Venezuela, with China, or with any nation resisting domination is to stand for the possibility of a new internationalism rooted in solidarity across borders.
That is our task–to connect these struggles, to see in every act of resistance the reflection of our own, and to build a world of shared humanity and global equality.

Everywhere you look, the United States is at war– at home, through military occupation of cities, institutional violence, and state-sanctioned kidnappings, and abroad, through economic coercion, proxy warfare, and endless intervention. In times like these, when it is far too easy to be overwhelmed by the inexhaustible nature of the war machine, we must remember that these are not separate crises, but different fronts of the same struggle. And to resist one is to resist them all.

The enemy, in every case, is U.S. imperialism.

Resistance movements against U.S. imperialism have sprouted up all over the world in response to its indiscriminate violence and disregard for human life. Together, they form the living front of the international left, a network of people and organizations that seek liberation from the same systems of domination and colonial control. While their forms differ, from student encampments to workers’ strikes, the purpose remains the same: an end to empire and the creation of a new multipolar world rooted in the simple truth of our shared humanity and the equal worth of every nation and people.

The alliance between China and Venezuela is part of this broader project. And the U.S. push for war against both nations is but a violent reaction to the impending truth that U.S. hegemonic status is slipping, and with it, its control on global resources, political power, and the ability to dictate the terms of development and sovereignty for the rest of the world.

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Western media paints European failure as an “experience”, but Chinese failure as a “socialist defeat”

We are pleased to publish the following article, submitted by Bhabani Shankar Nayak, arguing that Western media coverage of the partial collapse of the Hongqi Bridge in Sichuan exemplifies a longstanding ideological bias: while infrastructure failures in Europe or the US are treated as isolated events, any such setback in China is framed as evidence of systemic “socialist failure.”

Bhabani notes that the Hongqi Bridge—built in a mountainous, landslide-prone region—collapsed without casualties thanks to rapid local action, yet Western outlets seized on the incident to discredit Chinese engineering.

The author counters that China’s record in infrastructure construction is unparalleled. Under CPC leadership, China has built more than a million modern bridges; 90 of the world’s 100 tallest 21st-century bridges are Chinese. Despite challenging terrain, China has created an integrated national transport system, with over half of its high-speed rail network running on bridges. Provinces such as Guizhou and Chongqing—home to tens of thousands of bridges each—illustrate the scale of this achievement.

This success, Bhabani argues, is largely invisible to Western media due to colonial legacies, anticommunism, and an imperialist refusal to acknowledge China’s surpassing of Europe and the US across numerous development indicators. While Western states face declining infrastructure, rising homelessness, eroding labour rights, and deteriorating public services, China has normalised people-centred development in areas such as food security, healthcare, housing, and education.

Bhabani considers that portraying Chinese setbacks as systemic defeat serves to shield Western capitalism from scrutiny and to prevent Western publics from engaging with China’s developmental model. He calls for European and US media to decolonise their perspectives and recognise that learning from mistakes—rather than obscuring them—is central to China’s ongoing progress.

Bhabani Shankar Nayak is a Professor of Business Management at London Metropolitan University. He is the author or editor of numerous books and articles on China and other issues related to development in the Global South.

Every major mainstream media outlet in Europe and the US has reported on the collapse of the recently completed 758-metre-long Hongqi Bridge in the city of Maerkang, located in China’s southwestern Sichuan province. The bridge, which was part of a national highway connecting the country’s heartland with Tibet, collapsed on November 11, 2025. Local authorities promptly closed the bridge to all traffic, and no casualties were reported thanks to timely precautionary measures. The bridge had been built in a challenging mountainous region where landslides had caused cracks in nearby slopes and roads, ultimately leading to its partial collapse. However, Western media outlets and their capitalist commentators quickly blamed “Chinese engineering and its faulures” and “failure of copied designs,” seeking to undermine China’s development and discredit Chinese expertise and achievements.

Under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, the People’s Republic of China has built more than one million modern bridges. Remarkably, 90 of the world’s 100 tallest bridges constructed in the 21st century are located in China. The country is home to both the world’s highest bridges and the longest sea-crossing bridges, most of which have been built within the past seven decades. Despite the fact that nearly 67 percent of China’s terrain is mountainous—with vast areas of mountains, hills, and plateaus—Chinese engineers have successfully developed an integrated and comprehensive transport and communication network. This infrastructure has been central to China’s unprecedented growth and development. Over half of China’s high-speed rail lines run on bridges, reflecting the country’s engineering ingenuity and determination to overcome natural challenges.

Yet, these remarkable achievements remain largely invisible to the capitalist media outlets of Europe and the US. The colonial legacies of Western media still prevent them from acknowledging that China has surpassed Europe and the United States in nearly every measure of human development and scientific advancement. China stands out in the world for its modern infrastructural development, achieved without any form of colonial or imperialist plunder that historically shaped infrastructure development in Europe and America.

Continue reading Western media paints European failure as an “experience”, but Chinese failure as a “socialist defeat”

China Changes Everything: An anthology by social justice activists, journalists and commentators

We’re very pleased to announce the release of a new book, compiled by the Friends of Socialist China US Committee and edited by Kyle Ferrana, exploring China’s remarkable rise and its role in the world. Topics include China’s poverty alleviation program, its progress in developing green energy, the Belt and Road Initiative, the nature of the Chinese economy, China’s foreign policy, and much more.

China Changes Everything can be purchased from Amazon US and Amazon UK.

Contents

Part 1: China’s Road to Socialism

  • A Fundamental Difference: China – Socialist or Imperialist? – Sara Flounders
  • Communist Principles & Culture Drive China’s Development for the Benefit Of All Humanity – Jacqueline Luqman
  • Completing the Original Mission: Reinvigorating Marxism in Contemporary China – Ken Hammond

Part 2. Socialist Planning in Practice

Infrastructure:

  • Reflections on How China is Building Socialism – Sydney Loving
  • Steel Tracks vs War Tracks: China Builds Subways and Aids Gaza While the U.S. Builds Militarism – Lee Siu Hin
  • Between the Rust Belt and the Model City – Pawel Wargan
  • A Tale of Two Economic Systems’ Transit – Betsey Piette

Healthcare:

  • If China Provides Universal Healthcare, Why Can’t the U.S.? – Margaret Flowers
  • Healthcare in China: A Cooperative Project – Sue Harris

Green Development:

  • China Leads the World in Energy Production and Green Technology – Lyn Neeley
  • China: Terraforming for the 21st Century – Judy Bello
  • China’s Aquacultural Revolution – Kyle Ferrana

Part 3. Plans for a Future World

  • Contrasting Strategies of the U.S. and China: Prospects for Peace and Solving Global Problems – Roger Harris
  • The Race for Moondust: U.S. Imperialism vs. China – Janet Mayes
  • Science Fiction or Science Reality? Socialism Leads Humanity out of Artificial Scarcity – JR Hagler

Part 4. Moving from Isolation to Prosperity

  • Leadership Was the Key in China’s Targeted Poverty Alleviation Campaign – Dee Knight
  • Dismantling Western Hypocrisy on Xinjiang and Gaza – Arjae Red
  • Xizang’s Leap from Serfdom to Socialism – Arnold August

Part 5. The U.S. War Drive Against China Intensifies

  • The U.S. Advances Its Dystopian Plans to Destroy China – Megan Russell
  • China Cannot Be Contained – Margaret Kimberley
  • The U.S. Wants War with China – Joe Lombardo
  • The Greatest People’s Success Story in Human History – KJ Noh
  • Taiwan’s Residents Reject Being Washington’s Proxy – Chris Fry
  • An Analysis of the Escalating U.S. Threats Toward China – Mick Kelly

Part 6. China’s Impact on the World

  • Around the World China is Turning on the Lights – Greg Dunkel
  • Lips and Teeth: Korea, China, and Northeast Asia’s Long Revolution – Ju-Hyun Park
  • Is China’s Foreign Policy “Good Enough”? – Danny Haiphong
  • China, Yemen and the Red Sea Passage – Ché Marino
  • Should the Renminbi Replace the Dollar? The Surprising Answer – Radhika Desai

Part 7. Looking Back & Looking Forward

  • The Rise of China and the Crisis of U.S. Imperialism – Gerald Horne, Anthony Ballas, Aspen Ballas, and PM Irvin
  • Shoulder to Shoulder: British People’s Solidarity with the Chinese People’s War of Resistance – Keith Bennett
  • 200+ Years of U.S. Military Deployments in and around China – Michael Kramer
  • Defend the Socialist Countries, Stand With the Peoples of the World Against Imperialism – Carlos Martinez

Building whole-process people’s democracy in China

In the following detailed and highly informative article, originally published on Progressive International, Paweł Wargan and Jason Hickel use the regeneration of Minzhu Village in Chongqing as a vivid case study of China’s system of whole-process people’s democracy.

Formerly the site of one of China’s most important enterprises – the Chongqing Construction Machine Tool Factory – Minzhu Village began to decline after the factory was relocated in 2009.

Its infrastructure decayed and its population aged and dwindled. Officials considered demolishing the village and relocating its residents. But the community had generational bonds to the area, which itself held historic significance for the country. Instead of demolition, the village underwent a comprehensive program of regeneration. It became a model for the rest of the country — and provided a striking example of participatory processes in China’s development.

Minzhu was revived not through displacement but via a thoroughgoing democratic process involving hundreds of “courtyard meetings”, a digitised mailbox collecting thousands of suggestions, and surveys at multiple levels. The results – “the farmers’ market was modernised, the stream was cleaned up, the canteen was built, and new institutions and infrastructures for leisure, recreation, and community development were constructed around the village” – shine a light on how socialist democracy can bring about people-centred redevelopment, a far cry from the gentrification typically associated with urban redevelopment in the capitalist world.

This participatory method flows from the mass line, with the political leadership at all levels “continuously interpreting, systematising, and realising the ideas of the people”. The authors contrast this with capitalist democracy, a system which allows “the dominant class — the class with the most financial and organisational power — to determine political outcomes in its own interests, capture the state, and prevent any democratic challenges to its rule”.

In the US, for instance, power is passed back and forth between two establishment parties, both of which are explicitly pro-capitalist and committed to the interests of the capitalist class. Third parties — including socialist parties — are effectively frozen out of the national political process; they face serious obstacles when it comes to getting on ballots and securing airtime in official political debates.

By comparison, socialist democracy extends participation beyond ballots into production and planning. “Socialist democracy must be seen as a historic, multi-generational and dialectical process by which conditions that enable increasing parts of society to play an active role in governance are created, nurtured, and defended.”

The article provides an overview of China’s democratic processes, including electoral and consultative mechanisms across five administrative levels, with the CPC – a party with over 100 million members – functioning as a mass organisation practicing democratic centralism. Continuous, extensive consultation and participation are crucial ingredients of the decision-making and lawmaking systems. As Xi Jinping puts it, democracy means extensive deliberation across society; it is not a system where “people are awakened only at voting time and dormant afterward.”

The authors note that survey data consistently shows high public trust and satisfaction with Chinese governance, challenging Western assumptions that China’s legitimacy rests on coercion. They acknowledge debates over the extent of economic democracy, but argue that public control of the “commanding heights” enables planning toward collectively ratified goals.

Ultimately, Minzhu Village exemplifies a model that binds legitimacy to outcomes – poverty eradication, rising wages and life expectancy – rather than to the “periodic and highly ritualised” procedures of so-called liberal democracy. As Victor Gao quips, it is hard to imagine China’s transformation from poverty and backwardness occurring “without democracy… without the Chinese people actively participating in the decision-making process.”

The article concludes that the implications of China’s ongoing experimentation with whole-process people’s democracy extend beyond China’s borders:

In an era when Western liberal democracies face mounting crises of legitimacy — declining voter participation, growing inequality, institutional dysfunction, rising popular alienation from political processes, and the discarding of liberal democratic norms by states increasingly embroiled in wars of imperial expansion — the Chinese model offers alternative ways of conceptualising the relationship between popular sovereignty and effective governance. It suggests that democracy’s ultimate test lies not in conformity to particular institutional arrangements developed in specific historical contexts, but in its capacity to activate the people in shaping the conditions of their lives and societies. Understanding “whole-process people’s democracy” therefore requires moving beyond the constraints imposed by liberal ideology to engage seriously with socialist approaches to political organisation, which offer critical insights for all societies grappling with questions of development and popular sovereignty in the twenty-first century.

Introduction 

In Minzhu Village, a small community in the Jiulongpo District of the sprawling metropolis of Chongqing, a remarkable transformation has taken place. Once a maze of crumbling buildings and narrow, muddy roads, Minzhu Village is now a modern community with radiant red-brick walls, landscaped paths, and thriving public services. It has a sustainable farmers’ market built with recycled materials, a public canteen that provides free meals for the elderly, fitness parks, stages for public performances, modern and affordable cafes, and a craft-beer bar housed in stacked shipping containers. On the main square, across from the three-story canteen, the Communist Party of China (CPC) operates a sleek public office, where residents can seek the support of Party cadres on anything from repainting their homes to resolving neighbourly disputes. Just a few years ago, sewage ran through a canal down the length of the main thoroughfare. Children and the elderly now dip their feet in the stream that has taken its place. 

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Martin Jacques and Carlos Martinez discuss Western misconceptions of China

In this episode of Wave Media’s Roughly Chinese podcast, hosted by Mimi Zhu and recorded live in Shanghai in October 2025, Martin Jacques (British academic and author of the bestselling When China Rules the World) and Carlos Martinez (co-editor of Friends of Socialist China and author of The East is Still Red) discuss their motivations for researching and writing about China; the trajectory of Britain-China relations; changing perceptions of China in the West; the long-term crisis of capitalism and its manifestation in an ascendant far-right in Britain; and more.

Webinar: Xizang (Tibet) Autonomous Region at 60 – Eyewitness Reports

📆 Sunday 16 November 2025, 2pm Britain, 9am US Eastern, 10pm China

Register on Eventbrite

The year 2025 marks the 60th anniversary of the founding of Southwest China’s Xizang (Tibet) Autonomous Region in 1965. It is also the year when a debate on the appointment of the next Dalai Lama is underway. China, the US, and India (where the current Dalai Lama is located) are weighing in. The International Manifesto Group and Friends of Socialist China are offering a rare occasion by assembling a panel composed exclusively of people who have actually visited Xizang.

President Xi led a central delegation to Lhasa on August 20 to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the celebration activities. Since 1965, Xizang has made remarkable progress, in addition to the accomplishments from 1951, when it was peacefully unified, to 1965. For example, since 1965, the per capita disposable income of rural residents rose from 108 yuan to 21,578 yuan, life expectancy climbed from 35.5 to 72.5 years, road network length expanded from 14,000 km to 124,900 km, the number of schools grew from 1,828 to 3,618, and rail network operation increased from zero to 1,359 km.

What do eyewitness reports say about the miraculous changes from a century-long cruel serfdom/theocracy to an increasingly modern Xizang? By visiting cultural, educational, and economic sites, or just freely wandering about Lhasa, what can we learn from these report-backs? Is it possible to build socialism with Chinese characteristics and modernization in a society that has recently emerged from serfdom?

What is the reality in a Tibetan area of neighboring Qinghai Province regarding the supposed “cultural and linguistic genocidal boarding schools?” How does this compare to the situation of the First Nations’ residential schools in North America and the current status of their original languages?

Speakers

  • Li Jingjing: Beijing-based journalist, analyst & commentator on international affairs, China’s politics
  • Lee Camp: American journalist, Producer of a Xizang (Tibet) documentary
  • Gustavo Ng: Chief Editor in DangDai Magazine, Argentina.
  • Leonardo Sobreira: Brazilian Journalist, Executive Editor at Brasil 247 and China observer
  • Arnold August: Canadian author and journalist, contributes to Friends of Socialist China
  • Radhika Desai (moderator): Professor, University of Manitoba, Convenor of the International Manifesto Group

Organisers

This webinar is organised jointly by the International Manifesto Group and Friends of Socialist China.

Register on eventbrite

Storming the Heavens: Peasants and Revolution in China, 1925-1949 – viewed through a Marxist lens

We are pleased to announce the release of a new book by Jenny Clegg.

Storming the Heavens: Peasants and Revolution in China, 1925-1949 – viewed through a Marxist lens brings into focus the central role of peasant mass power in China’s revolutionary transformation. Engaging with debates in peasant studies, on China’s historical transformation, as well as within the Communist movement, it delves into both objective and subjective aspects of the peasant struggle.

In critiquing reformist-orientated perspectives of mainstream Western Sinology, the discussion draws on the neglected works of Chinese Marxists, Chen Hanseng and Chen Boda, to reveal how a system of monopoly rent exacerbated land hunger impacting both poor and middle peasants, making radical land reform the central issue for the revolution.  It goes on to explore how the Asiatic features of Chinese feudalism shaped landlord power to complicate peasant organisation at local levels. 

Going on to address questions of peasant agency and CPC leadership, traditional rebellion and modern proletarian revolution, the work considers case studies from the field of Chinese peasant studies together with Party documents. Following the zig-zag revolutionary process, it sees how Party and peasant were brought together in a dynamic relationship of mutual learning within a context of change. 

Mao’s methods of rural work, Party building and mass organisation are shown as meaningful in meeting the practical challenges of agrarian transformation. Applying a distinctive class analysis, the book shows how the CPC found ways to tackle the resilience of feudal power, handling the contradictions both among the peasants and between the agrarian and national movements to unite the revolutionary forces in reaching towards a socialist future.

Order from manifesto press

About the author

Jenny Clegg is a China specialist. She first visited China in 1971 and has followed its development and international role ever since. She was awarded a PhD by the University of Manchester for her thesis on peasants and revolution in China in 1989, and subsequently became a Senior Lecturer in Afro-Asian Studies and Asia Pacific Studies at universities in the North of England. She continues to research and write about China from a Marxist perspective. She is a member of the Friends of Socialist China advisory panel.

Endorsements

Storming the Heavens is a major accomplishment.  It combines detailed historical  analysis of China’s agrarian social relations, prior to 1949 and beyond, with a keen sense of theory, integrating Western and Chinese sources, Marxist and non-Marxist alike, into a vibrant picture of struggle and transformation.  The CPC’s programs and practices are given detailed, and often admiring, attention, while still being carefully dissected with an eye to errors, misjudgments and shortcomings.  The complexities of national vs. agrarian movements, relations between poor and middle peasants, navigation of stages in social and political development, differences in class structure between north and south, and much more — all of this unfolds in a story that is both remarkably specific and deeply universal in its implications.  All in all, a fine addition to our knowledge of modern China.

David Laibman, Professor Emeritus, Economics, City University of New York, Editor Emeritus, Science & Society

This monograph is a systematic study by a British Marxist economist of the situation in rural China during the Republican period. It presents an insightful analysis of the new democratic revolution in the countryside of China centred on the agrarian revolution led by Mao Zedong. This book is very important for any Chinese scholar who wishes to learn about the perspectives of research from experts outside China, and is extremely useful in all capitalist countries, especially those in the South, for understanding how to develop the countryside and truly safeguard the interests of the peasants through reforms, as well as for understanding the theories of Marxism-Leninism and its sinicization.

Cheng Enfu, Member of the the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, President of the World Association for Political Economy 

For those who wish to understand the origins of the Chinese revolution, this book is an essential guide to negotiating the complex terrain of the agrarian class structure in pre-revolutionary China; the Marxist and alternative analyses of this structure; and the debates which underlay the eventual formulation by the CPC of the strategy that led to victory over both the Japanese and the Kuomintang. As well as discussion of the theoretical contribution of Mao Zedong to Marxism, as this guided CPC strategy….the book covers a range of debates over an extensive area of discourse. 

Utsa Patnaik, Professor Emerita at the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, Jawaharlal Nehru University, in New Delhi, India.

Jenny Clegg’s Storming the Heavens offers a brilliantly enlightening Marxist understanding of socialist China.  Based on years of research it is focused on the dynamic and transforming relationship between the Communist Party of China and China’s diverse peasant communities.  Like the studies made by Lenin of Russia’s peasantry, or Connolly’s of Ireland’s, both very different, it enables us to understand the specifically national characteristics of the party’s Marxist practice.  It is essential reading for anyone wanting to understand China’s role in the world today.

John Foster, Emeritus Professor of Social Sciences, University of the West of Scotland

Contents

Introduction

Part 1 Landlord monopoly and peasant land hunger – the distinct characteristics of China’s agrarian structure

  • Introduction
  • Chapter 1: Land Ownership, Rent and the Condition of the Peasantry
  • Chapter 2: Landlordism and Commerce
  • Chapter 3: Landlord, State and Village – the Articulation of Economic and Political Power in Chinese Feudalism
  • Chapter 4: The Impact of Imperialism

Part 2 From stagnation to crisis: economic and political dimensions of agrarian China’s decline

  • Introduction
  • Chapter 5: Market and Technological Constraints and the Problem of Monopoly Rent
  • Chapter 6: Huang and the Involuting Peasant Economy of North China – Between Lenin and Chayanov
  • Chapter 7: The Role of the State – for the Common Good or Legitimising Landlord Power?
  • Chapter 8: The Tenacity of Chinese Feudalism
  • Chapter 9: Peasant Rebellions and Why They Failed
  • Chapter 10: The Failure of Reforms
  • Chapter 11: The Convoluted Trajectory to Revolution

Part 3 China’s revolutionary experience from United Front to land revolution (1924-1937) and the evolution of Mao’s strategy

  • Introduction
  • Chapter 12: Peasants and Revolution – from Lenin to Mao
  • Chapter 13: China’s First Revolution and the CPC-KMT United Front (1924-1927)
  • Chapter 14: From the Towns to the Countryside – Rethinking Revolutionary Strategy
  • Chapter 15: The Land Revolution, Soviet Power and the Dynamics of Peasant Class Struggle
  • Chapter 16: Mao and the Sinification of Marxism – Class Analysis and the Mass Line
  • Chapter 17: From Agrarian to National Revolution

Part 4 China’s revolutionary experience from Second United Front to land revolution (1937-1949) and the implementation of Mao’s strategy

  • Introduction
  • Chapter 18: The Anti-Japanese War and the United Front (1937–1945) – the Challenges of Party Building
  • Chapter 19: Building the New Democratic State
  • Chapter 20: The Return to Land Revolution (1946-48) – from Moderate to Radical Land Policies
  • Chapter 21: The Return to Land Revolution (1946-48) – Mao’s methods refined

Part 5 Peasants, revolution and the CPC

  • Introduction
  • Chapter 22: From Traditional Rebellion to Modern Revolution
  • Chapter 23: Peasants as Free Trade Familialists – Thaxton’s Contribution
  • Chapter 24: What Difference did CPC Leadership Make?

Conclusion

European Communist leaders discuss prospects for socialism in Beijing 

Friends of Socialist China co-editor Keith Bennett recently joined a panel of leaders of European communist parties for a special one hour discussion programme moderated by Pan Deng for CGTN, China’s English language TV station.

Together with leaders from the Communist Party of Finland, German Communist Party, Communist Party (Denmark), Hungarian Workers’ Party and Communist Party of Italy, Keith discussed a wide range of issues, beginning and concluding with perspectives on the biggest challenges facing the world socialist movement today, and its future, while ranging over:

  • The relationship between discipline and democracy in party building; 
  • China’s whole process people’s democracy and the contrast with bourgeois democracy;
  • The recent 4th Plenum of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and China’s upcoming 15th Five Year Plan, with their emphasis on putting people first;
  • The relationship between an efficient market and a well-functioning government;
  • Rising protectionism and unilateralism in the global economy on the one hand and China’s continued commitment to opening up on the other;
  • The development of new high quality productive forces and the upgrading of traditional industries;
  • How to understand and relate to AI and its impact on the working class;
  • Differences between Chinese and Western modernisation;
  • Prospects for cooperation between China and the Western countries to tackle the climate crisis;
  • The trend towards multipolarity and the rise of the Global South, particularly BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation;
  • The relationship between the Global Governance Initiative proposed by President Xi Jinping and the Charter of the United Nations.

Also featured was a separately recorded contribution from the Communist Party (Switzerland).

The programme was recorded on November 2 and first broadcast on November 4. The participants were in Beijing to attend the 15th World Socialism Forum organised by the Chinese Academy of Social Science (CASS).

The full programme is embedded below.

Germany is sabotaging its relations with China on behalf of Washington

In the following article, Sevim Dağdelen, German member of parliament from 2005-25 and foreign policy spokesperson of the Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW), contrasts two moments in German–Chinese relations, arguing that today’s German foreign policy is abandoning the mutual respect that characterised earlier diplomacy. She begins with the 1975 visit of West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt to Beijing. Schmidt explicitly sought to break from European colonial attitudes, and called for the West to treat China as an equal partner.

Fifty years later, Dağdelen argues, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul represents the opposite approach. She describes Wadephul as adhering to Washington’s geopolitical dictates rather than pursuing an independent German foreign policy. His planned visit to China was cancelled at the last minute, following a trip to Asia in which he issued assorted slanders against Beijing. “His appearance gives the impression that he wants to continue the anti-Chinese turn in German foreign policy from 1937, and again pursue an alliance with Japan against China and Russia.”

Dağdelen writes that “neither German nor European foreign policy seems prepared to apply the principle of reciprocity in international relations.”

Wadephul appears in Asia only as the squire of knight Trump, who attempts to fight the Chinese wind-mills. Concretely, one laments China’s restrictions on the export of rare earths for Western arms companies without recognising that the export bans to China came from the USA. One laments Chinese tariffs on US products without mentioning that the first shot in the trade war with Beijing was clearly fired by the USA. One allows via the Netherlands a Chinese chip-manufacturer to be placed under Western control and then complains that China no longer delivers chips to Europe and Volkswagen’s production lines stand still. And one wants to teach Beijing morals on human rights, yet supports – as the German government does – Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, with arms and trade privileges.

Such behaviour is reprehensible; moreover, it will not succeed, as “China is a country that is ready to accept a challenge”.

The article concludes that Germany, by aligning with Washington’s confrontational stance, risks destroying 50 years of productive relations with China, undermining its own economic interests, and isolating itself from an emerging multipolar world order. Such a trajectory must be firmly resisted.

China is a centre of the multipolar world order. This insight is urgently needed. A German foreign policy that acts in the interest of the desperate maintenance of the USA’s doomed unipolar world order is destined to fail. In the interest of the German population however lies being in good relations with this centre.

This article first appeared in German in the Berliner Zeitung, and was published in English in Geopolitical Economy Report.

The visit of German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt to Beijing 50 years ago was a visit that lifted German-Chinese relations to a completely new level. On 31 October 1975, Schmidt met the Chinese head of state Mao Zedong. In preparation he had read Mao’s poems. It was the first visit of a German chancellor to China.

Schmidt remained someone who, throughout his life, wanted to break with the colonial past of the West in China, and advocated relations on equal footing and with mutual respect. For example, in his discussion of the book The Governance of China by Chinese President Xi Jinping, he called on the West to replace arrogance with fair competition in its relationship with China. Good relations with China were among the priorities of German foreign policy.

Continue reading Germany is sabotaging its relations with China on behalf of Washington

Is China’s foreign policy ‘good enough’?

The following article is a chapter by Friends of Socialist China co-founder Danny Haiphong from the forthcoming compilation China Changes Everything, put together by the FoSC US Committee and featuring chapters by Ken Hammond, Gerald Horne, Paweł Wargan, Kyle Ferrana, Jacquie Luqman, KJ Noh, Margaret Kimberley, Radhika Desai, Dee Knight, Keith Bennett, Carlos Martinez and others.

Danny argues that widespread Western claims about China’s foreign policy – from “debt trap diplomacy” to imperial ambitions – are unfounded and rooted in projection.

The article debunks the “debt trap” narrative, using research by scholars such as Deborah Brautigam showing that most Global South debt is owed to Western lenders, the IMF, and the World Bank rather than China. Cases often cited as examples of Chinese asset seizures, such as Sri Lanka’s Hambantota port or Uganda’s airport, are shown to be fabrications. Meanwhile, the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) focuses on infrastructure development and mutual benefit – building railways, ports, metros, energy systems, communications pathways, schools and hospitals in countries long exploited by colonial powers. These projects create jobs, raise living standards, promote development, and expand global connectivity.

Taking up the complex issue of whether China is “doing enough” in relation to Israel’s genocide in Gaza, Danny rejects the accusation that China is passive. He cites China’s resolute stand at the UN demanding comprehensive ceasefire and withdrawal, its mediation efforts among Palestinian factions, and its support for the principal regional backers of Palestinian self-determination, most notably Iran. Demands that China “do more,” he says, misplace responsibility: the genocide is enabled by US military, financial, and diplomatic support. The real task for people in the West is not to pressure China, but to confront their own governments and the US-led imperial system that causes these crises.

There isn’t a single statement from the Palestinian resistance organizations or from the entire Axis of Resistance demanding that China do more. In fact, these forces are building closer ties to China with the aim of strengthening their stability and therefore their effectiveness in resisting imperialism and colonialism. China’s relations with Iran have grown tremendously, helping the biggest supporter of Palestine to survive and to even make military and industrial advances despite U.S. and EU sanctions.

Furthermore, Danny notes that China is operating under significant constraints while working systematically to oppose imperialism and enable a multipolar world order. He concludes:

It is clear that China is operating within the contradictions of a decaying US-led unipolar order, and by doing so can offer many tangible benefits to humanity. The real question we in the West should be asking is, how can we collectively strengthen our movements to put real pressure on the root cause of the genocide in Gaza: the U.S. empire. Once we do, new and ample opportunities will emerge, to end not only the horrors in Gaza, but also the entire system of empire from which they sprang.

The question in the title may seem hyperbolic, but it is one that comes up in one form or another across the U.S. political spectrum.

U.S. elites slam China’s foreign policy as riddled with “debt traps” for poorer countries in the Global South. The Western corporate media asserts that China is pursuing its own kind of empire and has a target on its own province of Taiwan as well as its neighbors in the South China Sea.

For the US ruling circle and its European vassals, China is an imperial competitor seeking to destroy the West’s “rules-based” international order (actually a euphemism for U.S. imperialism).

There are also plenty on the political “left”, even some communists, who view China in the exact same light. They consider China to be “state-capitalist” and therefore pursuing profits at the expense of humanity. And then there are those who, even if they rebuke this criticism and uphold China’s socialist foundation, are profoundly disappointed in China’s foreign policy. To these critics, China falls short of the global solidarity required in this historical moment and is not aggressive enough in the pursuit of justice.

Continue reading Is China’s foreign policy ‘good enough’?

Xi Jinping: Hegemonism causes only war and disaster; fairness and justice ensure global peace and development

Chinese President Xi Jinping visited the Republic of Korea (ROK) from October 30-November 1 to attend the 32nd APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) Economic Leaders’ Meeting and to then pay a state visit to the ROK.

On October 31, he delivered a written address to the APEC CEO Summit, entitled, ‘Putting the Asia Pacific at the Forefront of the Joint Endeavor for World Development and Prosperity.’

Xi Jinping noted that: “The world has come to a new crossroads – solidarity, cooperation and mutual benefit or return of hegemonism and the law of the jungle; multilateralism, openness and inclusiveness or unilateralism and protectionism. What we choose will profoundly affect the future of the world. We must have vision, step up to our responsibility, and choose what meets the expectation of the people in the Asia Pacific and stands the test of history.

“As the saying goes, ‘He who knows the past understands the present.’ Since the great victory of the World Anti-Fascist War 80 years ago, the international system with the United Nations at its core has been put in place gradually, and multilateral systems in economic, trade, financial and other areas have been established. A new chapter was opened for humanity’s pursuit of peace and development.

“History attests that humanity shares a common destiny. While hegemonism causes only war and disaster, fairness and justice ensure global peace and development. While confrontation and antagonism breed only estrangement and turbulence, win-win cooperation proves to be the right way forward. While unilateralism precipitates division and regression, multilateralism is the viable option for tackling global challenges.”

In the current situation he noted: “We embrace peaceful development and reject the assertion that a strong country will inevitably seek hegemony. We champion win-win cooperation and denounce winner-takes-all practices. We advocate mutual learning among civilisations, and do not believe in clash of civilisations. We promote fairness and justice and oppose power politics. China has successively put forward the Belt and Road Initiative as well as the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, the Global Civilisation Initiative, and the Global Governance Initiative. They are China’s solutions to the salient issues across the world, based on Chinese wisdom. We look forward to working with all parties to promote common prosperity and a win-win future for all and building a community with a shared future for humanity.”

He then advanced four proposals as follows:

  • We should take the lead in safeguarding peace and stability. We must always ensure the equal right of all countries to participate in international affairs regardless of their size, strength, or wealth.
  • We should take the lead in enhancing openness and connectivity. We should firmly safeguard the WTO-centred, rules-based multilateral trading system, strengthen solidarity and collaboration, oppose protectionism, reject unilateralism and bullying, and prevent the world from reverting to the law of the jungle. We must have the courage to remove barriers, keep global industrial and supply chains stable and unimpeded, advance regional economic integration, push forward the Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific, and play the Asia Pacific part in global economic growth.
  • We should take the lead in promoting win-win cooperation. We should stay true to the vision of harmony without uniformity, fully leverage the diversity of Asia Pacific economies, draw on each other’s strengths, and jointly make the pie of Asia Pacific cooperation bigger.
  • We should take the lead in pursuing benefits for all and inclusiveness. We should put the people first and fully implement the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. We should create greater synergy between our development strategies and step up support for developing economies. We should bridge development gaps, increase people’s well-being, and deliver prosperity to all the people in the Asia Pacific.

Next year, he added, China will host APEC for the third time. “This demonstrates our full commitment to Asia Pacific cooperation and our willingness to fulfill our responsibilities.”

Introducing China’s current domestic situation, he explained:

“China has been a major engine of world economic growth for many years. China’s 14th Five-Year Plan period ends this year. In the past five years, despite increasing external shocks, the Chinese economy has registered an annual growth rate of around 5.5 percent on average, contributing around 30 percent of global growth. A few days ago, the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China adopted the Recommendations for Formulating the 15th Five-Year Plan at its fourth plenary session.”

In this regard:

  • China can provide more growth opportunities for the global business community. It is now the world’s second largest market of consumption and import, and the only developing country that hosts a national-level international import expo and continually opens its market to the world. The China market is huge and promising.
  • China can provide a good business environment for the global business community. China is universally recognised as one of the safest countries in the world and grants either unilateral visa exemption or full mutual visa-free entry to 76 countries.
  • China can provide enabling conditions of green growth for the global business community. China is making coordinated advances in decarbonising, mitigating pollution, expanding green transition and promoting growth. It has the largest renewable energy system and the biggest, most complete new energy industrial chain in the world. The increased area of afforestation in China accounts for a quarter of the world total. We are committed to meeting our carbon peaking and carbon neutrality targets. We are actively advancing cooperation in launching green energy projects. We support the free flow of quality green technologies and products and do our best to provide assistance to developing countries.

In his address to the second session of the leaders’ meeting on November 1, President Xi said that:

“At present, the new wave of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation is deepening. In particular, the rapid advance of frontier technologies such as artificial intelligence is opening new horizons for humanity. On the other hand, the world faces lackluster economic growth and a widening gap in global development. Challenges such as climate change, food security and energy security are intensifying. Asia Pacific economies must enhance mutually beneficial cooperation, make good use of new opportunities, stand up to new challenges, and forge a sustainable and brighter future together.”

In this regard, he advanced three proposals:

  • We should further unleash the potential of digital and smart development to give the Asia Pacific region a fresh edge in innovation-driven development. We should fully harness new technologies to empower and propel us forward, seize the opportunities of digital, smart and green development, and move faster to nurture and promote new quality productive forces. AI is very important for shaping the future and should contribute to the well-being of people of all countries and regions. We should bear in mind the well-being of the entire humanity and promote the sound and orderly development of AI while ensuring that it is beneficial, safe and fair.
  • We should stay committed to green and low-carbon development to build a new paradigm for sustainable development in the Asia Pacific region. Clear waters and green mountains are just as valuable as gold and silver. We should keep in mind our responsibility to our future generations, enhance synergy between green development strategies of all economies, promote free flows of quality green technologies and products, accelerate the green and low-carbon transition, and vigorously tackle climate change. We should ensure the true fulfillment of common but differentiated responsibilities, and urge developed economies to continuously provide necessary support for developing economies in financing, technology, capacity building and other areas.
  • We should build an inclusive and universally beneficial future to foster a new dynamism in the inclusive growth of the Asia Pacific. We should always put the people first, and strengthen policy communication, experience sharing and results-oriented cooperation to fully implement the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, eliminate poverty together, and promote shared prosperity for all the people in the Asia Pacific.

Also, on the morning of November 1, President Xi attended the handover ceremony of the 32nd APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting and announced that China would host the 33rd APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province.

Continue reading Xi Jinping: Hegemonism causes only war and disaster; fairness and justice ensure global peace and development

Trump makes fools of Britain’s China hawks

In this witty and perceptive article, originally published on his Substack, ‘The Rest is Bullshit’, Steve Howell excoriates Britain’s right wing anti-China hawks in politics and the media, arguing that Donald Trump’s positive meeting with President Xi Jinping in the Republic of Korea has exposed their foolishness.

Having noted that, “The US and China surprised almost everyone last week by calling off their trade war – for now at least. The summit between presidents Xi and Trump ended with both parties dropping plans for tougher trade restrictions and tariffs,” Howell adds:

“This was awkward for the British media. For weeks, they had been pumping out headlines on what they called the China spy scandal – the collapse of the prosecution [of] two men accused of passing information to China. There were virtually no dissenters to the view that the charges being dropped was bad news. The only issue for the media was who to blame for the failure to convict the two defendants, as if the small matter of their actual guilt was not in doubt.”

Giving the recent historical background, he writes that:

“In the build up to the US elections of 2016, both Bernie Sanders and Trump – from very different perspectives – made cheap imports from China an issue and blamed them for the de-industrialisation of the Midwest ‘rust belt’ states. On being elected, Trump introduced the first wave of tariffs on China, marking the start of a new Washington consensus that President Biden not only continued but escalated. True to form, Britain fell into line.”

However: “Amid the furore over the China ‘spy’ case, our commentariat appears not to have noticed the emerging change of policy in Washington.

“The Telegraph’s Sherelle Jacobs was certainly caught out badly, having written shortly before the summit that the government’s ‘refusal to break with China has explosive geopolitical implications.’ She thought that Britain’s ‘inaction over China’ could send Trump ‘over the edge’ and claimed that ‘if anything ends up destroying the Special Relationship it will be our gutless cosying up to Beijing.’ She must have been mortified when Trump described his meeting with Xi as ‘the G2 summit’, relegating the G7 – of which Britain is a member.”

He adds: “It remains to be seen what Trump’s China game plan is. The trade agreement arising from his summit with Xi has yet to be finalised. There is talk of Xi visiting Washington. Whatever happens, a couple of things are clear. Firstly, Britain’s long-standing policy – whoever occupies Downing Street – of hanging on to America’s coattails is a recipe for being badly bruised when there is a sudden change of direction. Secondly, if the US has had to treat China with respect, it is absurd for Britain to act as if it is ready to send gunboats up the Yangtze again.”

Steve Howell served as the Labour Party’s deputy director of strategy and communication in 2017, during the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn. He is the author of ‘Game Changer: Eight Weeks That Transformed British Politics’, about Britain’s 2017 general election; ‘Collateral Damage’, a political and international relations thriller; and ‘Cold War Puerto Rico: Anti-Communism in Washington’s Caribbean Colony (Culture and Politics in the Cold War and Beyond)’ (forthcoming).

The US and China surprised almost everyone last week by calling off their trade war – for now at least. The summit between presidents Xi and Trump ended with both parties dropping plans for tougher trade restrictions and tariffs. Asked to evaluate it on a scale of one to ten, Trump said that he thought “it was a 12.”

This was awkward for the British media. For weeks, they had been pumping out headlines on what they called the China spy scandal – the collapse of the prosecution two men accused of passing information to China. There were virtually no dissenters to the view that the charges being dropped was bad news. The only issue for the media was who to blame for the failure to convict the two defendants, as if the small matter of their actual guilt was not in doubt.

Continue reading Trump makes fools of Britain’s China hawks

War of position vs. war of manoeuvre: China’s Gramscian trade strategy

The article below, written by CJ Atkins for People’s World, analyses the recent Trump–Xi summit in Busan, South Korea, noting that while both leaders announced modest compromises – with the US easing tariffs and approving limited chip exports, and China resuming agricultural purchases and delaying rare earth export regulations – the meeting “represents a truce, not a treaty”.

The ambitions of the U.S. corporate oligarchy to derail China’s growth and hobble their competition have not been set aside. Nor have China’s desires to continue developing its economy and raising living standards for its 1.4 billion people… There is still a contest underway between the world’s biggest capitalist power and the world’s biggest socialist country, and the leaders of the two nations are following very different strategies as they seek to bring the rest of the globe onside.

To interpret this ongoing struggle, the article draws on Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci’s distinction between a “war of manoeuvre” and a “war of position.” A war of manoeuvre is a rapid, frontal assault to disrupt the status quo; a war of position is slower, focused on building long-term consensus and influence within institutions and public opinion. “Neither strategy was inherently right or wrong, Gramsci said; it was a matter of surveying the battlefield, so to speak, and determining which was appropriate given the political situation at the time.”

Trump’s trade war embodies the war of manoeuvre: abrupt tariffs, bans on technology exports, and pressure on allies to cut trade with China. His aim is to force quick concessions and signal dominance to domestic political supporters and corporate interests.

China by contrast is engaged in a war of position. The Chinese leadership emphasises cooperation, multilateralism, and shared prosperity. Rather than retaliating aggressively against the US’s unilateral measures, China strengthens regional institutions and trade networks – upgrading the China–ASEAN free-trade agreement, deepening APEC cooperation and upgrading trade partnerships. As a result, China is seen as a predictable and responsible global partner.

The article argues that Trump’s aggressive tactics have largely failed: US tariffs raised domestic inflation, damaged the agricultural sector, and highlighted China’s success over the course of recent years diversifying suppliers and trade partners. “By trying to enforce subservience to his demands, Trump’s strategy has actually generated further legitimacy for China’s model of multilateral cooperation in the eyes of much of the world.” CJ concludes:

Trump’s war of manoeuvre has depended on flashy claims and regular assurances of victories that are yet to materialise. But as China is showing in practice, and as Gramsci concluded in his Prison Notebooks, “In politics, the ‘war of position,’ once won, is decisive definitively.”

Fresh off his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, President Donald Trump hailed the summit as “amazing,” a “12” on a scale of 1 to 10. Xi’s assessment was also positive but more measured in tone. “In the face of winds, waves, and challenges,” he said, “we should stay the right course, navigate through the complex landscape, and ensure the steady sailing forward of the giant ship of China-U.S. relations.”

Headlines in the media, meanwhile, rattled off details of the agreements reached in Busan: A delay of Chinese rare earth export controls, the lowering of the U.S.’ supposedly fentanyl-linked tariff rates, the resumption of Chinese purchases of American soybeans, U.S. approval for the sale of some advanced microchips to Chinese firms, the mutual lowering of port fees, further talks about the future of TikTok, and more.

Continue reading War of position vs. war of manoeuvre: China’s Gramscian trade strategy

Li Qiang advances proposals for East Asian cooperation at regional meetings

From October 25-26, Chinese Premier Li Qiang paid an official visit to Singapore at the invitation of Prime Minister Lawrence Wong.

Then, from October 27-28, at the invitation of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim of Malaysia, the current rotating chair of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), he attended the 28th China-ASEAN Summit, the 28th ASEAN Plus Three Summit, the 20th East Asia Summit and the fifth Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Leaders’ Meeting in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur.

Prior to the China-ASEAN Summit, Li and Anwar witnessed the signing of the CAFTA [China ASEAN Free Trade Agreement] 3.0 Upgrade Protocol.

Beyond tariff cuts and smoother trade, the upgraded document expands cooperation into nine areas, namely digital economy, green economy, supply chain connectivity, standards and technical regulations with conformity assessment procedures, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, customs procedures and trade facilitation, competition and consumer protection, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and economic and technical cooperation.

Following the signing of the protocol, both sides will carry out their respective domestic ratification procedures to facilitate the protocol’s early entry into force and implementation.

The original agreement, signed in 2002, was fully implemented in 2010, and upgraded to CAFTA 2.0 in 2015. The newly upgraded CAFTA 3.0 shows China’s and ASEAN’s solemn commitment to multilateralism and free trade, as well as their firm resolve to jointly build an open, inclusive, and rules-based regional integrated market and a resilient regional industrial and supply chain system that delivers mutual benefits, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said.

The upgrade also gives SMEs wider and smoother access to the grand Chinese and ASEAN markets. “Local SMEs can now connect directly with regional markets through digital platforms – true ‘local creation, regional expansion,'” said Tan Kar Hing, deputy chairman of Malaysia’s Centre of Regional Strategic Studies.

Industries such as food, agricultural products, tourism, logistics, and digital e-commerce will be among the first to benefit from the upgrade, said Suwat Techawatanawana, executive vice president of the leading Thai bank Kasikornbank.

Speaking at the 20th East Asia Summit, Premier Li said: “Twenty years ago, the EAS was inaugurated in Kuala Lumpur. Upon reading the declaration of the first summit, we can easily discern the EAS purpose: strengthening cooperation in the spirit of equality and partnership, observing the UN Charter and other norms of international law, ensuring the effective functioning of multilateral systems, and improving people’s well-being. The constructive role of the EAS on the whole in promoting the steady and rapid development of our region over the past two decades is mainly attributable to the implementation of this founding mission.”

He added: “We should continuously build extensive consensus. Absent common understanding on some very basics, countries would hardly make good progress in their communication, consultations or business exchanges. History tells us that some common values that humanity has fostered over millennia, such as mutual respect, equality, fairness and justice, underpin both people-to-people and state-to-state interactions. To address the global transformation unseen in a century, we need to have a clearheaded and sensible judgment about the trajectory of the future. Among many others, the trend toward economic globalisation and multipolarity is irreversible, and the world must not slip back to the law of the jungle where the strong prey on the weak. Only when we embrace these basic understandings that are consistent with the common values of humanity and the trend of history, can we make the right decision at this critical juncture and move ahead in the right direction.

“Our region is home to a large number of developing countries. Growing the economy and improving people’s lives is a priority for us, and overcoming the impact of protectionism and strengthening internal growth momentum is a pressing issue we face… The more volatile the world becomes, the more imperative it is for us to uphold the authority of international law. We should all observe rules. In particular, we should jointly safeguard the UN-centred international system, support ASEAN centrality in the regional architecture, and promote cooperation in our region. At the same time, we should also actively promote reform and build a more just and equitable global governance system so as to better safeguard the interests of all.

“As a saying goes, when you are clear about the direction to go, you can surely reach your destination, no matter how far away it is. China is ready to work in concert and pursue practical cooperation with all parties to promote peace, development and prosperity both in our region and across the world.”

Speaking at the 28th ASEAN Plus Three [China, Republic of Korea {ROK} and Japan] Summit, Li said:

“I want to thank Prime Minister Anwar and our host Malaysia for the thoughtful arrangements made for this Summit. I also congratulate Timor-Leste for officially joining the ASEAN family.

Continue reading Li Qiang advances proposals for East Asian cooperation at regional meetings

Interview: Is China capitalist, socialist or communist?

On 16 October 2025, Friends of Socialist China co-editor Carlos Martinez joined Shanghai-based journalist Andy Boreham for a wide-ranging discussion on the topics of anti-China propaganda, China’s record under Mao Zedong, China’s political and economic system since 1978, whether China is socialist, the differences between socialism and communism, and much more.

The video of the conversation is embedded below, and can also be found on the Reports on China YouTube channel.