On Sunday February 14, 2025, Friends of Socialist China (FoSC) organised its third consecutive end of year reception and dinner. More than 60 supporters and friends from various progressive organisations, communities and walks of life packed the Palestinian Hiba Express restaurant in Holborn, central London, to renew friendships and to sum up the work in 2025 and the prospects for the new year.
We were joined by honoured guests and friends from the embassies of China, DPR Korea, Laos, Cuba, and Timor-Leste, as well as from China Daily.
FoSC co-editor Keith Bennett spoke on behalf of the organisation, welcoming everyone and reviewing our work in the outgoing year. He also stressed the particular importance of solidarity with the peoples of Palestine and Venezuela at this time.
Responding, Minister Counsellor Jiang Zhouteng from the Chinese Embassy extended his sincere greetings to all comrades and friends present and noted:
“Since its establishment, Friends of Socialist China has remained committed to telling the world true and vivid stories about China.
“Just in 2025, your website has published about 500 posts, closely following major events related to China, released a new book, titled China Changes Everything, which brings together insights from many contributors, and organised multiple seminars around various topics.”
Comrade Jiang also referred to our May-June delegation to China and to our conference marking China’s 76th National Day, along with other activities, and added:
“I would like to extend our sincere gratitude for all your efforts in promoting a better understanding on China by the rest of the world including the UK. It is no doubt that through your efforts more and more people in the world have been encouraged to listen to and appreciate real and vivid stories about China, and have realised, much more than before, the power of socialism that is rooted in unity, peace, and justice for the world.”
Turning to the situation in China, he said that:
“The year 2025 is the final year of China’s 14th Five-Year Plan, which is the first five-year period since our march towards the second Centenary Goal, building a great modern socialist country in all respects, began in 2020.
“Facing a turbulent international landscape, we achieved pioneering progress, breakthrough transformation, and historic accomplishments in our economic and social development, laying a solid foundation for a good start on the new march towards the second Centenary Goal.
“The upcoming year 2026 will mark the first year of the 15th Five‑Year Plan, a period of strategic importance that will lay a solid foundation and give full momentum to the process of basically achieving socialist modernisation.
“In the next year, China will continue to advance Chinese modernisation, with economic development as our central task, high-quality development as our main focus, reform and innovation as the fundamental driving force, meeting the people’s ever-growing needs for a better life as our fundamental goal, and full and rigorous Party self-governance as the fundamental underpinning for all our efforts.
“China will continue to uphold the banner of peace, development, cooperation, and mutual benefit, and to advance efforts to build a community with a shared future for humanity, in order to promote world peace and development, and safeguard international fairness and justice.”
Finally: “Looking ahead to the new year 2026, we sincerely wish Friends of Socialist China continued progress and look forward to continuing our close collaboration with you.”
We print below the full text of Keith’s speech.
Minister Counsellor Jiang Zhouteng
Friends and Comrades
Thank you all for coming this evening, at a time of year when there are always many demands on people’s time.
We are honoured to be joined by friends from the embassies of the People’s Republic of China, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, and the Republic of Cuba, as well as from China Daily.
As Friends of Socialist China, we have never taken a narrow view of our internationalist responsibilities. As we clearly expressed it in our founding statement: “We support all states building or aspiring to socialism, and we favour the highest level of unity and friendship between them.”
We have maintained that original aspiration and will always do so.
I would also like to welcome our comrades from friendly political parties. From the Progressive Party of the Working People of Cyprus (AKEL), the Portuguese Communist Party, the Vatan Party of Türkiye, Sinn Féin from Ireland, and, of course, from the Communist Party of Britain.
And I would like to express the thanks of Carlos, David and myself to each and every one of you present this evening, along with the many friends and comrades who haven’t been able to join us, for all your support and cooperation, not least through the work you do in numerous organisations whose principles and goals of friendship, peace, anti-imperialism, and socialism are complementary to our own.
This is the third year that we gather in December to look back at the last 12 months and forward to the new year here at Hiba, in a building which is now also home to London’s Palestine House. Everyone here at Hiba is a dear friend of ours and I want to thank all their team for always making us so welcome and being so helpful in doing their best to meet our every request, as they are this evening.
This is not merely a restaurant. It is an integral part of the beating heart of Palestinian solidarity and resilience, here in the very belly of the beast that, right from the Balfour Declaration, bears the primary historical responsibility for the denial of the Palestinian people’s right to be, their right to return, and to live in a single democratic secular state from the river to the sea, or in whatever way that they might freely and democratically decide.
If anyone hasn’t yet seen the incredibly powerful film ‘Palestine 36’, addressing Britain’s historic culpability, I really hope you’ll do so if you get the chance.
This has been another busy year of modest but definite progress for Friends of Socialist China.
In January, we held a meeting at the London School of Economics with visiting Marxist academics from Fudan University in Shanghai.
In February, we participated with speakers at the Latin America Conference in London and the Welsh Morning Star Conference in Cardiff, organised a webinar on DeepSeek and the challenge to US technological hegemony, supported the annual commemoration of Claudia Jones at Highgate Cemetery, and held an online seminar with Beijing’s Renmin University.
In March, we met with Lu Kang, Vice-minister of the International Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (IDCPC) during his visit to London, supported the film premiere of The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru, addressed a Morning Star Supporters Group event in Sheffield on China and the environment, supported the annual commemoration of the death of Karl Marx again at Highgate Cemetery, and launched our book, People’s China at 75: The Flag Stays Red at the Marx Memorial Library.
In April, we hosted a dinner, here at Hiba of course, for Chen Weihua, the legendary Chinese journalist who was coming to the end of his term as China Daily Bureau Chief in Brussels, organised a webinar for the 70th anniversary of the Africa Asia Bandung Conference, and held another meeting with visiting scholars from Fudan University.
In May, we spoke at the rally celebrating the 80th anniversary of the victory over fascism organized at Bolivar Hall by the Workers’ Party of Britain, delivered the Tongogara Memorial Lecture on China and African Liberation organised by the Free Mumia Campaign, and spoke at a meeting commemorating the NATO bombing of the former Yugoslavia organised by our friends in the British Serbian community. We also participated in the James Connolly Festival in Dublin, organised by the Communist Party of Ireland, where Carlos introduced his book, The East is Still Red, and led a discussion.
Then, the second Friends of Socialist China delegation to the People’s Republic of China took place from 26 May to 5 June.
Invited by the China NGO Network for International Exchanges (CNIE), which works under the direction of the IDCPC, 15 comrades (nine from Britain and six from the United States) visited Xi’an and Yan’an (in Shaanxi province), Dunhuang and Jiayuguan (in Gansu province) and Shanghai. The delegates attended the 4th Dialogue on Exchanges and Mutual Learning among Civilisations, as well as participating in discussions and visiting a range of historic revolutionary sites, museums, famous scenic spots, and cooperatives, as well as demonstrations of cutting-edge technology. The China Institute at Fudan University in Shanghai organised a dialogue with our delegation, in which Carlos and I presented alongside professors Zhang Weiwei and Wu Xinwen. Organisations represented on the delegation included the Black Alliance for Peace, Freedom Road Socialist Organisation, the Communist Party of Britain, the Black Liberation Alliance, and Workers World Party.
In July, we organised a discussion meeting at Marx Memorial Library on Domenico Lasurdo’s book on Western Marxism joined by visiting editors Gabriel Rockhill and Jennifer Ponce De Leon, held a discussion meeting, again at the Library, with a visiting delegation from the Chinese Academy of Marxism and hosted a dinner for them, again at Hiba, spoke at the Young Communist League’s Harry Pollitt School in Manchester on socialist states and the environment, and participated in the Global Civilisations Dialogue Ministerial Meeting held in Beijing.
In August, we spoke on the relationship between the great Indian intellectual and cultural figure Rabrindanath Tagore and China at an event organised by Third World Solidarity and supported the premiere of Dongji Rescue.
Then, from August 31-September 6, we attended two conferences, organised by the Chinese Academy of Marxism and Tsinghua University, as well as the military parade and other events in Beijing marking the 80th anniversary of victory in the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War.
Also, in September, we held a report back meeting from our delegation to China in Brighton with support from the Morning Star, Young Communist League and Workers’ Party of Britain, held a webinar on the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese and other Asian peoples over Japanese militarism, met with the visiting delegation of Contemporary World magazine, published by the IDCPC, supporters in Yorkshire organised a webinar on the theme of Is China Really a Threat?, and a representative attended the China-FOCAC [Forum on China-Africa Cooperation] Youth Summit representing the African diaspora in Britain.
Then, on September 27, well over 100 people attended our flagship event of the year – our second annual conference coinciding with China’s national day. Once again held in the historic Bolivar Hall thanks to the warm internationalist support of our Venezuelan comrades. The event featured panel discussions on China’s role as a force for peace and multipolarity, its achievements in overcoming poverty and building socialism, and its leadership in combating climate breakdown.
The conference was supported by a broad range of progressive organisations: The Morning Star, Communist Party of Britain, Workers Party of Britain, Communist Party of Ireland, International Manifesto Group, Black Liberation Alliance, Iskra Books, Praxis Press, Manifesto Press, Young Communist League, Caribbean Labour Solidarity, Third World Solidarity, No 2 NATO, and Institute for Independence Studies.
The opening session was addressed by diplomats from China, Cuba, Russia, Venezuela and Laos. Some of you, of course, are also with us this evening.
George Galloway was also expected to speak at the opening rally, but was prevented from doing so due, as is now well-known, to his being detained, as was his wife Gayatri, by Sussex Police on their arrival at Gatwick Airport.
Among the many other speakers we heard from were former member of the Irish and European parliaments Mick Wallace, and in the closing rally, from Robert Griffiths, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Britain; Aswathi Asok, Executive Committee member of the Association of Indian Communists in the UK and Ireland [formed by local members of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)]; and Gearóid Ó Machail, National Executive Committee member of the Communist Party of Ireland.
In October, we organised a discussion meeting in Brixton on the theme of China and the international anti-imperialist struggle together with the Free Mumia Campaign, took part in a discussion meeting at the Chinese Embassy on the Global Governance Initiative, the 80th anniversary of the United Nations and China’s next Five Year Plan, and actively supported a meeting marking the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Workers’ Party of Korea. We also participated in three conferences in China that month: The World Congress on Marxism, held at Peking University in Beijing; the 2nd World Conference on China Studies in Shanghai; and the 10th Thinkers Forum at Fudan University, Shanghai.
From November 2-14, we took part in the World Socialism Forum, the International Academic Conference on Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and 21st Century Marxism, and the International Forum of Overseas Studies on Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, in Beijing, Xi’an and Yan’an.
Also, in November, we addressed the Black Liberation Alliance Day School, and the Viva Venezuela: Stand against fascism, imperialism and war event at Bolivar Hall, organised a webinar for the 60th anniversary of the Xizang (Tibet) Autonomous Region, based exclusively on eyewitness accounts, and attended the international conference on AI organised by the Centre for China and Globalisation in Beijing.
Yesterday, we spoke at a meeting of the Birmingham People’s History Archive, marking the 80th anniversary of victory over Japanese militarism and introducing the film on the sinking of the Lisbon Maru. Also yesterday, two of our committee members and a further two members of our Advisory Group took part in a conference on Chinese modernisation and multipolarity in Shanghai. Carlos and I sent video recordings, otherwise we would not have been able to join you this evening.
Alongside support for Palestine, at this time, solidarity particularly needs to be focused on the all too real threat of aggression against Venezuela and the outrageous pressures being brought to bear on that heroic country that dares to defend its sovereignty and advance along the road to socialism, along with the related threats, and ever tightening blockade, faced by socialist Cuba, as the Trump-Rubio regime continues its obsessive campaign against socialism and communism in the western hemisphere, which, in reality, is also aimed at any expression of sovereignty, independence and social progress, and at the reimposition of US hegemony. We fully support the work of the Cuba Solidarity Campaign, Cymru Cuba and the Venezuela Solidarity Campaign and our comrades have participated in various solidarity delegations to Venezuela. Indeed, two of our committee members just got back this morning from attending the International People’s Assembly for Sovereignty and Peace in Caracas, one of whom is here this evening. They also took part in a surprise event at one of the Caracas communes where President Maduro made a speech.
Media continues to be perhaps the biggest part of our work.
Regarding our website, so far this year, we have had 499 posts, and 101,000 website users from 212 countries and territories, with 65 countries with at least 100 users. The top country this year has been the United States, with 30,414 users.
Our mailing list now has just under 4,000 subscribers. We have over 44,000 followers on X, over 6,000 followers on Facebook and 15,000 subscribers on YouTube.
All these represent a healthy increase on last year’s figures.
I have tried to be comprehensive, but this review is still not exhaustive – albeit perhaps exhausting. We have taken part in numerous other events, given a range of online interviews, as well as to Chinese media, including Xinhua, CGTN, China Daily and Global Times, and written for the Morning Star, Communist Review, Beijing Review, China Daily and so on.
Wherever possible, and as a matter of policy, we actively collaborate with other organisations sharing our aims. I should make special mention here of the International Manifesto Group, with whom we generally co-organise our webinars.
I should also add that our committee in the United States is now well established, supported by a range of parties and organisations, meets monthly and has its own program of activities. It just published a book, China Changes Everything and had a full house for its in person launch in New York City earlier this month.
Whilst we do our best, we know that is by no means enough. Chairman Mao wrote in one of his famous poems:
So many deeds cry out to be done
And always urgently
How well he expressed it. We are living at a time of changes unseen in a century, as President Xi Jinping always reminds us. When the imperialist powers, not just the United States, but Japan, Britain and the European Union, too, have shed any claim to or pretence of legality or democratic legitimacy. At the World Socialism Forum last month, I heard a very distinguished Chinese Marxist say that either revolution will prevent war or war will give rise to revolution. I don’t think I’ve heard this from a Chinese comrade since the 1970s.
But just as imperialism has shed all pretence and disguise, we need to keep in mind the strategic perspective that it has done so because it is increasingly desperate. This is no cause for complacency. It is a common-sense fact that a wild beast is never more vicious than when it is wounded, cornered and fighting for its life.
No socialist country has ever possessed the strength and power of People’s China today. Moreover, it stands at the core of a rising Global South, the great mass of humanity.
In 1927, reporting on the great upsurge of the peasant movement in Hunan, Comrade Mao Zedong wrote:
“Every Chinese is free to choose, but events will force you to make the choice quickly.”
For us, in Friends of Socialist China, the choice is clear. As Martin Luther said in 1521:
“Here I stand, I can do no other.”
I have already taken up too much of your time and thank you for your patience. It just remains for me to thank you again for your support, wish you all the best for the festive season, health and happiness to you and your families, and success in your political work. And invite you to join me in a toast to:
- The People’s Republic of China and all the socialist countries
- The heroic Palestinian and Venezuelan peoples
- To all those in every country who are standing in their place and fighting for the liberation of humanity and a community of shared future
- And to whatever anyone of us celebrates at this point on the calendar.
Cheers!
