January 2026 - Friends of Socialist China

China is the threat of a good example

In the following article, republished from Dissident Voice, Gary Olson argues that the much-discussed “China threat” is not based on military or security considerations, but is ideological in nature: China’s existence as a thriving, socialist, non-Western development model challenges the global dominance of neoliberal capitalism.

Drawing on Sven Beckert’s Capitalism: A Global History, Gary notes that ever since the Russian Revolution, capitalist ideologists have existed in a state of constant fear of the systemic alternative offered by socialism. While the collapse of the Soviet Union and the European people’s democracies injected oxygen into the dominant anticommunist narrative, China’s extraordinary – and increasingly undeniable – progress means that the socialist spectre is once again haunting Western capitals.

The author highlights the Chinese innovation of the socialist market economy, which has enabled decades of rapid growth while maintaining the political control of the working class alongside state ownership of the commanding heights of the economy. Although Beckert treats China largely as part of global capitalism, Gary criticises him for failing to seriously engage with the argument that China’s state remains an instrument of socialist transformation rather than capitalist accumulation.

The article frames modern Chinese history as three phases of socialist development, culminating in the current “Socialism 3.0” under President Xi Jinping. This phase endures ongoing contradictions – inequality, private wealth and integration into global value chains – but the author insists these reflect a necessary and transitional stage rather than any abandonment of socialist objectives. He opines that China’s push toward qualitative development, expanded social welfare and socialist modernisation represents a credible alternative path – one that unsettles Western elites precisely because it suggests capitalism is not the only route to prosperity.

The article concludes:

The “China threat” is the existence of an alternative model, a people-centred, non-Western model of how social progress might be achieved. Is it plausible to suggest that not only are people across the Global South seeking to engage with and emulate China, but that ordinary European and American citizens will begin asking themselves if they’ve been well served by actually existing capitalism?

“Chinese-style modernization presents itself as a possible alternative path to the Western capitalist model, especially important for Global South countries that are seeking to break free from the shackles of colonization and imperialism.
– The Editors, Monthly Review[i]

China will join hands with all countries to explore ways to reform and improved global governance, working together to forge a bright future of peace, prosperity and progress.”
– President Xi Jinping announcing China’s Global Governance Initiative (GGI) on September 1, 2025[ii]

“The Chinese threat is that it exists. China exists; it will not follow U.S. orders… China can’t be intimidated, unlike others.”
– Noam Chomsky, Democracy Now![iii]

In his recent monumental narrative, Capitalism: A Global History, which spans 1,000 years in 1807 pages, plus 155 pages of Notes, Harvard historian Sven Beckert recounts that on October 25, 1917, Lenin proclaimed, “In Russia we must now set about building a proletarian socialist state.” For the first time in its 1,000-year history, a “society explicitly declared itself a socialist society and dedicated itself to destroying capitalism.” From that point onward, “… a fear of the Russian Revolution and all forms of socialism would become the polestar of politics in capitalist societies all the way to 1991.”[iv] Then, suddenly, the communist world imploded in what became known as neoliberal “shock therapy” and “crony capitalism.” As another astute analyst wrote, the USSR and Eastern Europe made “a great leap backward,” and since 1917, revolutionary struggles have been limited to the Global South — and brutally repressed.[v]

What about China? Concurrently, a transformation was occurring in Beijing. Neoliberal reforms were rejected, but the market was given a larger role, albeit under state control. As Deng Xiaoping said in 1984, “Developing a market economy does not mean practicing capitalism. While maintaining a planned economy can be the mainstream of our economic system, we are also introducing a market economy. But it is a socialist market economy.”

China’s approach generated a spectacular growth rate of 10 percent per year over two decades, and Beckert notes that while “observers disagreed about whether this was a way station on the path to communism or a form of capitalism or perhaps both, it was clear that China was a political economy radically at odds with the neoliberal experiment unfolding elsewhere.”[vi]

I might be wrong, but after careful reading and watching several interviews with Beckert, it’s my sense that he does not accord China the same explicit commitment to transcending capitalism or to being a similar “threat” to capitalism as he did for the Russian Revolution. In a footnote, he writes that China’s economic development “follows a logic of governance that is distinct from neoliberalism.”[vii] However, in keeping with his overall thesis, he situates today’s China as a site of global capitalism and on the global trajectory of capitalism. (Some on the left maintain that the CPC has abandoned socialism and the “capitalist roaders” are in charge).

Beckert’s book is also a political history that stresses the conjunction between state power and capitalism. Capitalism is state-centric and “is conceptually unimaginable without the state.” Further, he asserts that capitalism’s future will be determined by political forces. However, he offers no parallel attempt to engage the argument that the state in China is the driver of socialism. I found this a disappointing shortcoming in Beckert’s otherwise magisterial, bold, and highly readable chronicling of 1,000 years of global capitalism. In the brief comments that follow, I’ll suggest that a strong case can be made that China is indeed on the path toward socialism.

The history of modern China can best be understood by dividing it into three major stages, sometimes referred to as the “three miracles.”

Socialism 1.0 (1949 – 1976/80): Marked by the liberation struggle, the initial shaping of the socialist path, the ‘Great Leap Forward,’ and the Cultural Revolution. Socialism 2.0 (1978 – 2012/14): Shaped by Deng Xiaoping’s reforms and opening to the outside as a source of investment and technology. As Ken Hammond has noted, the Communist Party of China (CPC) made a gamble in 1978 that the state could manage the economy in such a way that the country would not slip back into neocolonial status.[viii]

Socialism 3.0 (2012 – to the present): Characterized by renewed but unavoidable contradictions; expansion of the social system, and the end of the first phase of socialist construction. By 2035, China will have achieved basic modernization. The evidence suggests that in 2049, with a population of 1.3 billion, China will rank among the “top countries” and at the forefront of the world economic system.[ix]

Here, it must be asked whether mistakes were made during these three phases. Without question, others will occur in the future. Do social inequalities, wealth disparities, market mechanisms, foreign investors, corrupt party officials, and billionaires exist in China? Yes. But this does not mean that China is “state capitalist” or a capitalist country. What it means is that Phase 3.0 is a transitional stage. How could it be otherwise when the “third miracle” remains incomplete and contradictions remain.

What needs to be understood is that the CPC is open about the need to resolve the primary contradiction in Chinese society: the gap between growing aspirations for a better life and the realities of unbalanced, insufficient development. I’m suggesting that the key question should be whether the state is consciously acting as an “instrument of socialist relations.” Does the CPC retain centralized control over all strategic sectors of the economy?

What about foreign investments? Perhaps because of their failure to engage in basic due diligence or simply their hubris, foreign investors refused to believe that the CPC’s welcome to the outside was always within the context of the party’s commitment to using markets on behalf of deeply held socialist objectives. They harbored the comforting illusion that China would surely adopt a capitalist system and a Western liberal-style government.[x] As such, foreign firms and even domestic ones have been stunned by anti-espionage investigations, detention of staff, and tech sector CEOs vanishing from sight or fleeing the country, perhaps to locales like Seattle.

In September 2025, a Shanghai court sentenced Luo Baoning, former Party Chief of the island province of Hainan, to 15 years in prison and fined him more than 113 million yuan ($16 million). During his nearly three-decade career in various party positions, he accepted bribes worth more than 113 million yuan. Luo,73, joined the party in 1971. According to the court, he used his position to help individuals and corporations obtain government contracts, bank loans, and business deals.

I specifically highlight the island province of Hainan because in December 2025, China declared it the “world’s largest free trade zone, a move consonant with Xi Jinping’s New Era policy. This time, at least one prospective foreign investor/consultant was suspicious, saying that Hainan has a “strong whiff of bait and switch.”[xi]

Further evidence of state-centric control began in 2017, when the CDC began acquiring “special management shares” or “golden shares” in the internet news sector, and subsequently extended the practice to major tech firms. These shares can be as small as 1% and give the state special veto rights over decisions, hiring, and control over the corporation’s strategic direction. Notably, Tencent and Alibaba have “voluntarily” pledged multibillion-dollar sums on behalf of Xi’s “common prosperity” goal for China.

Another promising turn is that Xi has made boosting domestic consumption a political priority and has said that, “The most fundamental way to expand consumption is to promote employment, improve social security, optimize the distribution structure and expand the middle-income group.” It’s sometimes forgotten that prior to COVID, consumption accounted for 64% of China’s GDP growth. Families have accumulated massive sums of savings but lack confidence, and this suggests that when confidence slowly returns, a considerable spending rebound is there for the world’s fastest-growing consumer market.[xii]

Finally, one highly influential examination of Xi Jinping’s New Era concludes that the political and economic strategy of the CPC remains to gradually overcome capitalist elements and create a modern, developed socialist mode of production. This process is explicitly characterized by a shift from a “quantitative” development strategy to a “qualitative” one, corresponding to a higher stage of socialist development. Thus, socialist principles and a non-Western path to modernization will be evident in increased investment in education, health, and other sectors vital to lifting human capital. This means significant progress toward socialist modernization by 2035 and building a ‘modern socialist society’ by the 100th anniversary of the People’s Republic.[xiii]

I’ll conclude by noting that our mainstream media constantly regales us with disparaging commentaries about China, often replete with at least implicit messages about the “Chinese threat” to our “national security.” In truth, the “threat” is the existence of an alternative model, a people-centered, non-Western model of how social progress might be achieved.[xiv] Is it plausible to suggest that not only are people across the Global South seeking to engage with and emulate China, but that ordinary European and American citizens will begin asking themselves if they’ve been well served by actually existing capitalism?

ENDNOTES:

[i] The Editors, “Chinese-style Modernization: Revolution and the Worker Peasant Alliances,” Monthly Review, Vol. 76, No.09 (February 2025). ↩︎

[ii] Haris Bilal Malik, “Issue Brief on ‘Global Governance Initiative (GGI): Strengthening Global Governance,” October 21, 2025. The GGI has been endorsed by 150 countries and organizations. ↩︎

[iii] Noam Chomsky, Interview with Omid Memarian, DAWN, January 6, 2022. ↩︎

[iv] Sven Beckert, Capitalism: A Global History (New York: Penguin, 2025), p.74. ↩︎

[v] Bernard D’Mello, “The Great Struggle to Escape Capitalism,” Monthly Review, Vol.69, No 03 (July-August 2017). ↩︎

[vi] Beckert, p. 1028-29. ↩︎

[vii] Beckert, p.1246, n202. ↩︎

[viii] Ken Hammond, China’s Revolution and the Quest for a Socialist Future. (New York: 1804 Books, 2023), pp. X-XI. ↩︎

[ix] Extensive discussion of all three stages are found in “On Socialism in China,” KRITIKPUNKET, Dec. 22, 2025; Also, Cheng Enfu, “Seventy-Five Years of Socialist Economic Construction in the New China,” Science & Society, Vol.89, No.4 (October 2025); Gary Olson, “The Proof is in the Pudding: A Few Comments on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics,” Dissident Voice, December 22, 2025. ↩︎

[x] Verna Yu, “‘We Were Blinded,’: China Crackdown on Business Has Maoist Roots,” The Guardian, May 21, 2023. ↩︎

[xi] Richard McGregor of Australia’s Lowy Institute, quoted in Andrew Higgins, China Promotes Duty-Free Island, Amid $1 Trillion Trade Surplus,” NYTimes, January 10, 2026. ↩︎

[xii] Andy Rothman, “The Return of the Chinese Consumer,” SINICA, Jan 9, 2025. ↩︎

[xiii] KRITIKPUNKET; Enfu, Olson; and Youping Cui, “The Leadership of the Communist Party of China in Modernization: Capabilities and Lessons,” Science & Society, October 2025. ↩︎

[xiv] For an extensive analysis of Chinese modernization, including striking visuals about the Belt and Road Initiative, see “Path of Prosperity,” a 10-part documentary on CGTV, 2015. ↩︎

Multipolarity and Chinese modernisation are distinct concepts but they are inextricably intertwined

As previously reported by us, an international forum on the theme of Multipolarity and Chinese Modernisation, hosted by the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics (SUFE), was held on 13 December 2025 in Shanghai. This conference brought together numerous scholars, authors and researchers from around the world to explore pathways toward a prosperous and multipolar future for humanity.

We print below the text of the speech to the conference by Friends of Socialist China co-editor Keith Bennett, which was delivered by video recording.

Keith’s speech stresses the interrelationship of multipolarity and Chinese modernisation in the context of President Xi Jinping’s thesis that the world is presently seeing changes unseen in a century.

Proceeding from Lenin’s 1923 observation that, “In the last analysis, the outcome of the struggle will be determined by the fact that Russia, India, China, etc., account for the overwhelming majority of the population of the globe. And during the past few years it is this majority that has been drawn into the struggle for emancipation with extraordinary rapidity… In this sense, the complete victory of socialism is fully and absolutely assured,” Keith notes how the progress of humanity over the ensuing century has conformed to that essential paradigm, such that quantitative increase is leading to qualitative change. “We are indeed witnessing the sun setting in the west and rising in the east and south.”

With bodies such as BRICS+ and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in the forefront, “it is socialist China that is today the indispensable nation in driving the changes unseen in a century.”

Until now, Keith notes, modernisation has only been achieved by a minority of, overwhelmingly majority white, nations. In terms of scale alone, therefore, as China is home to some 22 per cent of the world’s population, China’s modernisation will more than double the percentage of humanity living in modernised societies. As such, it will profoundly change, and indeed revolutionise, global society, economy and culture, and hence the prospects and possibilities for those nations and peoples still facing the tasks of development and modernisation.

Therefore, socialism with Chinese characteristics offers a new option for other countries and nations who want to speed up their development while preserving their independence.

I would like to express my thanks to the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics for their kind invitation to participate in this important international forum and regret not being able to join you in person.

Multipolarity and Chinese moderniation are distinct concepts but they are inextricably intertwined.

General Secretary Xi Jinping often reminds us that we are living in a moment of history where we are witnessing changes unseen in a century.

This statement has applicability and relevance across a range of events and numerous spheres of human endeavour. But perhaps it does not express itself quite so cogently, or with such profound import, as it does with regard to both the tectonic changes in the world’s geopolitical configuration, and the accompanying evolution and reform of global governance, and the long march of more than 1.4 billion Chinese people towards a modernisation of their own style.

In his last published article, ‘Better Fewer, But Better’, Lenin insisted that:

“In the last analysis, the outcome of the struggle will be determined by the fact that Russia, India, China, etc., account for the overwhelming majority of the population of the globe. And during the past few years it is this majority that has been drawn into the struggle for emancipation with extraordinary rapidity, so that in this respect there cannot be the slightest doubt what the final outcome of the world struggle will be. In this sense, the complete victory of socialism is fully and absolutely assured.”

The ensuing century since Lenin wrote these words has seen a whole number of momentous events and trends that include the Chinese people’s victory in the war of resistance against Japanese aggression, the world peoples’ victory in the global anti-fascist war, the founding of the United Nations, the triumph of the Chinese revolution and the founding of the People’s Republic, and the independence of India and the other countries of South Asia.

Chinese and Vietnamese leaders discuss after Vietnamese party congress

Following the 14^th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam, Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is also General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, held phone talks with To Lam, who was re-elected General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee at the first meeting of the incoming central committee immediately following the congress, on January 26.

According to the report published by the Xinhua News Agency, Xi expressed his congratulations over the successful convening of the 14^th congress and To Lam’s re-election as General Secretary of the CPV. He expressed his belief that under the leadership of the CPV Central Committee headed by To Lam, Vietnam will surely fulfill the goals and tasks set forth by the 14th National Congress and realise at an early date the two goals set for the centenary of the party (2030) and the country (2045) respectively.

Xi added that China and Vietnam should keep to their paths and not sway in their commitment, unite and cooperate to promote development, and work together towards a bright future. They should hold firm to their beliefs, uphold fundamental principles and break new ground, fend off and defuse various risks and challenges, jointly defend the cause of socialism, and preserve the political essence of China-Vietnam relations.

He also urged the two sides to strengthen coordination and collaboration in international and regional affairs, jointly oppose hegemonism and bloc confrontation, and work together to promote the building of a community with a shared future for humanity.

For his part, To Lam expressed appreciation to the CPC Central Committee for the congratulatory message on the successful convening of the 14th National Congress of the CPV and thanked General Secretary Xi for the good wishes on his re-election as General Secretary of the CPV Central Committee.

He outlined the main outcomes of the congress and said that Vietnam is willing to work side by side with China on a new journey and steadily deepen friendly cooperation between neighbouring socialist countries.

Greenland in the New Cold War

The following article from Beijing Review, written by Carlos Martinez, situates Donald Trump’s renewed threats to seize Greenland within the broader context of Washington’s escalating strategic confrontation with China. While framed publicly as a matter of “national and world security,” the push to bring Greenland under direct US control reflects a desire to lock in long-term dominance over Arctic territory, resources and shipping routes that are becoming increasingly important as climate change reshapes global logistics.

In 2017, Beijing proposed incorporating Arctic sea lanes into the Belt and Road Initiative, developing a “Polar Silk Road” in cooperation with Russia. These routes could reduce shipping times between China and northern Europe by 30 percent, and furthermore offer an alternative to US-controlled maritime chokepoints. From Washington’s perspective, Greenland sits at a critical junction in the North Atlantic–Arctic corridor and offers leverage to disrupt or control these emerging routes in any future conflict.

The island’s vast reserves of critical minerals, including rare earth elements, add to its strategic significance. China currently dominates global rare earth mining and processing, giving it a major advantage in high-tech manufacturing and a potential counterweight to US sanctions and trade pressure. Securing Greenland’s resources is therefore seen as part of a wider effort to weaken China’s industrial and technological position.

Carlos argues that US ambitions in Greenland are less about immediate access – already largely guaranteed through existing agreements with Denmark – and more about preventing any future scenario in which Greenlandic self-determination could constrain US power. In this sense, Greenland becomes a central piece in Washington’s emerging New Cold War strategy of containing China’s rise.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s renewed threats to bring Greenland under American control—”the easy way” if possible, “the hard way” if necessary—have sent shockwaves through Europe and put NATO’s future in question, at a moment when the Atlantic alliance is already under considerable strain.

Clearly intent on starting the year off “with a bang”—having abducted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and threatened a renewed bombing campaign against Iran—Trump has reiterated his long-standing interest in “acquiring” Greenland from Denmark, employing a combination of economic and military threats. What followed has been nothing short of a geopolitical rollercoaster ride.

On January 17, Trump announced he would impose a 10-percent import tariff on eight European allies that have opposed his bid to purchase the island: Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, France, Germany, Britain and the Netherlands. In an NBC News interview just two days later, he pointedly refused to rule out seizing Greenland by force, declaring on social media that the island is “imperative for National and World Security” and that “there can be no going back.”

On January 21, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Trump reversed course, claiming he had no intention of a forcible takeover. Instead, he framed the pursuit as a strategic necessity, citing the territory’s position between the U.S., Russia and China, and recasting history to suit his pitch. While accurately noting the U.S. had defended Greenland during World War II, he falsely claimed America “gave Greenland back” to Denmark after the war, asserting, “All the U.S. is asking for is a place called Greenland, where we already had it as a trustee, but respectfully returned it back to Denmark not long ago.”

This rewriting obscures the fact that Greenland was never America’s to give—it has long been a self-governing part of Denmark.

Hours after his Davos speech, Trump announced on his Truth Social platform that he had agreed to a “framework” with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte for a “future deal with respect to Greenland” and “the entire Arctic region.” As part of this arrangement, he stated he would suspend the threatened tariffs on European allies next month.

Japanese Prime Minister calls snap election to cement right wing turn

Japan’s House of Representatives (the lower house of parliament) was formally dissolved on January 24 at the outset of the ordinary parliamentary session, with a general election now set for February 8.

With the official campaign beginning on January 27, the 16-day contest will be the shortest in Japan’s post-World War II history. With more than two years left in the current lower house term, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi justified her decision to call a snap election by arguing she has yet to receive public backing for her premiership that began in October and for the new ruling coalition of her Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the Japan Innovation Party formed the same month. Her ruling coalition currently holds only a slim majority in the House of Representatives and remains a minority in the upper House of Councillors.

Meanwhile, the Centrist Reform Alliance, which was formally launched on January 22, has become Japan’s main opposition party with 165 lower house lawmakers. This new alliance between the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and the Komeito party aims to defeat the right-wing ruling bloc in the upcoming contest.

Komeito is generally considered to be the political wing of the Buddhist Soka Gakkai sect. It has tended to maintain a pro-peace orientation and to favour positive relations with China and other neighbouring countries, but has also generally provided governmental support to the LDP. It finally broke this arrangement and joined the ranks of the opposition in October last year in response to Takaichi’s extreme right and militarist policies.

Opposition parties, including the new Centrist Reform Alliance, the Democratic Party for the People, the Japanese Communist Party, and the Social Democratic Party, all criticised the decision to dissolve parliament and call a snap election.

Tomoko Tamura, chair of the Japanese Communist Party, pointed out that rising prices have pushed people’s livelihoods into difficulty. She criticised Takaichi for avoiding open and fair debates before the public and instead choosing to dissolve the lower house, which will delay urgently needed budgetary measures.

The Xinhua News Agency reported that at a joint press conference called to introduce their new alliance, Constitutional Democratic Party leader and former Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and Komeito leader Tetsuo Saito said that their goal was to expand “centrist” political forces and prevent Japanese politics from tilting too far to the right. Saito said that consolidating centrist forces is essential for Japan’s survival and development as a peaceful nation in the international community.

Earlier in January, a series of moves by Takaichi, including erroneous remarks on Taiwan and a sharp increase in defence spending, continued to spark concern and criticism across the country, with opposition parties criticising her for steering the country toward a “war state.”

Leaders of the Social Democratic Party of Japan and the Japanese Communist Party held talks, during which they characterised the Takaichi administration as “the most dangerous Liberal Democratic Party government since World War II.”

Tomoko Tamura of the Communist Party said Takaichi’s remarks on Taiwan were extremely dangerous, had triggered serious developments in Japan-China relations and exposed the administration’s lack of effective diplomatic capability.

CPC delegation visits India and Pakistan

Sun Haiyan, Vice-Minister of the International Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee (IDCPC), led a party delegation to visit India, January 12-14, and then visited Pakistan on January 15.

In India, the delegation met respectively with Vikram Misri, Indian Foreign Secretary, Arun Singh, National General Secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and Salman Khurshid, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Department of the Indian National Congress (INC) and former Minister of External Affairs of India, and held collective exchanges with Indian left-wing leaders including D. Raja, General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (CPI), G. Devarajan, General Secretary of All India Forward Bloc, and Arun Kumar, Member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPIM).

Vikram Misri said that under the joint guidance of the leaders of both countries, India-China relations have developed steadily, and exchanges and cooperation have made positive progress. India hopes to work with China to take positive measures to promote closer exchanges and cooperation in various fields and jointly create a favorable atmosphere. The website of India’s Ministry of External Affairs added that: “The discussions covered the progress made in stabilising and rebuilding bilateral ties with priority on business and people-centric engagements, and ways to take bilateral engagement forward in the new year. The Chinese side congratulated the Indian side on assuming the BRICS chairship this year and expressed its strong support for a successful BRICS Summit in India.”

Arun Singh said that the BJP hopes to strengthen dialogue with the CPC to enhance understanding and mutual trust and contribute to the development of relations between the two countries. For his part, Salman Khurshid said that the INC had made important contributions to promoting India-China friendship in history and believes that under the new circumstances, both sides should strengthen exchanges to jointly improve the well-being of the people of both countries.

Indian left-wing leaders expressed their firm support for India-China friendship and their hope of further strengthening inter-party relations and deepening exchanges and mutual learning with the CPC. Representatives from Indian think tanks, media, youth, and other sectors expressed their willingness to actively participate in and promote people-to-people and cultural exchanges between the two countries, as well as play a part in forming an objective and positive mutual understanding between the people of both countries.

The day after its meeting with the BJP, the CPC delegation also held a brief meeting with the leaders of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which is considered to be the ideological progenitor of the BJP and other organisations based on Hindu communalism. This, in turn, triggered a verbal spat between the BJP and INC, initiated by the latter, in which each sought to impugn the integrity of the other party’s engagements with China and specifically with the CPC. A summary of the dispute, which reflects the continued sensitivity and fragility of China-India relations, as reported in the Hindustan Times, may be read here.

Xi congratulates Vietnamese counterpart on re-election

Following the conclusion of the 14^th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), the first meeting of the newly elected Central Committee was held on the morning of January 23. The meeting unanimously re-elected To Lam to the position of General Secretary.

Extending congratulations to his Vietnamese counterpart, Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, said that the successful convening of the 14th National Congress of the CPV has opened a new era in Vietnam’s national development, and will inspire and promote the development of the global socialist movement.

He described China and Vietnam as friendly socialist neighbours and as a community with a shared future that carries strategic significance, adding that he attaches great importance to the relations between the two parties and countries, and is willing to work with To Lam to strengthen strategic communication, carry forward the traditional friendship, and firmly advance the socialist cause.

The following article was originally published by the Xinhua News Agency.

BEIJING, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) — Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, on Friday congratulated To Lam on his election as general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee.

In his message, Xi said that since the 13th National Congress of the CPV, the party has steadfastly pursued a socialist modernization path that suits Vietnam’s national conditions, upheld and strengthened the party’s overall leadership, and united and led the Vietnamese people to achieve remarkable accomplishments in the cause of socialist construction and reform, hence a continuous boost in Vietnam’s international status and influence.

Lula and Xi consult on bilateral ties and regional situation

Chinese President Xi Jinping held an important telephone conversation with his Brazilian counterpart President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on January 23.

President Xi noted that in 2024, he and President Lula jointly announced the elevation of the bilateral relationship to a China-Brazil community with a shared future for a more just world and a more sustainable planet. For more than one year since then, the two countries have gained strong momentum in building a community with a shared future and made solid progress in synergising development strategies, thus setting an example of solidarity and cooperation between Global South countries.

The Chinese leader stressed that facing the turbulent international landscape, China and Brazil, as important members of the Global South, are constructive forces for upholding world peace and stability and reforming and improving global governance. China and Brazil should firmly stand on the right side of history, better champion the common interests of both their countries along with the Global South, and jointly uphold the central position of the United Nations and international fairness and justice. China will always be a good friend and good partner of Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries and continue promoting a China-LAC community with a shared future.

President Lula said that Brazil will work with China to promote greater development of bilateral and LAC-China relations. Brazil and China are important forces in upholding multilateralism and free trade. Given the worrying international situation, Brazil is willing to collaborate closely with China to defend the authority of the United Nations, strengthen BRICS cooperation, and safeguard regional and world peace and stability.

On one level, this call may be understood as part of the normal, close and friendly relationship between the two countries. However, with the ever more aggressive behaviour of US imperialism in the western hemisphere, presently dubbed the ‘Donroe Doctrine’ by some, which saw 2026 begin with the flagrant kidnapping of the Venezuelan President and First Lady, growing threats to numerous other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, including Cuba, Colombia and Mexico, and undisguised attempts to undermine and destroy the mutually beneficial and friendly relations between China and countries in the region, the call doubtless acquires additional significance and urgency.

The following article was originally published on the website of the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

On the morning of January 23, 2026, President Xi Jinping spoke with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on the phone.

President Xi noted that in 2024, President Lula and I jointly announced the elevation of the bilateral relationship to a China-Brazil community with a shared future for a more just world and a more sustainable planet. For more than one year since then, the two countries have gained strong momentum in building a community with a shared future and made solid progress in synergizing development strategies, thus setting an example of solidarity and cooperation between Global South countries. This year marks the beginning of China’s 15th Five-Year Plan. China will pursue high-quality development through high-standard opening up and provide more opportunities for cooperation with Brazil. China is ready to work with Brazil to comprehensively advance mutually beneficial cooperation across the board, and promote greater development and usher in a brighter future of China-Brazil relations.

Uncharted territory – how China is developing a path to modernisation without hegemonism

An international forum themed Multipolarity and Chinese Modernisation, hosted by Shanghai University of Finance and Economics (SUFE), was held on 13 December 2025 in Shanghai. This conference brought together numerous scholars, authors and researchers from around the world to explore pathways toward a prosperous and multipolar future for humanity.

Below is the text of the video contribution by Friends of Socialist China co-editor Carlos Martinez. Carlos argues that China is forging a historically unprecedented route to modernisation, fundamentally distinct from the Western experience. Modernisation, he stresses, is not an abstract ideal but a recognised human right, rooted in UN declarations affirming the right to development, technological progress and rising living standards. Its purpose is – or should be – to enable dignified, meaningful lives for all.

Carlos contrasts China’s approach with the dominant Western narrative, which credits liberal democracy and free markets for modernisation. Historical reality, he argues, tells a different story: Western modernisation was built on colonialism, slavery, genocide and, later, neocolonial domination enforced through military power and economic coercion. This legacy explains why only a handful of imperialist countries have modernised, while the Global South has largely been locked into underdevelopment.

China’s modernisation project, by contrast, begins with the 1949 revolution and proceeds through socialist construction, the Four Modernisations, and Reform and Opening Up. Today it is defined by ambitious but concrete goals: raising living standards to those of the mid-level developed countries, achieving scientific and technological leadership, expanding equitable public services, revitalising rural life, and pursuing ecological sustainability.

Crucially, China is modernising without war, colonisation or hegemonism. Drawing on statements by Xi Jinping, Deng Xiaoping and Hugo Chávez, Carlos argues that this is possible because China is socialist: capital does not rule the state, long-term planning replaces market anarchy, and foreign policy is not driven by the need for ever-expanding profits. As a result, China can develop peacefully while helping create space for other developing countries – through initiatives such as the Belt and Road Initiative – to pursue their own paths to modernisation.

China’s modernisation process has become a major focus of international attention in recent years, particularly as Chinese scholars and policymakers have begun to articulate a distinctive model of modernisation that contrasts starkly with the Western experience.

Xi Jinping approves new round of aid from the People’s Republic of China to Cuba

Following on from reports earlier this week about a new Chinese emergency aid program delivering 30,000 tons of rice to Cuba, China’s ambassador in Havana, Hua Xin, has announced a further set of assistance measures agreed by the Chinese government.

We republish below a report from the Cuban Communist Party (translated by The Left Chapter), which notes that the newly-announced aid package includes US$80 million in financial assistance and a donation of 60,000 tons of rice. The financial assistance is aimed specifically at helping Cuba to resolve its energy crisis – caused by the US’s illegal blockade on the island, and exacerbated by the reduced flow of oil from Venezuela following the US’s flagrantly illegal attack on that country.

The report is followed by an article in Brasil de Fato providing further information and noting that, while most of Cuba’s electricity is still generated from fossil fuels, “Chinese investment in renewables seeks to reduce dependence on imported fuels and strengthen the stability of the country’s electricity supply”.

Xi Jinping approves new round of aid from the People’s Republic of China to Cuba

January 21 (The Left Chapter) – The President of the People’s Republic of China and General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC), Xi Jinping, approved a new round of aid to Cuba that includes emergency financial assistance valued at 80 million dollars for the acquisition of electrical equipment and other urgent needs that the country has, as well as a donation of 60,000 tons of rice.

The Chinese ambassador to Cuba, Hua Xin, reported this to Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) and President of the Republic, during a meeting on Tuesday afternoon at the Palace of the Revolution.

Fatah delegation visits China

Liu Haixing, Minister of the International Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee (IDCPC), met in Beijing on January 16 with a visiting delegation of the Palestinian National Liberation Movement Fatah led by Bassam Zakarneh, Member of Fatah’s Revolutionary Council of Palestine and Fatah’s Deputy Minister of Arab Relations and Chinese Affairs.

Liu said that the CPC is willing to work with Fatah to implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state, strengthen high-level exchanges, deepen political mutual trust, firmly support each other on issues involving respective core interests and major concerns, enhance experience exchange in state governance and administration and cooperation in areas such as youth and women, strengthen coordination and cooperation in international and regional affairs, and promote greater development of China-Palestine strategic partnership through inter-party channels.

Zakarneh said, Palestine spoke highly of the profound and enduring friendship between Palestine and China and sincerely thanks China for the long-term strong support and selfless assistance to the Palestinian people. Palestine will, as always, firmly support China’s core concerns and the cause of reunification.

The following article was originally published on the IDCPC website.

Liu Haixing Meets with a Fatah Delegation of Palestine

Beijing, January 16th (IDCPC) — Liu Haixing, Minister of the International Department of the CPC Central Committee (IDCPC), met here today with a delegation led by Bassam Zakarneh, Member of Fatah’s Revolutionary Council of Palestine and Fatah’s Deputy Minister of Arab Relations and Chinese Affairs.

Liu said, under the strategic guidance of President Xi Jinping and President Mahmoud Abbas, China-Palestine relations have maintained good momentum of development. The CPC is willing to work with Fatah to implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state, strengthen high-level exchanges, deepen political mutual trust, firmly support each other on issues involving respective core interests and major concerns, enhance experience exchange in state governance and administration and cooperation in areas such as youth and women, strengthen coordination and cooperation in international and regional affairs, and promote greater development of China-Palestine strategic partnership through inter-party channels. Liu also introduced the main achievements of the fourth plenary session of the 20th CPC Central Committee and the fifth plenary session of the 20th CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.

Zakarneh said, Palestine highly spoke of the profound and enduring friendship between Palestine and China and sincerely thanks China for the long-term strong support and selfless assistance to the Palestinian people. Palestine will, as always, firmly support China’s core concerns and the cause of reunification. Fatah pays close attention to the Recommendations of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) for Formulating the 15th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development adopted at the fourth plenary session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, and is willing to further deepen exchanges and cooperation with the CPC, learn from China’s successful experiences in aspects such as comprehensively exercising rigorous governance over the Party, cultivation of cadres and economic development.

The two sides also exchanged views on international and regional issues of common concern.

Jin Xin, Assistant-minister of the IDCPC, Firas Shomaly, Member of Fatah’s Revolutionary Council of Palestine, and Jawad Mohammed Qutish Awad, Palestinian Ambassador to China, and others, were present.

Special Envoy conveys Xi’s greetings to Lao party leader

The successful conclusion of the 12^th National Congress of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party (LPRP) on January 8 has served as a spur to the further development of the socialist country’s fraternal relationship with neighbouring China.

A January 11 report published by the Xinhua News Agency noted that the congress had summarised Laos’ achievements over the past five years, charting the future direction of the country’s socialist development, and injecting new impetus into the advancement of China-Laos relations.

It added that: “The congress reviewed and adopted a series of key political documents, including the political report of the 11th Central Committee and the 10th Five-Year Plan for Socio-Economic Development (2026-2030). Under the plan, Laos aims to achieve an average annual economic growth rate of six percent during the 2026-2030 period.

“A key highlight of the congress was the adoption of the Party’s third political program, which clearly sets the goal of transforming the country into an upper-middle-income developing nation by 2055, the 100th anniversary of the founding of the LPRP.”

In this regard, the China-Laos Railway was frequently cited as a key driver of national development. However, besides transport infrastructure, “cooperation between the two countries has expanded across a wide range of sectors under the strategic guidance of senior leaders from both sides. Substantial progress has been made in energy, healthcare, poverty alleviation, and other key areas, further consolidating the China-Laos community with a shared future.”

Noting that the successful conclusion of the congress opens a new chapter in Laos’ socialist development and heralds fresh historical opportunities for advancing the China-Laos community with a shared future, the article said that Thongloun Sisoulith, General Secretary of the LPRP Central Committee and Lao President, stated that Laos stands ready to work with China to fully implement the action plan for building the China-Laos community with a shared future, strengthen unity and cooperation, jointly address risks and challenges arising from changes in the international and regional landscape, and safeguard the shared interests of both parties and countries.

And Chinese Ambassador to Laos Fang Hong reaffirmed China’s commitment to working closely with Laos to implement the important consensus reached by the top leaders of the two countries. She noted that the 65th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Laos presents an opportunity to deepen exchanges on governance experience, advance high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, and promote the development of both countries’ socialist causes.

On January 13, Thongloun Sisoulith met in the Lao capital Vientiane with Liu Haixing, Special Envoy of General Secretary Xi Jinping and Minister of the International Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee (IDCPC).

Tariff war: China has outsmarted the US

In the edition of Empire Watch embedded below, livestreamed on 16 January, Friends of Socialist China co-editor Carlos Martinez joined Ileana Chan to host a discussion on a number of important geopolitical topics related to China, including China-Iran relations; the impact of the US’s tariff war and the news that China recorded a $1.2 trillion trade surplus in 2025; China’s restrictions on rare earth exports to Japan; Japan’s escalating militarisation and its implications for regional peace; South Korea-Japan relations in the context of US efforts to contain China; and more.

From 42 minutes in, Ileana and Carlos are joined by Lotte Rørtoft-Madsen, chairperson of the Danish Communist Party, for a detailed assessment of President Trump’s threat to invade Greenland, and how this connects to the US campaign to encircle and contain China and Russia.

Storming the heavens – A masterful Marxist study of China’s revolution

In the following article, which was originally published in the Morning Star, Ben Chacko acclaims Jenny Clegg’s recently published, ‘Storming the Heavens: Peasants and Revolution in China, 1925-1949 Viewed Through a Marxist Lens’ as a “a masterful analysis that puts class struggle back at the heart of our understanding of China’s revolution.”

Ben begins by noting that: “China’s revolution is arguably the most enduringly significant of the great 20th-century revolutions. Not simply because the Russian Revolution, whose impact on socialist thinking across the West is greater, ended in counterrevolution from 1989-91 — but because the Chinese people ‘standing up,’ to use Mao Zedong’s phrase, set the country on a path which is today shifting the global balance of power, and bringing an end to almost five centuries in which Europe and its settler-colonial offshoots have come to dominate the world.”

This he notes was a revolution in which the peasantry were the main revolutionary force, something that upended most traditional Marxist assessments. This, Ben argues, is “significant in ways an internationalist left needs to understand because the current transformation of the world seems, again, to have more to do with a Third World that’s ‘standing up’ than with workers’ revolution in the capitalist core.”

The review notes how Jenny demonstrates Mao’s careful assessment of class contradictions in the countryside from the 1920s on, and the way, over time, that the Communist Party of China (CPC’s) handling of them changed, both through experience gained by trial and error, summing up, adjustment and rectification, as well as in response to changed conditions, not least Japanese aggression and the ensuing nationwide war of resistance.

According to Ben: “The book tells the history of particular developments in China and makes no claim to impart lessons for British socialists today: given the utterly different social and economic conditions, that might seem ambitious (the slogan ‘to everyone land, a house and a horse’ might not address a modern British worker’s most pressing needs).”

Certainly, the vast differences in social and economic conditions speak for themselves. Although the right to a secure, decent and warm home and the adequate provision of safe, affordable, accessible and environmentally friendly public transport might well be welcomed by many workers in all parts of Britain.

Indeed, Ben goes straight on to note that: “The left here, though, has repeatedly failed to build a winning alliance that unites a majority who are all working class, but within which there are significant gradations of income and assets, against an elite enriched by its control of capital. The Chinese Communist approach of testing policies that cement unity within a class despite differences is certainly worth emulating.”

In concluding, Ben explains how Jenny introduces the reader to a “many-sided, long-running debate on the nature of China’s revolution and the character of its ‘new democracy’, built on an alliance of different social classes. China’s story emerges on its own terms, where many Western socialists have tried to interpret it in light of their attitudes to Russia’s. People will still debate, for example, whether Stalin or Trotsky was right about Chinese communist policy in the 1920s: Clegg establishes that — understandably — neither had as strong a grasp on Chinese realities as Mao.

CPC greets Vietnamese party congress

The Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) opened its 14^th National Congress in Hanoi on January 20.

In a message of greetings sent the same day, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) said that the CPV is the strong leadership core of the Vietnamese people and the cause of socialism in Vietnam. Since the 13th National Congress of the CPV, the Central Committee of the CPV has united and led the Vietnamese people in making remarkable achievements in advancing socialist construction and reform.

It added that amid complex international situations, Vietnam has maintained political and social stability, experienced rapid and sustainable economic development, and seen its international status rise steadily. These accomplishments have demonstrated the advantages of the communist party leadership and the socialist system, and have made positive contributions to peace, stability, development and prosperity in the region and the world.

The message further emphasised that the CPC and the government of China attach great importance to developing the relations between the two parties and countries, and are willing to work together with the Vietnamese side to adhere to the principles of “long-term stability, future orientation, good-neighbourly friendship and all-round cooperation,” and the spirit of “good neighbours, good friends, good comrades, good partners,” to implement the important consensus reached by the top leaders of the two parties and countries.

The following article was originally published by the Xinhua News Agency.

The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) on Tuesday sent a congratulatory message on the convening of the 14th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV).

The CPV is the strong leadership core of the Vietnamese people and the cause of socialism in Vietnam. Since the 13th National Congress of the CPV, the Central Committee of the CPV has united and led the Vietnamese people in making remarkable achievements in advancing socialist construction and reform, read the message.

Amid complex international situations, Vietnam has maintained political and social stability, experienced rapid and sustainable economic development, and seen its international status rise steadily. These accomplishments have demonstrated the advantages of the communist party leadership and the socialist system, and have made positive contributions to peace, stability, development and prosperity in the region and the world, it said.

China delivers emergency rice aid to Cuba

A Chinese emergency aid program has delivered its first shipment of rice to Cuba, which is facing shortages as a result of the tightening US blockade on the island.

Under the new program, China will send 30,000 tons of rice. The first shipment was handed over on Monday 19 January.

At the handover ceremony – attended by Vice Prime Minister Oscar Perez-Oliva Fraga, Minister of Domestic Trade Betsy Díaz Velázquez, Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment, Déborah Rivas Saavedra and Chinese Ambassador to Cuba Hua Xin, among others – Ambassador Hua stated that “each grain of rice represents the unbreakable commitment of the Chinese people” to the island.

He continued:

We’re convinced that, with the joint effort of Cuba and China, no blockade will be able to turn off the light of hope, no difficulty will be able to block the path of progress.

Hua Xin added that China’s solidarity with Cuba “not only embodies the deep bonds of special friendship between both nations, but also demonstrates the unwavering commitment to remain united even in difficult times”.

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez commented on X that the aid “is a sign of the close brotherhood and historical ties of friendship and solidarity that unite both nations”.

Daniel Lambert, manager of the Irish hip-hop group Kneecap, made an apposite comment on social media: “Due to crippling sanctions the USA has illegally placed on Cuba for 64 years its population struggles to now survive. Yesterday China sent 30,000 tons of rice to assist the Cuban people. As the US starves its neighbour a nation across the world tries to assist.”

We publish below reports from Xinhua Spanish and Prensa Latina. The Xinhua report has been translated by us.

China delivers first batch of emergency food aid to Cuba

HAVANA, Jan 19 (Xinhua) — On Monday, Cuba officially received the first batch of a donation of 30,000 tons of rice from China, sent as emergency aid to support efforts aimed at guaranteeing the food supply of the population of the Caribbean island.

At the handover ceremony, held at the Ministry of Domestic Trade in Havana, Cuban Deputy Prime Minister and Head of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment, Óscar Pérez-Oliva, thanked China for the donation, describing it as “a concrete expression of China’s exemplary, unconditional and selfless cooperation with Cuba”.

Mark Carney’s visit seals reset in Canada-China relations

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney paid an official visit to China from January 13-17 at the invitation of his Chinese counterpart Li Qiang. It was the first China visit by a Canadian head of government in eight years, and all reports indicate that it may be considered as marking a definitive start to a new chapter in mutually respectful and beneficial relations following a sharp downturn in traditionally friendly ties occasioned by the supine approach taken to US imperialism by Carney’s predecessor Justin Trudeau.

Capitulating to US demands, in December 2018, Canada had arrested Chief Financial Officer of telecommunications firm Huawei, Meng Wanzhou, whilst she was in transit to Mexico. After a persistent struggle, she was finally able to return home in September 2021.

Despite such craven behaviour on the part of his northern neighbour, President Donald Trump’s reward has been to threaten Canada with annexation as the “51^st state” and to subject the country to arbitrary and punitive tariffs and other forms of pressure.

Previewing Carney’s Beijing visit, the Chinese newspaper Global Times quoted Li Haidong, a professor at the China Foreign Affairs University, as noting that, “China and Canada have long shared strong economic complementarity and close people-to-people ties, but in recent years under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Canada’s China policy veered off course under ideological influence and excessive alignment with US policy. Since Mark Carney took office, Canada has gone through a process of serious reassessment. As major changes in US policy have shattered Canada’s previous illusions, Ottawa has begun to shed some of the constraints and ideological biases that previously limited its China policy.”

In a 12 January commentary published by CGTN, Professor Radhika Desai of the University of Manitoba noted that Carney, “is visiting China while the US is breathing threateningly and aggressively down Canada’s neck in its Trump II rogue avatar in the most unwelcome way possible.”

She adds that: “Canadians gave Carney’s Liberal Party an overwhelming mandate just last spring to pry Canada loose from the clutches of the US and diversify the country’s economic relations. The logical implication of deepening relations with China would be non-controversial were it not for sections of the political and corporate class which prefer to kowtow to Trump’s bullying.”

At the same time, she cautions that: “Canada remains part of the imperial world. Although without formal colonies, it is a settler-colonial society ensconced for centuries in a very favourable niche in the imperial system. As such, it has difficulty facing up to today’s multipolar world in which non-Western powers, preeminently China, loom large, while at the same time nursing the illusion that closer relations with the UK and the EU could suffice as an alternative to the US.”

Nevertheless, “closer relations between China and Canada will be to the mutual benefit of Canadians and Chinese… While Canada’s very deep entanglement with the US, in economic terms, not to mention security terms, will make progress in advancing China-Canada economic relations difficult, the urgency of diversifying away from the US is unlikely to diminish, and China is Canada’s most attractive option.”

President Xi Jinping met with Prime Minister Carney on the morning of January 16.

According to the report of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, President Xi pointed out that his meeting with Prime Minister Carney in Gyeongju, Republic of Korea (ROK), last October marked a turnaround of the relationship and placed it on a new trajectory of positive development.

The sound and steady growth of China-Canada relations serves the common interests of the two countries and contributes to peace, stability, development and prosperity in the world. With a sense of responsibility for history, for the people and for the world, the two sides should advance the China-Canada new Strategic Partnership, steer their ties onto the track of sound, steady and sustainable development, and bring more benefits to both peoples.

China extends support to Iran

China has underlined its support for, and friendship with, Iran in the context of the current tense situation caused by externally instigated and fuelled riots and attempts at destabilisation, which are in turn used as the pretext for threatening the country with overt external aggression.

In a January 15 phone call with Foreign Minister Wang Yi, his Iranian counterpart Seyed Abbas Araghchi explained that the recent unrest in his county was incited by external forces and that the situation has now stabilised. He said that Iran is prepared to respond to external interference, while keeping the door open for dialogue, and expressed hope that China will play a greater role in promoting regional peace and stability.

Wang Yi said that China opposes the use or threat of force in international relations, opposes imposing one’s own will on others, and opposes a return of the world to the law of the jungle. China believes that the Iranian government and people will stand united, overcome difficulties, maintain national stability and safeguard their legitimate rights and interests. He reiterated China’s willingness to play a constructive role in the current situation.

The following article was originally published on the website of the Chinese Foreign Ministry. Useful background can be found in this interview of Professor Seyed Marandi with George Galloway.

On January 15, 2026, Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Foreign Minister Wang Yi had a phone call with Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi.

Seyed Abbas Araghchi briefed Wang Yi on the latest developments in the situation in Iran, stressing that the recent unrest in Iran was incited by external forces and that the situation has now stabilized. He said that Iran is prepared to respond to external interference, while keeping the door open for dialogue, and expressed hope that China will play a greater role in promoting regional peace and stability.

Wang Yi stated that China consistently advocates for adherence to the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter and international law, opposes the use or threat of force in international relations, opposes imposing one’s own will on others, and opposes a return of the world to the law of the jungle. China believes that the Iranian government and people will stand united, overcome difficulties, maintain national stability and safeguard their legitimate rights and interests. Wang Yi expressed hope that all parties will cherish peace, exercise restraint, and resolve differences through dialogue. China is ready to play a constructive role to this end.

Book launch: Jenny Clegg – Storming the Heavens (14 February)

📆 Saturday 14 February 2026, 3pm Britain, 10am US Eastern

Join us in person or online for a discussion of Jenny Clegg’s Storming the Heavens: Peasants and Revolution in China, 1925-1949.

The book launch will be held at Marx Memorial Library. This event will feature a discussion of the book’s themes with the author along with China specialists and leading Marxist scholars, followed by a Q&A session and book signing.

‘A major accomplishment … (combining) detailed historical analysis..with a keen sense of theory….’ David Laibman, Editor Emeritus, Science & Society

‘Extremely useful in all capitalist countries, especially those in the South’ Cheng Enfu, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences

‘An essential guide to negotiating the complex terrain of the agrarian class structure in pre-revolutionary China’ Utsa Patnaik, Professor Emerita, Jawaharlal Nehru University, India.

‘A masterful analysis that puts class struggle back at the heart of our understanding of China’s revolution’, Ben Chacko, editor, Morning Star

Storming the Heavens sets peasant mass struggle centre-stage in the Chinese revolution: the peasant movement changed China and China changed the world. Revolutions, said Marx, project themselves towards the future: nothing could be more true than the case of China today with the special characteristics of its ongoing socialist modernisation rooted in this history of societal transformation.

There will be copies of the book available for purchase!

Speakers

Jenny Clegg, author and researcher
Vijay Prashad (video link), author and historian
Cheng Enfu (video link), President of the World Association for Political Economy
Michael Dutton, Emeritus Professor, Goldsmiths, University of London
John Foster, Emeritus Professor of Social Sciences, University of the West of Scotland
Chair: Radhika Desai, Professor, University of Manitoba

Organisers

Is China doing “colonialism” in Africa?

In the following Substack article, ecologist and anthropologist Jason Hickel tackles a popular trope about the People’s Republic of China: that it is engaged in colonialism in Africa. Hickel shows that such a claim is historically inaccurate, analytically sloppy, and serves to obscure the continuing reality of Western neocolonial power on the continent.

The charge of Chinese colonialism, popularised in Western political discourse and media over the last two decades, equates China’s economic engagement in Africa with Western colonialism and neocolonialism. Hickel argues convincingly that this is a politically-motivated falsehood that trivialises the extreme violence of colonial rule.

The article starts by clarifying the actual characteristics of colonial and neocolonial power: military aggression, wars of regime change, proxy wars, political destabilisation, economic coercion, sanctions, financial control, loan conditionality and structural adjustment. France’s ongoing control of the CFA franc and the US network of African bases exemplify the persistence of neocolonial dynamics following the end of the colonial era.

China, by contrast, has never invaded an African country; does not engage in destabilisation; does not orchestrate coups and assassinations, control currencies, impose sanctions or attach structural adjustment conditions to loans. Nothing in China’s behaviour remotely resembles Western imperial practices.

On the question of resource extraction in Africa, the author observes that Western firms overwhelmingly dominate African mining and fossil fuel expansion; Chinese firms control only a small share. Regarding the accusations of China setting “debt traps”, Hickel notes that only 12 precent of Africa’s external debt is owed to China, compared with several times that amount owed to Western private creditors – at significantly higher interest rates and less flexible repayment terms.

Imperial power means the US and its allies can and regularly do destroy entire states halfway across the world, violating international law with impunity. They can and do bomb any individual or movement they don’t like, anywhere on the planet, for any reason. They can and do impose crushing sanctions, killing millions of people and bending governments to their will. China simply does not project this kind of power.

Western politicians and journalists often claim that China is doing “colonialism” in Africa. This narrative has roots in US government discourse going back nearly two decades, and is exemplified by a US Congressional hearing that was held under the headline “China in Africa: The New Colonialism?” In the same year, the US business magazine Forbes claimed the purpose of China’s involvement in Africa is “to exploit the people and take their resources. It’s the same thing European colonists did… except worse.”

Certainly there are reasons to criticise the activities of Chinese firms in Africa, but to claim that China is exercising colonial power within the continent — drawing a direct equivalence to Western colonialism and imperialism — is empirically incorrect, stretches these terms into meaninglessness, and amounts to denying the violence of actually-existing colonialism.