Friends of Socialist China, Author at Friends of Socialist China

International symposium debunks anti-China propaganda about ‘slave labour’ in Xinjiang

The following article is a brief report by R Islam, a Yorkshire-based anti-war activist who recently represented Friends of Socialist China on a delegation to the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China, organised by the Xinjiang government.

The symposium was also reported in Xinhua and China Daily.

The International Symposium on Employment and Social Security was held in Urumqi on December 16, 2024. The context underpinning the event was the US sanctions imposed on companies in Xinjiang in recent years based on allegations of ‘slave labour’. The symposium was preceded by site visits to various manufacturing companies currently subject to US sanctions; these visits provided delegates the opportunity to form their own perspective on the validity of the allegations made by the USA against China. In attendance were diplomats from Palestine, Pakistan, Senegal, Yemen, Azerbaijan, Indonesia, Iraq, Türkiye, Hungary and elsewhere; journalists from CGTN, Radio France, the Irish Times, the Associated Press of Pakistan and several other outlets; representatives from the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation Institute; and delegates from around the world, including well-known media personalities Li Jingjing, Andy Boreham and Daniel Dumbrill.

Sanctioned companies

Delegates were transported to the sites of two manufacturing companies sanctioned by the USA.

The first was Changji Esquel Textile Co. Ltd., a textile manufacturer. Prior to the sanctions, the company operated three branches in Xinjiang. However, after the sanctions, this number was reduced to just one. As a result, the company had to cut its workforce in half, dropping from 50,000 to 25,000 employees across its four sites, leaving many workers facing significant hardship due to redundancy. This firsthand account shed light on the tangible and punitive effects of sanctions, not just on company owners but also on the livelihoods of thousands of people. It was also evident from the site visits that the vast amount of advanced machinery introduced in recent years has significantly reduced the need for a large low-skilled workforce, thereby undermining the ‘slavery’ charges levelled by the USA. Despite these challenges, the company demonstrated a strong commitment to minimizing the environmental impact of textile production, and boasted of their ability to use just 10 percent of the water required by comparable processes.

The second company we visited, Baowu Group Xinjiang Bayi Iron and Steel Co. Ltd., is a steel and mill factory whose products, valued at billions of dollars, have been denied entry into the US—a measure that can only be interpreted as punitive. Similar to its textile counterpart, the steel mill strives to minimise its environmental footprint and enforces stringent health and safety protocols to prevent workplace accidents. These efforts challenge claims that workers endure harsh or exploitative conditions. The mill’s highly mechanised operations, including the use of massive agricultural tractors capable of performing the work of over a hundred people in a single hour, further contradict allegations of “slave labour” within the facility.

Symposium

The trip concluded with a day-long political conference addressing various aspects of working conditions in Xinjiang and the United States’ political agenda in making unfounded accusations of forced labour. Delegates heard firsthand testimonies from workers who had been made redundant at the textile factory, sharing the anxieties and hardships they endured as a result. However, they expressed gratitude for the local and national government’s intervention, which helped them secure new employment opportunities and rebuild their lives. Diplomats underscored the priorities of the United States—providing arms and funding for an unnecessary war in Ukraine and supporting and financing genocide in Palestine, all while levelling unfounded accusations of human rights abuses against China.

Conclusion

The examples of decisive leadership by local and national arms of the Chinese government in stepping in to safeguard people’s lives and livelihoods stand in stark contrast to the United States, where forced prison labour is widely exploited, most recently deploying inmates as firefighters to combat California’s wildfires—typically for wages far below the minimum standard, if they are compensated at all. Moreover, it is crucial to highlight that sanctions not only inflict significant hardship on the Chinese population but also harm people in the US. Imposing or increasing tariffs on imported goods contributes to raising the everyday cost of living for Americans, adding financial strain to households. Furthermore, Xinjiang is the heart of China’s solar energy industry – sanctions on Chinese solar panels, polysilicon and other components are directly impacting the US’s purported green energy goals.

The United States imposes sanctions unilaterally (and illegally), opting not to collaborate with the global community to address shared challenges. Adopting a more cooperative approach and learning from China and other nations would benefit the international community as a whole. With the recent shift of US users from TikTok to RedNote (Xiaohongshu / Little Red Book), we may witness tangible changes at the grassroots level—areas where such progress is critically needed but generally absent in the nation’s political leadership.

Grenadian PM: China’s people-centred development an inspiration for humanity

Prime Minister of Grenada Dickon Mitchell paid an official visit to China, January 11-17, becoming the first head of government to visit in 2025. The visit, which took in Beijing, Shanghai and Zhejiang province, also celebrated the 20th anniversary of the resumption of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Announcing the visit at a January 9 press conference of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, spokesperson Guo Jiakun said that Grenada is an important country in the Caribbean region and an important partner of China in the region, adding that since the resumption of diplomatic ties, China and Grenada have always respected each other and treated each other as equals, understood and supported each other on issues concerning each other’s core interests and major concerns, and maintained sound and steady development of bilateral relations.

Prime Minister Mitchell met with the senior leaders of China on January 13.

President Xi Jinping said that China is willing to provide assistance for Grenada’s economic and social development within the framework of South-South cooperation. The two countries should foster new highlights of cooperation in fields such as new energy, green and low-carbon development, and digital economy.

Xi noted that in recent years, China-Grenada relations have developed steadily, with the two sides treating each other with mutual respect and equality, consolidating political mutual trust, achieving fruitful results in practical cooperation in various fields, and deepening the friendship between the two peoples.

China supports Grenada in independently exploring a development path suited to its national conditions, and stands ready to strengthen exchanges of governance experience.

Xi added that China also supports Grenada in enhancing its capacity in climate change response and disaster prevention and mitigation, and will continue to raise international awareness of small island countries’ concerns over climate change and their demands. China has always attached great importance to its relations with Caribbean countries and will continue to provide assistance within its capacity for the economic and social development of regional countries.

Mitchell expressed appreciation for China’s timely assistance after Grenada was hit by a devastating hurricane in July last year. Over the past 20 years, the Grenada-China relations have been continuously deepened, and Grenada firmly abides by the one-China principle and believes that China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity must be respected, he added.

He said Grenada, having benefited a lot from its relations with China, will continuously strengthen cooperation with China and learn from China’s experience in governance.

Challenging the purists: the Marxist debate over China’s path

The article below was submitted by Dan Farhat, an author and researcher based in Beirut, Lebanon.

Dan responds to the critique made of China by some of the (particularly Western) left, that the introduction of market mechanisms from 1978 onwards was a betrayal of socialism and that China has become – or is on its way to becoming – a capitalist country.

Comparing China’s Reform and Opening Up with the New Economic Policy in the Soviet Union in the 1920s, and drawing inspiration from the writings of the Italian Marxist philosopher Domenico Losurdo, Dan argues that China’s reforms constituted a creative and successful response to the conditions faced by the country at the time, and indeed have been a key factor in China’s successes in eradicating extreme poverty and raising living standards beyond recognition.

The article further notes that, while the spread of market forces introduces contradictions, risks and challenges, the Chinese leadership has been able to manage these by maintaining the leading role of the CPC and the state sector, and “preventing the bourgeoisie from becoming a cohesive and politically powerful class”.

The following story was shared by the former deputy editor-in-chief of China Daily, Kang Bing:

Growing up in the 1960s and 1970s, my childhood memory is closely tied to hunger. In my home city of Xi’an, the monthly quota for one urban resident was 100 grams of cooking oil, half a kg of meat, half a dozen eggs, and 100 grams of sugar. As for milk, it was given only to families with newborns. Many families today consume the entire monthly quota of oil, meat, eggs, and sugar in one day.

Although the ration system ensured everybody had a share of the available food and prevented starvation deaths, it led to malnutrition among children, adolescents, adults, and the elderly alike. Not a single boy among my 100 male classmates who graduated from high school with me in 1977 crossed 1.8 meters in height thanks to malnutrition.

Today’s picture is very different, with the country emerging as the world’s second-largest economy. Millions of people have been lifted out of poverty, and the quality of life in China has improved significantly – indeed, at a rate never seen before in human history. This incredible transformation is in no small part testament to the profound impact of Deng Xiaoping’s economic reforms.

Deng himself famously said that “to build socialism it is necessary to develop the productive forces. Poverty is not socialism. To uphold socialism, a socialism that is to be superior to capitalism, it is imperative first and foremost to eliminate poverty.” For Deng, true socialism was not about keeping everyone equally poor; it was about lifting people out of poverty. Deng saw a socialism that, through the utilization of market mechanisms, and by focusing on development and economic growth, could transform the lives of ordinary people and elevate China’s position in the global economy.

Anura Kumara Dissanayake: China has always been a reliable friend and partner of Sri Lanka

Anura Kumara Dissanayake, (popularly known as AKD), who was elected President of Sri Lanka in September 2024, and whose party, the National People’s Power (NPP), whose main component is the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP or People’s Liberation Front), Sri Lanka’s biggest Marxist party, then went on to win a supermajority in November 2024 parliamentary elections, paid a state visit to China from January 14-17 at the invitation of his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping. Although it is his first visit as head of state, Dissanayake is an old friend of China.

Announcing the visit at a January 10 press conference, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Hua Chunying noted that China and Sri Lanka are traditional friendly neighbours. Since the establishment of diplomatic ties in 1957, China-Sri Lanka relations have stood the test of the changing international landscape and maintained sound and steady development, setting a good example of friendly coexistence and mutually beneficial cooperation.

President Dissanayake met with Xi Jinping on January 15. The Chinese leader said that China will actively support Sri Lanka in focusing on economic development and the two countries should jointly foster new highlights in high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, as well as cooperation in modern agriculture, digital economy and marine economy.

With joint efforts, he continued, China and Sri Lanka have continuously promoted strategic cooperative partnership featuring mutual assistance and ever-lasting friendship. High-quality Belt and Road cooperation and cooperation in various fields have achieved fruitful results, bringing tangible benefits to the two peoples.

Noting that China takes Sri Lanka as a priority in its neighbourhood diplomacy, Xi said that the country will continue to support Sri Lanka in maintaining its national independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity. China supports Sri Lanka in exploring a development path suitable for its national conditions, and is willing to deepen political mutual trust, exchange governance experience, and enhance dialogue and communication between various departments of the two countries. He further called for pooling the joint efforts of the Global South for solidarity and development, contributing to regional peace, stability and prosperity.

Noting that Sri Lanka admires China’s great development achievements in economy, science and technology, and infrastructure, Dissanayake said China has always been a reliable friend and partner of Sri Lanka, and Sri Lanka attaches great importance to its relations with China.

Sri Lanka firmly abides by the one-China principle, and appreciates China’s invaluable support in safeguarding Sri Lanka’s independence, sovereignty and legitimate rights and interests, he added.

Sri Lanka is committed to enhancing regional connectivity through the Belt and Road cooperation and welcomes more Chinese enterprises to invest and do business in the country, Dissanayake said, adding that Sri Lanka is willing to strengthen cooperation with China in infrastructure, energy, agriculture, finance, poverty reduction, digital transformation, tourism, marine industry and personnel training.

China plays a significant leading role in the Global South, as well as a constructive role in international affairs, he added. The Sri Lankan side is willing to continue strengthening coordination and mutual support with China on multilateral occasions to safeguard common interests.

The next day, Dissanayake met with Chinese Premier Li Qiang.

During the meeting, Li emphasised the enduring friendship between China and Sri Lanka, which has lasted for over a thousand years. “Over the past 68 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations, the relationship between the two countries has withstood the test of international changes and has maintained a steady and healthy pace of development.”

China is willing to import more high-quality products from Sri Lanka, and encourages capable Chinese enterprises to invest in Sri Lanka and hopes Sri Lanka will continue to optimise its business environment and provide more convenience and security for Chinese enterprises.

Dissanayake said that the Chinese government attaches great importance to the well-being of the people, has made remarkable achievements in economic and social development, and has fostered state-to-state relations based on mutual respect and mutually beneficial cooperation.

Rosa Luxemburg’s Chinese career

January 15 marked the anniversary of the 1919 murder of Rosa Luxemburg. A fearless practical revolutionary leader and organiser, the co-founder with Karl Liebknecht of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD), Rosa Luxemburg stands out as one of the greatest and most original theoreticians of Marxism and of the international working-class movement. Together with Liebknecht, she was one of the few prominent leaders of the working class to join VI Lenin and the Bolshevik Party in resolute opposition to the inter-imperialist slaughter of the First World War. Luxemburg and Liebknecht were murdered on the same day by the Freikorps, right-wing mercenary militia, acting on the orders of social democrat leader Friedrich Ebert.

Marking this year’s anniversary, the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation published an article by Wang Junyan, a project manager in their Beijing office, outlining Luxemburg’s influence on a century of revolution in China.

Wang notes that Luxemburg’s brutal murder was reported at the time in the Chinese magazine Jin Hua. Shortly after, Li Da, a founding member of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and one of its leading early intellectuals, published several articles about Luxemburg in the Republican Daily News, a radical newspaper aligned with the New Culture Movement. In these articles, he briefly introduced some of her key works, including The Accumulation of Capital, widely considered to be her theoretical masterpiece.

“Published in 1913, The Accumulation of Capital was one of the first Marxist works to explore why capitalist countries competed for colonies and control over underdeveloped, non-capitalist countries. She wrote: ‘Capitalism is the first mode of economy with the weapon of propaganda, a mode which tends to engulf the entire globe and to stamp out all other economies, tolerating no rival at its side. Yet at the same time it is also the first mode of economy which is unable to exist by itself, which needs other economic systems as a medium and soil.’”

According to Wang: “She [Luxemburg] initiated a paradigm shift in the social sciences, switching the focus from the dominant capitalist states to colonial and dependent states, and from developed Europe and the Americas to the Global South — a shift Lenin himself would undertake at the Second World Congress of the Communist International in 1920.” (For a summary of Lenin’s criticism of Luxemburg’s position on the national question, specifically on the right of nations to self-determination, see Chapter 4 of The Right of Nations to Self-Determination.)

Wang’s article notes that, “Rosa Luxemburg was commemorated by the CPC throughout the Chinese revolution. For instance, when the party suffered a major defeat in 1927, it invoked Luxemburg as a fearless fighter against revisionism. In 1937, during the war against Japanese occupation, the party held her up as an ‘internationalist vanguard’ role model to encourage the Chinese people in their fight against Japanese imperialism.”

After the founding of the People’s Republic, some of her key works were translated and published in Chinese from the 1950s, but a willingness to explore some of her more controversial ideas only began in 1981. This was followed by the publication of two volumes of her Selected Works in 1984 and 1990. The Chinese translation of Rosa Luxemburg’s Complete Works, which were first issued in German in the 1970s and are currently being translated into English, was initiated in 2014. (The English edition of the Complete Works is being published by Verso.)

Relating Luxemburg’s contribution to the path of the Chinese revolution, Wang Junyan argues that: “Rosa Luxemburg witnessed the birth of the first socialist country in history, the Soviet Union, and embraced it whole-heartedly, even while expressing measured criticisms of it… In the mid-1950s, Chairman Mao began to see the defects and limitations of centralised planning and initiated de-centralisation reforms by delegating more power to local regions and promoting economic democracy in the industrial sector… [Later], China began to develop an interest in reforms taking place in Eastern Europe, with high-level delegations travelling to Yugoslavia and Romania in the 1970s to conduct more thorough studies of the debates around economic accounting, the law of value, and market mechanisms being held there… As President Xi Jinping remarked in his report to the Twentieth National Congress of the CPC, as China works to build a ‘great, modern socialist country’ by 2050, considerable obstacles persist in the form of formalism, bureaucratisation, and privilege-seeking. Here, Luxemburg also has illuminating insights to take into account.”

Luxemburg’s last known words, written on the evening of her murder, strongly echo the concept of the mass line, which has long occupied a central place in Chinese Marxism:

The contradiction between the powerful, decisive, aggressive offensive of the Berlin masses on the one hand and the indecisive, half-hearted vacillation of the Berlin leadership on the other is the mark of this latest episode. The leadership failed. But a new leadership can and must be created by the masses and from the masses. The masses are the crucial factor. They are the rock on which the ultimate victory of the revolution will be built. The masses were up to the challenge, and out of this ‘defeat’ they have forged a link in the chain of historic defeats, which is the pride and strength of international socialism. That is why future victories will spring from this ‘defeat’. ‘Order prevails in Berlin!’ You foolish lackeys! Your ‘order’ is built on sand. Tomorrow the revolution will ‘rise up again, clashing its weapons,’ and to your horror it will proclaim with trumpets blazing: I was, I am, I shall be!

Wang’s article concludes:

As China moves forward in its social and political development, Rosa Luxemburg’s thought will continue to accompany and inform that development — now more than ever, as her work successively becomes available through the Chinese edition of her Complete Works.

We reprint the article below.

In January 1919, the Chinese magazine Jin Hua reported on the brutal murder of German Marxist revolutionary Rosa Luxemburg in Berlin soon after it happened. The report may have been one of the first times that Luxemburg showed up on the radar of a Chinese audience, but it certainly would not be the last. Since then, she has been a fixture of the country’s political and intellectual horizon.

Li Da, a founding member of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and one of its leading early intellectuals, published several articles about Luxemburg in the Republican Daily News, a radical newspaper aligned with the New Culture Movement in the early 1920s. He also briefly introduced some of her main works to Chinese readers, including Reform or Revolution, The Industrial Development of Poland, The Crisis of German Social Democracy, and her crowning achievement, The Accumulation of Capital.

Published in 1913, The Accumulation of Capital was one of the first Marxist works to explore why capitalist countries competed for colonies and control over underdeveloped, non-capitalist countries. She wrote: “Capitalism is the first mode of economy with the weapon of propaganda, a mode which tends to engulf the entire globe and to stamp out all other economies, tolerating no rival at its side. Yet at the same time it is also the first mode of economy which is unable to exist by itself, which needs other economic systems as a medium and soil.” Lenin echoed her argument in his 1916 study, Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism.

Pragmatism not ideology should define Britain’s relationship with China

In the following article, which was originally published in the Morning Star, our co-editor Keith Bennett assesses the recent China visit by UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves, the highest profile British visit to the country since Theresa May visited as Prime Minister in January-February 2018.

Keith notes that the visit, “restarted the Economic and Financial Dialogue (EFD) between the two countries, delivered limited but definite gains for the British economy, and was mired in domestic political controversy.”

Outlining the hesitant and partial nature of the Labour government’s re-engagement with China, and the backlash that even such tentative moves have engendered, he concludes:

The moves by the Labour government to reengage positively with China, limited and partial as they are, need to be welcomed. But the labour and trade union movement should press for them to go much further if Britain is to secure the jobs and investment we need and if we are to work constructively to tackle global challenges. This, in turn, will require standing up to the most reactionary sections of the ruling class and doubtless also to the incoming Trump administration across the Atlantic.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves returned to London on Monday January 13, following a three-day visit to China that took her to Beijing and Shanghai.

This first visit by a British Chancellor to the Asian economic giant in more than five years restarted the Economic and Financial Dialogue (EFD) between the two countries, delivered limited but definite gains for the British economy, and was mired in domestic political controversy.

In protocol terms, the high point of Reeves’s visit was her meeting with Chinese Vice-President Han Zheng.

According to the Xinhua News Agency, Han said that China and Britain are both major economies and financial heavyweights in the world, adding that strengthening economic and financial co-operation in the spirit of strategic partnership is of great significance to promoting economic growth, improving people’s lives and encouraging green development in the two countries.

China, he added, is willing to continue to expand openness and exchanges with Britain, enhance mutual understanding and trust, and deepen mutually beneficial co-operation to bring more benefits to the two countries and the world.

The news agency quoted Reeves as replying that the British side attaches importance to developing relations with China and is willing to strengthen candid dialogue and mutually beneficial co-operation to promote the economic development of each country.

The Economic and Financial Dialogue was co-chaired by Reeves and Vice-Premier He Lifeng. According to the British side, the total value of what was agreed is worth £600 million over the next five years for the British economy.

A briefing paper released by HM Treasury added: “Overall, this government’s re-engagement with China already sets us on course to deliver up to £1 billion of value for the UK economy.”

However, details of how the latter figure, in particular, was arrived at remain scant to non-existent.

Regarding the former figure, a Treasury factsheet drew particular attention to financial services, asserting that financial markets play an important role “in tackling shared global issues — whether climate change, biodiversity loss or ageing populations — and in delivering growth and prosperity” and welcoming China’s decision to grant new commercial licences and quota allocations for British firms, its commitment to issuing an inaugural offshore sovereign green bond in Britain in 2025, and Bank of China London branch’s intention to issue new dual currency sustainability related bonds in Britain in 2025.

China will remain a reliable friend and partner to the Republic of Congo

Following his visit to Namibia, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi next visited the Republic of Congo as the second leg of his Africa visit this January. In the 35^th consecutive year that China’s foreign minister made Africa his first overseas destination, Wang also visited Chad and Nigeria.

The Republic of Congo (also widely known as Congo Brazzaville to distinguish it from the Democratic Republic of Congo or Congo Kinshasha) is one of China’s oldest and staunchest friends on the continent of Africa. The two countries established diplomatic relations on 22 February 1964.

Wang Yi met with Congo President Denis Sassou Nguesso on January 7.

Recalling that President Xi Jinping chose Africa for his first overseas trip as Chinese president in 2013, during which he made a historic visit to the Republic of Congo, Sassou said this visit remains vivid in his memory. The Chinese president, he continued, proposed 10 partnership action plans at the Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) held in Beijing in September 2024, which cover all areas of China-Africa cooperation, focus on tackling Africa’s pressing challenges, and meet Africa’s needs.

Noting that this year marks the start of implementing the outcomes of the FOCAC Beijing Summit, Sassou said the Republic of Congo, as the FOCAC’s co-chair, will spare no effort in advancing the 10 partnership action plans and will strive for greater progress in China-Africa cooperation. (The Republic of Congo replaced Senegal as Africa’s rotating co-chair at the Beijing summit and will hold the position for three years.)

For his part Wang Yi said that Sassou is a renowned African politician and one of the African leaders who have visited China the most and met with President Xi the most, adding that the deep friendship between the two leaders serves as a vital political guarantee for China-Congo and China-Africa relations.

Calling the Republic of Congo a staunch friend and important partner of China, Wang praised the country’s vibrant development under Sassou’s leadership. China will remain the country’s most reliable friend and partner during its development and revitalisation journey, he said, adding that the Republic of Congo’s role as the FOCAC’s co-chair reflects Africa’s confidence in the country.

Speaking after their meeting, Wang said that China and the Republic of Congo had agreed to set an example for building an all-weather China-Africa community with a shared future for the new era. Noting that both sides agreed to continue upholding international fairness and justice, he said that the Chinese side appreciates the Republic of Congo’s unique role in international affairs and is willing to work closely with the country to support Africa in achieving peace and stability, addressing “climate injustice,” advocating for a balanced and orderly multipolar world, and promoting inclusive economic globalisation, so as to jointly build a community with a shared future for humanity.

In a press interview, when asked about the plans for China and the Republic of Congo, as FOCAC co-chairs, to implement the outcomes of the Beijing Summit, Wang said that FOCAC has played an important role in promoting Africa’s development and improving the livelihood of the African people. It has become a symbol of China-Africa solidarity and cooperation, a banner of South-South cooperation, and a model for leading international cooperation with Africa.

Over the 25 years since the forum’s establishment, China has helped Africa build 100,000 km of roads, more than 10,000 km of railways, nearly 1,000 bridges, and almost 100 ports. In the past three years alone, China has created more than one million jobs in Africa.

The forum has also launched numerous livelihood projects in Africa, including initiatives focused on food, water supply, and education, benefiting people across the continent. His current visit aims to collaborate with the Congolese side to build consensus on enhancing and upgrading cooperation within the forum. Together, he explained, China and the Republic of Congo have formulated a “timetable” and “roadmap” for the development of the forum over the next three years.

This year, the focus will be on holding a ministerial-level meeting to coordinate and accelerate the implementation of the forum’s outcomes to deliver more “early harvests.” Next year, the two sides will jointly mark the 70th anniversary of China-Africa diplomatic relations and “the China-Africa Year of People-to-People Exchanges” through joint events. The 18th senior officials’ meeting will accelerate the mid-term implementation of summit outcomes. In 2027, preparations for the 10th ministerial conference will serve as a driving force to ensure the comprehensive implementation and conclusion of summit outcomes.

Congo will host the 2027 FOCAC Summit.

The South China Morning Post noted that among the agreements reached at the last FOCAC Summit were measures to boost trade, economic and diplomatic relations, as well as military cooperation and strengthening of party-to-party relations, in addition to Xi’s funding commitment for the continent. These included zero tariffs on 100 per cent of goods from Africa’s least developed countries, as well as major land and sea connectivity projects.

Wang Yi also said that China will work with African countries to build the “Africa Solar Belt” program and help Africa truly embark on the path of green and low-carbon development.

When asked about how China and Africa jointly address climate change, Wang said that President Sassou’s high attention to the issue of climate change reflects the foresight of African leaders, adding that China has always supported Africa in achieving green development as the installed capacity of photovoltaic power plants built jointly has exceeded 1.5 GW, lighting up thousands of homes across the continent. China will also join hands with Africa to promote international climate governance, he added.

Noting that fair and common but differentiated responsibilities should be adhered to, Wang called on developed countries to face up to their historical responsibilities, earnestly fulfil their obligations, and provide financial, technical and capacity-building support to developing countries, especially African countries.

Wang Yi also held talks with his Congolese counterpart, Foreign Minister Jean-Claude Gakosso, pledging to implement the outcomes of the Beijing FOCAC Summit.

Describing the Republic of Congo as a steadfast friend of China, Wang said that the two countries have shared an unbreakable bond for more than 60 years since the establishment of diplomatic ties, which is characterised by consistent mutual understanding and support in the face of challenges.

As co-chair of FOCAC, the Republic of Congo reflects the high-level partnership between the two nations and embodies the aspirations of the African continent, Wang said, expressing his confidence in the Republic of Congo’s active fulfilment of its responsibilities as chair, contributing to the implementation of the FOCAC Beijing Summit’s outcomes and advancing China-Africa cooperation. These efforts, he added, will not only strengthen the Republic of Congo’s development but also enhance its international influence.

The South China Morning Post reported that Foreign Minister Gakosso has said Chinese funding could rehabilitate the country’s electricity infrastructure and upgrade the 512km (318 miles) Congo–Ocean Railway linking the Atlantic port of Pointe-Noire with the capital Brazzaville.

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

We also embed a short extract from a CGTN Leaders Talk interview with President Sassou Nguesso, recorded in Brazzaville on February 23 last year, one day after the 60^th anniversary of diplomatic relations.

Asked for the reasons behind his country’s long-lasting relations with China, Sassou says that both the Chinese and Congolese peoples have suffered from oppression and colonisation in the past and both have fought for liberation. “Our shared aspirations for freedom and development unite us. Initially it was about shaking off colonial rule and occupation and later it was about building a future of peace, freedom and development together.”

The exceptional economy

In the following article, British Marxist economist Michael Roberts responds to the neverending predictions of China’s imminent collapse, which have been a staple of Western commentary for decades.

Comparing the two countries on a range of economic indicators, Roberts finds that China is far ahead of the US in terms of GDP growth, wage levels, controlling inflation, managing debt and building infrastructure.

The Western consensus is that China is mired in huge debt, particularly in local governments and real estate developers. This will eventually lead to bankruptcies and a debt meltdown or, at best, force the central government to squeeze the savings of Chinese households to pay for these losses and thus destroy growth. A debt meltdown seems to be forecast every year by these economists, but there has been no systemic collapse yet in banking or in the non-financial sector. Instead, the state-owned sector has increased investment and the government has expanded infrastructure to compensate for any downturn in the over-indebted property market. If anything, it is America that is more likely to burst a bubble than China.

On accusations of Chinese manufacturing overcapacity, “this is another myth broadcast by Western experts”, since China’s manufacturing growth is primarily targetted at the domestic economy.

Roberts poses the all-important question: why is China exceptional?

It is because it is an economy that is planned and led by state-owned companies, so it can ride most obstacles way better than a privately owned system of capitalist production as in the US… China’s most important industries are run by SOEs: finance, energy, infrastructure, mining, telecommunications, transportation, even some strategic manufacturing. The total capital of companies with some level of state ownership in China is 68% of total capital of all firms (40 million). The vast majority of Chinese companies in the Fortune Global 500 list are SOEs. SOEs generate at least 25% of China’s GDP in the most conservative estimates, and other studies have found them to contribute to 30-40+% of GDP.

Which is to say, the most important reason for China’s continued success is the socialist foundation of its economy.

Next week US president Joe Biden finishes his term of office, to be replaced by the Donald. Biden would have been extremely popular with the American public and probably would have run and got a second term as president, if US real GDP had increased by 4.5-5.0% in 2024, and if during the whole of his period of office since end 2020, real GDP had risen 23%; and if per American, real GDP had risen 26% over those four years. And he would have been congratulated if the Covid death rate during the 2020-21 pandemic had been one of the lowest in the world, and the economy avoided the pandemic slump in production.

Above all, he would have been feted if the inflation of prices in goods and services after he came into office was just 3.6% in total over four years. That would have meant that, with wages rising at 4-5% a year, real incomes for average American households would have risen significantly. At the same time, strong growth would have allowed the financing of important new infrastructure spending in the US that could have led to an extensive rail network across the country using super fast trains; and with bridges and roads that did not collapse or crumble along with environmental projects to protect people and homes from fires and floods, and the introduction of cheap electric vehicles and renewables. How Biden would have been popular.

And with extra revenue from strong growth, the Biden administration would have been able to balance the government budget and curb or reduce government debt. And with zero to low inflation, interest rates on borrowing would have been near historic lows, enabling households and companies to afford mortgages and finance investment in new technologies.

Ken Hammond: In China the interests of the working class are at the heart of everything

In the latest episode of The China Report, embedded below, hosts Amanda Yee and KJ Noh interview Professor Ken Hammond about his new book, China and the World. The three have a wide-ranging discussion about the trajectory of China’s foreign policy over the last half-century, as well as interrogating the dominant narratives about China in the West and exploring the nature of China’s economic development.

Ken details how the rapprochement between the US and China in the early 1970s, starting with the visits by Henry Kissinger in 1971 and Richard Nixon in 1972, opened a path for “China being able to open up to a broader range of outside engagements”, and in many ways enabled the Reform and Opening Up process that began in 1978. While improved relations with the US came at a not-insignificant cost to China’s role in promoting socialist and national liberation revolutions – contributing to some confusion in the West and elsewhere as to China’s political trajectory – “China was pursuing what could be described as a deep game, taking a long-term perspective that required making certain compromises or accommodations in the short term to achieve fundamental objectives in the long term”.

The three talk about China’s economic reforms and how, while they introduced serious contradictions and imbalances into Chinese society, they ultimately enabled China to overcome poverty and underdevelopment. Ken points out that the country achieved an average of 10 percent GDP growth for several decades and that “this growth didn’t just benefit the wealthy; it flowed directly to the people”. On this topic, KJ recounts discussions with Chinese officials in the late 1990s and early 2000s, who described market reforms as “like getting onto a wild horse – but we believe we can contain this horse”. The record shows that they have indeed been able to do so.

Talking about China’s whole-process socialist democracy and its extremely high levels of public consciousness and engagement, Ken describes China as “a state in which the interests of the working class are at the heart of everything that goes on”, and contrasts this with the money-driven politics of the US in which the interests of the capitalist class are at the heart of everything.

China and the World is available to pre-order from 1804 Books.

Prospects for US-China relations in Trump’s second presidency

The London Region of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) held its 2025 Annual Conference online on Sunday 12 January.

Friends of Socialist China co-editor Keith Bennett was among the speakers in a session entitled, NATO, war, nukes: Outlook for 2025, where he was joined by CND General Secretary Sophie Bolt; Jess Barnard, a member of the Labour Party’s National Executive Committee (NEC); Carol Turner, Chair of London CND and a Vice Chair of national CND; and Vijay Prashad, Director of the Tricontinental Institute for Social Research. The session was chaired by Christine Shawcroft, a Vice Chair of London CND and editor of Labour Briefing.

A keynote opening speech on Prospects for Peace and Justice was given by Jeremy Corbyn, former Leader of the Labour Party and now the Independent Member of Parliament (MP) for Islington North, introduced by Murad Qureshi, a Vice President of London CND and a former Chair of the Stop the War Coalition.

Further discussions focused on Ukraine and the Middle East as testing grounds for new tech weapons, with expert input from Peter Burt, a researcher for Drone Wars UK; and Dave Webb, Convenor of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space; chaired by former MP Emma Dent-Coad; and a final session on Peace Movement Priorities, with Baroness Jenny Jones from the Green Party; Tony Staunton, a Vice Chair of CND; and Angie Zelter, a founder of Lakenheath Action for Peace; chaired by Hannah Kemp-Welch, a Vice Chair of London CND.

Keith’s speech focused on the prospects for relations between China and the United States during Donald Trump’s second presidency. We reprint it below.

Thank you to London Region CND for the invitation to take part in this distinguished panel.

With war raging in Ukraine for nearly three years and with the unrelenting genocide in Gaza, now well into its second year, both naturally forming the main day-to-day focus of most peace campaigners, is it self-indulgence or overreach to also turn our attention to the Asia Pacific region?

I would argue that it is not. No analogy is ever exact, but a clear parallel can be drawn with events in the 1930s. Local conflicts, in Spain, Ethiopia and, indeed China, were the proverbial canaries in the mine, which presaged the global conflagration of World War II.

Today, no bilateral relationship is more important, more strategic and more fraught than that between the United States and China. On the potentially positive side, the world needs these two powers to work together constructively if humanity is to meet an existential threat like climate change. Unfortunately, despite the best efforts of China, and of a couple of US politicians, there is little sign of this happening. Something that will most likely be exacerbated when Trump quits the Paris Climate Change Accord. Again.

Friends of Socialist China holds roundtable discussion with visiting delegation from Fudan University School of Marxism

On Tuesday 14 January 2025, Friends of Socialist China hosted a roundtable discussion in London with a group of seven academics from the School of Marxism at Shanghai’s Fudan University, one of China’s leading academic institutions. The meeting was attended by ten members and allies of Friends of Socialist China’s Britain committee, and was coordinated by Efe Can Gürcan, an adjunct professor at Shanghai University and visiting professor at the London School of Economics (LSE).

The delegates from Fudan – professors Gao Guoxi, Mei Xian, Zhang Xinning, Wu Haijing, Gao Xiaolin, Zhang Qifeng and Cui Hanbing – described their areas of research, which include moral philosophy, Marxist ethics, political economy, the history of the Communist Party of China (CPC), and the image of the CPC overseas.

Following introductions, there was a wide-ranging discussion based on a number of questions posed by the Fudan delegates.

A particularly lively discussion took place in response to the question of what European socialists think about China’s development. Friends of Socialist China co-editor Keith Bennett provided an overview of the British left’s relationship with the Chinese Revolution and the People’s Republic of China, starting with the work of the Communist Party of Great Britain in extending solidarity to the CPC and the Chinese people’s struggle for liberation from the 1920s.

Keith noted that this relationship weakened from the 1960s with the emergence of the Sino-Soviet Split. Meanwhile there were a variety of trends in the British (and Western) left, broadly falling within the parameters of what Domenico Losurdo writes about in his Western Marxism (published for the first time in English last year), that have always tended to display a dismissive, doctrinaire and ultra-left approach to Chinese socialism and actually existing socialism in general. Nevertheless, despite these twin challenges, and although to a lesser extent compared to some other developed countries in Europe, North America and Australasia, many people mobilised by the youth and student upsurge and the emergence of new social movements, were inspired by events in China to varying extents. However, changes in China’s economic strategy and its engagement with the global left from the late 1970s contributed to confusion and disillusionment among significant sectors of the socialist and progressive movements in the West.

Keith added that in recent years however, for a number of reasons, this dynamic is starting to shift in a positive direction, with renewed interest in Chinese socialism and China’s role in the world. Partly this is due to the very clear emphasis placed under the leadership of General Secretary Xi Jinping on the importance of Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought. But it also reflects a deepening economic and political crisis in the West, and the comparison between Western dysfunction and the extraordinary progress being made in China on poverty alleviation, improvement of people’s living standards, environmental protection, and so on. As a result, there is more scope now for building understanding of Chinese socialism than there has been for at least four decades.

Comrades who had recently returned from representing Friends of Socialist China at the inauguration of President Nicolás Maduro in Caracas commented on how differently China is perceived in Venezuela and other countries outside the Global North. They noted that Britain’s colonial history continues to impact people’s worldviews, and that a decolonial perspective is needed in order to develop a deeper understanding of China’s rise and its role in the struggle against imperialism.

The comrades from Fudan also introduced the issues of the changing nature of the working class as well as to the structure of global capitalism in recent decades. Friends of Socialist China co-editor Carlos Martinez highlighted the importance of continuing to define class in terms of relationship to the means of production, as part of a process of building unity around the shared interests of the working class. This connects to the importance of building understanding of China, since China provides an inspiring example of what the working class and its allies in power can achieve. The fundamental reason that China has had world-historic successes in poverty alleviation, technological development, improvement of living standards and more is that it is led by a Communist Party, guided by the principles of Marxism adapted to Chinese reality and traditions, and with a state system led by the working class and based on an alliance of workers and peasants.

A number of comrades contributed to a discussion of capitalism in its current neoliberal, financialised form, describing how the system’s declining rate of profit and inability to suppress China’s rise are leading the US and its allies to ever more reckless militarism and adventurism.

Concluding the meeting, the delegates from Fudan University and Friends of Socialist China discussed several interesting and inspiring ideas for further cooperation and coordination in the coming period.

Wang Yi in Namibia: China-Africa cooperation is more crucial than ever for the world

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi began his first overseas visits of 2025 with a January 5-11 trip to Namibia, the Republic of Congo, Chad and Nigeria. This marks the 35th consecutive year that the Chinese foreign minister visits Africa on the first overseas tour at the start of the year, something that has become an important tradition and bedrock of Chinese diplomacy.

On January 6, Wang met with Namibian President Nangolo Mbumba in the city of Swakopmund.

He said that, despite the geographical distance, the bond between China and Africa has remained strong. The China-Africa relationship has withstood the test of changing global circumstances and is showing new promising prospects, he added, stressing that China remains a trustworthy partner for Africa, consistently prioritizing the continent in its overall diplomatic strategy.

For 35 years, Chinese foreign ministers have made Africa the destination of their first overseas visit of each year, a tradition that reflects China’s unwavering commitment, Wang said, adding that this tradition will continue because strengthening China-Africa cooperation is more crucial than ever for the world, and their joint development symbolises the rise of the Global South and the growing influence of justice.

At the Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) held in Beijing last year, Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed 10 partnership action plans to jointly advance modernisation and announced that the overall characterisation of China-Africa relations was elevated to an all-weather China-Africa community with a shared future for the new era.

Acknowledging Namibia’s unique resources and vast development potential, Wang said that the South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO) Party of Namibia has adopted a people-centred governance philosophy and guided the country along a development path suited to its national conditions. (The close relations between SWAPO and China date back to Namibia’s armed struggle for independence against the apartheid regime in South Africa. SWAPO adopted socialism with Namibian characteristics as its guiding ideology in 2018.)

President Mbumba said that despite differences in size, Namibia and China have always maintained a relationship of friendship, solidarity and cooperation, based on mutual respect and support.

Namibia firmly adheres to the one-China principle, supports China’s efforts to safeguard its territorial integrity, including Taiwan, and admires the development achievements under the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and the leadership of the Communist Party of China, he said, adding that Namibia looks forward to enhancing interparty exchanges with China and sharing governance experiences.

The same day Wang Yi met with Namibian President-elect Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah in the national capital of Windhoek.

He said that the 35-year of tradition of Chinese Foreign Ministers travelling first to Africa each year stems from the deep and enduring friendship between China and Africa, noting that whether during their struggle for national independence and liberation or in the pursuit of common development through mutually beneficial cooperation, China and Africa have always understood, trusted, supported and helped each other. (Global Times reported this as “the glorious years of striving for national independence and liberation”, while the Namibian newspaper New Era reported it as “the extraordinary times of fighting for national independence and liberation.”)

China and Iran call for an end to Israeli occupation, an immediate ceasefire, and full troop withdrawal

One of the last high level diplomatic visitors to China in 2024 was Iranian Foreign Minister Seyyed Abbas Araghchi, who held talks in Beijing with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on December 28.

The timing of this important visit is surely not coincidental, coming at the end of a tumultuous year in the West Asia region, with the continuing genocide in Gaza, spreading conflict involving Lebanon, Yemen and other states, exchanges of missile fire between Iran and Israel and, earlier in December, the overthrow of the legitimate Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad by extremist terrorist forces massively backed by outside powers.

At their meeting, Wang said that China called on the international community to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of countries in the Middle East, respect the legitimate and reasonable concerns of those countries, respect the independent choices made by the people of the Middle East, and respect the historical and cultural traditions of countries in that region.

Noting that the Middle East belongs to the people of the Middle East, he added that it is not an arena for major-power rivalry, nor should it be the victim of geopolitical competition among countries outside the region.

According to the Xinhua News Agency, the Chinese Foreign Minister went on to say that the successful meeting between the two heads of state during the 16th BRICS Summit, held in Kazan, Russia, provided strategic guidance for deepening China-Iran relations.

Noting the time-honoured China-Iran relations and the traditional friendship between the two peoples, Wang said that enhanced coordination and cooperation between China and Iran will not only benefit the two peoples, but also contribute to regional and world peace, stability and development. The two sides should continue to support each other on issues concerning their core interests, steadily promote practical cooperation and enhance cooperation in multilateral fields.

He called for closer coordination and cooperation within the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) framework and for the upgrading and strengthening of BRICS cooperation, to better safeguard the common interests of the Global South.

In the face of instability and uncertainty in today’s world, Wang emphasised that China and Iran must stay focused and strengthen solidarity and cooperation, jointly advocate and practice genuine multilateralism, and work for a more just and equitable global governance system.

Araghchi said that developing and deepening the comprehensive strategic partnership between Iran and China is the priority of Iran’s foreign policy, and Iran attaches great importance to China’s important role in upholding justice in international affairs.

The Palestine Chronicle reported that the top diplomats from China and Iran called for the restoration of Palestinian rights and the termination of Israel’s occupation, emphasising the need for an immediate ceasefire, full troop withdrawal, and humanitarian aid.

In a joint statement, it quoted the Anadolu news agency as reporting, the foreign ministers of China and Iran stressed the urgent need to address the Palestinian issue through the restoration of the Palestinian people’s legitimate rights and the end of Israel’s occupation,

The Palestine Chronicle report continued: “This visit marked Foreign Minister Araghchi’s first official trip to China since taking office. During the discussions, the two sides also addressed the situation in Lebanon, urging the effective implementation of the ceasefire agreements, and reiterating their commitment to respecting Syria’s sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity.

Goals behind Trump’s tariffs: cut taxes on rich and escalate New Cold War on China

US president-elect Donald Trump has been touting tariffs as a means to reduce both income taxes and the national debt, which currently exceeds 120 percent of GDP. In the article below, Ben Norton describes these claims as “utterly false, and mathematically absurd”.

Ben notes that, during Trump’s first term, significant tax cuts were enacted, primarily benefiting the wealthiest Americans. These cuts resulted in the richest billionaire families paying a lower effective tax rate than the bottom half of US households. Consequently, federal deficits increased from 3.4 percent of GDP in 2017 to 4.6 percent in 2019, prior to the pandemic-induced surge to 14.7 percent in 2020.

The article observes that “every advanced economy got its start through protectionism”, but that the US from the 1940s has been preaching (and sometimes violently imposing) free trade as a means of opening up markets for its exports. “However, something happened in the 21st century that changed everything: the People’s Republic of China carried out the most remarkable campaign of economic development in history.”

China’s extraordinary rise has taken place in parallel with a sharp decline in US manufacturing and an increasing financialisation of the US economy. “The US capitalist class decided it would much rather be the banker of the world rather than the factory of the world, because creating parasitic financial and tech oligopolies that use monopolistic market control and intellectual property to extract rents is much more profitable than actually making things.”

Trump’s proposed tariffs will not help the US to re-industrialise – such a project would require massive long-term investment in infrastructure, education, and research and development. In reality, tariffs will be used “to justify cutting taxes even further on the rich” and, further, “to escalate the new cold war on China, which is a bipartisan gift to the Military-Industrial Complex that will only distract from the domestic problems caused by the US ruling class and externalise the blame”.

This article originally appeared on Geopolitical Economy.

Donald Trump cited billionaire egghead venture capitalist Marc Andreessen to advocate for high tariffs. Trump argued that tariffs will magically replace the income tax and pay off US public debt (which is more than 120% of GDP). This is utterly false, and mathematically absurd.

For Trump, tariffs are just another convenient excuse to cut taxes on the rich — which will in fact increase the US deficit, and therefore public debt.

Thanks to Trump’s tax cuts during his first term, the richest billionaire families in the US paid a lower effective tax rate than the bottom half of households in the country. Meanwhile, US federal deficits increased from 3.4% of GDP in 2017 to 4.6% of GDP in 2019 (before the deficit blew out to 14.7% of GDP in 2020, due to the necessary stimulus measures during the pandemic).

As Trump continues to reduce taxes on fellow oligarchs, tariffs will decidedly not make up for the lost revenue. A study by the Wharton School, the elite business school of the University of Pennsylvania, estimated that Trump’s economic policies will increase the US deficit by $5.8 trillion over the next decade.

Nevertheless, the sudden interest in tariffs shown by US billionaires is about much more than just taxes; what it is really about is industrial hegemony and economic dominance.

Here is the actual history, which oligarchs like Trump and Andreessen don’t know:

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the United States used tariffs as a form of infant industry protection, to build up its domestic manufacturing capabilities, following the dirigiste ideas of Alexander Hamilton.

Every advanced economy got its start through protectionism (including Great Britain, France, Japan, South Korea, etc.). The state needed to protect infant industries during the initial industrial “catch-up” period, because it is very difficult for a developing economy to compete with a dominant economic power that already has an established industrial base that benefits from economies of scale.

By the 1940s, the US became the dominant industrial power on Earth, especially after World War Two destroyed its competitors in Europe. In 1946, US net exports were 3.2% of GDP; then, in 1947, they were 4.3% of GDP. This was a peak the US would never see again. (US net exports have been negative without exception since 1976, as the US has run the largest consistent current account deficits ever seen in history, which have only been possible to balance due to the fact that the US prints the global reserve currency, and can thus sell more and more Treasury securities and other financial assets to foreign holders of dollars.)

In the 1940s, US industry no longer had significant competition, so Washington lifted tariffs and began to preach “free trade”. This benefited the US, because at that time it had a large surplus, and insufficient domestic demand, so by imposing “free trade” (often forcibly), it could open new markets for its exports.

The US wasn’t concerned about losing local market share to a foreign manufacturer, because there weren’t any left at the top of the value chain. So US companies could dominate both foreign and domestic markets.

What the United States did was not unique; the British empire did the exact same thing in the mid 19th century. After the UK established industrial dominance, it repealed the Corn Laws in 1846, moved away from strict protectionism, and began to impose “free trade” on its colonies. (This history was detailed by economist Ha-Joon Chang in his groundbreaking book Kicking Away the Ladder.)

However, something happened in the 21st century that changed everything: the People’s Republic of China carried out the most remarkable campaign of economic development in history.

By 2016, China overtook the United States as the largest economy on Earth (when GDP is measured at purchasing power parity, according to IMF data).

Even more importantly, China rapidly industrialized and established itself as
the “world’s sole manufacturing superpower”, responsible for 35% of global gross production.

Meanwhile, the US lost its industrial hegemony, due to the deindustrialization and financialization of its economy in the neoliberal era. The US capitalist class decided it would much rather be the banker of the world rather than the factory of the world, because creating parasitic financial and tech oligopolies that use monopolistic market control and intellectual property to extract rents is much more profitable than actually making things.

Just 10% of US GDP consists of manufacturing. More than double, 21%, is made up by the FIRE sector: finance, insurance, and real estate.

Today, US companies can no longer compete with Chinese firms. So what is the response of the US government, which is the representative of US monopoly capital? It has abandoned the “free trade” ideology it had spent decades imposing on the world, and has instead returned to its old strident protectionism.

During his first administration, Trump launched a trade war on China. But this is totally bipartisan (as is the case with almost all US wars). Joe Biden has continued Trump’s trade and tech war on China, imposing even more tariffs.

Demagogues such as Trump like to scapegoat China for the problems that were caused by US oligarchs like him and Andreessen, who got much, much, much richer thanks to the deindustrialization and correspondent financialization of the US economy.

Now they think tariffs are the panacea that will fix everything. But they won’t, because the US industrial base has seriously eroded, and that can’t be rebuilt quickly; it takes many years.

Even more importantly, billionaire oligarchs on Wall Street — who are close friends and allies of Trump, Andreessen, Vivek Ramaswamy, and Elon Musk — will fight tooth and nail against a significant devaluation of the dollar, which would be needed to re-industrialize, reduce production costs, and disincentive imports. Financial speculators want a strong dollar, to keep inflating the biggest bubble in the history of US capital markets.

So the logical result of this is that Trump will use tariffs not truly to re-industrialize, but rather for two main reasons: one, to justify cutting taxes even further on the rich (thereby increasing US public debt, which will be pointed to to demand neoliberal austerity and slashes to social spending); and two, to escalate the new cold war on China, which is a bipartisan gift to the Military-Industrial Complex that will only distract from the domestic problems caused by the US ruling class and externalize the blame.

China’s success can lead climate battle, say experts

The following article by Yang Ran, first published in China Daily, provides a useful overview of the unprecedented climate challenges faced by the world in 2024: “This year has seen a series of devastating extreme weather events, including wildfires in Canada and the Amazon, heat waves in France, Mali, and Mexico, fatal floods in Spain, Nepal, and Sudan, and destructive cyclones in the United States and Southeast Africa.” Of nearly 750 extreme weather events and trends recorded over the course of the year, three-quarters “were made more likely or severe due to climate change”.

The need for urgent global action and cooperation could hardly be clearer, and yet the developed countries are failing to take the necessary steps, and in many cases are moving backwards.

The recent COP29 conference in Azerbaijan reached a climate finance deal in which wealthy nations agreed to provide $300 billion annually by 2035 to help poorer countries with energy transition and climate change mitigation. However, this “falls far short of the $1.3 trillion that experts believe is needed”. Meanwhile, economic downturn is leading Western governments to deprioritise their climate goals, and the US and its allies are privileging anti-China measures (including tariffs and sanctions on electric vehicles and solar panels) over climate cooperation. Donald Trump’s threat to withdraw the US from the Paris Agreement (again) complicates matters further.

The article quotes Teng Fei, deputy director of Tsinghua University’s Institute of Energy, Environment, and Economy: “Trade wars and tariffs initiated by the EU (European Union) and the US actually hinder global efforts to reduce emissions — such approaches disrupt the global industrial chain and may even increase the global cost of renewable energy.”

China in recent years has invested heavily in renewable energy, electric vehicles and low-carbon industry, emerging as by far the global leader in these fields. China’s commitment has led to dramatic global price reductions in solar and wind energy. The world urgently needs the developed countries to follow China’s example.

The year 2024 was marked by unprecedented climate challenges, with record-breaking heat and increasingly severe weather events becoming the new norm. Climate change, a topic that has dominated global headlines for years, has become more of a reality, rather than an impending crisis.

In early December, the Copernicus Climate Change Service announced that 2024 was almost certain to be the hottest year on record, surpassing records dating back to 1940. Last year was also set to be the first one in which the global average temperature exceeded the 1.5 C limit above pre-industrial levels, a critical threshold established by the Paris Agreement.

The agreement aims for “keeping a global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius”.

Teng Fei, deputy director of Tsinghua University’s Institute of Energy, Environment, and Economy, said that while this does not indicate a breach of the Paris Agreement — since the temperature target is based on a long-term average — it does highlight a worrying warming trend. “From now on, each year might be the hottest on record, but also the coolest we’ll see in the future,” Teng said.

This year has also seen a series of devastating extreme weather events, including wildfires in Canada and the Amazon, heat waves in France, Mali, and Mexico, fatal floods in Spain, Nepal, and Sudan, and destructive cyclones in the United States and Southeast Africa.

According to a study published in November by Carbon Brief, a United Kingdom-based climate website, 74 percent of nearly 750 extreme weather events and trends were made more likely or severe due to climate change. Some events were deemed virtually impossible without human influence on global temperatures.

Studies on attributing extreme weather events confirm that human-caused climate change significantly impacts the frequency, severity, and likelihood of these events.

“More than half the weather and climate disaster losses in China can be attributed to climate change,” Teng said.

“As temperatures rise, human-induced climate change will increasingly contribute to extreme weather. Both the frequency and intensity of these events will grow as climate change worsens.”

Despite the growing evidence of climate change’s impact, global efforts to combat it remain insufficient. Ma Jun, director of the Beijing-based Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, said despite a controlled growth rate, global emissions are still rising.

Serbian Foreign Minister: Deepening cooperation with China has become a social consensus in Serbia

Foreign Minister of Serbia Marko Djurić visited China in late December 2024 and held talks with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Tianjin on December 20.

Wang Yi said that 2024 is a great year for China-Serbia relations. During President Xi Jinping’s successful state visit to Serbia in May, the two heads of state decided to build a China-Serbia community with a shared future in the new era, opening a new chapter in bilateral relations. The traditional friendship between China and Serbia was established in their joint opposition to power politics and bullying, forged in the struggle to defend independence and sovereignty, and nurtured through mutually beneficial cooperation and common development. Having withstood the test of the changing international landscape, bilateral friendship will only grow stronger over time, and as a result, the two countries have become true ironclad friends.

Serbia is welcome to board the express train of China’s development and join hands with China to realise their respective modernisation. China will continue to firmly support Serbia in safeguarding national sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity, and will continue to support Serbia’s development and growth.

Marko Djurić said that under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC), China has completed poverty alleviation and made admirable great achievements in development. President Xi Jinping is a dearly beloved friend of the Serbian people, and his historic visit to Serbia has elevated bilateral relations to a new height. The relationship with China is a cornerstone of Serbia’s diplomacy, and deepening cooperation with China has become a cross-party and social consensus in Serbia.

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

On December 20, 2024, Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Foreign Minister Wang Yi held talks with Serbian Foreign Minister Marko Djurić in Tianjin.

Wang Yi asked Marko Djurić to convey President Xi Jinping’s sincere greetings to President Aleksandar Vučić. Wang Yi said that this year is a great year for China-Serbia relations. During President Xi Jinping’s successful state visit to Serbia in May this year, the two heads of state decided to build a China-Serbia community with a shared future in the new era, opening a new chapter in bilateral relations. The traditional friendship between China and Serbia was established in their joint opposition to power politics and bullying, forged in the struggle to defend independence and sovereignty, and nurtured through mutually beneficial cooperation and common development. Having withstood the test of the changing international landscape, bilateral friendship will only grow stronger over time, and as a result, the two countries have become true ironclad friends. China-Serbia relations stay at the forefront of the times and follow the right direction of history. China is ready to work with Serbia to continuously create new prospects for bilateral relations.

Wang Yi said that China’s economy maintains high-quality growth, remaining at the forefront among major economies. China is constantly improving its high-standard opening-up system, which will not only provide impetus for China’s development, but also will provide new cooperation opportunities for Serbia and other countries in the world. Serbia is welcome to board the express train of China’s development and join hands with China to realize their respective modernization. China will continue to firmly support Serbia in safeguarding national sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity, and will continue to support Serbia’s development and growth. China appreciates Serbia’s positive response to and participation in the three global initiatives put forward by President Xi Jinping, and their joint efforts to uphold international fairness and justice.

Marko Djurić conveyed President Aleksandar Vučić’s sincere greetings to President Xi Jinping and extended congratulations on the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. Marko Djurić said that under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC), China has completed poverty alleviation and made admirable great achievements in development. The Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee was successfully convened, with over 300 reform measures formulated to lay a solid foundation for future development. President Xi Jinping is a dearly beloved friend of the Serbian people, and his historic visit to Serbia has elevated bilateral relations to a new height. The relationship with China is a cornerstone of Serbia’s diplomacy, and deepening cooperation with China has become a cross-party and social consensus in Serbia. Serbia will continue to steadfastly pursue the one-China policy and firmly support China in safeguarding its national sovereignty and territorial integrity. Serbia looks forward to working with China to follow through on the important common understandings reached between the two heads of state, maintain high-level exchanges, strengthen economic cooperation, enhance connectivity, and promote greater development in bilateral relations. China plays a balancing and constructive role in international affairs. Serbia supports all the major initiatives put forward by China and backs the advancement of China’s cooperation with Central and Eastern European countries. Serbia looks forward to close communication and coordination with China to jointly tackle global challenges.

The two sides had an exchange of views on the Ukraine crisis and the situation in the Middle East.

Death anniversary of Canadian surgeon Norman Bethune commemorated in China

The following article, which we reprint from the Xinhua News Agency, reports on a commemorative event held in Shijiazhuang, the capital of China’s Hebei Province, on December 21, 2024, to honour the memory of Canadian internationalist surgeon and member of the Communist Party of Canada, Norman Bethune.

November 12, 2024, was the 85^th anniversary of Bethune’s death at the age of 49 from blood poisoning, while assisting the Chinese people in their war of resistance against Japanese aggression. Earlier he had served in the International Brigades supporting the Spanish Republic in the fight against fascism.

December 21, 2024, marked the 85^th anniversary of the publication of Mao Zedong’s article, ‘In Memory of Norman Bethune’, one of the most famous writings of the late Chinese leader.

The Xinhua article highlighted the participation in the commemoration of Michael Crook. The son of internationalist communist fighters David and Isabel Crook, Michael is the Chairman of the International Committee for the Promotion of Chinese Industrial Cooperatives (known as ‘Gung Ho’) and a member of the Friends of Socialist China advisory group.

“My father met Norman Bethune in Spain during his recovery from battle injuries. Influenced by him, my father aspired to come to China, where he met my mother and later had me,” the article quotes Michael as saying.

We also reproduce – from the Marxist Internet Archive – Chairman Mao’s article, in which he writes:

“What kind of spirit is this that makes a foreigner selflessly adopt the cause of the Chinese people’s liberation as his own? It is the spirit of internationalism, the spirit of communism, from which every Chinese Communist must learn. Leninism teaches that the world revolution can only succeed if the proletariat of the capitalist countries supports the struggle for liberation of the colonial and semi-colonial peoples and if the proletariat of the colonies and semi-colonies supports that of the proletariat of the capitalist countries. Comrade Bethune put this Leninist line into practice. We Chinese Communists must also follow this line in our practice. We must unite with the proletariat of all the capitalist countries, with the proletariat of Japan, Britain, the United States, Germany, Italy and all other capitalist countries, for this is the only way to overthrow imperialism, to liberate our nation and people and to liberate the other nations and peoples of the world… Comrade Bethune’s spirit, his utter devotion to others without any thought of self, was shown in his great sense of responsibility in his work and his great warm-heartedness towards all comrades and the people.”

Death anniversary of Canadian surgeon Norman Bethune commemorated in China

A commemoration event was held in north China’s Hebei Province on Saturday to honor Canadian surgeon Norman Bethune for his selflessness and spirit of internationalism.

Titled “Memories Through Time and Space,” the event was hosted by the North China Military Martyrs Cemetery in the provincial capital Shijiazhuang.

Around 100 people, including soldiers, students and individuals from various walks of life, attended the event.

This year marks the 85th death anniversary of Bethune, who died of blood poisoning at the age of 49 on Nov. 12, 1939 in China while aiding the Chinese people in their fight against Japanese aggression. His remains were relocated to the cemetery in 1953.

The commemoration began at 10 a.m., with participants bowing before the surgeon’s tomb and presenting flower baskets.

“My father met Norman Bethune in Spain during his recovery from battle injuries. Influenced by him, my father aspired to come to China, where he met my mother and later had me,” said Michael Crook, chairman of the International Committee for the Promotion of Chinese Industrial Cooperatives.

His parents, David and Isabel Crook, played an important role in training a large number of foreign-language professionals for China.

“The spirit of Bethune has not faded with time; instead, it has been widely inherited and carried forward in both China and Canada,” said Hu Jinqiang, director of the North China Military Martyrs Cemetery.

Hu noted that today Bethune is not just a name but a symbol of internationalism, humanism and selfless dedication. “We commemorate him to inspire more people to remember history and carry forward his spirit.”

In memory of Norman Bethune

Comrade Norman Bethune,[1] a member of the Communist Party of Canada, was around fifty when he was sent by the Communist Parties of Canada and the United States to China; he made light of travelling thousands of miles to help us in our War of Resistance Against Japan. He arrived in Yenan in the spring of last year, went to work in the Wutai Mountains, and to our great sorrow died a martyr at his post. What kind of spirit is this that makes a foreigner selflessly adopt the cause of the Chinese people’s liberation as his own? It is the spirit of internationalism, the spirit of communism, from which every Chinese Communist must learn. Leninism teaches that the world revolution can only succeed if the proletariat of the capitalist countries supports the struggle for liberation of the colonial and semi-colonial peoples and if the proletariat of the colonies and semi-colonies supports that of the proletariat of the capitalist countries.[2] Comrade Bethune put this Leninist line into practice. We Chinese Communists must also follow this line in our practice. We must unite with the proletariat of all the capitalist countries, with the proletariat of Japan, Britain, the United States, Germany, Italy and all other capitalist countries, for this is the only way to overthrow imperialism, to liberate our nation and people and to liberate the other nations and peoples of the world. This is our internationalism, the internationalism with which we oppose both narrow nationalism and narrow patriotism.

Comrade Bethune’s spirit, his utter devotion to others without any thought of self, was shown in his great sense of responsibility in his work and his great warm-heartedness towards all comrades and the people. Every Communist must learn from him. There are not a few people who are irresponsible in their work, preferring the light and shirking the heavy, passing the burdensome tasks on to others and choosing the easy ones for themselves. At every turn they think of themselves before others. When they make some small contribution, they swell with pride and brag about it for fear that others will not know. They feel no warmth towards comrades and the people but are cold, indifferent and apathetic. In truth such people are not Communists, or at least cannot be counted as devoted Communists. No one who returned from the front failed to express admiration for Bethune whenever his name was mentioned, and none remained unmoved by his spirit. In the Shansi-Chahar-Hopei border area, no soldier or civilian was unmoved who had been treated by Dr. Bethune or had seen how he worked. Every Communist must learn this true communist spirit from Comrade Bethune.

Comrade Bethune was a doctor, the art of healing was his profession and he was constantly perfecting his skill, which stood very high in the Eighth Route Army’s medical service. His example is an excellent lesson for those people who wish to change their work the moment they see something different and for those who despise technical work as of no consequence or as promising no future.

Comrade Bethune and I met only once. Afterwards he wrote me many letters. But I was busy, and I wrote him only one letter and do not even know if he ever received it. I am deeply grieved over his death. Now we are all commemorating him, which shows how profoundly his spirit inspires everyone. We must all learn the spirit of absolute selflessness from him. With this spirit everyone can be very useful to the people. A man’s ability may be great or small, but if he has this spirit, he is already noble-minded and pure, a man of moral integrity and above vulgar interests, a man who is of value to the people.

NOTES

1. The distinguished surgeon Norman Bethune was a member of the Canadian Communist Party. In 1936 when the German and Italian fascist bandits invaded Spain, he went to the front and worked for the anti-fascist Spanish people. In order to help the Chinese people in their War of Resistance Against Japan, he came to China at the head of a medical team and arrived in Yenan in the spring of 1938. Soon after he went to the Shansi-Chahar-Hopei border area. Imbued with ardent internationalism and the great communist spirit, he served the army and the people of the Liberated Areas for nearly two years. He contracted blood poisoning while operating on wounded soldiers and died in Tanghsien, Hopei, on November 12, 1939

2. See J. V. Stalin, “The Foundations of Leninism”, Problems of Leninism, Eng. ed., FLPH, Moscow, 1954, pp. 70-79.

Liu Jianchao meets with Senior Vice Chairman of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre)

Liu Jianchao, Minister of the International Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee (IDCPC), met with Narayan Kaji Shrestha, Senior Vice Chairman of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) on 9 December 2024.

Liu said that the CPC is ready to strengthen friendly exchanges and political dialogue with the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre), deepen experience exchanges and mutual learning of party management and governance, and enhance cooperation between the two parties and the two countries.

Shrestha said, China has all along respected Nepal’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, supported Nepal’s economic and social development, and lent a helping hand to Nepal in difficult times. China is a good friend of Nepal who has shared weal and woe. The Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) supports the two countries in signing a framework agreement on cooperation in the joint construction of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and is willing to strengthen exchanges at all levels with the CPC, promote exchanges and cooperation in party school, think tank, local government and other fields, deepen exchanges and mutual learning of experience in state governance and administration, and promote the development of the socialist cause.

Earlier, on 20 November 2024, Liu had met with General Secretary Shankar Pokhrel of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist).

The following article was originally published on the IDCPC website.

Beijing, December 9th—Liu Jianchao, Minister of the International Department of the CPC Central Committee (IDCPC), met here today with Narayan Kaji Shrestha, Senior Vice Chairman of Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Center).

Liu said, not long ago, President Xi Jinping met with Nepal’s Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli in Beijing, charting the course for the future development of bilateral relations. China has always pursued a friendly policy towards Nepal and is willing to work with Nepal to implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, firmly safeguard each other’s core interests, and promote cooperation such as the joint construction of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The CPC is ready to strengthen friendly exchanges and political dialogue with the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Center), deepen experience exchanges and mutual learning of party management and governance, and enhance cooperation between the two Parties and the two countries. It is hoped that major political parties of Nepal, including the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Center), will continue to contribute to China-Nepal friendship.

Shrestha said, China has all along respected Nepal’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, supported Nepal’s economic and social development, and lent a helping hand to Nepal in difficult times. China is a good friend of Nepal who has shared weal and woe. The Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Center) supports the two countries in signing a framework agreement on cooperation in the joint construction of the BRI, and is willing to strengthen exchanges at all levels with the CPC, promote exchanges and cooperation in party school, think tank, local government and other fields, deepen exchanges and mutual learning of experience in state governance and administration, and promote the development of the socialist cause.

Sun Haiyan, Vice-minister of the IDCPC, was present.

Canada should focus on its own human rights issues

In the following commentary, which was originally published by Global Times, the Canadian writer and anti-imperialist activist Arnold August addresses the Canadian government’s slanderous attacks on China’s human rights record, especially in Xinjiang and Xizang (Tibet), and contrasts this to Canada’s own lamentable record.

Arnold notes that: “As part of this disinformation campaign, Canadian authorities, Western ‘Tibetan’ advocacy groups and corporate press refer to the ‘suppression of Tibetans’. They point to boarding schools or ‘camps’ in Xizang and neighbouring Qinghai Province, where approximately one-fifth of the population is Tibetan. In a baseless charge made on December 10, Ottawa claimed that Tibetans held in ‘camps’ faced ‘psychological, physical, or sexual violence’ and lacked ‘freedom of religion and expression.’”

He continues: “The following is a testimony of a youth in a boarding school, also known as a residential school: The authorities constantly berated him, beat him, barred him from speaking his language and practicing his culture, and sexually assaulted him. Did this incident occur in China? No, it happened in Canada. Moreover, multiply this by hundreds of thousands.

“It has been revealed that in Canada, more than 150,000 Indigenous children were forced to attend residential schools and an estimated 6,000 children died in these institutions. However, experts suggest the number based on unmarked graves could be higher.”

He also draws attention to the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, commissioned by the [outgoing] Trudeau government itself, which issued its report in 2019. “It concluded that violence experienced by thousands of Indigenous women and girls is part of a ‘genocide.’ The Canadian government formally received it but did not act on it.”

This, Arnold notes, prompted a Member of Parliament from the New Democratic Party (NDP – Canada’s main social democratic party) to table a bill to end ‘residential school denialism’ by making it a criminal offence. “Yet, this was also ignored.”

Further noting the contamination by mercury of the water used by the people of the Asubpeeschoseewagong (also known as Grassy Narrows) First Nation, in Northern Ontario, which is still leading to fatalities after three generations, Albert contrasts it to the cafeteria in a boarding school he visited in a Tibetan minority area of Qinghai Province, adding that, “the quality and variety of the food and beverages available… would be the envy of many Canadian students from working-class families.”

Canada, he concludes, should focus on the well-being of its own people, who would benefit from further development of economic ties with China.

China has decided to impose countermeasures against two Canadian organizations as well as 20 personnel from these organizations in accordance with the Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law. The decision took effect on December 21, 2024.

China’s measures responded to the Canadian government’s Human Rights Day announcement on December 10. On a day devoted to honoring human rights, rather than examining Canada’s human rights records, the Justin Trudeau government imposed sanctions on Chinese officials for the so-called violation of human rights in Xinjiang and Xizang. The slanders against China regarding Xinjiang and the Uygurs have been widely debunked, including by countless visitors there.

As part of this disinformation campaign, Canadian authorities, Western “Tibetan” advocacy groups and corporate press refer to the “suppression of Tibetans.” They point to boarding schools or “camps” in Xizang and neighboring Qinghai Province, where approximately one-fifth of the population is Tibetan. In a baseless charge made on December 10, Ottawa claimed that Tibetans held in “camps” faced “psychological, physical, or sexual violence” and lacked “freedom of religion and expression.”

Ambassador Fu Cong condemns Israel’s continuing war crimes in Gaza

At the start of the new year, China’s Ambassador to the United Nations Fu Cong has condemned Israel’s continuing war crimes in Gaza and especially the attack on the Kamal Adwan Hospital.

Speaking at a January 3 Security Council Briefing on the Situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian Question, called by Algeria, which this month holds the rotating presidency of the council, Fu Cong said:

“As the new year begins, people all expect everything to take on a fresh look. Yet in Gaza, death continues to cast its shadow, and the bombings and attacks by Israel do not cease even for a moment. For the people in Gaza, they were not counting down to the happy celebration of the new year, but the next bombing that could happen anytime.”

He added that, “Right before the new year, a heinous tragedy took place in northern Gaza.” Israel had attacked the Kamal Adwan Hospital, “the only remaining comprehensive medical service institution in northern Gaza, forcibly detaining medical and care personnel, forcibly transferring innocent patients, causing the deaths of a large number of people, and plunging the hospital into a sea of fire. This act seriously violates international law, in particular international humanitarian law. It is appalling and China strongly condemns this.”

Moreover: “It is not the first time that Kamal Adwan Hospital has been attacked, nor is it the only hospital in Gaza that has been attacked. According to the OHCHR [the Office of the [UN} High Commissioner for Human Rights] report, by June 2024, at least 27 hospitals and 12 medical institutions in Gaza have been subject to 136 attacks, which claimed the lives of over 500 medical personnel… There is also analysis indicating that the lethal attacks launched by Israel against the medical institutions in Gaza to bring the medical system in Gaza to the brink of collapse are part of the systematic strategy to make Gaza uninhabitable.”

He urged Israel to “stop turning hospitals into battlefields, stop launching attacks on medical facilities, ensure the safety of medical institutions and personnel, and release all medical personnel detained.”

We reprint below the full text of Ambassador Fu Cong’s remarks. They were originally published on the website of China’s Permanent Mission to the UN.

President.

At the outset, I wish to congratulate Algeria on assuming the Presidency of the Security Council for this month. I welcome Denmark, Greece, Pakistan, Panama, and Somalia to officially take part in the Council’s work. China looks forward to working with all Council members for the Security Council to effectively fulfill its mandate under the UN Charter in 2025.

I thank Algeria for the initiative to hold today’s meeting. I thank High Commissioner for Human Rights Mr. Volker Türk, Dr. Richard Peeperkorn, and Dr. Tanya Haj Hassan for their briefings.

As the new year begins, people all expect everything to take on a fresh look. Yet in Gaza, death continues to cast its shadow, and the bombings and attacks by Israel do not cease even for a moment. For the people in Gaza, they were not counting down to the happy celebration of the new year, but the next bombing that could happen anytime.

Right before the new year, a heinous tragedy took place in northern Gaza. The Israeli force launched an attack on Kamal Adwan Hospital, the only remaining comprehensive medical service institution in northern Gaza, forcibly detaining medical and care personnel, forcibly transferring innocent patients, causing the deaths of a large number of people, and plunging the hospital into a sea of fire. This act seriously violates international law, in particular international humanitarian law. It is appalling, and China strongly condemns this.