Friends of Socialist China, Author at Friends of Socialist China

Wang Yi attends meeting of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation foreign ministers

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi attended the Meeting of the Council of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Member States, held in Cholpon-Ata, Kyrgyzstan on July 24.

Addressing the meeting, Wang Yi stated that the SCO Tianjin Summit, held in August-September 2025, mapped out a strategic blueprint for the organisation’s development over the next decade and opened a new stage of high-quality development. Seven cooperation platforms in green industry, digital economy, scientific and technological innovation, energy, higher education, vocational and technical education, and artificial intelligence have been launched, generating more than 160 projects. Nearly three-quarters of the planned 10 GW solar PV and wind power projects have been implemented, while over two-thirds of the 100 ‘small and beautiful’ livelihood programs have been approved.

Wang Yi noted that this year marks the 25th anniversary of the SCO. From the early days when six countries enhanced military trust in border areas and combated terrorism, separatism and extremism, to the present when 27 countries, representing nearly half of the world’s population, are engaged in cooperation across more than 50 fields, the SCO has consistently upheld the ‘Shanghai Spirit’ of mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for diversity of civilisations, and pursuit of common development, continuously expanding the path of a new type of international relations and multilateral cooperation. Currently, profound changes unseen in a century are accelerating, and the world is experiencing tremendous turbulence and transformation. The international community expects the SCO to promote regional security and development and to resolve global governance challenges. The development strategy for the next decade makes clear that member states will deepen cooperation and make greater contributions to building a more democratic and just multipolar world.

Wang Yi put forward four proposals:

The SCO should continue to uphold the ‘Shanghai Spirit’ as its fundamental guiding principle in handling internal affairs and conducting external exchanges, strengthen strategic mutual trust, maintain solidarity and coordination, firmly support one another, and remain open and inclusive.

The SCO should strengthen the firewall for peace and stability by consistently advocating dialogue to settle disputes, consultation to resolve differences and cooperation to safeguard peace.

The SCO should inject stronger momentum into win-win development by strengthening synergy between national development strategies and regional cooperation initiatives.

The SCO should build a model zone for global governance by safeguarding the authority and role of the United Nations, upholding the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and the basic norms governing international relations, and working together with nearly 160 participants in the Global Governance Initiative and over 120 UN member states who support deeper cooperation with the SCO to explore an effective global governance model with broad participation. The SCO should also improve its own operational mechanisms and welcome more countries to join the organisation.

The SCO foreign ministers adopted a joint statement, in which they reaffirmed their commitment to multilateral cooperation, regional security and a more representative and inclusive multipolar world.

The member states reiterated the SCO’s commitment to the principles of not targeting other states and organisations, mutual respect for sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity, non-interference in internal affairs, and non-use of force or threats of using force in international relations.

The statement said the world today is entering a new period of rapid development and profound transformation. The role of Global South countries continues to grow, emerging economic and political centres are playing an increasingly prominent role, countries are becoming increasingly intertwined and interconnected, and the process of informatisation and digitalisation is constantly accelerating.

Amid rising global and regional security threats, the ministers expressed deep concern over the developments in the Middle East and around Iran. They reaffirmed the principled position regarding the condemnation of military strikes against Iran as outlined in the Tianjin Declaration adopted at the 25th Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the SCO on September 1, 2025, holding that such acts of aggression constitute a grave violation of the UN Charter and the principles and norms of international law.

The ministers once again expressed their sincere condolences over the tragic death of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and extended their sympathies to the Iranian government and people as well as his family.

Meanwhile, the council reaffirmed that Central Asia is the core region of the SCO, supports the efforts of Central Asian countries to maintain peace and security in their own countries and the region, and advocates that the SCO play an active role in further consolidating stability and promoting economic and social development there.

The member states regarded unilateral coercive measures, including economic sanctions, that violate the UN Charter and other norms of international law as unacceptable, saying such measures impede international cooperation and the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

The member states also advocated further expanding mutual trade among SCO countries to create more opportunities for businesses.

The next SCO Summit, marking its 25th anniversary, will be held in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek from August 31-September 1.

China–Ethiopia AI cooperation delivers life-saving weather forecasting

Two days after the Financial Times warned darkly of China’s “AI diplomacy” in the Global South, here is what that supposedly sinister campaign consists of in practice.

The Xinhua News Agency reports on China–Ethiopia cooperation in artificial intelligence and emerging technologies, centred on something relatively unglamorous yet genuinely life-saving: weather forecasting. The Ethiopian Meteorological Institute has been working closely with the China Meteorological Administration, and most of the institute’s experts have now been trained at Chinese institutions – short courses and full academic programmes covering satellite data analysis, climate forecasting models, atmospheric research and disaster risk management.

The centrepiece is the deployment of MAZU, China’s AI-powered multi-hazard early warning platform, which combines machine learning with physical forecasting models and meteorological satellite data. Ethiopian scientists, trained by visiting Chinese colleagues, now operate it themselves to issue real-time alerts for droughts and flash floods. This has profound significance for a country on the front line of a climate crisis it did nothing to create: accurate early warning of drought and flooding is the difference between a managed emergency and a humanitarian catastrophe.

Ethiopia is the first country in Africa to receive the system, and the institute’s deputy director general says it intends to become a regional knowledge hub, sharing its expertise with meteorological services across the continent – technology transferred, then transferred onward, on African terms.

Ethiopia also became one of the 29 founding members of the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organisation (WAICO) in Shanghai on 16 July, a body whose stated purpose is to ensure that AI development is “beneficial, safe, and fair”.

China and Brazil pledge mutual support

Chinese President Xi Jinping took a phone call from Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on July 27.

President Xi noted that in recent years, China and Brazil have made good progress in building a community with a shared future and synergising development strategies. This has played an important role in promoting respective national development and the wellbeing of the two peoples and provided much-needed stability for the turbulent world.

Xi stressed that facing new circumstances and new challenges, China and Brazil, as important members of the Global South, should firmly stand on the right side of history and the progress of human civilisation, and play a more constructive role in reforming and improving the global governance system and upholding international fairness and justice. The two sides should jointly advance the high-quality development of greater BRICS cooperation, steer it in the right direction, maintain BRICS solidarity, produce more outcomes, and write a new chapter of uniting for strength within the Global South. China values Brazil’s international standing and important influence, supports its efforts in safeguarding sovereignty and independence, opposing external interference, and maintaining peace and stability in the region and the world.

President Lula said that the building of a Brazil-China community with a shared future for a more just world and a more sustainable planet has made sound progress, cooperation across various areas has enjoyed fast development, bilateral trade has reached a record high, and activities under the Brazil-China Year of Culture have solidified the foundation of popular support for friendship between the two countries.

Brazil is ready to step up multilateral coordination with China, uphold the authority of the UN, strengthen BRICS solidarity and cooperation, firmly safeguard multilateralism and oppose power politics, and stay committed to resolving hotspots through dialogue and consultation so as to jointly safeguard international fairness and justice and world peace and stability.

The call between the two heads of state was preceded by a meeting between the two countries’ foreign ministers on July 22. Wang Yi and his Brazilian counterpart Mauro Vieira met in the Philippines’ capital Manila in the margins of meetings convened by ASEAN, the Association of South East Asian Nations.

Wang Yi noted that under the strategic guidance of the two presidents, China and Brazil have made positive progress in jointly building a community with a shared future for a more just world and a more sustainable planet. The two countries’ comprehensive strategic partnership has always been at the forefront of the world, and it is necessary for both sides to maintain strategic communication, strengthen strategic coordination and deepen strategic cooperation. Brazil is an emerging economy with global influence and a representative force of the Global South. China is pleased to see Brazil playing a greater role in international affairs and appreciates Brazil’s efforts in speaking up for justice and upholding fairness for developing countries. China will continue to support Brazil in safeguarding its sovereignty, security and development interests, and believes that Brazil will, as always, respect and support China in upholding its core interests.

Mauro Vieira stated that Brazil looks forward to working with China to further deepen cooperation in such fields as finance and trade and to strengthen coordination on multilateral platforms including the United Nations and BRICS. Brazil is very pleased to join the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization initiated by China and looks forward to taking this as an opportunity to advance cooperation on scientific and technological innovation.

These diplomatic moves come against a backdrop of increased US pressure and threats against Brazil. Reporting on the foreign ministers’ meeting, the South China Morning Post noted that:

“Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Brazil that Beijing would continue to support its sovereignty, security, and development interests hours after a 25 per cent US tariff on Brazilian goods took effect.”

It added: “The US has imposed tariffs tied in part to the prosecution of the former president Jair Bolsonaro, and this month designated the First Capital Command and the Red Command as foreign terrorist organisations”, [which can provide a pretext for hostile acts on the part of the United States up to and including military intervention]…

“Brazilian Development, Industry and Trade Minister Marcio Elias Rosa said US officials argued during the talks [that preceded the US imposition of tariffs] that critical minerals exploration should be denied to entities that do not operate on market terms, a reference to Beijing.

“Rare earths and critical minerals ‘belong to the Brazilian people’, he said, adding that his team rejected the proposal.”

Then, on July 25, it was reported that Brazil had rejected visa applications from two US Department of State officials over concerns that their visit could support groups questioning Brazil’s electoral system.

Riley M. Barnes, assistant secretary from the State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, and Samuel Samson, deputy assistant secretary from the same bureau, had submitted their visa applications to the Brazilian government on July 20, planning to meet with far-right presidential candidate Flavio Bolsonaro and other right-wing figures.

Brazil will hold the first round of its presidential election on October 4, with a potential runoff scheduled for October 25.

Wang Yi meets Britain’s new foreign secretary Ed Miliband

Following his appointment on July 20 as Britain’s foreign secretary by new prime minister Andy Burnham, Ed Miliband attended meetings around the ASEAN Regional Forum, held this year in the Philippines’ capital Manila, later in the week.

Among Miliband’s bilateral meetings was that with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, held on the morning of July 23.

Wang Yi congratulated Ed Miliband on assuming his new post and noted that as major countries in the world and permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, China and the UK have a relationship that goes beyond the bilateral scope and carries global significance. He further expressed the hope that the UK will abide by the one-China principle, safeguard the political foundation of bilateral relations, provide a fair, just and non-discriminatory business environment for Chinese enterprises in the UK, and avoid securitising economic and trade issues.

Wang added that the vision of building a community with a shared future for humanity and the four major global initiatives put forward by President Xi Jinping address the deficits in peace, development, security and governance facing the international community, articulate the vision and goals of China’s diplomacy, and provide important public goods for the world. China and the UK need to work together to transcend differences, jointly uphold multilateralism, support the revitalisation of the core role of the United Nations, oppose unilateral bullying and protectionism, and make greater contributions to world peace and development.

Ed Miliband stated that the new UK government attaches great importance to its relations with China. As major countries with significant influence in the world, the UK and China should continue to strengthen cooperation on global security, health and development issues. The UK is ready to strengthen exchanges at all levels with China, expand cooperation in areas such as climate change, and enhance multilateral communication and coordination.

As indicated in Wang’s above remarks, China is adopting a positive attitude towards relations with the new British government. However, Burnham’s government will need to responsibly address a serious problem it has inherited from the previous administration of Keir Starmer, namely the expropriation of the Scunthorpe steel plant hitherto owned by China’s Jingye company. The importance China places on this can be discerned from the headline given by the Xinhua News Agency to its report on the meeting, ‘Chinese FM urges Britain to avoid imposing security implications on economic, trade issues’.

Speaking at a reception held at his embassy that evening to mark the 99th anniversary of the founding of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA), Chinese ambassador to the UK Zheng Zeguang described his foreign minister’s meeting with Miliband earlier in the day as having been “very productive”.

On his X social media account, Miliband wrote: “Our relationship with China matters – for security, the economy and climate.

“Glad to discuss Ukraine and the Middle East with Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

“We are taking a consistent, long term and strategic approach to relations with China, rooted in UK and global interests.”

Miliband last visited China in March 2025 as Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero.

On July 20, Chinese Premier Li Qiang had congratulated Andy Burnham on his assuming office as British prime minister.

Li said China and Britain are both permanent members of the UN Security Council and major global economies. Stronger dialogue and cooperation will not only advance the development of both countries but also contribute to greater stability and global peace.

Li further expressed his readiness to work with Burnham to strengthen engagement, deepen mutual trust, expand exchanges and cooperation, and advance the long-term and stable comprehensive strategic partnership, bringing greater benefits to both countries and their peoples.

Andy Burnham previously led a trade mission to China in September 2018 as Mayor of Greater Manchester.

Celebrating a different form of modernisation

The following article by Sara Flounders marks the 105th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China and the 90th anniversary of the victory of the Long March, reflecting on China’s distinctive path to modernisation – one achieved “without colonialism, without enslavement, without wars of conquest” – and on what the CPC’s record means for the countries of the Global South.

Sara is a member of the Friends of Socialist China US committee and a longtime anti-imperialist organiser with the International Action Center.

This article first appeared in Workers World.

The 105th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the 90th anniversary of the victory of China’s Long March on July 1 were barely noted in the U.S. media. However, there were big celebrations in hundreds of Chinese cities. The focus was on reinforcing the “socialist direction of China in building Socialist Modernization in all aspects.”

The anniversary was celebrated as a confident assertion of the way forward. Events were organized to focus on the strong vitality of Marxism and socialist planning and as a preparation for and warning of future global upheavals.

President Xi Jinping’s major address on July 1 underscored the importance of meeting the goal to fully realize socialist modernization by the middle of the 21st century. President Xi cautioned: “We must be prepared to withstand major tests involving high winds and rough waves, or even stormy seas.”

The CPC has grown from a small group of just over 50 founding members — meeting secretly in 1921 in Shanghai, China — into the world’s largest governing party, a workers’ party with 101 million members that has tremendous global influence.

In 1921, China was fragmented and impoverished. It was reeling from the collapse of the feudal Qing Dynasty, carved apart by foreign imperialist exploitation into zones of colonial control and weakened by the British and U.S.-imposed Opium Wars to enforce the sale of opium. China was confronted with the chaos of contending factions of oppressive warlordism.

China was overwhelmingly a peasant country in 1921, 85% to 90% rural, with millions of landless, impoverished and illiterate peasants living in undeveloped areas and relying on subsistence farming.

From its founding the CPC declared that its goal was to overthrow imperialist domination and establish a dictatorship of the proletariat — the organization of society by workers and peasants.

Wang Quanying, last surviving female Long March veteran, dies at 105

Wang Quanying, who has died at the age of 105, was the last surviving woman to have taken part in the Long March – the epic fighting retreat of 1934–36 that saved the Chinese Red Army and laid the deepest foundations of modern China.

Born Wang Guixiang in 1921 – the very same year the Communist Party of China was founded – into a poor Tibetan family in Jinchuan county, Sichuan, she was orphaned as an infant and sent to labour for a local landlord. In 1935, aged just fourteen, she joined the Fourth Front Army’s Women’s Independent Regiment, serving as a battlefield medical orderly: guiding troops, carrying grain, cooking, and nursing the wounded with the herbal remedies she knew.

Separated from her unit in fierce fighting near Danba in 1936, she crossed the snow-capped mountains on foot, surviving on wild plants and losing a toe to frostbite, before settling anonymously in Wenchuan county, where she lived quietly for decades. Her service was only officially recognised in the 1980s.

After the founding of the People’s Republic she changed her name to Quanying, to express her conviction that “all Red Army soldiers across the nation are heroes”. She died just months before the 90th anniversary of the victory of the Long March, which falls later this year.

DPRK’s solidarity with China and Cuba has socialism as the core

The following is the text of a speech given by Keith Bennett to a recent public meeting on the theme of ‘The Importance of Solidarity with the DPRK and its People in Today’s Global Situation’.

Keith concentrates his remarks on two aspects of this question. First, the recent developments in the comradely relations between the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the People’s Republic of China, which Kim Jong Un stresses have socialism as their core, as illustrated by Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s state visit to the DPRK in June 2026 and subsequently by Kim Jong Un’s greetings on the 105th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China.

Second, Keith analyses a 1968 article written by DPRK founding leader Kim Il Sung marking the first anniversary of the death of Che Guevara, noting in particular its continuing relevance to understanding the vital need to defend the Cuban revolution and its relationship to the situation in Latin America as a whole.

Amy Yang: Paying tribute to the red flag of the hammer and sickle by learning from the Long March

The following essay by the writer Amy Yang, who publishes on China and socialism on Substack, was written to mark the 105th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China. Taking the red flag of the hammer and sickle – its yellow standing for the faith of workers and peasants in a communist future, its red honouring the more than 3.7 million martyrs who died between 1921 and 1949 – as her starting point, Yang argues that the party is best understood through the enduring lessons of the Long March.

She highlights two of these lessons. The first is that Marxism is a scientific method rather than a fixed dogma, and that no single development path suits every country: the early communist movement failed when the Comintern imposed Soviet, city-first strategies on a society that was overwhelmingly based in the countryside. It was Mao Zedong’s strategy – restored at the Zunyi Conference of 1935 – that corrected the error.

The second is that popular support decides victory: the poorly armed Red Army prevailed because it treated ordinary people, and especially China’s ethnic minorities, with discipline and respect.

Yang carries both lessons forward – to China’s reform and opening up, and to its insistence on non-interference and the people’s well-being as the measure of global governance. Each generation, she concludes, faces its own Long March.

A reply to Greg Godels on China’s road to socialism

Greg Godels has published a thoughtful response in ML Today to Carlos Martinez’s recent reply to Jacobin on China and exploitation. Godels argues that the exploitation of the many by the few remains a central driving force of the Chinese economy, and questions whether China’s market reforms and its billionaire class can be squared with a socialist trajectory.

In the article below, Carlos argues that the decisive Marxist question is not simply whether wage labour and surplus value exist, but which class holds state power and in whose interest the economic surplus is directed. On that test – the class nature of the state – China’s billionaires answer to the state rather than command it; its reforms were a conscious strategy to develop the productive forces and build the material basis for a more advanced socialism; and China provably does not participate in imperialist super-exploitation.

Greg Godels has written a considered response in ML Today to my recent reply to Jacobin on China and exploitation. Unlike much of what passes for left commentary on China, Godels writes as a comrade, not a Cold Warrior. He admires the Chinese revolution, insists that China’s fate must be decided by the Chinese people, and closes by affirming that, whatever its difficulties, “it is China’s road”. On all of that we agree. Where we part company is over a question that Godels, for all his fidelity to the classics of Marxism, never quite poses: which class holds state power?

State and revolution

Godels’s central charge is that the debate over China too rarely invokes “the exploitation of the many by the few”, and that when I ask for exploitation to be “contextualised”, I am really relativising and rationalising it. He is right that exploitation belongs at the centre of any Marxist analysis. But there is a second important category that is missing from his account entirely: the class nature of the state.

For Marx and Lenin alike, the question of whether a society is advancing towards socialism was never settled simply by cataloguing the presence or absence of wage labour and surplus value at the point of production. It was settled principally by asking which class holds power, and in whose interest the state directs the economic surplus. This is the whole point of the concept of the dictatorship of the proletariat, and of Lenin’s insistence, throughout the period of the New Economic Policy, that market mechanisms within a workers’ state are something categorically different from capitalism under a bourgeois state.

Under the NEP in the Soviet state, private capital, wage labour, rich peasants and market relations all flourished. Lenin did not conclude that the October Revolution had thereby been cancelled. He concluded that the proletarian state would make use of capitalist forms, on its own terms and under its own control, in order to build the material foundations of socialism.

Wang Huning visits DPRK to mark treaty anniversary

A party and government delegation of the People’s Republic of China led by Wang Huning, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), paid an official goodwill visit to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) on July 15-17 at the invitation of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) and the government of the DPRK and attended the celebrations of the 65th anniversary of the conclusion of the DPRK-China Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance. The visit was reciprocal to the July 10-12 China visit by a DPRK party and government delegation led by Pak Thae Song, member of the Presidium of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the WPK, vice-president of the DPRK State Affairs Commission and premier of the DPRK Cabinet. The exchange of high-level delegations to mark the treaty anniversary was confirmed by Chinese leader Xi Jinping along with his DPRK counterpart Kim Jong Un during the former’s state visit to the DPRK, June 8-9.

Kim Jong Un, General Secretary of the WPK and President of the State Affairs of the DPRK, met with Wang Huning and his delegation on July 16.

Noting that the DPRK-China Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, an inter-state treaty which defines the strategic character of the bilateral relations and advances its strategic direction, has played an important role in defending the basic interests of the two countries and ensuring regional and global peace and security, Kim Jong Un said that it is the steadfast policy of the WPK and the DPRK government to more vigorously develop the traditional friendly and cooperative relations with socialism as the core in several fields on the basis of the spirit of the treaty and in line with the requirement of the changing times and the aspiration and desire of the two peoples.

He further affirmed that the WPK and the DPRK government would as ever support the socialist cause with Chinese characteristics in the new era led by Comrade General Secretary Xi Jinping, sincerely hoping that the Chinese people, who significantly celebrated the 105th anniversary of the foundation of the CPC, would make greater achievements in the historic course of comprehensively building a modern socialist power and achieving the great prosperity of the Chinese nation under the leadership of the CPC.

On the same day, a reception was given at the Yanggakdo International Hotel to mark the 65th anniversary of the conclusion of the DPRK-China Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance.

Pak Thae Song made a welcoming speech. He said that the DPRK-China friendship has entered a new stage of development in various fields under the direct guidance of the top leaders of the two parties and two countries, expressing the steadfast stand of the WPK and the DPRK government to steadily develop the friendly and cooperative relations with socialism as the core.

He further expressed the will to firmly join hands with the Chinese comrades as ever in the course of actively promoting the coprosperity and new development of friendship of the two countries, opposing hegemonism and victoriously advancing the socialist cause.

For his part, Wang Huning said it is a vivid feature of the relations between China and the DPRK that they support and cooperate with each other, share destiny and protect and help each other, adding that Comrade General Secretary Xi Jinping and Comrade General Secretary Kim Jong Un met seven times to lead the traditional China-DPRK friendship to open a new chapter of history.

He added that the firm stand of the Chinese party and government placing great importance on China-DPRK friendship will remain unchanged and the firm support for the cause of Korean socialism led by Comrade General Secretary Kim Jong Un will never be changed, adding that the Chinese side will, together with the DPRK side, hold aloft the banner of socialism and ensure that the baton of China-DPRK friendship is handed down through generations.

On the previous day, Wang held talks with Jo Yong Won, member of the Presidium of the Political Bureau and secretary of the Central Committee of the WPK.

Jo Yong Won said that the ever-changing present international political situation has required the two countries to further strengthen the militant unity, support and solidarity and steadily intensify and develop the friendly and cooperative relations for the victorious advance of the common cause of socialism in conformity with the basic spirit of the DPRK-China Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance. And he expressed the stand to expand and develop the bilateral relations in a many-sided way while maintaining close strategic communications and tactical cooperation between the two parties and two countries.

Wang Huning said that the conclusion of the treaty between China and the DPRK laid a legal foundation to consolidate the militant friendship formed at the cost of blood, stressing that it is an important common understanding of the top leaders of the two parties and two countries to splendidly mark the 65th anniversary of the conclusion of the treaty.

On the same day, Wang paid tribute to the martyrs of the Chinese People’s Volunteer Army at Pyongyang’s Friendship Tower and wrote in the visitor’s book, “Let Us Glorify the Traditional Friendship by Inheriting the Intention of Martyrs”.

The next day he also visited the Chinese People’s Volunteers cemetery in the Sunan district of Pyongyang municipality.

He also visited the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun to pay high respects to former DPRK leaders President Kim Il Sung and Chairman Kim Jong Il as well as visiting the WPK’s Central Cadre Training School.

On July 17, accompanied by Jo Yong Won, Wang Huning visited the Wonsan Kalma coastal tourism area.

Commenting on the resort, which was officially opened on July 1, 2025, Wang Huning said it amazed him that the DPRK built in a short span of time the tourist area where the splendid structures harmonise with the natural landscape in a unique way and which has been landscaped on a high level, adding that such wonderful facilities for the people are the embodiment and manifestation of the people-first principle of the WPK.

Concluding their visit, Wang Huning and his delegation departed for home from the Wonsan Kalma Airport.

Young British communist visits Xinjiang: “Not at all what Western media says”

Amar, a 22-year-old activist from London, visited Xinjiang in April 2026, wanting to see the region for himself after years of Western media coverage alleging genocide there. In this interview with Xinjiang Today, recorded in a coffee shop in Urumqi, he describes what he found.

He talks about the ordinariness of daily life in Urumqi, and the surprise of local people that a visitor would think to ask whether their lives are normal at all. He recounts a conversation with a barista about how the region has changed since his childhood – the journey from Urumqi to Kashgar cut from around 40 hours by rail to roughly 11, and the four-day bus trip across the Tianshan Mountains reduced to a few hours by the 22-kilometre Tianshan Shengli Tunnel, the longest expressway tunnel in the world, which opened in December 2025. Infrastructure on that scale, Amar argues, is built because it improves people’s lives rather than because it returns a profit, and would never be undertaken in a society run by a capitalist class.

He also discusses the very different relationship between the public and the police in China compared with Britain, why his family came to see China as a beacon of hope, and what worries and encourages him as a young person facing the prospect of imperialist war.

Xi Jinping outlines China’s vision for the future of artificial intelligence

On 17 July, Xi Jinping delivered the keynote address at the opening of the 2026 World AI Conference in Shanghai – his first in-person appearance at the conference since it began in 2018, and coming a day after 29 countries signed the agreement establishing the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organisation (WAICO), a new intergovernmental body headquartered in Shanghai. The event was attended by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Prime Minister Hun Manet of the Kingdom of Cambodia, Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul of the Kingdom of Thailand, Secretary General of the United Nations António Guterres, and official representatives, business leaders, scholars and researchers from more than 100 countries and international organisations.

In the following analysis for Friends of Socialist China, Carlos Martinez examines the significance of Xi’s speech and the launch of WAICO. He argues that they represent a direct alternative to Washington’s approach – encapsulated in the Trump administration’s “Winning the Race” AI action plan, with its export controls, model restrictions and pressure on allies to join a technological blockade of China.

Where the United States treats artificial intelligence as a weapon in a zero-sum contest for supremacy, Xi calls for “open source, openness, collaboration and sharing”, and for AI to be developed as a common asset of humanity, with its benefits extended to the Global South. It is, Carlos writes, a democratic, multipolar and socialist vision: technology as a public good, serving people before profit.

Chinese AI models achieve Mythos-level performance in cybersecurity benchmark

The following original contribution for Friends of Socialist China is by İbrahim Can Eraslan, a Turkish socialist and student of Chinese Law and Governance at Tongji University in Shanghai. He examines a striking development in the global technology race: the emergence of Chinese artificial intelligence systems that now rival the most advanced Western models in the strategically sensitive field of cybersecurity – achieved, remarkably, under conditions of escalating US technological warfare.

Eraslan shows how Washington’s campaign of export controls and suppression is producing the opposite of its intended effect. By restricting access to the United States’ AI systems – even shutting down Anthropic’s frontier models worldwide at three days’ notice – the US is driving governments and enterprises across the Global South towards cheaper, open-weight Chinese alternatives that cannot be embargoed or switched off by executive order. In closing the gap through algorithmic ingenuity and open development rather than raw computing power, he argues, China’s socialist system is once again outcompeting monopoly capitalism in the technologies that will define the twenty-first century.

Around the world, China is viewed more positively than the United States

A newly published survey by the Pew Research Center – covering more than 42,000 people across 36 countries – has found that China is now viewed more positively than the United States in most of the countries polled, with more people worldwide expressing confidence in Xi Jinping than in Donald Trump. It is a striking measure of how far Washington’s global standing has fallen.

In the following article, Carlos Martinez, co-editor of Friends of Socialist China, examines what lies behind this historic shift. He argues that the single most important factor is the war on Gaza – a genocide watched in real time by a global public that has also seen the governments of North America and Western Europe arm, finance and shield it, all while lecturing the world about a “rules-based order”. The same collapse of credibility, he notes, has quietly buried the “Uyghur genocide” narrative, and has been compounded by the US-Israeli war of aggression against Iran.

RIMPAC naval exercises threaten China at the expense of indigenous peoples and the environment

On June 24, the United States launched the biennial Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercises off Hawaii – the world’s largest international naval war games, bringing together 31 countries, more than 25,000 personnel, dozens of warships and submarines, and 140 aircraft. Running until July 31, RIMPAC represents a further escalation of Washington’s preparations for war on China, militarising the Pacific and normalising the prospect of conflict through ever-larger exercises and an expanding web of alliances and military bases.

We reproduce below a selection of critical coverage examining what RIMPAC means for the peoples and environment of the Pacific – from the diversion of resources amid a deepening climate emergency, to the participation of NATO states and Israel, to the dispossession and militarisation of Hawai’i and its indigenous Kanaka Maoli.

SCO debates sovereign financial infrastructure for the Global South

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) – which now represents some 42 percent of the world’s population – is increasingly turning its attention to building financial infrastructure independent of the US dollar. At a forum held on the sidelines of the 14th World Peace Conference in Beijing, officials and analysts from Iran, Russia, China, Belarus and Uzbekistan debated how the bloc might construct alternative settlement mechanisms capable of insulating its members from Washington’s unilateral sanctions.

The context is the growing use of sanctions as a weapon of economic warfare against independent states – Iran, Russia, Belarus, Venezuela and Cuba among them. As the following report from Press TV explains, the proposals under discussion build on an initiative advanced by Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian at the SCO’s Tianjin summit: expanding trade in national currencies, developing secure digital infrastructure for cross-border payments, and establishing a multilateral swap fund to cushion members against financial shocks.

For its proponents, such a system is about more than evading sanctions. It is about establishing a sovereign financial architecture for the Global South – one that would allow nations to decouple from Western financial hegemony and conduct their trade, investment and development on their own terms. It is a further sign of the emerging multipolar order.

Nkrumah’s daughter looks forward to “greater and better things” with China

The Chinese Embassy in Accra, capital of Ghana, recently held an “inter-party” roundtable to mark the 105th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

Speaking at the meeting, Samia Yaba Nkrumah, daughter of the revolutionary Pan-Africanist and Ghana’s first President Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, said China’s success influenced her father’s decision to pursue a development path tailored to Ghana’s own pace and national circumstances as a way of “overcoming poverty and building our manufacturing base.”

“We look to the future to build our technology and industries. We look forward to greater and better things between us,” she said.

Kwesi Pratt Jr., general secretary of the Socialist Movement of Ghana, said that China’s development story exemplifies the country’s journey from winning the struggle for national independence to achieving sustained economic growth.

He praised the longstanding ties between China and Africa, dating back to the era of China’s founding leaders and Africa’s independence movements. He also commended China’s commitment to Africa’s development through initiatives such as the Belt and Road Initiative and its recent zero-tariff policy.

Benjamin Anyagre, general secretary of the Ghana-China Friendship Association (GHACHIFA), praised China’s four global initiatives, saying they respond to the demands of the current era and seek to help chart a course for the future.

Chinese Ambassador to Ghana Cong Song said that although the four global initiatives are rooted in China’s development experience, they benefit the entire world. “They tackle current challenges while paving the way for a brighter future for humanity.”

Indian communists celebrate CPC anniversary

The Chinese Embassy in India held a seminar on July 9, celebrating the 105th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

Ambassador Xu Feihong delivered a keynote speech and around 50 people attended from Indian political parties, think tanks, media, youth and other sectors.

Xu stressed that the CPC’s commitment to putting the people first is the fundamental guarantee behind its great achievements, upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground is the key to its enduring vitality, and maintaining a global vision is a valuable experience of its ability in leading the times. He emphasised that CPC’s century-long journey has also witnessed the history of friendly exchanges and shared development between China and India.

Leaders of a number of India’s communist parties took part in the seminar, including the general secretaries of the Communist Party of India (CPI), Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPIM) and the All India Forward Bloc (AIFB), as well as a central committee member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) (CPIML) Liberation.

The CPI(M)’s social media reports that General Secretary MA Baby conveyed his warm greetings and heartfelt wishes to the CPC, its leadership and the people of China. He congratulated the CPC on its historic achievements in lifting hundreds of millions out of poverty, eliminating absolute poverty, advancing science and technology, and leading China’s remarkable economic and social transformation. He also reflected on the centuries-old civilisational ties between India and China, the shared legacy of anti-imperialist solidarity and the continuing relevance of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, and emphasised the importance of strengthening cooperation through platforms such as BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation for the benefit of both countries and the entire Global South.

China and DPRK strengthen historic relations with socialism at the core on treaty anniversary

The China-DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance was signed on July 11, 1961, by then Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai and DPRK Premier Kim Il Sung. It remains the only such treaty between China and another country. This year, both countries have taken the treaty’s 65th anniversary as a major occasion to reaffirm their continued solidarity and friendship with socialism at the core in the new era.

The top leaders of the two countries, Xi Jinping and Kim Jong Un, exchanged messages marking the anniversary.

In his message, Xi said that in 1961, the older generations of leaders of China and the DPRK signed the China-DPRK Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, laying an important political and legal foundation for consolidating the friendship forged in blood between the two peoples.

The treaty has played an important role in carrying forward China-DPRK friendship and safeguarding peace and stability in the region and beyond, he said.

Xi pointed to his successful state visit to the DPRK in June, when he reached important consensus with Kim on consolidating and carrying forward the traditional friendship between China and the DPRK and enriching it with new dimensions, providing strategic guidance and a new blueprint for the development of China-DPRK relations in the new era.

No matter how the international landscape evolves, the firm position of China’s Party and government to attach great importance to the traditional friendship between China and the DPRK will remain unchanged; the firm support for Kim in leading the DPRK’s socialist cause will remain unchanged; and the determination to safeguard the common interests of both sides and maintain a favourable strategic environment will remain unchanged, Xi emphasised.

For his part, Kim said the two sides signed the DPRK-China Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance 65 years ago, laying a solid legal foundation for the enduring development of the fighting friendship and unity of mutual assistance and cooperation between the DPRK and China, forged in the bloody struggle for independence against imperialism and for the great cause of peace and socialism.

Over the past period, through all the vicissitudes of history, the DPRK and China have stood by each other with unwavering support and close cooperation, fully demonstrating to the world the everlasting and unbreakable nature of their friendship — a relationship that is special in terms of traditional bonds, shared socialist cause, and firm commitment to carrying it forward from generation to generation.

It is the unwavering position of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) and the DPRK government to advance the traditional friendly and cooperative relations between the DPRK and China, with socialism at its core, to keep pace with the changes of the times and the aspirations of the two peoples and to achieve more dynamic development in all fields, he added, and in conclusion noted:

“I am ready to develop the DPRK-China friendship with good history and tradition as its foundation into a model of the most powerful and strategic relations between socialist countries by guiding it to a new height, together with you, Comrade General Secretary.

“I hope that the Chinese people, who significantly celebrated the 105th anniversary of the founding of the CPC with a proud history of development, will make bigger epoch-making successes in accomplishing the gigantic cause of comprehensively building a modern and powerful socialist country and achieving the great prosperity of the Chinese nation under the leadership of the CPC with you, Comrade General Secretary, as its core.”

At the invitation of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the government of the People’s Republic of China, a party and government delegation of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea led by Pak Thae Song, member of the Presidium of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, vice-president of the DPRK State Affairs Commission and premier of the DPRK Cabinet, paid an official visit to China and took part in the event marking the 65th anniversary of the conclusion of the treaty from July 10-12.

On the afternoon of July 10, President Xi Jinping met with Pak Thae Song at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

President Xi Jinping noted that last month, I paid a state visit to the DPRK, during which General Secretary Kim Jong Un and I provided the strategic guidance for consolidating and growing the traditional friendship between China and the DPRK and continuously enriching it in keeping with the times. The China-DPRK relations have always been defined by lasting friendship, sharing weal and woe and mutual help. The China-DPRK Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance laid important political and legal foundations for cementing the friendship forged by our peoples in struggle and blood. General Secretary Kim Jong Un and I agreed that we should take the joint and grand commemoration of the 65th anniversary of the Treaty as an opportunity to always bear in mind the original aspiration and mission of the older generations of leaders of the two parties and countries and encourage the two peoples to carry forward our traditional friendship, so that our bilateral relations will continue to thrive in the new historical period.

Both China and the DPRK should maintain firm strategic resolve, enhance strategic confidence, accelerate the implementation of the consensus reached between me and General Secretary Kim Jong Un, and ensure that the relations between our two parties and countries keep pace with the times and continue to develop in a direction that serves our respective socialist cause and modernisation. We should steadily advance practical cooperation, build greater public support, and make good use of our shared revolutionary history and resources, so that young people of both countries can remember the historic contributions of the Chinese People’s Volunteers and the great China-DPRK friendship can be passed down through generations.

Premier Pak Thae Song first conveyed warm greetings from General Secretary Kim Jong Un to General Secretary Xi Jinping, noting that on the occasion of the 65th anniversary of the DPRK-China Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, General Secretary Kim Jong Un wishes General Secretary Xi Jinping new and continuous achievements in the lofty cause of leading the CPC and the Chinese people.

Pak further extended warm congratulations on the 105th anniversary of the founding of the CPC and on General Secretary Xi Jinping leading the Chinese people in achieving remarkable development accomplishments. General Secretary Xi’s first overseas visit this year was to the DPRK, and the top leaders of the two parties and countries had a historic meeting, setting a new milestone in bilateral relations and further consolidating public support for DPRK-China friendship. Guided by the spirit of the Treaty, the two countries have supported each other, jointly advanced the cause of socialism, and worked hand in hand to safeguard regional and world peace. The solemn commemorative activities held by the two countries for the Treaty’s 65th anniversary once again demonstrated that DPRK-China friendship has withstood the test of changing international circumstances and is of great strategic significance. General Secretary Kim Jong Un gave the instruction of developing DPRK-China relations into the strongest strategic relationship. The DPRK side will resolutely implement the important consensus between the top leaders of the two parties and countries, firmly support China in safeguarding its core interests on issues such as the Taiwan question, and make every effort to bring DPRK-China solidarity, friendship, and the socialist cause of the two countries to a new and higher level.

Under the deep care of the top leaders of the two parties and two countries, the events for marking the anniversary of the conclusion of treaty are to be held with splendour this year, strikingly demonstrating once again the strategic character of the DPRK-China friendship, the premier noted, saying that the DPRK would as ever do its best to actively promote the revolutionary unity, the co-prosperity and development and the socialist cause of the two countries at a new high stage as required by the new era.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang also held talks with his DPRK counterpart on the same day.

Noting that China and the DPRK are friendly neighbours with a shared future and mutual support, Li, who is also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, said that it has always been the unwavering policy of the CPC and the Chinese government to maintain, consolidate and develop China-DPRK relations.

He said China stands ready to work with the DPRK to act on the important common understandings of the top leaders of the two parties and two countries, continue to uphold the spirit of the China-DPRK Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, intensify high-level exchanges, consolidate political mutual trust and expand practical cooperation.

China is ready to align development strategies with the DPRK, steadily expand economic and trade exchanges, promote connectivity, deepen cooperation in people’s livelihood sectors including healthcare and education, and improve the well-being of the two peoples. He also called for carrying forward the China-DPRK traditional friendship and strengthening people-to-people and cultural exchanges.

Pak Thae Song said that the DPRK-China Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance is a firm political and legal guarantee for dynamically promoting the development of the friendly and cooperative relations between the two countries, adding that the complicated international political situation requires the two parties and two countries to continue to give full play to the spirit of the treaty with defending the unity, cooperation and common interests for the victorious advance of the socialist cause as the core.

Noting that the DPRK-China friendly relations have reached a new high level thanks to the direct interest and wise leadership of Comrade Kim Jong Un and Comrade Xi Jinping, he stressed that the DPRK would make positive efforts to steadily strengthen the DPRK-China friendship and solidarity, true to the noble intention of the top leaders of the two parties and two countries.

A ceremony was also held at the Great Hall of the People to welcome the Party and government delegation of the DPRK and Premier Pak Thae Song, reviewed the guard of honour of the People’s Liberation Army.

Zhao Leji, chairman of China’s National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee met with Pak and his delegation on July 10.

At the meeting, Zhao pointed out that the strategic guidance of the top leaders of the two parties and the two countries is the greatest strength and fundamental guarantee of bilateral relations.

He said that China is willing to work with the DPRK to implement the important consensus reached by the top leaders, carry forward traditional friendship, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation, enhance exchanges among legislative bodies, share experience in governing the Party and the country, and promote a greater development of bilateral relations.

The meeting expressed the will to successfully implement the important common understanding reached between the top leaders of the two parties and the two countries, add lustre to the traditional friendship, strengthen the mutually beneficial cooperation and deepen exchange and cooperation between legislative bodies so as to promote greater development in the DPRK-China relations.

Senior CPC leader Cai Qi and Pak Thae Song attended and delivered speeches at the reception commemorating the 65th anniversary of the treaty signing on July 10.

Cai, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee, said China stands ready to work with the DPRK to take the important consensus reached by the two leaders as the fundamental guideline and strategic orientation, carry forward the traditional friendship, and strive to elevate the socialist causes and traditional friendly cooperative relations of the two countries to new heights.

In his speech, Pak said:

“During the historic Pyongyang summit in June, Comrade Kim Jong Un and Comrade Xi Jinping discussed the issues of strengthening the strategic coordination and cooperation between the two parties and two countries, firmly safeguarding the sovereignty, security and development interests of the two countries and jointly defending peace and development in the region and the world and reached a consensus of views on them.”

Pak and his delegation also laid a wreath at the Monument to the People’s Heroes in Tiananmen Square. The participants paid tribute to the memory of the heroes who fought for the freedom and liberation of the Chinese people.

They also visited various places in Beijing and Tianjin, including the Museum of the Communist Party of China. Pak Thae Song made an entry in the visitor’s book, hoping that the Chinese people continue to achieve fresh successes in building a modern socialist country under the leadership of the CPC. Among other places visited was the Green Low-Carbon Circular Economy Demonstration Base of the China Resources Recycling Group Co. Ltd. in Tianjin Municipality.

Concluding his official visit to the PRC on July 12, Pak addressed a message of thanks to Premier Li Qiang.

The message expressed deep thanks to General Secretary Xi Jinping, Premier Li Qiang, Chairman Zhao Leji, the Chinese Party and government and the fraternal Chinese people for warmly greeting and according sincere hospitality to the Party and government delegation of the DPRK.

Meanwhile, the foreign ministers of the two countries also extended greetings on the treaty anniversary.

The message to DPRK Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui from Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, said that for 65 years both sides have trusted and supported with each other, making positive contributions to providing happiness for the peoples of the two countries and ensuring regional peace and stability. The message expressed the will to resolutely implement the important shared understanding of the top leaders of the two parties and two countries and make steady efforts to consolidate and develop the traditional China-DPRK friendly and cooperative relations.

For her part, Choe Son Hui expressed the will to further strengthen communication and cooperation in the diplomatic field in order to develop the relations of friendship and cooperation between the two countries into the model of the most powerful and strategic relations between socialist states, true to the noble intention of the top leaders of the two countries, and wished the DPRK-China friendship steady strengthening and the People’s Republic of China prosperity.

Interview: Fighting spirit has allowed the CPC to survive and adapt over a century

The following is the full text of an interview given by Carlos Martinez, co-editor of Friends of Socialist China, to the Global Times, marking the 105th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC). An abridged version was published by the Global Times on 12 July 2026 as part of a special series of interviews with international scholars reflecting on the party’s century-long journey.

In the interview, conducted by GT reporter Xia Wenxin, Carlos explores the meaning of the CPC’s “fighting spirit”, or “spirit of struggle” – a concept he argues is routinely misread in the West as blind confrontation or factional intrigue, but which in fact flows directly from the dialectical core of Marxism. Struggle, in this sense, is not a mood but a method: the recognition that development happens through contradiction, and that a serious revolutionary party must identify the principal contradiction of each period and mobilise the masses to resolve it.

Tracing this thread from Mao Zedong’s 1945 parable of the Foolish Old Man who removed the mountains through to the present day, Carlos discusses how the same method has allowed the party to survive and adapt across a century that saw so many other revolutionary projects defeated. He examines the CPC’s practice of self-revolution and its unrelenting campaign against corruption; the targeted poverty alleviation drive that lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty; and the fundamental difference between the Chinese dialectical understanding of struggle as productive and the Western view of conflict as terminal.

Finally, he considers how this fighting spirit will be tested on the new battlefields of the 15th Five-Year Plan – high-tech self-reliance under conditions of US containment, the green transition, and the assorted domestic challenges on the road to the Second Centenary Goal of 2049. As he concludes, “on the record of the last 105 years, I would not bet against the CPC and the Chinese people surmounting these new challenges.”