Friends of Socialist China, Author at Friends of Socialist China

Iranian Foreign Minister: Tehran is fully prepared to deepen strategic coordination with Beijing

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi visited Beijing on September 16 and held talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

The website of the Chinese Foreign Ministry reports that Wang Yi stated that the current situation in the Middle East remains turbulent, seriously affecting international peace and development. As a permanent member of the UN Security Council, China is willing to play a constructive role in resolving international disputes. China and Iran are comprehensive strategic partners, and China is also willing to strengthen dialogue and cooperation with Iran to safeguard Iran’s legitimate rights and interests. The continuation of the US-Iran war does not serve the common interests of the parties involved or the international community. We encourage Iran and the United States to remain rational and restrained, to return to the Memorandum of Understanding agreed in Islamabad as soon as possible, restructure negotiation mechanisms based on the consensus reached so far and conduct substantive consultations on issues of mutual concern. We support Iran’s dialogue with Gulf countries, respect for each other’s territorial sovereignty and national security, and safeguarding regional common interests in a constructive manner.

Wang further pointed out that the current situation once again proves that the existing security framework in the Middle East is not yet complete and needs reform and strengthening. During his visit to Egypt, President Xi Jinping put forward four proposals to support regional countries in upholding a common, comprehensive, cooperative, and sustainable security concept and building a new security architecture for the Middle East. We welcome beneficial exploration by regional countries on this topic. On Middle East issues, as a responsible major power, China will continue to contribute to peace and stability, to promoting peace talks, and to fairness and justice.

Araghchi briefed Wang Yi on the latest situation in the Middle East and the Gulf region and Iran’s next steps, stating that Iran does not want the conflict to continue and hopes to return to diplomatic resolution channels while firmly safeguarding its own interests. Iran believes the US-Iran Memorandum of Understanding remains valid, Iran has reached a plan with Oman to open the Strait of Hormuz, and the US should fulfil all its commitments. Iran is also willing to engage in dialogue and consultation with regional countries, establish and develop good-neighbourly and friendly relations, and promote the early restoration of peace and tranquillity in the region. Iran welcomes and supports President Xi Jinping’s four propositions for maintaining peace and stability in the Middle East and the four initiatives for promoting regional common security. It is willing to strengthen cooperation with China within this framework and looks forward to China playing a greater role in regional peace and stability.

The Tehran Times reported that Araghchi expressed strong support for President Xi Jinping’s landmark proposals on safeguarding peace in the Middle East, declaring that Tehran is fully prepared to deepen strategic coordination with Beijing to build a sustainable regional security framework.

The English language Iranian daily reported that: “Amid China’s consistent contributions to regional and global peace and stability, Araghchi’s call for a greater Beijing-led role further underscores the diplomatic significance of his visit.

“This is the second time that the Iranian foreign minister has paid an official visit to China since the US and Israel launched their war on Iran in late February. Araghchi last visited China in May, shortly before a trip by President Donald Trump to the country. Araghchi’s Wednesday visit comes ahead of the upcoming trip by President Xi to the US, where he will meet Trump.

“China is a trusted partner not only for Iran but also for other countries in the Middle East, in addition to maintaining open communication channels with Washington.

“When viewed alongside China’s principled stance during the Iran-US war, its emphasis on prioritising dialogue over confrontation, the two four-point initiatives put forward by President Xi, and his latest call for a ‘due role’ in resolving the conflict through BRICS, the significance of Araghchi’s trip becomes even clearer.”

The Tehran Times concluded: “By offering visionary peace initiatives and standing firmly against unilateralism and hegemony, Beijing provides a vital pillar of support for independent nations confronting external aggression. This diplomatic momentum underscores China’s constructive leadership and its contribution to advancing lasting security, development, and peace in the region.”

For its part, the Palestine Chronicle noted that Araghchi had stressed Iran’s strategic partnership with China and said that decisions being taken amid current regional developments would have “enormous repercussions.” It added:

“Against this backdrop, Tehran and Beijing have intensified diplomatic coordination, with Iran presenting China as an important strategic partner in shaping the political response to the war and its wider economic consequences.

“Araghchi said the choices being made during the current period would extend beyond the immediate crisis, affecting the future balance of power and political arrangements across the region.”

Sanders, Bannon and an AI ban aimed at China

The following important article by Gary Wilson brings a much-needed class analysis to bear on the debate over AI safety, artificial general intelligence and recursive self-improvement – an issue that has until now been conducted almost entirely in the abstract language of “humanity versus the machines”.

Gary’s starting point is a one-day Pro-Human Assembly held in Washington on 15 September, at which Senator Bernie Sanders shared a platform with Steve Bannon, and at which Sanders and Congressman Greg Casar promoted their proposed Ban Artificial Superintelligence Act. The question posed from that stage was how to keep artificial intelligence under human control. But, as Wilson observes, there is no “human control” in general: every one of the leading AI systems is owned by somebody, financed by somebody and put to work by somebody.

Artificial superintelligence does not exist. What does exist is Palantir’s Maven Smart System, running on a Pentagon contract worth nearly $1.3 billion and used to identify and prioritise targets in the war on Iran; Palantir’s ELITE, which assigns confidence scores to addresses where ICE may find the people it is hunting; and the algorithmic systems already used across warehousing, construction, transport, healthcare and gig work to set the pace of work, evaluate performance and determine pay. None of these is the target of the proposed ban.

The article argues that the core target of the current debate is China. Gary traces the convergence between Sanders’ call for export controls and international agreement, Bannon’s demand that Chinese nationals be removed from US laboratories, and Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei’s proposal for an industry slowdown that must on no account go far enough to let Chinese companies catch up – noting the obvious contradiction that the US companies built their models by appropriating the accumulated labour of millions of people without permission or payment, and now want the US government to stop Chinese companies doing to them what they did to everyone else.

The machines already have human owners.

The most advanced chips are owned. The data centers are owned. The models are owned. The military networks are owned and controlled by the government. The products of millions of people’s labor have been gathered into privately owned systems whose owners determine who may use them and for what purpose.

Now those same corporations and the U.S. government are arguing over how fast those systems should develop, how tightly they should be regulated and how to keep China from acquiring the same capabilities.

The machines that ought to worry us already have names, budgets and contracts.

Maven sorts targets.

ELITE sorts addresses.

They are under the control of the U.S. monopolies and the U.S. government. The ban proposed in Washington would leave both running. Its target is China.

How BRICS is reshaping the Global South’s place in the world

The following article by Sithembiso Bhengu, director of the Chris Hani Institute, a South Africa-based think tank, examines what the growth of BRICS means for Africa.

Three of the ten full members of BRICS are African states – South Africa, Egypt and Ethiopia – meaning that the continent is well represented in a bloc that accounts for nearly half the world’s population. As Bhengu puts it, this is a rare thing in the postwar order: an institution in which African states are “not merely petitioners at the margins of decisions made elsewhere, but co-architects of the rules themselves”.

The contrast he draws is with the Bretton Woods institutions, which brought austerity, liberalisation, privatisation and structural adjustment to Africa, locking much of the continent into debt dependency long after formal independence had been won. BRICS and its New Development Bank offer development finance without conditionality, bolstering rather than compromising African countries’ sovereignty, and giving African finance ministries a genuine second option for the first time in a generation.

The figures bear this out. Belt and Road investment in Africa reached $39 billion in the first half of 2025 alone – around five times the level of a year earlier, and making the continent the single largest destination for that capital anywhere in the world. Kenya’s Standard Gauge Railway, Djibouti’s ports, Ethiopia’s infrastructure build-out and Nigeria’s special economic zones are all part of a Global South modernising on its own terms, along corridors, in Bhengu’s phrase, that it did not have to ask permission to construct.

The trajectory of BRICS cooperation is clear and consequential. As BRICS continues to evolve as a platform for Global South cooperation, and as the African Union presses, through BRICS and the G20 alike, for reform of the United Nations Security Council, the direction of travel is becoming clearer: African states are moving from being subjects of global governance to becoming shapers of it.

Tings Chak: Fifty years after Mao – a legacy for changing the current of history

The following article by Tings Chak, Asia co-coordinator of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research and an editor of Wenhua Zongheng: A Journal of Contemporary Chinese Thought, marks fifty years since the death of Mao Zedong by asking why young Chinese people are returning to him.

She begins with a television drama made for the 130th anniversary of Mao’s birth, which set out to show not a bronze statue but “a young man their own age trying to figure things out” – and with the fact that Mao’s Selected Works have repeatedly topped the borrowing list at Tsinghua University library. What draws these readers, she argues, is not nostalgia but political method: how to identify the contradictions within a situation, distinguish its surface appearance from its underlying movement, and locate individual experience within wider social forces.

Tings traces that method from “no investigation, no right to speak” through the Communist Party’s 2023 investigation and research campaign to the targeted poverty alleviation drive, in which 800,000 cadres were dispatched to 128,000 villages. She then turns to On Protracted War, written when defeat at Japan’s hands seemed to many the only sober conclusion, and to its relevance for a global left that moves too easily between the conviction that US imperialism is immovable and the declaration that an anti-imperialist multipolarity has already arrived.

Tings developed several of these themes in her contribution to our recent webinar marking the 50th anniversary, organised jointly with the International Manifesto Group, a report of which can be read here. The full text of our co-editor Keith Bennett’s closing remarks to the same webinar is available here.

BBC: retract your false report on China and the Himalayan floods

The US peace organisation CODEPINK, as part of its China Is Not Our Enemy campaign, has launched a petition calling on the BBC to retract its false report claiming that China was censoring footage of the catastrophic floods that struck Nepal and the Tibetan Plateau in late August.

As we noted at the time, the sequence of events was a simple one: “the Chinese state published the clip; the BBC ran the clip; the BBC then published a story about how the Chinese state is suppressing the clip.” The video used in the BBC’s own report had been released by the Chinese port authorities at Gyirong, and footage of the disaster was circulating widely on Chinese platforms.

CODEPINK’s petition notes that the real story is the climate crisis in the fastest-warming mountain range on earth, and that serious journalism would be examining the role of the fossil fuel industry and of global militarism rather than manufacturing another anti-China scare.

We encourage our readers to add their names. The full text of the petition, which can be signed on the CODEPINK website, is reproduced below.

Sign our petition to the BBC demanding they correct the record and stop using Himalayan flood tragedy to spread misinformation about China. We need media accountability!

Dear BBC Editors,

We are writing to demand that the BBC correct and retract the false report claiming that China is “censoring” footage of the recent catastrophic floods affecting Nepal and the Tibetan Plateau.

This disaster has caused immense human suffering. Hundreds of people have reportedly been killed, thousands remain missing, and communities across the Himalayan region are facing devastating destruction. Instead of documenting the human consequences of the accelerating climate crisis, the BBC instead chose to turn this tragedy into another anti-China story.

The claim that footage of the disaster was being broadly “censored” deserves serious scrutiny. The floods have been widely reported across Chinese media, while footage and discussion of the disaster have circulated extensively on Chinese social media platforms. Chinese citizens have publicly shared images, information, grief, and solidarity as communities confront this terrible tragedy.

Can China save the world?

In the following review of China’s Foreign Policy and the Making of a Multipolar World, Dirk Nimmegeers describes the collection as an “intriguing, enjoyable read, aimed at a diverse readership”. The review gives an overview of each of the ten chapters – from the historical and theoretical framing provided by the editors, through contributions by Ken Hammond, Andrew Murray, Jenny Clegg, Danny Haiphong, Cheng Enfu, Torkil Lauesen and Michael Dunford, to Carlos Martinez’s closing chapter on the Four Global Initiatives.

This review first appeared, in Dutch, on Chinasquare.be, and has been machine translated.

Note: there will be an online book launch for the book – hosted by Friends of Socialist China together with the International Manifesto Group, Praxis Press, Manifesto Press and the Critical Theory Workshop – on Sunday 20 September at 4pm Britain (5pm Western Europe, 11am US Eastern), at which seven of the book’s contributors will speak.

At present, ‘the world is undergoing changes the likes of which have not been seen for a century’. This is a well-known statement by the Chinese leader Xi Jinping. According to Keith Bennett and Carlos Martinez, it is becoming clearer every day that Xi is right. They point, to name but a few signs, to the course of the war against Iran, or the rise of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. Furthermore, the editors of Friends of Socialist China note that China has adapted its foreign policy to this reality, shifting from a low profile approach to a more assertive and proactive strategy. When they asked seven other eminent specialists for their analysis of China’s foreign policy, the editors therefore decided to give the collection a subtitle that echoes Xi’s vision. China’s Foreign Policy and the Making of a Multipolar World: Changes unseen in a century was published by Praxis Press at the end of August.

The book contains analyses of what China represents in geopolitical terms today. The authors are well-established and experienced academics and journalists. They provide answers to questions on this subject, which is of the utmost importance for the future of the world – questions that preoccupy many readers, particularly those on the progressive and left-wing spectrum. What is the historical background to Chinese foreign policy, and how will it evolve? On what principles and theories is it based? How does practice relate to propaganda? Is China a new imperialist power? Is its international policy ‘good enough’ for a country that calls itself socialist? And what does China’s rise mean for the Global South, for the prospects of peace and for the long-term struggle to establish a more just world order?

When socialist countries went to war: Keith Bennett in conversation with Radhika Desai

In the late 1970s, wars involving three self-declared socialist countries, China, Vietnam and Cambodia were gleefully reported in the Western press along with lurid allegations of ‘killing fields’ in Cambodia. Many considered that this had sounded the death knell of socialist internationalism.

In this episode of her Geopolitical Economy Hour, Radhika Desai is joined by our co-editor Keith Bennett, who is also co-editor of a new book on China’s foreign policy, to help disinter facts that lie buried under decades of misinterpretation and misunderstanding of these complex events. The purpose was twofold: to help understand these conflicts in a broadly historical materialist manner, one that makes socialist sense, and on that basis to dig deeper into the complex interrelationship between class and nation in the advance towards socialism. Some of the questions discussed are: Why did Vietnam attack Cambodia and China attack Vietnam? What drove these countries, which had stood shoulder to shoulder against US aggression, apart? Who were the ‘Khmer Rouge’ and what motivated them? Where did it all go wrong?

Parliamentary diplomacy boosts Angola-China friendship

Adão de Almeida, Speaker of Angola’s National Assembly, paid an official visit to China from September 9-17.

According to Angola’s Angop news agency, the agenda included sharing experiences on China’s legislative process, as well as identifying best practices that could be adapted to the Angolan context. The delegation also visited infrastructure related to science, technology and innovation, sectors regarded as strategic to Angola’s economic and social development.

Manuel Dembo, First Secretary of the Bureau of the National Assembly, noted that the visit is of significant strategic importance, as it is the first official visit by a Speaker of Angola’s National Assembly to the People’s Republic of China. The parliamentarian also highlighted the role played by China in Angola’s post-war reconstruction process, advocating stronger strategic cooperation between the two countries through parliamentary diplomacy.

Angop also reported that the two sides signed a Memorandum of Understanding aimed at strengthening interparliamentary cooperation and promoting political dialogue and mutual understanding as well as closer ties between the two peoples.

Under the instrument, the parties undertake, among other aspects, to deepen parliamentary ties and promote institutional exchanges, contributing to the strengthening of cooperation relations between the Republic of Angola and the People’s Republic of China.

The MoU was signed following September 11 talks between Almeida and his Chinese counterpart Zhao Leji, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC). Zhao said China stands ready to work with Angola, under the guidance of the important consensus reached by the two heads of state, to carry forward traditional friendship, strengthen solidarity and cooperation, advance the implementation of the outcomes of the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), and promote the steady growth of China-Angola relations. Further, China appreciates Angola’s long-standing commitment to the one-China principle and will continue to firmly support Angola in safeguarding its national sovereignty, security and development interests.

Almeida said that while pursuing its own development, China supports the common development of its partners around the world. The National Assembly of Angola stands ready to strengthen exchanges with China’s NPC and give full play to the role of the legislature in providing legal guarantees for the implementation of the cooperation agreements between the two countries.

The Angolan visitor also met with Wang Huning, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), on the same day.

Noting that Angola appreciates China’s support for its economic and social development, Almeida said Angola stands ready to deepen cooperation in energy, economy and trade, and transportation, strengthen international coordination, and promote fair and equitable global governance.

The following day, Almeida gave a keynote lecture at the China University of Petroleum, in which he highlighted the role of Angola’s parliament in creating the legislative conditions required for the development of the national oil industry, with particular emphasis on the approval of tax incentives aimed at attracting investment.

Almeida stated that, despite ongoing efforts to diversify the economy, oil continues to occupy a significant position, which is why the state has sought to create conditions to maintain adequate levels of production and attract new investment.

According to the Parliament Speaker, Angola once achieved production of approximately two million barrels of oil per day. However, this level has declined in recent years and currently stands at just over one million barrels per day. He added that this situation requires new investment, particularly in scientific research, exploration and the discovery of new oil fields, as well as in attracting capital for the development of petroleum resources.

Almeida also expressed satisfaction that the China University of Petroleum hosts Angolan students engaged in education and scientific research in the field of petroleum exploration. He considered that the training of these professionals could contribute to the development and growth of Angola’s oil industry and stressed the need for continuous, in-depth and dedicated study.

“We are confident that they will help ensure that Angola’s oil industry continues to grow and prosper,” he said.

In his address, the parliamentary leader also advocated the need for Angola to evolve from a state primarily engaged in oil production into a country with greater domestic capacity to process and refine its own resources.

Trump and Xi: two views on international relations

With a second summit this year between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump expected to take place in Washington DC before the end of September, the US newspaper People’s World recently carried an article by veteran activist David Cavendish setting out the two leaders’ divergent views on international relations.

He notes that we have recently “seen how the leadership of the United States government, bogged down in a war that it cannot win, is spewing threats and insults against countries, both ‘friend’ and ‘foe’.”

He notes a number of statements by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, for example on X: “Today, in that same spirit, we are launching an economic onslaught against Iran’s financial connections around the globe. Our objective is to sever every economic lifeline that sustains this tyrannical regime.”

“At the same time”, he adds, “the president announced on his social media site that he will continue to use the military option, with attacks on targets in southern Iran. ‘If the failed Nation of Iran retaliates for this very justified attack, they will be hit again at a much harder and higher level, but it will not be the biggest attack of them all, that is waiting in the wings and, when it is over, there will be very little left of the Islamic Republic of Iran!’

“The president’s language, to say the least, is stark and speaks in a tone rarely heard in international affairs. One can make all types of analyses as to what motivates Trump, but one thing is clear: He is an extreme example of US imperialistic policies followed since the Spanish-American War.” (1898)

Noting China’s refusal to acquiesce in Trump’s campaign, he writes, “that was not just because of some minor technicality, but because the basis of Chinese foreign economic policy is, in most respects, the complete opposite of that of the United States.”

In this regard he draws attention to an editorial in Global Times, which states: “If the US cannot even rally its own allies, it certainly cannot expect to boss China around. China has consistently opposed unilateral bullying and long-arm jurisdiction—not because China is Iran’s largest trading partner and maintains long-standing friendly relations with Iran, but because once this US logic is accepted, international trade would no longer be normal exchanges between nations. Instead, it would devolve into an absurd situation where the US unilaterally sets the rules and the flow of all goods must be approved by the US.”

Noting how President Xi Jinping had recently stated, at the summit meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), held in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek, that all countries need to build “an equal and orderly multipolar world,” one that “should ensure equal rights, equal opportunities and equal rules for all countries, regardless of their size, strength and wealth,” he concludes:

“That is the stark choice facing the people of our planet. On the one hand, we have the neo-barbarism of the Trump administration. On the other, a new set of international relations based on equality, fairness, and peace. The choice is clear.”

BRICS Summit reaches consensus and affirms support for Palestine and Cuba

The 18th Summit of the BRICS cooperation mechanism, meeting in the Indian capital, New Delhi, over September 12-13 adopted a joint declaration at the conclusion of its first session held in the afternoon of September 12.

The detailed 140-point declaration addresses a huge range of issues. Considering the sharp differences presently existing among some BRICS member countries, most notably Iran and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the unanimous adoption by all the full members of BRICS may be said to represent not least a considerable achievement on the part of Indian diplomacy, with, according to numerous media reports, its diplomats working intensively to secure consensus and agreement among all parties in the days leading up to the summit.

The Xinhua News Agency reports that the declaration, which is entitled, “Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability”, reflects a commitment to inclusive global governance and strengthening multilateralism, calling for international and regional peace and security, and underscoring sustainable and inclusive global economic growth as well as strengthening cultural and people-to-people cooperation.

Acknowledging the historical lineage of this key agency of Global South cooperation, the declaration notes: “We recall the 1955 Asian-African Conference in Bandung, Indonesia that proclaimed general principles, including equality, independence, non-intervention, and mutual benefit. We stress that the Bandung Spirit serves as a reference in the pursuit of a fairer, more inclusive, and representative multilateral system.”

Considering not least the positions and actions in the recent period of India and the United Arab Emirates, one positive and welcome development is the relatively principled stand taken by the declaration on the Palestinian and related issues. It states:

“We take note of the adoption of UNSC Resolution 2803. We call for the implementation of the relevant UNGA and UNSC Resolutions and urge all parties to ensure the maintenance of ceasefire and full and unhindered humanitarian access in the Gaza Strip. In this context, we express deep concern on the continued violence in Gaza despite the ceasefire agreement of October 2025. We call for halting any policies aimed at forced displacement of Palestinians from Gaza Strip and express concern regarding arrangements that may prejudice the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people and legitimise or prolong occupation.

“We reaffirm that a just and lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can only be achieved by peaceful means and depends on the fulfilment of the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, including the rights to self-determination and return. We affirm the need for adequate representation of Palestine in all relevant international organisations, including multilateral financial institutions, and access to their resources. We reaffirm our support for the State of Palestine’s full membership in the UN in the context of the unwavering commitment to the two-state solution, in accordance with international law, including relevant UN Security Council and General Assembly resolutions, and the Arab Peace Initiative, that includes the establishment of a sovereign, independent and viable State of Palestine within the internationally recognised 1967 borders, which included the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, with East Jerusalem as its capital, in order to achieve the vision of two States living side by side, in peace and security.

“We express our firm opposition to the forced displacement, temporary or permanent, under any pretext, of any of the Palestinian population from the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as well as any geographic or demographic changes to the territory of the Gaza Strip. We reiterate that international law and international judicial bodies demand the end of the illegal occupation and the immediate cessation of all practices that undermine legal norms and obstruct a just and lasting peace.

“We reiterate our grave concern about the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including the humanitarian situation in Gaza. We call for adherence to international law, in particular to international humanitarian law and international human rights law, and condemn all their violations, including the use of starvation as a method of warfare, attacks targeting civilians and civilian objects, including healthcare facilities and other civilian infrastructure, as well as the unlawful obstruction of humanitarian access. We also condemn attempts to politicise or militarise humanitarian assistance. We reassert our steadfast support for UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and stress the need to fully respect the mandate, bestowed on it by the UNGA, for the provision of basic services to Palestine refugees in its five fields of operations. We call on all relevant parties to respect their obligations under international law and act with utmost restraint and to avoid escalatory actions and provocative declarations. We note, in this regard, the provisional measures of the International Court of Justice in the legal proceedings instituted by South Africa against Israel, which, inter alia, reaffirmed Israel’s legal obligation to ensure the provision of humanitarian aid in Gaza.

“We reject any unilateral measures that seek to alter the legal and historical status of occupied Jerusalem. We urge full respect for the sanctity of all religious sites and holy places in the city and for the rights of all to access and to observe their religious rites without hinderance.

“We welcome the ceasefire in Lebanon and call on all parties to strictly adhere to its terms and to fully implement UNSC Resolution 1701. We condemn the continued violations of the ceasefire and of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Lebanon. We call on Israel to respect the terms agreed with the Lebanese government and to withdraw its occupying forces from all of the Lebanese territories, in which they remain.

“We highlight the vital role played by United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and agree it is imperative to ensure the safety, security, and freedom of movement of all UN personnel and equipment, as well as to respect the integrity of UN premises. We condemn all attacks against UNIFIL installations and personnel and emphasise that such attacks are a violation of international law and UN Security Council Resolution 1701 (2006). We also extend our deepest condolences for the loss of four Indonesian as well as other peacekeepers serving under UNIFIL and express solidarity with all Troop Contributing Countries affected. We express our condemnation of the incidents that led to these fatalities and reiterate that the safety and security of UN peacekeepers are non-negotiable. We underscore the importance of respecting the role and mandate of UNIFIL in supporting the Government of Lebanon and in creating space for a political solution. In this regard, we call for those responsible for these attacks to be held accountable and further call on all parties to guarantee the safety and freedom of movement of UNIFIL personnel and assets, as well as the inviolability of UN premises.”

The declaration also declares its support for Cuba, stating: “Underlining the character of Latin America and the Caribbean as a zone of peace, built on mutual respect, peaceful settlement of disputes and non-intervention, we express deep concern on the situation relating to Cuba due to the tightening of unilateral blockade measures against the country, their adverse effects on the Cuban economy, energy supplies and the worrying humanitarian impact on the Cuban people. In this regard, we reiterate the necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial measures against Cuba in accordance with UNGA Resolution A/RES/80/4.”

It concludes by extending full support to China for its BRICS Chairship in 2027 and the holding of the XIX BRICS Summit in China.

Kim Jong Un: we will always join hands with the Chinese comrades

Leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) Kim Jong Un sent a reply letter on September 12 to his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in response to his letter sent on the occasion of the 78th founding anniversary of the DPRK on September 9.

Kim Jong Un wrote: “Your warm congratulations and best wishes serve as great strength and encouragement to all the members of the Workers’ Party of Korea and the DPRK people who are making all-out efforts to usher in a new era of comprehensive national rejuvenation, regarding socialism as their faith.

“We will always join hands with the Chinese comrades in the course of firmly defending and advancing the common cause of socialism and better cultivating, strengthening and developing the traditional DPRK-China relations of friendship and cooperation in conformity with the requirements of the new era and the aspirations and wishes of the peoples of the two countries.”

On September 8, the DPRK embassy in Beijing hosted a reception to mark their national day. It was attended by Peng Qinghua, vice-chairperson of the Standing Committee of the Chinese National People’s Congress (NPC), along with representatives of numerous Chinese departments and organisations.

In his speech Ambassador Ri Ryong Nam said that the 78 year-long history of the DPRK is the proud course of victory in which it has dynamically advanced for building a powerful socialist country despite all trials and difficulties under the outstanding leadership of President Kim Il Sung, Chairman Kim Jong Il and respected Comrade Kim Jong Un.

He said that the Workers’ Party of Korea and the DPRK government would as ever invariably and firmly support the Chinese people in their struggle for defending the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era and the country’s national sovereignty, security, development and interests under the leadership of the Communist Party of China with Comrade General Secretary Xi Jinping as its core.

Peng Qinghua extended warm congratulations on behalf of the Chinese party, government and people to the Korean party, government and people, saying that after the founding of the DPRK the Korean people embarked on the road of independent development and have dynamically advanced the socialist cause and changed the appearance of the state by waging a ceaseless struggle for 78 years.

No matter how the international situation may change, the Chinese party and government remains unchanged in its firm stand of attaching great importance to the China-DPRK friendship and also in its steadfast determination to firmly support the socialist cause of the DPRK led by General Secretary Kim Jong Un, defend the common interests of the two countries and preserve the excellent strategic environment, he stressed.

Meanwhile the General Association of Koreans in China (GAKC) and other organisations of the Korean community held celebrations on September 8 and 9 to mark their national day. They included placing flower baskets at the statue of President Kim Il Sung at Yuwen Middle School in Jilin and study tours of anti-Japanese revolutionary battle sites, where Chinese and Korean comrades fought shoulder-to-shoulder, in the three northeastern provinces of China. Kim Il Sung, the founder of the DPRK, studied at the Yuwen Middle School in his teenage years and his time there formed an important part of his early revolutionary activities. The school is also associated with a number of key figures in the Chinese revolution, including Guo Moro, Chu Tunan, and Shang Yue, who taught there, and Peng Huanwu and Ma Zongjin, who studied there.

Xi Jinping sets out plans for BRICS to stand on the right side of history

Chinese President Xi Jinping attended the 18th Summit of the BRICS cooperation mechanism held in the Indian capital New Delhi from September 12 to 13 at the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

President Xi attended the first session of the summit on the afternoon of September 12. Chaired by Prime Minister Modi, it was also attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE’s) Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Khaled bin Mohamed, Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira, and others.

Xi Jinping delivered a statement entitled “Jointly Shouldering the Responsibility of the Times and Striving to Be a Pioneering Force”.

He pointed out that this year marks the 20th anniversary of BRICS cooperation. Over the past two decades, BRICS has been growing with strong vigour and vitality and has become the most influential cooperation platform in today’s world for emerging markets and developing countries. These are 20 years of self-reliance and self-strengthening. BRICS countries have actively explored development paths suited to respective national conditions and set a fine example of emerging markets and developing countries seeking strength through unity. These are 20 years of standing together through wind and rain. Hand in hand BRICS countries have tackled the global financial crisis, the COVID pandemic, climate change and other challenges, and resolutely defended the common interests of the Global South, providing the world with stability and positive energy.

President Xi stressed that, today, changes unseen in a century are accelerating across the world. The Global South is gaining strength, and the trend toward a multipolar world is unstoppable. At the same time, unilateralism and power politics are surging against the tide, lashing at multilateralism and the international order. The deficits in peace, development, security and governance keep growing. BRICS must stand firmly on the right side of history, strive to be a pioneer of our times, steer the international order in a direction that is more just and equitable, and work together to build a community with a shared future for humanity.

In this regard he put forward four points:

BRICS should be a pioneer in advancing innovation-driven development. BRICS countries must keep the initiative firmly in their hands, strengthen cooperation in the field of AI, encourage open source, openness, collaboration and sharing, and break new ground and scale new heights in practical cooperation.
BRICS should be a pioneer in upholding peace and stability. We should act on the vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security, oppose the Cold War mentality and bloc confrontation, and oppose violation of other countries’ sovereignty or interference in other countries’ internal affairs. We should participate constructively in the settlement of hotspot issues and make BRICS’ unique contribution to addressing both the symptoms and root causes.
BRICS should be a pioneer in facilitating mutual learning between civilisations. We should promote the common values of humanity, and advocate exchange, mutual learning and harmonious coexistence between civilisations. We should hold the BRICS People-to-People Exchange Forum to share experience on national governance and build up positive energy for stable state-to-state relations.
BRICS should be a pioneer in reforming and improving global governance. BRICS should align with the trend toward greater democracy in international relations, work toward a more just and equitable global governance system, and uphold the authority of the United Nations.

The Chinese president added that during its arduous journey of 20 years, solidarity and cooperation have always been the source of strength for the cause of BRICS. We should continue treating each other with candour and sincerity and seeking common ground while shelving differences. China will take over the BRICS chairship next year and host the 19th BRICS Summit. The Chinese side will seize the opportunity to build consensus and work with all parties to plan for the future.

On the morning of September 13, President Xi Jinping attended Session II of the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi, and delivered an important statement entitled “Cementing the Foundation for BRICS Cooperation and Bolstering the Strength of the Global South”.

President Xi pointed out that this meeting is held at a time when changes unseen in a century are accelerating across the world. The Global South, with its collective rise, has become a key driver of world multipolarity. At the same time, the international landscape is volatile and fraught with risks and challenges. To bring stability to the world and make it a better place, BRICS countries must seize the historical initiative, rally the Global South, be an active, stabilising and positive force in international affairs, and advance the well-being of all humanity.

He stressed that Global South countries should jointly defend the rule of law in international affairs, safeguard the basic norms of international relations including sovereign equality, noninterference in internal affairs, and the peaceful settlement of disputes, and ensure that international law and international rules are applied to all, free from double standards. The international financial architecture must be reformed and improved to increase the representation and voice of developing countries. Global South countries should stay committed to a people-centred development philosophy and strive to deliver on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

President Xi pointed out that to accomplish great things and achieve major progress, the foundation of greater BRICS cooperation must be cemented. BRICS should leverage close ties with fellow emerging markets and Global South countries, uphold open cooperation for mutual benefit, safeguard stable and smooth industrial and supply chains, foster a larger integrated market, build incubators for innovation, upgrade traditional industries, develop emerging industries, and deploy future industries. He put forward five initiatives for deepening BRICS cooperation:

The open source and inclusive AI initiative. China will be a pioneer in establishing a BRICS AI open source community, support cooperation in developing and applying large language models, hold specialised AI seminars and training courses, and build an open ecosystem for AI.
The trade and investment facilitation initiative. China proposes to establish a BRICS special economic zone partnership, under which countries can set up an intelligent portal, coordinate policies, and build a new frontier for open development.
The digital industry cooperation initiative. China will push for establishing a BRICS digital ecosystem cloud platform, and conduct digital skills training, technological exchange and industrial alignment, so as to jointly enable the development of the digital economy.
The intelligent manufacturing cooperation initiative. China stands ready to assist fellow BRICS countries in building smart factories and developing standards and norms and jointly promote manufacturing transformation and upgrading.
The science and technology talent development initiative. China proposes to set up a BRICS engineer cultivation alliance for joint development of engineers and mutual recognition of competency standards.

The session was attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, the UAE’s Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Khaled bin Mohamed, the Brazilian and Saudi Arabian Foreign Ministers, leaders or representatives of BRICS partner countries and guest countries, and Secretary General António Guterres of the United Nations and other heads of international organisations, and was chaired by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

India and China need to contribute more positive energy to world peace, stability, development and prosperity

Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the 18th BRICS Summit in the Indian capital New Delhi on September 12. The two leaders had a candid and in-depth exchange of views and reached an important consensus that China and India should be partners.

Xi said China has always viewed and developed its relations with India from a strategic height and with a long-term perspective. He noted that he has met with Modi twice over the past two years, which had guided bilateral relations from a new start to a further improvement. China and India have different national conditions, Xi said, adding that they can draw on each other’s strengths, support one another, help each other succeed and pursue common development. Amid a turbulent international landscape, China and India, as the world’s two most populous countries and important members of the Global South, shoulder important responsibilities. They need to keep in mind the future of humanity and the well-being of peoples, work together to promote high-quality development of greater BRICS cooperation, and contribute more positive energy to world peace, stability, development and prosperity.

Xi further called on China and India to draw on the political wisdom of mutual respect and understanding to overcome disruptions, urging both sides to pursue parallel progress in bilateral ties and border issues with the two tracks reinforcing each other, so as to maintain peace and tranquility in their border areas. He further said that the two countries should support each other as rotating chair of the BRICS, strengthen coordination within such multilateral frameworks as the United Nations, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and the G-20, stand together in addressing global challenges, and unequivocally uphold international fairness and justice.

Prime Minister Modi said that he has held several productive meetings with Xi, guiding India-China relations toward a positive direction, which serves the common interests of the more than 2.8 billion people of both countries. The two major civilisations of India and China have, over thousands of years, learned from each other through exchanges and moved forward hand in hand. India adheres to an independent foreign policy, and the development of its relations with China is not subject to the influence of any third party, he noted.

India thanked China for its support for its hosting of the BRICS summit and will fully support China in assuming the BRICS chairmanship next year. Modi added that India is ready to closely coordinate and cooperate with China to jointly strengthen cooperation among Global South countries, promote a more multipolar world and global economic growth, and serve as a force for stability and progress in a turbulent world.

Sunlight and sovereignty: the Chinese technology behind Africa’s solar boom

Africa’s solar installations rose by a record 54 percent in 2025, and 15 major African markets imported more than $400 million worth of solar panels in the first quarter of 2026 alone – more than two-thirds of the total for the whole of the previous year. In this article, Carlos Martinez looks at what lies behind those numbers.

The projects driving the continent’s green transition are overwhelmingly built and financed by China, from the Benban Solar Park in Egypt and the Adama wind farms in Ethiopia to De Aar in South Africa and a solar plant with battery storage in every one of Zambia’s 156 constituencies. What has made them viable is two decades of sustained Chinese public investment, which has driven the global cost of renewable energy down to a fraction of what it was 15 years ago.

Carlos also takes on the charge, increasingly fashionable in parts of the Western left, that this amounts to a new “green imperialism”. Market share, he argues, describes a trade relationship, not domination and coercion – and the function of the accusation, whatever the intention behind it, is to manufacture consent for the New Cold War.

A report in the South China Morning Post on 7 September highlights the contrast in energy policy between the United States, where, particularly under the present administration, the watchword is “drill, baby, drill”, and China, where the national strategy is to “walk towards the light”. Two energy behemoths, two approaches to the future of the planet, and the resulting choice facing the people of Africa.

The SCMP article observes that, for African governments seeking to expand access to electricity, the principal deciding factor is cost. And on cost, the argument is now over.

Africa’s solar installations rose a record 54 percent in 2025, adding 4.5 gigawatts of new photovoltaic capacity, and that record is likely to be broken again this year. The International Energy Agency reports that 15 major African markets imported more than $400 million worth of solar panels in the first quarter of 2026 alone – against $600 million for the whole of 2025.

“Africa’s solar revolution is here,” says Sonia Dunlop, chief executive of the Global Solar Council. “Growth is spreading to new markets across the continent, and rooftop and distributed systems are putting power directly into the hands of households and businesses.”

China supports Mexico’s defence of its independence, sovereignty and security

Secretary of Foreign Affairs of Mexico Roberto Velasco Álvarez visited China from September 6-7 at the invitation of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who is also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee.

The two foreign ministers held talks in Beijing on September 7.

Wang Yi said that China has always viewed and advanced China-Mexico relations from the strategic perspective of unity and cooperation among countries in the Global South. China appreciates Mexico’s long-term and firm adherence to the one-China principle and supports Mexico in maintaining its independence and autonomy, safeguarding its sovereignty and security, and opposing external interference.

Noting that China and Mexico share similar positions on many international and regional issues, Wang said China is ready to strengthen strategic coordination with Mexico on the international and multilateral stages to safeguard the respective legitimate interests of the two countries.

Velasco said the Mexican side commends the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence proposed by China and firmly adheres to the one-China principle and upholds the authority of United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2758, which restored China’s rightful seat in the world body.

The Mexican foreign minister further said that Mexico supports China in holding the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders’ Meeting, which will be held in Shenzhen in November, and its playing a leading role, expressing willingness to strengthen coordination and cooperation with China to jointly safeguard the international multilateral system.

The importance of Wang Yi’s strong statement in support of Mexico’s independence, security and sovereignty and in opposition to external interference has to be seen in the context of the steadily mounting bullying, aggression and threats emanating from the Trump administration in the US as part of its current hemispheric hegemonic rampage.

Three days later, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum reiterated her stance on national sovereignty and rejected US political pandering at Mexico’s expense ahead of the US midterm elections on November 3.

“As we have always said, Mexico is nobody’s piñata. Mexico must be respected. We do not interfere in their elections. They also should not use Mexico in their elections,” Sheinbaum said during her regular daily press conference at the National Palace in Mexico City. (Typically associated with Mexico, a piñata is generally described as a container, often made of papier-mâché, pottery, or cloth, that is decorated, filled with candy, and then broken as part of a celebration.)

The president was responding to recent comments by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who claimed that drug trafficking groups control “vast territories” of Mexico and that they “pose an enormous threat right on our border”.

On the day of Velasco’s meeting in Beijing, Trump shared on social media a map appearing to depict Canada, Mexico, Greenland, Iceland, Cuba and some other Caribbean islands as part of an expanded United States, swathed in the stars and stripes. The day before Trump had referred to the US state of New Mexico as New America.

Earlier, in mid-August, Andrés Manuel López Beltrán, the son of immediate past president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, a key ally of President Claudia Sheinbaum, revealed that the US government has revoked his visa.

Reds under the bed and in the tractors

In the following article, Carlos Martinez surveys a burst of anti-China stories in the British right-wing press – the Telegraph’s warning that Chinese chips in GPS-guided tractors could be used to spy on farmers and fitted with kill switches; the Times’ claim that Chinese-made wind turbines could be used to shut down Britain’s electricity supply; and the Telegraph’s discovery of a hotel near RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus with a good view of the runway.

In each case, he notes, the evidence is absent and the motive is never explained. Meanwhile every documented instance of weaponised supply-chain hardware – Stuxnet, the NSA’s intercepted routers, Nord Stream, the booby-trapped pagers in Lebanon – belongs to Britain’s Western allies rather than to China.

He also points to an instructive contradiction: in the same week that Chinese industrial policy was being described as a threat to national survival, both the Guardian and the Financial Times carried pieces arguing that Britain should be learning from it. The purpose of the hysteria, Carlos argues, is not to inform economic policy but to build support for the US-led New Cold War.

Xi Jinping visiting New Delhi for BRICS summit

On September 10, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson announced that President Xi Jinping will attend the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi from September 12-13 at the invitation of Prime Minister of the Republic of India Narendra Modi. It will also be Xi’s first visit to India since October 2019.

Previewing the summit, the Xinhua News Agency released two important feature articles on September 10 and 11 recapping Xi’s consistent support for the BRICS initiative and for the Global South and the reform of global governance more generally.

According to the first article: “Over the past two decades, BRICS has grown into a major platform for cooperation among emerging markets and developing countries, with an ever-expanding role in global affairs.

“At the upcoming summit, Xi will join other leaders in charting a new course for the high-quality development of greater BRICS cooperation, pooling the collective strength of the Global South and contributing stability and positive momentum to a world undergoing profound changes.”

Outlining Xi’s pivotal role in the development of BRICS, it recalls that when, in March 2013, Xi attended the fifth BRICS Summit in Durban, South Africa, it was his first international summit as Chinese president.

On that occasion, Xi called on BRICS countries to move toward the goal of integrated markets, a multi-tiered financial network, connectivity by land, air and sea, and greater cultural exchanges.

Two years later, at the seventh BRICS Summit held in Ufa, Russia, Xi called for building a partnership for world peace, common development, inter-civilisation dialogue and more effective global economic governance.

When China was the BRICS chair in 2017, Xi proposed the “BRICS Plus” cooperation model at the ninth BRICS Summit in Xiamen, calling for getting more emerging markets and developing countries involved in the group’s concerted endeavours for cooperation and mutual benefits.

In a further article published the next day, Xinhua notes that Xi Jinping is heading to New Delhi for this year’s BRICS gathering just over a week after he took part in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek.

“The two back-to-back multilateral engagements converge on a single, defining theme: galvanising solidarity and cooperation across the Global South.

“This year,” the article continues, “marks the 25th founding anniversary of the SCO and the 20th anniversary of the BRICS cooperation mechanism, both milestone occasions.

“Riding the wave of the collective rise of the Global South, BRICS and the SCO have over the years expanded their membership and broadened their networks of partners. Their members jointly account for more than half of the world’s population and about 30 percent of the global economy. This illustrates the fact that the two groupings have evolved into major platforms for Global South cooperation.

“As the Global South rises, it deserves a bigger say in global affairs. Last year’s SCO Tianjin summit witnessed Xi’s proposal of the Global Governance Initiative, a major proposition of China to advance a more just and equitable global governance system.

“At the heart of this vision is the conviction that every country has a place and an equal role to play in global governance.

“Xi has long argued that international affairs should not be dictated by those with more muscles. ‘World affairs should be discussed by all, and international norms should be set by all,’ he said in Bishkek last week. ‘The domination of international affairs by a few is an injustice left over from history, and global governance dictated by one, a few or a bloc of countries is not true multilateralism.’

“‘As an important part of a multipolar world and a key driving force behind it, the Global South countries ought to have greater representation and voice in international affairs,’ Xi said.”

The article concludes by pointing out: “Beyond the SCO and BRICS, China has also promoted cooperation and greater representation for the Global South through frameworks such as the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation and the China-ASEAN summit.

“Xi has said on many occasions that China has always been a member of the Global South and will always belong to the developing world.

“‘No matter how the international landscape evolves, we in China will always keep the Global South in our heart, and maintain our roots in the Global South,’” he once said.

The importance of China’s new ethnic unity law: a webinar

The following report from Workers World covers the webinar “China’s National Unity vs. U.S. Social Hierarchy”, held on August 30 and organised by the United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC), which examined the significance of China’s new Ethnic Unity and Progress Promotion Law.

Chaired by Sara Flounders of UNAC, the panel brought together Friends of Socialist China co-editor Carlos Martinez, China Daily columnist Chen Weihua, China-based broadcaster Jason Smith, Jacqueline Luqman of the Black Alliance for Peace, and the Canadian writer Arnold August.

The speakers set out what the law actually says – that it prohibits discrimination against any ethnic group, reaffirms the right of all peoples to use and develop their own languages, and obliges the state to direct infrastructure, industry and public services towards minority regions – and contrasted this with the record of forced assimilation in the West. Several drew on first-hand visits to Xizang (Tibet) and Xinjiang, where, as Chen Weihua observes, the Tibetan language is not simply being preserved but is proliferating.

Socialist China Conference 2026 (London, 3 October)

📆 Saturday 3 October 2026, 10.30am–5pm

📍 Cypriot Community Centre, Earlham Grove, Wood Green, London N22 5HJ

Following the success of our two previous conferences, Friends of Socialist China will mark the 77th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China with our third annual Socialist China Conference, in London on Saturday 3 October.

The conference is a day-long deep dive into various aspects of contemporary China, including foreign policy, the New Cold War, and AI and technology. Alongside opening and closing rallies, there will be panel discussions on:

Resisting the new cold war and the threat of hot war
AI, technology and the new quality productive forces
Book launch: China’s foreign policy and the making of a multipolar world

The event is organised by Friends of Socialist China, with support from a number of progressive organisations including the Morning Star, Communist Party of Britain, Workers Party of Britain, Communist Party of Ireland, International Manifesto Group, Student Federation of India UK, Black Liberation Alliance, AKEL in Britain, Iskra Books, Praxis Press, Manifesto Press, Caribbean Labour Solidarity, Third World Solidarity, No 2 NATO, Birmingham People’s History Archive, Labour Affairs Magazine, Mushtarek, and Institute for Independence Studies.

Tickets are available now on Eventbrite. We hope you can join us.

Confirmed speakers

Mick Wallace (Former MEP; Former TD for Wexford)
Vijay Prashad (Director, Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research)
George Galloway (Leader, Workers Party of Britain; Former MP) (video)
Jenny Clegg (Author and peace activist)
Kate Hudson (Author; Vice-President, CND)
Li Jingjing (Reporter with CGTN) (video)
Alex Gordon (Former President, RMT; General Secretary, Communist Party of Britain)
Zhang Weiwei (Director, China Institute, Fudan University) (video)
John Ross (Senior Fellow, Chongyang Institute, Renmin University of China)
Alfredo Saad Filho (Professor, Queen’s University Belfast)
Radhika Desai (Professor, University of Manitoba; Convenor, International Manifesto Group)
Roger McKenzie (International editor, Morning Star)
Francisco Domínguez (Secretary, Venezuela Solidarity Campaign)
Yanan Song (Lecturer in Global Politics)
Keith Bennett (Co-editor, Friends of Socialist China)
Carlos Martinez (Co-editor, Friends of Socialist China)
Ali Al-Assam (Managing Director, NewsSocial Cooperative)
Fiona Sim (Black Liberation Alliance)
Gearóid Ó Machail (Communist Party of Ireland)
Paul Atkin (Political analyst and environmental campaigner)
Nuvpreet Kalra (CodePink)
David Peat (Iskra Books; Friends of Socialist China)

Was Chairman Mao the greatest person to have ever lived?

The following is the full text of the remarks prepared by our co-editor Keith Bennett, as the final speaker at our webinar, organised in conjunction with the International Manifesto Group (IMG), on Sunday September 6, marking the 50th anniversary of the death of Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong.

Keith’s speech was delivered in slightly abbreviated and adapted form due to time constraints. A report on the webinar can be read here. The livestream of the event is also available on YouTube.

I’m not sure whether having to speak last after such a galaxy of brilliant speakers is a blessing or a curse. Perhaps it is both.

Let me try to draw together some threads that I believe constitute the theme of this webinar.

It will be 50 years since the death of Chairman Mao this coming Wednesday. I was one of those strange teenagers whose bedroom wall, much I’m sure to my parents’ bemusement, was not decorated with posters of footballers or rock stars but rather of Mao.

So, I remember so well when I heard the news that he’d died. I’d just turned 18. It was the summer between finishing school and starting university and, as part of my holiday job, I was on my hands and knees washing a kitchen floor when the lunchtime news on the radio led with this story.

Such are the kind of memories this anniversary evokes for me.

But the passage of half a century should allow for at least the beginnings of an objective assessment of a person’s life, work and legacy.

And in this spirit, let me express a perhaps controversial view that no single person in history has ever made a greater contribution to the liberation of humanity as that made by Mao Zedong. Further, if that is the case, then it is not unreasonable to suggest that he is the greatest person to have ever lived.

In the brief time available let me try to sketch a pathway to that bold assertion.

First, regarding his style of work, Mao insisted on careful study and social investigation.