Author: Friends of Socialist China

China, Latin American and Caribbean states deepen their space cooperation

In a significant step to enhance the unity and solidarity of the Global South and to promote economic, scientific and technological cooperation and development, China hosted the first China-Latin American and Caribbean States Space Cooperation Forum in the city of Wuhan, capital of the central province of Hubei, in the last week of April.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory letter to the forum in which he said that China and the Latin American and Caribbean countries have achieved fruitful results in space cooperation in recent years, including new progress in the fields of remote sensing satellites, communication satellites and the deep space station network, which have played an important role in promoting scientific and technological progress, strengthening regional connectivity and improving people’s wellbeing.

China is ready to work with the Latin American and Caribbean countries to build a high-level space cooperation partnership, promote space technology to better benefit both peoples, and continue to promote the building of a community of China and the Latin American and Caribbean countries with a shared future.

Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Guoqing read out Xi’s letter at the opening ceremony on April 24. In his own speech, Zhang added that China stands ready to work with the Latin American and Caribbean countries to strengthen the synergy of development strategies in the field of space, deepen scientific and technological innovation cooperation, create more application scenarios, promote industrial complementarity and mutual enhancement, and intensify talent exchanges, so as to push biliteral space cooperation to a higher level and bring tangible benefits to the people of both sides.

Luther Castillo Harry, Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation of Honduras, read out the congratulatory letter from President Xiomara Castro. She said that China has been committed to carrying out space cooperation with developing countries, which can help both sides to overcome common challenges, achieve sustainable development and mitigate climate change and natural disasters. 

Gabriela Jimenez, Venezuelan Minister of Science and Technology, read out the congratulatory letter from Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. He said China and Venezuela have close cooperation and profound friendship in the aerospace sector, which is of great significance for promoting space cooperation between China and Latin America.

The forum reviewed and highlighted examples of China’s space cooperation with Argentina, Brazil and Venezuela in particular. 

Yue Yunxia, director of the economic research office of the Institute of Latin American Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said space cooperation between China and Latin American countries is not an empty slogan, but covers a wide range of fields.

“China-Latin America space cooperation has helped Latin American countries build their aerospace systems, train high-quality space technology personnel and achieve new breakthroughs in the aerospace field. China-Latin America cooperation on remote-sensing satellites, communication satellites and in the commercial field has promoted connections among Latin American countries and improved people’s well-being.” 

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

Xi sends congratulatory letter to forum on space cooperation with LatAm, Caribbean countries

BEIJING, April 24 (Xinhua) — Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday sent a congratulatory letter to the first China-Latin American and Caribbean States Space Cooperation Forum.

Noting that this year marks the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the China-CELAC (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) Forum jointly announced by the leaders of the two sides, Xi said that China and the Latin American and Caribbean countries have seen prosperous development over the past decade in their cooperation in various fields within the framework of the China-CELAC Forum to usher in a new era featuring equality, mutual benefit, innovation, openness and tangible benefits for the people.

Xi said China and the Latin American and Caribbean countries have yielded fruitful results in space cooperation in recent years, including new progresses in the fields of remote sensing satellites, communication satellites and the deep space station network, which has played an important role in promoting scientific and technological progress, strengthening regional connectivity and improving people’s wellbeing.

China is ready to work with the Latin American and Caribbean countries to build a high-level space cooperation partnership, promote space technology to better benefit both peoples, and continue to promote the building of a community of China and the Latin American and Caribbean countries with a shared future, said Xi.

The space cooperation forum, co-hosted by the China National Space Administration and the Hubei provincial government, started on Wednesday in Wuhan, capital of central China’s Hubei Province.

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Building a Beautiful China: promoting harmony between humanity and nature

The following text is from a speech delivered by Xi Jinping at a national conference on ecological and environmental protection on 17 July 2023. The English translation was published in Qiushi on 11 March 2024.

President Xi reiterates the Chinese leadership’s firm resolve to build an ecological civilisation based on harmony between humanity and nature, “upholding and acting on the principle that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets.” The speech provides a detailed description of China’s environmental strategy in the areas of tackling air, land and water pollution; transitioning industry to a low-carbon development model; continuing to expand the production and consumption of renewable energy; and protecting biodiversity.

The speech makes it clear that the project of protecting the planet and building a Beautiful China is not for the government alone, but relies on the participation of the masses:

We must promote eco-friendly lifestyles. We will encourage simple, moderate, green, low-carbon, sound, and healthy lifestyles and consumption patterns, making eco-friendly transportation, conservation of water, electricity, and food, as well as garbage sorting our people’s daily practice. Party and government organizations at all levels, state-owned enterprises, and public institutions must be at the forefront of these campaigns. We will continue to launch a series of activities under the theme of ‘I’m a Contributor to a Beautiful China’ and encourage industrial parks, enterprises, communities, schools, families, and individuals to actively participate, with a view to building a society in which everyone pursues ecological progress all the time, everywhere, and in everything they do.

This vision – already becoming reality – is profoundly different to the way the ecological crisis is being handled in the West. In the US, Britain and elsewhere, governments make empty promises around renewable energy and carbon efficiency, whilst taking precious little meaningful action. Indeed they maintain fossil fuel subsidies, expand drilling for oil and gas, impose tariffs and sanctions on Chinese solar panels and EVs, and engage in ecologically ruinous military activities. Meanwhile, the capitalist class attempts to shift responsibility away from itself and on to individual consumers, who are expected to reduce their domestic energy consumption, to avoid flying, to recycle, to take shorter showers, to drive electric cars, to eat less meat and so on. The crisis is thereby, in typical neoliberal fashion, individualised, and the capitalist class is absolved of all responsibility and blame.

China is still a developing country, but it has become the clear global leader in environmental protection. It is the world’s first renewable energy superpower, responsible for over half of all wind and solar investment in 2023. The government is not shifting responsibility to individuals, but promoting coordinated action at all levels of government and society. China’s crucial advantage is its political system: the location of political power in the working people led by the CPC. The government’s goals are the masses’ goals, and hence the pursuit of a Beautiful China and the fight against climate breakdown can be prioritised. As such, Chinese socialism is rendering a profound service for all humanity.

The next five years will be crucial to building a Beautiful China. We should thoroughly implement the thinking on promoting ecological progress with Chinese characteristics for a new era, adhere to the people-centered approach, and uphold and act on the principle that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets. In our efforts to build a great country and advance national rejuvenation, we will prioritize the Beautiful China Initiative to make notable progress in this regard, and work for substantial improvements in urban and rural living environment. This will enable us to support high-quality development with a high-quality environment.

First, we must intensify the battle against pollution

We must continue to control pollution in a lawful, targeted, and science-based way, and maintain the intensity of our efforts while going deeper and wider in preventing and controlling environmental pollution and improving the quality of the environment.

The blue skies initiative is a priority in the battle against pollution. Focusing on key areas, including the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and its surrounding areas, the Yangtze River Delta, and the Fenhe-Weihe River Plain area, we will optimize the industrial structure, the energy mix, and the composition of the transportation sector, strive for synergy between emissions reduction of pollutants such as volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxides, and further reduce the concentration of fine particulate matter. We will strengthen efforts to address pollution at its source, use clean energy and centralized heating as alternatives according to local conditions, and further control pollution from bulk coal, coal-fired boilers, and industrial furnaces. We will promote high-standard transformation of the steel, concrete, and coking industries to achieve ultra-low emissions, and continue to cut the discharge of pollutants in key industries. We will strive to bring about a shift in freight transportation from highways to railways and waterways, thus increasing the proportion of railway and waterway transportation in order to reduce energy consumption and pollution from transportation. We will make great efforts to respond to people’s concerns by effectively solving their daily problems and difficulties such as noise, cooking fumes, and stench. We will strengthen coordinated pollution prevention and control across regions and take comprehensive measures to speed up the elimination of serious air pollution and protect our beautiful blue skies.

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DPRK exposes US military strategy in the Pacific

The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the official news agency of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), published two important commentaries in April concerning US strategy in the Asia-Pacific region, noting that its principal target is China.

Writing on April 12, Jong Min, an international security analyst, focused on the US attempt to deploy intermediate-range missiles in the region.

He said that not long ago, the US army Pacific commander claimed that the Chinese army is taking an irresponsible way in the use of military means, adding that the US forces are planning to deploy new intermediate-range missiles in the Asia-Pacific region later this year to restrain China.

Jong adds: “Not content with persistently escalating the situation and inciting constant war fever through frequent dispatch of strategic assets to the Asia-Pacific region, the US is scheming to deploy even ground-launched intermediate-range missiles capable of directly aiming at specific countries in the region and promptly striking them at any moment. This clearly shows what phase the US ambition for military supremacy has reached.”

He notes that the US started to develop and modernise intermediate-range missiles, as soon as it unilaterally withdraw from the Treaty on the Elimination of Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles between Russia and US in August 2019 and completed the development of an intermediate-range missile system by the end of 2022.

“This fact goes to prove that the US attempt to deploy intermediate-range missiles in the Asia-Pacific region is not a defensive step to cope with ‘threat’ from someone but a product of the offensive and hegemonic military strategy which has been steadily pushed forward in a sequential and planned way for a long time.

“The US attempt to deploy intermediate-range missiles is dangerous enough to explosively aggravate the political and military situation in the Asia-Pacific region, trigger off strong rebuff and counteraction of China and other regional countries and spark off a fierce arms race in the region.

“In view of the range of those missiles, their deployment in Guam, Hawaii and other territories of the US has no military significance. Accordingly, they will have to be deployed in such allies of the US in the Asia-Pacific region as Japan and the puppet Republic of Korea (ROK).

“The US arms buildup to check China’s peaceful development and growth and restrain it militarily will inevitably invoke strong countermeasures. And Japan and the puppet ROK or any third country might be well aware of the fact that they would be the first target of military retaliation if the US intermediate-range missiles were deployed in their territories.

“After all, the US deployment of intermediate-range missiles in the Asia-Pacific region is not for protecting its junior allies. On the contrary, it will lead them to the fate of being victims and sacrifices of the US strategy for hegemony.”

Then, on April 25, international affairs analyst Kang Jin Song commented on the US attempt to expand the AUKUS military alliance, presently consisting of Australia, Britain and the United States, to other countries, starting with Japan.

He notes that since its founding, AUKUS has been called a nuclear mine planted in the waters of the Asia-Pacific as ‘the Anglo-Saxon nuclear submarine alliance’ for seeking nuclear supremacy in the Asia-Pacific region by detouring the international nuclear non-proliferation system.

It is the sinister intention of the US to make Japan a crewmember of a confrontation ship called AUKUS and put it at the outpost line of the anti-China pressure and push the nuclear minefield in the Asia-Pacific region closer to China.

He goes on to outline how the Biden administration recently held a tripartite summit of the US, Japan and the Philippines in the wake of a US-Japan summit to call for strengthened security cooperation between Manila and Tokyo, as well as Canberra and Seoul.

“This is mainly aimed at building double and triple infrastructure for implementing the ‘integrated deterrence strategy’ against China by ultimately putting together tools designed for achieving supremacy existing in the Asia-Pacific region in a ‘latticed’ way.

“The reality goes to prove once again that the ‘competition accompanied by dialogue’ with China and the ‘installation of a guard rail’ in bilateral relations, heard from US public officials, are nothing but deceptive slogans and their thinking and practice are oriented to anti-China confrontation from A to Z.

“Owing to the establishment of a ‘small group’ of the US whose arch enemy is China and its ceaseless attempt to expand the group, the Asia-Pacific region, where opportunities and potentials for development are richer than any other region of the world, is turning into a theatre of muscle-flexing and a touch-and-go nuclear minefield.”

The following articles were originally published by KCNA.

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China continues to speak out in support of the Palestinian people

China has continued to speak out in support of the struggle of the Palestinian people and to excoriate the hypocritical stand of the United States, which is doing everything in its power to shield and abet the criminal Israeli regime.

Speaking at an April 18 joint press conference with his Indonesian counterpart Retno Marsudi in the capital Jakarta, on the first leg of a regional tour which also took him to Papua New Guinea and Cambodia, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that there is no exception nor any privilege for the United States in complying with international law, including United Nations Security Council resolutions.

The UN Security Council, in response to the calls of the international community, has been continuously deliberating on draft resolutions regarding a ceasefire in Gaza, only to be repeatedly vetoed by the United States, Wang said. He added that the Security Council had recently adopted Resolution 2728, demanding an immediate ceasefire. This time, the United States did not dare to continue standing against international moral principles and instead chose to abstain yet claimed that this resolution was “non-binding.”

This statement by the United States has astounded the world, once again exposing the hegemonic mentality of the United States, Wang noted. He criticised the US for employing international law as merely a tool that can be utilised at will or discarded when deemed unnecessary.

Wang further pointed out that every member state of the United Nations is well aware that the resolutions adopted by the Security Council in accordance with the UN Charter are binding and that all countries are obliged to abide by them.

On the same day, Chinese Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Fu Cong, addressed a meeting of the Security Council prior to its voting on a resolution that would have admitted the State of Palestine as a full UN member, upgrading its present observer status.

Fu said: “An immediate ceasefire must be promoted with the utmost urgency. Ramadan has already ended, but the people of Gaza still have not seen the long-awaited ceasefire.”

The Ambassador alluded here to the clause in Resolution 2728, which begins:  “Demands an immediate ceasefire for the month of Ramadan respected by all parties leading to a lasting sustainable ceasefire.”

He continued: “Tangible actions must be taken to alleviate the humanitarian disaster in Gaza. Even if the people of Gaza are lucky enough to escape shelling and airstrikes, they still have to face a man-made famine. Such a catastrophe in the 21st century breaches the bottom line of moral conscience… The current round of conflict is an extremely tragic warning to the international community that it can no longer evade the aspiration of the Palestinian people for independence and statehood or perpetuate the historical injustice inflicted upon the Palestinian people.”

Ahead of the vote, he concluded: “Full membership in the UN is an important step for Palestine to establish an independent state. Palestine has requested renewed consideration of its application for full membership in the UN. China calls on all members of the Council to take a responsible attitude in light of history and cast a favourable vote this afternoon to support Palestine in joining the UN family as a full member.”

The United States proceeded to veto the resolution as the sole negative vote. Twelve members of the Security Council, including permanent members China, Russia and France, voted in favour, while Britain and Switzerland abstained.

Reacting to the vote, and the US veto, Fu Cong stated: “Today is a sad day,” because the US veto has ruthlessly dashed “the decades-long dream of the Palestinian people.” 

“The claim that the State of Palestine does not have the capacity to govern does not align with the reality on the ground.” Palestine’s survival space as a state has been constantly squeezed, and the foundation of the two-state solution has been continuously eroded, he added, condemning what he described as “gangster logic that confuses right and wrong.”

 “If it is out of political calculation to oppose Palestine’s full membership of the UN, it would be better to simply say so, instead of making excuses to re-victimise the Palestinian people.” On the broader implications of denying Palestine full membership, Fu argued that this action puts the cart before the horse, especially as “the Israeli side is rejecting the two-state solution more and more clearly.”

On April 24, China’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, Geng Shuang said that Israel’s attacks without solid evidence on the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) are unacceptable. Israel, he continued, made serious accusations against UNRWA over links to terrorism for which no evidence has yet been shared.

“At this point, the debate on UNRWA’s neutrality shall come to an end. We urge all countries to resume funding for UNRWA as soon as possible and to refrain from using any pretext to impose additional collective punishment on the population of Gaza.” To guarantee aid delivery by humanitarian agencies is the responsibility of the occupying power. Hunger cannot be used as a weapon and relief cannot be politicized, Geng said.

It has been 200 days since the outbreak of the Gaza conflict. In these 200 days, the world has seen the spread of hunger and famine, the collapse of the health care system, the loss of innocent lives, and the desperate struggle of millions of people on the brink of death. “There is no justification for prolonging this conflict, and there’s no excuse for the killing of civilians.”

Security Council Resolution 2728, which calls for a ceasefire in Gaza, is indisputably binding, and all member states are obligated to implement it. China supports the council in taking further actions to ensure the implementation of Resolution 2728, he added.

Meanwhile, on April 17, the Xinhua News Agency reported that China was sending two further batches of humanitarian aid, including tents, blankets, clothing, medical supplies and flour, to Gaza via the Rafah border crossing.

The following articles were originally published by the Xinhua News Agency and on the website of the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

Continue reading China continues to speak out in support of the Palestinian people

The latest danger from China: too much clean energy?

This brief article by Friends of Socialist China advisory group member Stefania Fusero, originally published in Italian in Futura Società, brings some much-needed clarity to the question of US allegations concerning China’s “over-capacity”, particularly in green technologies such as renewable energy, electric vehicles and lithium-ion batteries.

Stefania rightly points out that, by demanding that China curtail its production of materials that are essential for a global green transition, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen “implicitly admits that the priority for the US government is not to join in the global fight against climate breakdown, but instead to sustain the profits of US corporations and financial elites.” This in turn serves to reiterate that “Western governments serve the interests of small oligarchic minorities, not the masses of their populations.”

Stefania notes that the diverging priorities of China and the US are amply evidenced by the fact that, while China directs enormous resources towards development, infrastructure, sustainable energy, and the fight against poverty, the US devotes enormous resources to war, domination, hegemonism, and the pursuit of a ‘rules-based international order’ where the rules are written in Washington and serve the exclusive interests of the US ruling class.

The article concludes by predicting failure for the US’s tactic, citing Radhika Desai’s recent article in CGTN: China “will not roll over and play dead when asked to harm its own economy, its own workers and the possibility of dealing with climate change, all only so that the interests of unproductive inefficient and financialised US corporations may be advanced.”

The article was translated into English by the author.

Giuseppe Masala gave an exhaustive explanation in l’Antidiplomatico of the real reasons which brought US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen back to China.

Among other things, after quoting from a statement by Yellen – ”we now see the development of excess capacity in ‘new’ industries such as solar panels, lithium-ion batteries and electric vehicles” – Masala rightly states that, translated into simple language, Yellen is saying that the US productive system cannot cope with Chinese competition.

Simplicius the Thinker gets to the same conclusion in his post Yellen Dispatched to Beg China for Face-Saving Slowdown: “The fact of the matter is, China is simply leaping ahead of the decrepit, deteriorating U.S. by every measure and the panicked elites have sent Yellen to beg China to ‘slow down’ and not embarrass them on the world stage.”

There’s more to it, though. When Yellen denounces and laments China’s “overcapacity of clean energy” – specifically mentioning solar panels, electric vehicles and lithium-ion batteries – she gets straight to the issue of the global climate breakdown.

In this context, contrary to incessant Western smearing campaigns, China has acted consistently with the commitment to defend the environment Xi Jinping announced in 2014, and has translated it into a climate strategy the extent of which has never been seen before, as acknowledged by the president of the Environmental Defense Fund: “the world has never before seen a climate program on this scale.”

In solar energy alone, the International Energy Agency noted that China’s PV-focused industrial policies have contributed to more than 80 percent cost reductions, helping the sector become the most cost-effective electricity generation technology in many parts of the world – an important contribution to global decarbonisation.

Complaining about what she calls “clean energy overcapacity”, Yellen implicitly admits that the priority for the US government is not to join in the global fight against climate breakdown, but instead to sustain the profits of US corporations and financial elites. She lays bare the fact that Western governments serve the interests of small oligarchic minorities, not the masses of their populations.

Just take a simple look at the composition of the US public debt, which has reached the stratospheric figure of $34 trillion, of which 14 trillion has gone to military spending since the start of the war in Afghanistan. While the US has been throwing money into the bottomless pit of its endless wars ‘on terror’, China has been investing in the development of its economy, its infrastructure, as well as the fight against poverty, demonstrating that the priority of the PRC is development, whereas the priority of the US is war.

It is thus unsurprising that the foreign policies of the two countries are poles apart, both in the guiding principles and the parlance set out in their respective official documents, and in the posture adopted towards other countries.

China uses the language of diplomacy, rejects the logic of opposing blocs, is not part to any military alliances, and engages with partners for its various international projects, the Belt and Road Initiative first and foremost, in ways which are beneficial both to itself and to them. The US, on the other hand, does not want partners, but vassals from whom it demands exclusive allegiance to the point of agreeing to sacrifice their own interests, and does not hesitate to use the weapons of military and economic threat, in line with a purported ‘international rules based order’, which the US bends to its own will and convenience.

Will China bow to the requests and more-or-less veiled threats coming from the USA and its satellites?

As Radhika Desai writes in a recent article: “Sadly, for Yellen, China is neither Japan nor Europe but a socialist economy whose government is oriented towards advancing egalitarian development for its people. Yellen will find it willing to cooperate for the benefit of people and the planet. But it will not roll over and play dead when asked to harm its own economy, its own workers and the possibility of dealing with climate change, all only so that the interests of unproductive inefficient and financialized US corporations may be advanced.”

China and Bolivia share the same goals of opposing hegemony and upholding justice

Bolivian Foreign Minister Celinda Sosa Lunda visited China at the end of April.

Meeting her Chinese counterpart on April 28, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi noted that China and Bolivia enjoy a traditional friendship featuring mutual understanding and support. 2025 will see the 40th anniversary of their establishment of diplomatic relations. China is willing to work with the Bolivian side to take this opportunity to implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state and promote China-Bolivia strategic partnership to a new level.

The Hong Kong newspaper South China Morning Post reported the Chinese Foreign Minister as stating that: “China and Bolivia share the same goals of opposing hegemony and bullying by powerful powers and upholding fairness and justice. The two nations should jointly defend the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter and firmly safeguard the common interests of Global South countries.”

He added that both sides should continue to strengthen political mutual trust; enhance exchanges and cooperation between the governments, legislatures and political parties of the two countries; strengthen exchange of governance experience; synergise development strategies; and tap into the potential for cooperation in new areas such as digital economy, plateau agriculture, information and communication, and green development.

The Bolivian foreign ministry said Sosa would use her visit to address a broad agenda, including cooperation in tourism, technology, energy and others areas of mutual interest. Meeting her Chinese counterpart, she noted that China is an important strategic partner for Bolivia, adding that she hopes to upgrade cooperation in various fields such as economy and trade. Bolivia welcomes Chinese enterprises to invest and do business in the country.

China is currently Bolivia’s second-biggest trading partner. In 2023, trade between the two countries totalled nearly US$2.6 billion.

Sosa also met with Chen Zhou, Vice-Minister of the International Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee (IDCPC). He said that the CPC is willing to further strengthen friendly exchanges with the Movement towards Socialism (MAS) of Bolivia and promote China-Bolivia relations for sustained and stable development.  

Sosa said that Bolivia admires the great achievements of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Bolivia is currently in a critical period of development and change and is eager to strengthen cooperation with China in various fields. The Movement towards Socialism has long maintained friendly exchanges with the CPC and is willing to continue to deepen exchanges of theories and practices of state governance and administration between the two parties, so as to promote the construction of the respective parties and national development.  

Immediately prior to visiting China, Sosa visited Russia at the invitation of her counterpart Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Russia, which holds the 2024 rotating chair of the BRICS grouping, expressed its support for Bolivia’s application to join the cooperation mechanism.

The Foreign Ministers of Peru and Argentina also visited China in the last week of April.

The following articles were originally published by the Xinhua News Agency and on the website of the IDCPC.

Chinese FM holds talks with Bolivian counterpart

BEIJING, April 28 (Xinhua) — Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi held talks with Bolivian Foreign Minister Celinda Sosa Lunda in Beijing on Sunday, and both sides pledged to advance bilateral cooperation and multilateral coordination.

Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, noted that China and Bolivia enjoy a traditional friendship featuring mutual understanding and support. The year 2025 marks the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Bolivia. China is willing to work with the Bolivian side to take this opportunity to implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state and promote China-Bolivia strategic partnership to a new level.

Wang said that both sides should continue to strengthen political mutual trust; enhance exchanges and cooperation between the governments, legislatures and political parties of the two countries; strengthen exchange of governance experience; synergize development strategies; and tap into the potential for cooperation in new areas such as digital economy, plateau agriculture, information and communication, and green development.

China and Bolivia should enhance coordination on multilateral strategies, jointly safeguard the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, and firmly safeguard the common interests of the Global South, said Wang, adding that China is willing to work together with Bolivia and other Latin American and Caribbean countries to promote the building of a China-Latin America community with a shared future.

Sosa noted that China is an important strategic partner for Bolivia, saying Bolivia hopes to upgrade cooperation with China in various fields such as economy and trade. Bolivia welcomes Chinese enterprises to invest and do business in the country.

Bolivia firmly supports the one-China principle, and the global initiatives proposed by China. Bolivia is willing to promote Latin America-China relations, Sosa said.

After their talks, the two foreign ministers witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding on cooperation between the foreign affairs academies of the two countries.

Chen Zhou Meets with Celinda Sosa Lunda, Foreign Minister of Bolivia

Beijing, April 28th (IDCPC) — Chen Zhou, Vice-minister of the International Department of the CPC Central Committee, met here today on the afternoon with Celinda Sosa Lunda, Foreign Minister of Bolivia and her delegation.  

Chen spoke positively of the relations between the two Parties and the two countries. He said, the Chinese side is willing to work with the Bolivian side to enhance political mutual trust and strategic communication, promote practical cooperation in various fields, better benefit the two peoples, strengthen communication and coordination in international affairs, enhance solidarity and cooperation among developing countries, and jointly promote the building of a community with a shared future for mankind. The CPC is willing to further strengthen friendly exchanges with the Movement Towards Socialism of Bolivia and promote China-Bolivia relations for sustained and stable development.  

Sosa said, Bolivia admires the great achievements of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Bolivia is currently in a critical period of development and change, and is eager to strengthen cooperation with China in various fields. The Movement Towards Socialism has long maintained friendly exchanges with the CPC, and is willing to continue to deepen exchanges of theories and practices of state governance and administration between the two Parties, so as to promote the construction of the respective parties and national development. 

Dien Bien Phu victory through the memory of Chinese Senior Lieutenant General

Vietnam has been staging major commemorations of the 70th anniversary of the country’s victory at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu. This epic confrontation, which has been compared to the Battle of Stalingrad, and which raged for more than 50 days, from 13 March-May 7 1954, saw the Vietnamese liberation forces, led by Ho Chi Minh and Vo Nguyen Giap, comprehensively outwit, outmaneuver and finally crushingly defeat the far more powerful forces of French colonialism.

The victory of the Vietnamese revolutionaries destroyed French colonial rule in the three countries then collectively known as Indochina, namely Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, which was then codified in the Geneva Accords of July 21, 1954. And, coming less than a year after the Korean people’s victory in the Fatherland Liberation War, the Vietnamese victory at Dien Bien Phu powerfully inspired oppressed peoples and nations throughout the world in their struggles against colonialism and imperialism. Not least, the Algerian people commenced their war of liberation against French colonial rule less than six months later.

The Vietnamese Communist Party’s newspaper Nhân Dân recently summarised the significance of the Dien Bien Phu victory as follows:

“The Dien Bien Phu Victory became the sound of thunder that shook the world, tearing through the dark clouds of colonialism and imperialism, bringing a great source of encouragement to oppressed peoples to stand up to regain independence. The three words ‘Vietnam’, ‘Ho Chi Minh’, and ‘Dien Bien Phu’ resounded everywhere, becoming the pride and hope for freedom of progressive forces, a symbol of great bravery, and a shining star of the national liberation movement, signalling the collapse of colonialism.

“The Dien Bien Phu Victory is even greater because it is a victory of a fledgling army of a weak nation which defeated a colonialist giant with outnumbering troops and weapons. During the 56 days and nights of the battle, our army eliminated more than 16,000 enemy troops and demolished a group of strongholds regarded by the West as an invincible fortress. It was also the first time in history that a major expeditionary army of a western imperialist country was exterminated in a colonial country.”

Vietnam’s victory was immeasurably aided by the internationalist support and assistance of the People’s Republic of China and the Soviet Union, particularly the Military Advisory Delegation of China, which was embedded with the Vietnamese command.

It was commanded by Senior Lieutenant General Wei Guoqing (September 2, 1913-June 14, 1989). An outstanding Chinese revolutionary, Wei also served as Vice Chairman of the 4th and 5th National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committees; Vice Chairman of the 4th and 5th Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conferences (CPPCC); Alternate Member and Member of the 8th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC); Member of the 9th Central Committee of the CPC; and member of the 10th, 11th and 12th Political Bureaux of the CPC Central Committee.

Marking the 70th anniversary, Nhân Dân recently interviewed Wei Guoqing’s son, Wei Xiaoyi, and his widow, Xu Qiqian.

Wei Xiaoyi said: “Before leaving for Vietnam, Chairman Mao Zedong met with the delegation’s leaders in Zhongnanhai [the compound where the top Chinese leadership live and work]. He asked the delegation’s members to support the Vietnamese revolution impartially and purely, just like serving the Chinese revolution. My father remembered Chairman Mao Zedong’s notes. After coming to Vietnam, he contributed his opinions to the construction and operations of the Vietnamese army”.

Regarding the significance of the Dien Bien Phu Victory for Vietnam, China and the world, Wei Xiaoyi said that the victory of the Dien Bien Phu Campaign forced the French army to withdraw from Indochina, leading to the success of the cause of national liberation. The growth and maturity of the Vietnamese forces, from a guerrilla army gradually becoming a regular army, created the foundation for the struggle against US imperialists’ invasion and later the national liberation and reunification.

For China, in the 1950s, the maintenance of stability in the situation of Korea bordering north China and Vietnam bordering south China created favourable conditions for the building of socialism. In addition, the Dien Bien Phu Victory also had an impact on the national liberation movement around the world. Vietnam’s struggle to defeat the French colonialists and later, the American imperialists to reunify the country, was a great encouragement for the national liberation movement in the world.

The following article was originally published by Nhân Dân. Additionally, its timeline of the battle can be seen here.

On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Dien Bien Phu Victory, Nhan Dan (People) Newspaper’s reporters in China interviewed Wei Xiaoyi, a son of Senior Lieutenant General Wei Guoqing, former Head of the Military Advisory Delegation of China during the Dien Bien Phu Campaign.

Wei Xiaoyi and his mother, Xu Qiqian (over 90), were very moved when they recalled their memories of the Chinese Senior Lieutenant General, who was attached to and devoted much love to Vietnam.

Recalling Senior Lieutenant General Wei Guoqing’s account of the Dien Bien Phu Campaign, Wei Xiaoyi said following the failures in campaigns, such as the Border Campaign and Upper Laos Campaign, France appointed General Henri Navarre as Commander-in-Chief of the French army in Indochina. Navarre developed a military plan named after himself to turn the tide of the Indochina war, with the assumption that by capturing this land, they would be able to control the entire northwest region of Vietnam and cut off communication between the Vietnamese army and people with Laos and China, while making it difficult for the Vietnamese to supply logistics.

In late 1953, the French army began sending garrisons to Dien Bien Phu, including mercenaries and later paratroopers. Faced with that situation, at Vietnam’s request, China sent a military advisory delegation to help the Vietnamese army. Senior Lieutenant General Wei Guoqing was the Head of the Chinese military advisory delegation to the Dien Bien Phu Campaign.

Wei Xiaoyi said: “Before leaving for Vietnam, President Mao Zedong met with the delegation’s leaders in Zhongnanhai. He asked the delegation’s members to support the Vietnamese revolution impartially and purely, just like serving the Chinese revolution. My father remembered President Mao Zedong’s notes. After coming to Vietnam, he contributed his opinions to the construction and operations of the Vietnamese army”.

On the 60th anniversary of the Dien Bien Phu Victory, Wei Xiaoyi visited the ancient Dien Bien Phu battlefield. He said he felt all he heard about Dien Bien Phu through the relic sites such as Dien Bien Phu Campaign Headquarters, where General Vo Nguyen Giap and others of the Dien Bien Phu Campaign Command often worked and rested, or the workplace of the Chinese Military Advisory Delegation.

Just like his father, Wei Xiaoyi greatly admired the spirit of heroic fighting and overcoming difficulties and hardships of the Vietnamese army and people, especially the transportation of weapons, ammunition, and food during the Dien Bien Phu Campaign, relied entirely on human strength amid the scarcity and a large difference in force with the enemy.

Regarding the significance of the Dien Bien Phu Victory for Vietnam, China and the world, Wei Xiaoyi said that the victory of the Dien Bien Phu Campaign forced the French army to withdraw from Indochina, leading to the success of the cause of national liberation. The growth and maturity of the Vietnamese, from a guerrilla army gradually becoming a regular army, created the foundation for the struggle against US imperialists’ invasion and later the national liberation and reunification.

For China, in the 1950s, the maintenance of stability in the situation of Korea in North China and Vietnam in South China created favourable conditions for the building of socialism in China. In addition, the Dien Bien Phu Victory also had an impact on the national liberation movement around the world. Vietnam’s struggle to defeat the French colonialists and later, the American imperialists to reunify the country was a great encouragement for the national liberation movement in the world.

Senior Lieutenant General Wei Guoqing (September 2, 1913 – June 14, 1989) was Head of the Chinese Military Advisory Delegation in Vietnam; Vice Chairman of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee for fourth and fifth tenures; Vice Chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference for fourth and fifth tenures; Alternate Member and Member of the 8th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC); Member of the 9th Central Committee of the CPC; and member of the 10th, 11th and 12th Politburo of the CPC.

Wei Xiaoyi is the second child of Senior Lieutenant General Wei Guoqing. He joined the army and retired. He is now a researcher on Chinese military and revolutionary history.

Chinese and Iranian defence ministers discuss cooperation

Following an April 26 meeting of the defence ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), held in the Kazakh capital Astana, Iran has expressed appreciation for China’s position and understanding regarding its April 13 missile and drone attack on Israeli military targets, in response to Israel’s April 1 attack on the consular section of Iran’s embassy in the Syrian capital, Damascus.

Meeting with his Chinese counterpart Dong Jun on the sidelines of the conference, Iranian Defence Minister Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Ashtiani hailed China’s stance on the ongoing developments in the region and its condemnation of Israel’s terrorist airstrike against Iran’s diplomatic premises. It is necessary, he said, for Iran and China to boost cooperation and convergence to solve security issues in the region and across the world.

Dong Jun, for his part, slammed Israel’s attack on Iran’s diplomatic premises in Syria, which he said violated international law. China supports Iran’s legitimate right to respond to Israel, he added. He invited his Iranian counterpart to take part in a security conference in Beijing and called for enhanced bilateral cooperation in the defence and military arenas. 

Besides his meeting with Ashtiani, the Xinhua News Agency reported that Dong also held bilateral meetings with his counterparts from Pakistan, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, during his stay in Kazakhstan. 

Earlier, on April 15, following the Iranian action, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi held phone talks with his Iranian and Saudi counterparts. Preserving the Saudi-Iranian rapprochement, which was brokered in Beijing last year, is a clear priority for China’s diplomacy and also serves to safeguard the peace process in Yemen, assists in ending conflict in Syria and impedes any American scheme to impose a one-sided deal with Israel that would negatively impact the struggle of the Palestinian people and that of the countries and peoples in the region against imperialism and Zionism. 

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian briefed Wang on Iran’s position on the attack on its consulate, saying that the UN Security Council did not make a necessary response and that Iran has the right to self-defence in response to the violation of its sovereignty. The Iranian side calls for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and supports China’s active efforts to push for this as well as to restore regional peace and strengthen cooperation among regional countries.

Wang Yi said China strongly condemns and firmly opposes the attack on the consular section of the Iranian embassy in Damascus, regarding it as a serious violation of international law and unacceptable.

China has noted Iran’s statement that its action taken was limited and was an act of self-defence in response to the attack. China appreciates Iran’s stress on not targeting regional and neighbouring countries as well as its reiteration on continuously pursuing a good-neighbourly and friendly policy. It is believed that Iran can handle the situation well and spare the region further turmoil while safeguarding its own sovereignty and dignity.

China is willing to maintain communication with the Iranian side and jointly push for a comprehensive, just and lasting settlement of the Palestinian issue, Wang added. China and Iran are comprehensive strategic partners, and China is willing to steadily advance practical cooperation with Iran in various fields for a greater development of bilateral relations.

Wang Yi told his Saudi counterpart Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud that China has noticed Iran’s emphasis that its counterattack does not target any neighbouring country and that it is willing to continuously pursue a good-neighbourly policy.

This round of escalation is the latest manifestation of the spillover of the Gaza conflict, the Chinese Foreign Minister noted, adding that the top priority now is to strictly implement UN Security Council Resolution 2728, immediately realise an unconditional and lasting ceasefire, effectively protect civilians, and ensure humanitarian assistance.

The Palestinian people have long been unable to realise their legitimate national rights, which constitutes the most enduring injustice in modern times, and is the root cause of the Palestinian-Israeli issue, as well as the core of the Middle East issue.

For his part, Faisal said Saudi Arabia and China hold highly consistent positions on the current situation in the Middle East, noting that both countries stand for resolving differences through dialogue and are committed to maintaining peace and stability.

Saudi Arabia fully trusts China and is willing to push for the sustainable development of bilateral cooperation, he added.

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

Iran, China discuss military cooperation; Beijing backs Tehran’s ‘legitimate’ strikes against Israel

26 April (Press TV) — Iran and China’s defense chiefs discussed ways to enhance military cooperation, also conferring on regional issues. 

Iran’s Defense Minister Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Ashtiani met with his Chinese counterpart Dong Jun on the sidelines of the 21st meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Defense Ministers in Astana, Kazakhstan, on Friday.

Ashtiani hailed China’s stance on the ongoing developments in the region and its condemnation of Israel’s terrorist airstrike against Iran’s diplomatic premise in the Syrian capital of Damascus earlier this month.

It is necessary for Iran and China to boost cooperation and convergence to solve security issues in the region and across the world, the Iranian defense chief said.

On April 1, the Israeli regime carried out terrorist airstrikes on the consular section of Iran’s embassy in the Syrian capital, which killed two generals of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi and General Mohammad Hadi Haji Rahimi, as well as five of their accompanying officers.

In retaliation, the IRGC targeted the occupied territories on April 13 with a barrage of drones and missiles. The retaliatory strikes, dubbed Operation True Promise, inflicted damage on Israeli military bases across the occupied Palestinian territories.

Following the reprisal, Iran warned Israel against taking any retaliatory actions and also urged the US to try not to involve itself in the conflict and signaled that it viewed the matter as “concluded.”

China supports Iran’s retaliatory airstrikes against Israel: Dong

The Chinese defense minister, for his part, slammed Israel’s attack on Iran’s diplomatic premises in Syria, which he said violated international law.

China supports Iran’s legitimate right to respond to Israel, Dong added.

He invited his Iranian counterpart to take part in a security conference in Beijing and urged for enhanced bilateral cooperation in defense and military arenas. 

The Chinese defense chief called for an immediate ceasefire in the war-stricken Gaza Strip and the delivery of humanitarian aid there.

At least 34,356 Palestinians, mostly children and women, have been killed and 77,368 people wounded in the war that Israel began on October 7 following a retaliatory operation by the Palestinian territory’s resistance movements.

The brutal military onslaught enjoys unreserved military and political support on the part of the Israeli regime’s Western allies, including the United States and France.

Chinese, Iranian FMs hold phone talks on Israel-Iran tensions

BEIJING, April 16 (Xinhua) — Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, held phone talks on Monday regarding the tensions between Israel and Iran.

Amir-Abdollahian briefed Wang on Iran’s position on the attack on the consular section of the Iranian embassy in Damascus, Syria, saying that the UN Security Council did not make a necessary response to this attack, and that Iran has the right to self-defense in response to the violation of its sovereignty.

Noting that the current regional situation is very sensitive, Amir-Abdollahian said Iran is willing to exercise restraint and has no intention of further escalating the situation.

The Iranian side calls for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and supports China’s active efforts to push for a ceasefire, restore regional peace and strengthen cooperation among regional countries, Amir-Abdollahian said, adding that Iran is willing to work with China for further development of Iran-China cooperation.

Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said China strongly condemns and firmly opposes the attack on the consular section of the Iranian embassy in Damascus, regarding it as a serious violation of international law and unacceptable.

China has noted Iran’s statement that its action taken was limited and was an act of self-defense in response to the attack against the Iranian consulate in Syria, Wang said.

China appreciates Iran’s stress on not targeting regional and neighboring countries as well as its reiteration on continuously pursuing a good-neighborly and friendly policy, he said.

It is believed that Iran can handle the situation well and spare the region further turmoil while safeguarding its own sovereignty and dignity, he added.

Wang said that the current situation is a spillover effect of the escalating conflict in Gaza. The pressing task now is to implement Security Council Resolution 2728 as soon as possible, achieve a ceasefire and end the fighting in Gaza, effectively protect civilians and prevent further aggravation of the humanitarian disaster, he said.

China is willing to maintain communication with the Iranian side and jointly push for a comprehensive, just and lasting settlement of the Palestinian issue, Wang said.

China and Iran are comprehensive strategic partners, and China is willing to steadily advance practical cooperation with Iran in various fields for a greater development of bilateral relations, Wang said.

Chinese, Saudi FMs hold phone talks on Middle East’s regional situation, bilateral ties

BEIJING, April 16 (Xinhua) — Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Saudi counterpart, Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, held phone talks on Monday regarding the regional situation in the Middle East as well as China-Saudi Arabia ties.

Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said China firmly opposes the attack on the Iranian consulate building in Syria’s capital, Damascus, which is a serious violation of international law.

China has noticed Iran’s emphasis that its counterattack does not target any neighboring country and that it is willing to continuously pursue a good-neighborly policy, Wang added.

The current situation entails a choice between deterioration and a return to normalcy, Wang noted.

Wang said China appreciates Saudi Arabia’s emphasis on resolving issues through diplomatic means, adding that China is willing to work together with Saudi Arabia to avoid further escalation of confrontation.

This round of escalation is the latest manifestation of the spillover of the Gaza conflict, Wang noted, adding that the top priority now is to strictly implement UN Security Council Resolution 2728, immediately realize an unconditional and lasting ceasefire, effectively protect civilians, and ensure humanitarian assistance.

The Palestinian people have long been unable to realize their legitimate national rights, which constitutes the most enduring injustice in modern times, and is the root cause of the Palestinian-Israeli issue, as well as the core of the Middle East issue, Wang said.

The issue should be solved by implementing the two-state solution as soon as possible, establishing an independent Palestinian state, restoring the legitimate national rights of the Palestinian people, and realizing the peaceful coexistence of Palestine and Israel, Wang said.

The international community should take more active actions to support Palestine in becoming a full member of the United Nations, promote the convening of a larger-scale, more authoritative, and more effective international peace conference, and develop a timetable and roadmap for the implementation of the two-state solution, Wang said, noting that China is willing to strengthen communication and coordination with Saudi Arabia and make joint efforts to this end.

Saudi Arabia is an important partner of China in the Middle East, said Wang, adding that China stands ready to strengthen communication and coordination with Saudi Arabia, follow through on the important consensus reached by the heads of state of the two countries, continuously deepen political mutual trust, and promote bilateral relations to higher levels.

For his part, Faisal said Saudi Arabia and China hold highly consistent positions on the current situation in the Middle East, noting that both countries stand for resolving differences through dialogue and are committed to maintaining peace and stability in the Middle East.

Faisal said that Saudi Arabia, deeply concerned about the current escalating situation in the Middle East, hopes that the situation will return to the normal track as soon as possible.

Noting that Saudi Arabia highly expects China to play an active and important role in this regard, Faisal said the Saudi side is willing to strengthen communication and coordination with China to promote an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in Gaza, start the implementation of the two-state solution, and help achieve stability in the Middle East at an early date.

Saudi Arabia fully trusts China, and is willing to push for the sustainable development of bilateral cooperation, he added.

Xi Jinping extends May Day greetings to China’s working people

As China celebrated the May Day holiday, marking International Workers’ Day, Chinese leader Xi Jinping extended his greetings and best wishes to the country’s working people.

In his message, Xi called on working people to actively participate in advancing Chinese modernisation with high-quality development and work tirelessly to promote the building of a strong country and the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts. He also asked party committees and government bodies at all levels to earnestly realise, safeguard and develop the legitimate rights and interests of workers.

Also, in a significant development, President Xi replied to a letter from Serbian workers at the HBIS Smederevo Steel Plant. Xi said that during his previous state visit to Serbia in 2016, he met with the workers there face-to-face and deeply felt their support for the mutually beneficial cooperation between China and Serbia, and their high expectations for a bright future of the steel plant.

He continued:

“It is a great pleasure to learn that the steel plant has turned losses into gains quickly after the investment of a Chinese-funded enterprise, with the jobs of more than 5,000 employees guaranteed and thousands of families enjoying a peaceful and happy life.

“The development of the plant cannot be achieved without the dedication and hard work of the workers, who have been working diligently for the quick growth of the steel plant and have written a new chapter for the iron-clad friendship between China and Serbia. I give you ‘the thumbs up.’”

Thirty representatives of the HBIS Smederevo Steel Plant workers wrote a letter to Xi, expounding on the latest development of the plant and its important contribution to improving local people’s wellbeing. They also thanked him for showing care for and facilitating the project. In a recent interview with the CGTN Leaders Talk series, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić also recalled Xi’s 2016 visit to the steel plant and his care for the project.

Xi’s reply was dated April 29 but released on May Day. The Chinese President is scheduled to make another state visit to Serbia next week, as the second leg of a European visit that will also take him to France and Hungary. His visit to Serbia will coincide with the 25th anniversary of US-led NATO’s bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, which claimed the lives of three Chinese citizens and wounded others.

Also on May 1st, an article by Xi Jinping on mobilising China’s hundreds of millions of workers to vigorously take part in the great cause of building a strong country and national rejuvenation was published in this year’s ninth issue of Qiushi, the main theoretical journal of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

According to the article, since the 18th CPC National Congress, the working class has been playing a backbone role in the development of the cause of the Party and the country under the leadership of the CPC Central Committee. The Chinese workers’ movement has made historic achievements, and the work of trade unions has made comprehensive progress.

The article says Chinese workers have taken on significant challenges and shouldered responsibilities in such major work as economic development, scientific and technological innovation, poverty alleviation, rural revitalisation, epidemic prevention and control, and disaster relief.

Trade unions should earnestly safeguard the rights of workers and strive to solve practical problems concerning their vital interests, in particular for workers in new forms of employment.

Besides, Party committees at all levels should strengthen leadership over trade unions and their work, and government bodies at all levels should help trade unions solve workers’ difficulties and problems.

The following articles were originally published by the Xinhua News Agency and on the www.cpcnews.cn website. The latter, which is the full text of the Qiushi article, comprising the main part of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s speech on October 23, 2023, when he spoke with the members of the new leadership team of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU), was published in Chinese and has been machine translated.

Xi extends greetings to working people nationwide ahead of Int’l Workers’ Day

BEIJING, April 30 (Xinhua) — Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday extended festive greetings and best wishes to the country’s working people ahead of International Workers’ Day, which falls on May 1.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, sent the greetings on behalf of the CPC Central Committee.

This year marks the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China and a crucial year to fulfill the goals and tasks set in the 14th Five-Year Plan, Xi said, praising the important contributions made by the working people to the cause of the Party and the country.

Xi called on working people to actively participate in advancing Chinese modernization with high-quality development, and work tirelessly to promote the building of a strong country and the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts.

Xi asked Party committees and governments at all levels to earnestly realize, safeguard and develop the legitimate rights and interests of workers, and encourage working people to realize dreams through their work. 

Xi replies to letter from Serbian steelworkers

BEIJING, May 1 (Xinhua) — Chinese President Xi Jinping has replied to a letter from Serbian workers in HBIS Smederevo Steel Plant.

In a letter dated Monday, Xi encouraged them to make new contributions to the China-Serbia friendship.

Xi said that during his state visit to Serbia in 2016, he met with the workers face-to-face at the Smederevo Steel Plant and deeply felt their support for the mutually beneficial cooperation between China and Serbia, and their high expectations for a bright future of the steel plant.

From their letter, Xi said he learned that with the joint efforts of the management teams of both sides and the workers themselves, the steel plant has taken on a new look, providing strong support for the development of Smederevo City.

It is a great pleasure to learn that the steel plant has turned losses into gains quickly after the investment of a Chinese-funded enterprise, with the jobs of more than 5,000 employees guaranteed, and thousands of families enjoying a peaceful and happy life, said the Chinese president.

The development of the plant, he said, cannot be achieved without the dedication and hard work of the workers, who have been working diligently for the quick growth of the steel plant and have written a new chapter for the iron-clad friendship between China and Serbia.

I give you “the thumbs up,” Xi said.

The sound development of the plant is a striking epitome of high-quality Belt and Road cooperation between China and Serbia as well as a paradigm of their mutually beneficial cooperation, he said, adding that the steelworkers are participants, witnesses, contributors to and beneficiaries of China-Serbia friendly cooperation.

“I hope you will continue to do your own jobs wholeheartedly and dedicate yourself enthusiastically to the operation and development of the plant, so as to make new and greater contributions to the socio-economic development of Serbia and the consolidation of the China-Serbia friendship,” Xi said.

Thirty representatives of Serbian workers in HBIS Smederevo Steel Plant wrote a letter to Xi, expounding on the latest development of the plant and its important contribution to improving local people’s wellbeing. They also thanked Xi for showing care for and facilitating the project.

Xi’s article on mobilizing workers to participate in building a strong country, national rejuvenation to be published

BEIJING, April 30 (Xinhua) — An article by Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, on mobilizing the country’s hundreds of millions of workers to vigorously take part in the great cause of building a strong country and national rejuvenation will be published on Wednesday.

The article by Xi, also Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, will be published in this year’s ninth issue of the Qiushi Journal, a flagship magazine of the CPC Central Committee.

Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the working class has been playing a backbone role in the development of the cause of the Party and the country under the leadership of the CPC Central Committee. The Chinese workers’ movement has made historic achievements, and the work of trade unions has made comprehensive progress, according to the article.

The article says Chinese workers have taken on significant challenges and shouldered responsibilities in major work such as economic development, scientific and technological innovation, poverty alleviation, rural revitalization, epidemic prevention and control, and disaster relief.

On the work of trade unions, the article stresses the importance of adhering to the overall leadership of the Party over trade unions, and not wavering or deviating from it at any time or under any circumstances.

Efforts must be made to encourage workers to actively take part in the great cause of building China into a strong country and national rejuvenation on all fronts, the article says, noting that it is necessary to promote the spirit of model workers, the working spirit and craftsmanship.

Trade unions should earnestly safeguard the rights of workers and strive to solve practical problems concerning their vital interests, in particular for workers in new forms of employment, according to the article.

Besides, Party committees at all levels should strengthen leadership over trade unions and their work, and governments at all levels should help trade unions solve workers’ difficulties and problems, the article says.

Organize and mobilize hundreds of millions of workers to actively participate in the great cause of building a strong country and national rejuvenation

Xi Jinping

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee, China’s working class has played a major role in the development of the cause of the Party and the country. In the past five years, the broad masses of workers have worked with the party and struggled with the party, and have shown the style of the times in major work such as economic construction, scientific and technological innovation, poverty alleviation, rural revitalization, epidemic prevention and control, emergency rescue and disaster relief.

The All-China Federation of Trade Unions and trade unions at all levels have strengthened the ideological and political guidance of employees, promoted the construction and reform of the ranks of industrial workers, protected the rights and interests of workers, maintained political security in the labor field, deepened the reform of the trade union system, and continuously enhanced the political, advanced and mass nature. The CPC Central Committee has fully affirmed the major contributions made by the working class and the new achievements made in the work of the trade unions.

With regard to the work of trade unions in the coming period, the congress made arrangements. Here, I would like to emphasize a few more points.

First, uphold the party’s overall leadership over trade unions. China’s labor movement has developed under the leadership of the party, and trade unions are mass organizations of the working class under the leadership of the party. We must uphold the party’s overall leadership over trade unions, and we must not waver or deviate from them at any time and under any circumstances. Upholding the party’s leadership is not abstract and vague, and cannot be reduced to a mere formality, but must be comprehensively and effectively implemented in the entire process and in all aspects of trade union work. In particular, in establishing trade unions in new economic organizations, new social organizations, and new employment groups, it is necessary to take a clear-cut stand and uphold the party’s leadership from the very beginning. It is necessary to resolutely safeguard the authority of the Party Central Committee and its centralized and unified leadership, always maintain a high degree of unity with the Party Central Committee in ideology, politics, and action, and ensure the correct direction of trade union work. It is necessary to unremittingly use the ideology of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era to forge the soul, continue to promote the theoretical arming to go deeper and more practical, and constantly enhance the ideological consciousness and action consciousness of learning and practicing the party’s innovative theories. It is necessary to keep in mind the “great power of the country”, find out the combination point, entry point and focus point of the trade union work and the central task of the party, promote the implementation of the decisions and arrangements of the party Central Committee in the trade union system, and better play the role of trade unions. It is necessary to strengthen ideological and political guidance, do a good job in the ideological and political work of the workers, educate and guide the broad masses of workers to unswervingly listen to the party and follow the party, and ensure that the working class is always the most solid and reliable class foundation of our party.

Second, organize and mobilize hundreds of millions of workers to forge ahead on a new journey and make contributions to a new era. There are thousands of points in the work of trade unions, and the most fundamental one is to unite the broad masses of workers and workers closely around the party and unite and struggle for the realization of the party’s central tasks. It is necessary to adhere to the fundamental principle of wholeheartedly relying on the working class, fully mobilize the enthusiasm, initiative, and creativity of the broad masses of workers and workers, and actively plunge into the great cause of comprehensively promoting the building of a strong country and the rejuvenation of the nation. It is necessary to focus on implementing the new development concept, building a new development pattern, and promoting high-quality development, carry out various forms of labor and skill competitions extensively and in-depth, stimulate the labor enthusiasm and creative potential of the majority of employees, and give full play to the role of the main force in all walks of life and fields. It is necessary to vigorously carry forward the spirit of model workers, the spirit of labor and the spirit of craftsmen, give full play to the exemplary and leading role of model workers and craftsmen, and encourage the majority of employees to achieve their dreams in hard work, honest work and creative labor. It is necessary to focus on the in-depth implementation of the strategy of rejuvenating the country through science and education, the strategy of strengthening the country with talents, and the strategy of innovation-driven development, deepen the reform of the construction of the contingent of industrial workers, accelerate the construction of an army of knowledge-based, skilled, and innovative industrial workers, and train and bring up more craftsmen and high-skilled personnel of major countries.

Third, do a good job of rights protection services with heart and affection. Chinese modernization is the modernization of common prosperity for all people. The working class and the broad masses of laborers are the main creators of social wealth, and the more obvious and substantive progress in promoting the common prosperity of all the people should first be embodied in the hundreds of millions of laborers. As representatives and defenders of the interests of workers, trade unions should conscientiously perform their basic duties of rights protection services, strive to solve practical problems related to the vital interests of the masses of workers, and pay special attention to safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of workers in new forms of employment. It is necessary to strengthen the democratic management of enterprises and institutions, smooth the channels for the expression of employees’ demands, guide employees to express their interests in a rational and orderly manner in accordance with the law, protect their own rights and interests, and promote the construction of harmonious labor relations.

Trade unions are the homes of workers, and trade union cadres are the “mother’s family” of workers. It is necessary to continue to deepen the reform and construction of trade unions, firmly establish a clear orientation of grasping the grassroots in a big way, consolidate the foundation of the grassroots level, stimulate the vitality of the grassroots level, and continuously enhance the leadership, organization, and service capacity of the grassroots trade unions. It is necessary to improve the existing organizational foundation, continue to promote the establishment and membership of new economic organizations, new social organizations, and new employment groups, and expand the coverage of trade union organizations. It is necessary to innovate the way of working and strive to provide accurate and intimate services for the masses of workers. Trade union cadres should practice the party’s mass line, conduct in-depth investigation and research, keep abreast of what employees are thinking, thinking and expecting, constantly enhance their ability to serve employees, and sincerely speak and do things for employees. As the leading organ of trade unions at all levels, the All-China Federation of Trade Unions should take the lead in strengthening self-building, be a benchmark and set an example, and become a model political organ that reassures the party and satisfies the people.

Party committees (leading party groups) at all levels should strengthen their leadership over trade unions and trade union work, properly select and strengthen trade union leadership groups, show warm concern for and set strict demands on trade union cadres, and attach importance to the training and use of trade union cadres. It is necessary to pay attention to giving play to the role of trade union organizations, promptly study the important problems encountered by the masses of workers and trade unions, and support trade unions in carrying out their work in a creative manner. Governments at all levels should give full play to the role of the joint conference between the government and the trade unions, and actively help the trade unions resolve the practical difficulties and problems of the masses of workers.

This is the main part of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s speech on October 23, 2023, when he spoke with the members of the new leadership team of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions.

China, Tanzania celebrate 60 years of diplomatic relations

China and Tanzania have celebrated the 60th anniversary of their establishment of diplomatic relations. Tanzania has always enjoyed particularly close and friendly relations with China, which were forged by Chairman Mao Zedong, Premier Zhou Enlai and President Julius Nyerere.

Marking the 60th anniversary, on April 26, President Xi Jinping exchanged messages with his Tanzanian counterpart Samia Suluhu Hassan.

Noting that the traditional friendship between China and Tanzania was forged by the elder generations of leaders of the two countries, Xi said that in recent years, political mutual trust between the two countries has been continuously consolidated, and cooperation in various fields has yielded fruitful results, which has become a model of South-South cooperation.

For her part, Hassan said over the past 60 years since the establishment of bilateral diplomatic relations, the two countries have continuously deepened solidarity, friendship and sincere cooperation, adding that both sides respect each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as support each other in bilateral and multilateral affairs. Tanzania, she added, admires China’s epoch-making achievements in economic and social development.

Earlier, on April 15, the two countries held a joint celebration of the anniversary in the former Tanzanian capital of Dar es Salaam. 

Speaking there, Chinese Ambassador to Tanzania Chen Mingjian said that in the 1960s, when national liberation movements were in full swing in Africa, China stood firmly with Tanzania and other African countries and forged a profound friendship with them.

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

Xi exchanges congratulations with Tanzanian president over 60th anniversary of ties

BEIJING, April 26 (Xinhua) — Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday exchanged congratulations with Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan over the 60th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties.

In his message, Xi pointed out that the traditional friendship between China and Tanzania was forged by the elder generations of leaders of the two countries.

Over the past 60 years since its establishment, the bilateral relationship has withstood the test of international vicissitudes and grown stronger, he added.

In recent years, political mutual trust between the two countries has been continuously consolidated, and cooperation in various fields has yielded fruitful results, which has become a model of South-South cooperation, Xi noted.

Standing at a new historical starting point, Xi said he is ready to work with Hassan to renew bilateral traditional friendship, turn the shared dream of developing and rejuvenating their two countries, as well as the magnificent chapter of bilateral Belt and Road cooperation a reality, continue to enrich the connotation of the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between the two countries, and make greater contributions to building a high-level China-Africa community with a shared future.

For her part, Hassan said over the past 60 years since the establishment of bilateral diplomatic relations, the two countries have continuously deepened solidarity, friendship and sincere cooperation, adding that both sides respect each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as support each other in bilateral and multilateral affairs.

Tanzania admires China’s epoch-making achievements in economic and social development, deeply appreciates China’s support in the field of development, and will unswervingly support major initiatives such as the Belt and Road Initiative and the Global Development Initiative, so as to strengthen the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between the two countries, she said.

China, Tanzania celebrate 60 years of diplomatic relations

DAR ES SALAAM, April 15 (Xinhua) — China and Tanzania held a reception in the Tanzanian port city of Dar es Salaam on Monday to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

The celebrations, braced by Tanzanian Minister for Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation January Makamba and Chinese Ambassador to Tanzania Chen Mingjian, were also attended by overseas Chinese in Tanzania and Tanzanian government officials.

The reception was highlighted by a photo exhibition, jointly organized by the Chinese embassy and Xinhua News Agency, depicting the practical cooperation between the two countries over the past 60 years.

Makamba said the friendship between the two countries has withstood the test of time and the relationship is much stronger today.

Chen said the past 60 years have marked a period of solidarity and unity between China and Tanzania, characterized by sincere cooperation, common development and shared ideas, as well as mutual support.

She said in the 1960s, when national liberation movements were in full swing in Africa, China stood firmly with Tanzania and other African countries and forged a profound friendship with them.

On April 26, 1964, the People’s Republic of China and the United Republic of Tanzania formally established diplomatic relations. 

Vice Foreign Minister Chen Xiaodong attends South Africa’s Freedom Day reception

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Chen Xiaodong joined the South African Embassy in Beijing on April 26 to celebrate Freedom Day, the 30th anniversary of South Africa’s first democratic elections which marked a formal end to the racist apartheid regime.

Addressing the reception, Chen, who until his recent appointment as Vice Foreign Minister was serving as China’s Ambassador to South Africa, expressed congratulations on the 30th anniversary of the founding of South Africa and spoke highly of South Africa’s development achievements and contribution to world prosperity and stability. The Chinese side stands ready to work together with the South African side to jointly create a better future for China-South Africa and China-Africa relations, he said.

South African Ambassador to China Siyabonga Cyprian Cwele thanked the Communist Party of China and the Chinese people for their important contributions to bilateral relations and highly appreciated President Xi Jinping’s successful visit to South Africa again in August last year.

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

On April 26, 2024, Vice Foreign Minister Chen Xiaodong, upon invitation, attended and addressed the Freedom Day reception hosted by the Embassy of South Africa in China.

Chen Xiaodong expressed congratulations on the 30th anniversary of the founding of South Africa and spoke highly of South Africa’s development achievements and contribution to world prosperity and stability. He said that in recent years, under the strategic guidance of President Xi Jinping and President Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa, bilateral relations have achieved leapfrog development, starting a new era of building a high-level China-South Africa community with a shared future. In September this year, the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation will be held in Beijing. The Chinese side stands ready to work together with the South African side to jointly create a better future for China-South Africa and China-Africa relations.

South African Ambassador to China Siyabonga Cyprian Cwele thanked the Communist Party of China and the Chinese people for their important contributions to bilateral relations and highly appreciated President Xi Jinping’s successful visit to South Africa again in August last year. He said that South Africa-China cooperation in various fields has great potential and that the South African side stands ready to work with the Chinese side to strengthen political, economic, people-to-people and cultural exchanges between the two countries and achieve greater development of the South Africa-China comprehensive strategic partnership.

China hosts dialogue between Palestinian factions

As part of its support for the just struggle of the Palestinian people, and to encourage and facilitate unity in the ranks of the Palestinian liberation movement, China hosted talks between Fatah and the Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas in Beijing on April 26.

Little news has been published with regards to the talks. However, on the same day, in response to a media question, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Wang Wenbin, at the ministry’s regular press conference, noted that China supports all Palestinian factions in achieving reconciliation and increasing solidarity through dialogue and consultation.

At the April 30 press conference, spokesperson Lin Jian added:

“At the invitation of the Chinese side, representatives of the Palestinian National Liberation Movement (Fatah) and the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) recently came to Beijing to have in-depth and candid dialogue on promoting Palestinian reconciliation. The two sides fully expressed their political will of realising reconciliation through dialogue and consultation, had discussions on many specific issues, and made encouraging progress. They agreed to continue this dialogue process so as to achieve Palestinian solidarity and unity at an early date. They highly appreciated China’s firm support for the just cause of the Palestinian people in restoring their legitimate national rights, thanked the Chinese side for its efforts to help strengthen Palestinian internal unity, and reached agreement on ideas for future dialogue.”

Also on April 26, China’s top diplomat, Foreign Minister Wang Yi gave a written interview to the Qatar-based Al Jazeera Media Network.

Wang stated that the protracted conflict in Gaza has become a humanitarian catastrophe that should not have happened, adding that it has gone far beyond the bottom line of modern civilisation. The overriding priority is to realise a ceasefire as soon as possible:

“Even one more day of delay would mean further violation of human conscience and more erosion of the cornerstone of justice.”

Regarding the UN Security Council calling for a ceasefire, he noted that “the resolution is legally binding, and should be enforced effectively to achieve an unconditional and lasting ceasefire right away.”

The foreign minister went on to say that unimpeded humanitarian assistance must be ensured at all times, describing this as a “pressing moral obligation.” China has firmly opposed forced transfer of Palestinian civilians and collective punishment against people in Gaza since the beginning of the conflict and continuously provided humanitarian assistance to Gaza.

The historical injustice done to the Palestinian people must be redressed in a timely fashion, he said, adding that this is the right way to address the root cause of the conflict in Gaza. The Gaza calamity shows once again that the perpetual denial of the legitimate national rights of the Palestinian people is the root cause of the Palestinian question, and it is also the core issue of the Middle East question. 

In a highly significant passage, he added:

“China will continue to strengthen solidarity and cooperation with Middle East countries and the whole international community to firmly support the just cause of the Palestinian people in restoring their legitimate national rights; firmly support internal reconciliation among different factions of Palestine through dialogue; firmly support Palestine’s full membership in the United Nations at an early date; and firmly support establishing the independent State of Palestine and realising ‘the Palestinians governing Palestine.’ (Emphasis in Foreign Ministry original.)

Wang Yi also addressed a number of other major international issues.

Regarding the conflict in Ukraine, he again said that it is imperative to address both symptoms and root causes. Alluding to the steady encroachment of US-led NATO on Russia, he said: “To uproot the crisis, we must dive deeper into the question of security. Pursuing unilateral or absolute security by willfully compressing the security space of others will inevitably tip the balance of power in the region and give rise to conflicts.”

On Taiwan, he reiterated China’s long-standing and consistent position that: “We will strive for peaceful reunification with the utmost effort and greatest sincerity. In the meantime, our bottom line is also clear: we will absolutely not allow anyone to separate Taiwan from China in any way.”

He went on to note that “some countries are giving ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist elements more and more weapons behind the scenes, in stark contrast to their calls for peace and stability of the Strait. These moves will only increase the risk of conflict and confrontation, and seriously undermine peace and stability in the Strait and the region as a whole. China will not sit on its hands [in the face of] external disruptions… As President Xi Jinping has stressed, complete reunification of our motherland is the shared aspiration of the people, the trend of the times and a historical inevitability, and no force can stop it. China will ultimately achieve complete reunification, and Taiwan is bound to return to the embrace of the motherland.”

Turning to prospects for relations between China and the United States, he said that despite the agreements reached between the two heads of state at their meeting in San Francisco last November, “the United States still sticks to its misperception of China and presses ahead with its misguided policy to contain China. It has recently continued to woo its so-called allies in an attempt to provoke tensions at sea in the region and build networks to contain China at a faster pace. It has kept ratcheting up its unilateral sanctions and gone all out to constrain China’s development of science and technology. The United States should not view the world through the lens of Cold War and zero-sum mentality, and it should not say one thing but do another. The people of the world have clear eyes, and even more so for the Middle East people who can see easily who is on the right side of history and justice.”

The following articles were originally published by the Xinhua News Agency and on the website of the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

Continue reading China hosts dialogue between Palestinian factions

China’s ‘12345’ government service hotline – serving the people

The first exclusive Friends of Socialist China delegation took place from 14 to 24 April 2024. The delegation’s first site visit was to the was to the Beijing headquarters of the ‘12345’ government service hotline, where 1,500 employees – mostly CPC members – work in shifts over 24 hours to provide a single point of access for any and all problems and queries – for example, rubbish being left on the street, heating not working, older people not receiving food deliveries. In the article below, Morning Star international editor Roger McKenzie – one of the delegates – notes that some people even called the hotline “because they were concerned about the unequal distribution of bamboo shoots to the world-famous pandas at the zoo.”

Roger writes: “All calls are answered within 15 seconds and a guarantee is given that your concern, question or complaint, will be addressed within seven days. Calls are passed on to local authorities as appropriate to deal with the issue. Anyone who calls will get a call back to tell them what has been done and be given the opportunity to confirm whether the issues have been resolved to their satisfaction.”

The 12345 service, which has been rolled out across China, is tremendously popular with its users. Its efficiency connecting problems to solutions is aided by extensive use of artificial intelligence.

The article compares the 12345 hotline with the near-impossibility of contacting public services in Britain. “Sometimes we just need a bit of advice but get the runaround and passed to people whose main job appears to be not to add unnecessarily to their already hefty workload. A workload increasing by the year as they do the job that used to be done by two or three others before the cutbacks.”

The 12345 hotline is a great example of the Chinese government’s commitment to serving the people and demonstrates the practical application of the CPC’s founding ethos in a modern setting.

This article was first published in the Morning Star on 23 April 2024.

Public service cuts are sweeping across Britain. Essential services are being cut to the bone and, in many areas, have disappeared altogether.

A number of councils, including the largest, Birmingham, have even had to declare bankruptcy.

In Britain, if there is no budget to meet the people’s needs then the services have to go.

Meanwhile, in China, responding to the needs of the people rather than the needs of the budget is the priority.

Some people will read what I have just said and shout: “That it’s just Chinese propaganda!” Not so. Unlike many of those quick to disparage “socialism with Chinese characteristics” as some kind of sloganising nonsense, I have bothered to go and see it for myself.

As many of you will know, I worked for many years in the leadership of the country’s largest public services union. Even though I left the organisation, I am still interested in how public services are delivered, and make a point on any working visit to investigate this for myself.

One thing that I have always been interested in is how public service organisations respond to requests or complaints about their services.

Many of us have been hanging on the telephone for a public service either waiting for someone to answer or left in that hell-hole of canned, plastic, easy-listening music otherwise known as “the queue.” We are often left frustrated and wondering whether to complain about the service or lack thereof.

Sometimes we just need a bit of advice but get the runaround and passed to people whose main job appears to be not to add unnecessarily to their already hefty workload. A workload increasing by the year as they do the job that used to be done by two or three others before the cutbacks.

The Chinese dealt with all of these problems by setting up the 12345 helpline in 1987. The helpline is a phone and online system that anyone in China, including visitors, can use to ask questions or make complaints.

Businesses can also use the helpline to get advice on things such as relocation, name changes, etc. In fact it seems to me you can use the hotline to ask about pretty much anything.

At the 12345 centre, one of our Friends of Socialist China delegation was asked to call the number and ask a question.

Francisco Dominguez said he was at our hotel and needed to get a taxi to take him into central Beijing.

The operator patiently advised him what to do. The call was logged and went into a system that would follow any trends.

Dominguez said: “The response was very quick although they were surprised by the request.

“They spoke in English which was helpful. Within seconds they got back with a number and an alternative to call.”

He added: “It was a very efficient service.”

It was clear that most calls were about far more serious things than the need for a taxi.

Calls covered issues ranging from rubbish collection, getting a lift fitted or repaired and enquiries about official papers.

Some people did call in because they were concerned about the unequal distribution of bamboo shoots to the world-famous pandas at the zoo.

All calls are answered within 15 seconds and a guarantee is given that your concern, question or complaint, will be addressed within seven days. Calls are passed on to local authorities as appropriate to deal with the issue.

Anyone who calls will get a call back to tell them what has been done and be given the opportunity to confirm whether the issues have been resolved to their satisfaction.

Around 1,500 staff work in shifts over 24 hours. The numbers on duty can be varied to take into account predicted hotspots such as major sporting events.

All members of staff are part of the nearly 100 million members of the Communist Party of China — putting the party at the service of the people in a very practical way. Each call is recorded and keywords are used to help identify trends which are fed through to national and local authorities to address.

Delegation member Russel Harland is a public service worker in Surrey. He said: “When I saw the hotline in action I was overwhelmed because I’ve worked in a similar job for a number of years to give advice on social care among other issues but also as someone who has worked for the Alzheimer’s society as a dementia adviser.

“We saw something in action which was about resolving issues by getting to the crux of the problems that people were having.

“The intention was to solve these issues rather than avoid them but also to carry out an evaluation so the issues don’t happen again.”

Harland said public service workers in Britain were overwhelmed by endless budget cuts and said he couldn’t help thinking as a public servant, “How can we get our politicians and planners to start looking more closely at schemes like this?”

Rashida Islam, a delegation member from Halifax, said: “I was particularly struck by 12345’s dedication to serving people and was also very interested by how this platform is used to shape some of the nation’s policies.”

Co-founder of the Black Liberation Alliance Fiona Sim said: “I was really impressed with how the people are being connected with the government and the Communist Party.

“I just had to think about all the elderly people, disabled people people who are vulnerable and might not have been able to reach out for help or reach out for support in any other ways.

“So I feel the 12345 hotline really provides a crucial lifeline to the world not just for material needs but also for emotional and psychological wellbeing.”

There is little doubt that this nationwide service available to the 1.4 billion population and anyone who visits is about being people-centred rather than budget-centred.

It is also about making sure that the CPC does not lose sight of its mission to put itself at the service of the people.

This fits entirely with the view of Chinese revolutionary Qu Qubai who said in 1927 that the theory of revolution can never be divorced from the practice of revolution and that the “work of applying Marxism to China’s national conditions cannot be delayed for a day.”

Applied today this must mean making sure that the people have the best possible services in place to enable them to get by every day. The 12345 hotline is an important and very popular part of building the Chinese revolution.

Taiwan: An Anti-Imperialist Resource

Qiao Collective, a diaspora Chinese media collective challenging US aggression against China, published in February of this year an “Anti-Imperialist Resource” on the topic of China’s Taiwan province, the island’s history and its place in contemporary and 20th-century geopolitics. The resource contains a useful introduction, which is reprinted below, alongside a detailed timeline, and links to contemporary “left pro-unification” articles, summaries of economic issues, statistical analysis of public opinion, and other resources to aid understanding. This resource is the latest in a series of reading lists on topics related to contemporary China, and particularly ‘hot button’ issues frequently weaponised against China in Western media. The full list can be accessed here.

Below, Friends of Socialist China reprints the resource’s introduction, and encourages readers to explore and utilise the extensive collection of materials to gain a full understanding of the complexities of cross-straits relations, and the winding road of China’s path of reunification, which is an essential element of its projects of national rejuvenation and overcoming the legacy of colonialist and imperialist interference.

The historical context provided here is particularly useful while the current administration of Taiwan province is engaging in various forms of historical obscurantism: whitewashing the crimes of the period of Japanese occupation, while at the same time hiding the reality of the period of the Nationalist KMT’s “white terror” and military dictatorship, with martial law lasting until 1987. The introduction notes that “proponents of Taiwan independence rely on an overlapping revisionist toolkit that elides the historical context of unresolved civil war.” The full resources also importantly highlight that pro-reunification voices and organisations continue to exist on Taiwan province (despite concerted violent suppression campaigns), and that when the population are surveyed, ‘independence’ is not the preferred option for the majority. 

The introduction stresses that a proper understanding of historical context, and awareness of arguments of contemporary pro-reunification activists, can help readers unpick the frequent use of “left” language, such as that of ‘settler-colonialism’, employed by liberal advocates of independence to obscure the reality of Taiwan’s position in the intrigues of imperialism. As the CPC has asserted on many occasions, reunification will be a benefit to Chinese on both sides of the straits, stating in a recent white paper on the topic: “The future of Taiwan lies in China’s reunification, and the wellbeing of the people in Taiwan hinges on the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, an endeavor that bears on the future and destiny of the people on both sides.” 

The collection of materials “serves as a starting point for understanding China’s aspirations for national reunification and Taiwan’s overdetermined status as an ‘unsinkable aircraft carrier’ for Western ideological, economic, and military power in Asia and the Pacific.”

Introduction

In the Western imagination, Taiwan exists as little more than a staging ground for ideological war with the People’s Republic of China—a crossroads of democracy versus authoritarianism, Western values versus Chinese backwardness, and free market capitalism versus closed-door communism. Yet for centuries, the island of Taiwan has played a rich and pivotal role in broader Chinese history. Located just one hundred miles from the mainland’s southeastern coast, Taiwan was linked to the mainland through migration, trade, language and culture long before European and Japanese colonizers seized on its strategic location as a launchpad for economic and military forays against China at large. Today, this history continues as U.S. imperialism positions Taiwan as an ideological and military base for its new Cold War against China.

Taiwan’s separation from the Chinese mainland began in 1895, when the Qing government was forced to cede Taiwan to Japan after its defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War. While Japan’s surrender at the end of World War II legally restored Chinese sovereignty over Taiwan, the Chinese civil war and the global Cold War once again rendered Taiwan an instrument for imperial ambitions against China. For the ascendant postwar United States, the 1949 establishment of the PRC under the Communist Party of China marked the “loss of China”—a blow that was partially recouped by propping up the fleeing Chiang Kai-shek government in Taiwan as “Free China.” In 1950, as the U.S. waged war to prevent the socialist unification of Korea, President Harry Truman dispatched the U.S. Navy’s Seventh Fleet to the Taiwan Strait to similarly foreclose the possibility of a unified socialist China. The legacy of that militarized division remains today, as the U.S. enforces the separation of Taiwan from the PRC through multibillion-dollar arms sales, menacing war games, and a concerted propaganda drive which together undermine the possibility of peaceful reunification. This bipartisan campaign of hybrid warfare has intensified over the last fifteen years, following China’s rise as a major power, the corresponding U.S. Pivot to Asia, and the era of “decoupling” pursued by both the Trump and Biden administrations. As the U.S. military declares the Pacific its primary theater of war, successive U.S. administrations have marshaled enormous economic, military, and ideological resources to build up Taiwan as a focal point for this new Cold War. This program violates the letter of the one-China principle and the spirit of the United States’ own “one-China policy,” which together have formed the basis for bilateral relations since 1979. Furthermore, they neglect the centuries-long shared history of Taiwan and its people with their neighbors across the strait.

Just as Western colonialism was once justified as a “civilizing mission,” U.S. imperial designs on Taiwan and China at large march under the banner of promoting “democracy” and defending the international “rules-based order.” The U.S. claim to be acting in defense of Taiwan’s “vibrant democracy” from Chinese authoritarianism is particularly ahistorical, given that the United States is responsible for propping up the Kuomintang (KMT) military dictatorship under Chiang and his successors for almost forty years. Meanwhile, despite grandiose language about U.S. global leadership, the reality is that the majority of the world understands cross-strait relations to be an internal matter for China. Only eleven UN member states maintain formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan (as the Republic of China), and no country recognizes Taiwan as an independent nation. This fact is unsurprising; UN recognition of the PRC as the legitimate representative of China came on the wings of overwhelming support from the Third World. Having experienced the genocidal violence and economic exploitation inherent to the Western imperial system, the Global South, like China itself, adheres to the tenets of sovereignty and non-interference. 

Though ideologically diverse, proponents of Taiwan independence rely on an overlapping revisionist toolkit that elides the historical context of unresolved civil war shaping the cross-strait relationship. Instead, China’s aspirations for national unity are cast in terms of imperialism and expansionism. The era of KMT martial law is counterfactually invoked as precedent for authoritarian Chinese encroachment, obscuring the historical KMT-CPC rivalry and the role of the U.S. in supporting the military dictatorship. Meanwhile, the history of Japanese colonialism has been systematically revised to present a relatively “benign” rule that forms the bedrock for a non-Chinese local identity. Claims that Taiwan’s democracy has “voted out” reunification as a political pathway omit the crucial context that the island’s most vocal left-wing supporters of unification were systematically purged, jailed, and murdered under Japanese colonialism and KMT rule. Efforts to co-opt Taiwan’s yuánzhùmín, or indigenous peoples, into the project of Taiwan independence rely on a similar level of obfuscation; despite the separatist camp’s appropriation of decolonial rhetoric, yuánzhùmín have historically been apathetic towards the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). And in spite of attempts to stake Taiwan separatism to a schema of ethnic difference, official demographics list 95% of Taiwan’s population as being Han Chinese, the majority ethnic group of the Chinese mainland.

While those on the left may be (rightfully) skeptical of elite rhetoric of freedom and democracy, this rhetoric of Chinese imperialism, settler colonialism, and ethnic chauvinism may be harder to parse for those unfamiliar with Taiwan’s history. Yet, whether it is couched in the moralizing language of classic Cold Warriors or self-styled leftists, Taiwan independence ultimately serves the material interests of Western imperialism. Like the European and Japanese imperialists that colonized Taiwan for access to Chinese trade from the 17th through the 20th century, the United States transparently envisions the island as an outpost for efforts to contain China militarily and decouple from it economically. More than 70 years since U.S. military leader Douglas MacArthur described Taiwan as an “unsinkable aircraft carrier” in the nation’s Cold War against China, Taiwan remains a crude asset for U.S. military realpolitik. It is the linchpin of the so-called first island chain that links the 400 U.S. military bases spread across Asia and the Pacific and, crucially, home to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, the world’s largest advanced semiconductor chip manufacturer. Lofty narratives of Taiwan independence thus ultimately fuel consent for militarization, intervention, and war while marginalizing anti-imperialist voices for diplomacy and peace. They also disguise the true intent of retaining Taiwan as a neocolonial outpost of Western empire to undermine China’s sovereign economic development. There is no “independence” in becoming a U.S. client regime entrapped in a capitalist world order. It would set a precedent for any country, large or small, that challenges U.S. hegemony to be balkanized with impunity. For the left to support such an outcome would be self-sabotage on an epic scale, regardless of the titanic politico-economic shifts on both sides of the strait since the Chinese Revolution of 1949.

The modern-day context around cross-strait relations is complex and evolving, and the lives of Chinese people on both sides of the Taiwan strait have been negatively affected by centuries of imperialism. We recognize that there is no perfect, clear-cut path to development after colonization and civil war, but insist on China’s right to defend its sovereign project of socialist construction. Cross-strait relations should be debated and resolved on Chinese terms and in Chinese dialogues only. They should not be used as crude ammunition in the U.S.-led geopolitical assault on China.

This syllabus includes a condensed timeline of Taiwan’s history to provide historical context to contemporary discussions about China, as well as a list of resources that highlight key aspects of cross-strait relations and history. It is not intended to be comprehensive in scope, for Taiwan’s place in Chinese history extends far beyond the recent centuries of Western and Japanese imperialism in Asia. Nor is it intended to offer simple answers to questions about mainland China and Taiwan. It aims only to be a starting point for critical inquiry, and we urge readers to seek a diversity of sources and form their own opinions. A more detailed understanding requires further study into Taiwan’s history, cross-strait relations, Chinese politics, and ongoing geopolitical developments.

The full resource can be accessed here.

China and Global Development: podcast interview with Carlos Martinez

In the video embedded below, Carlos Martinez, co-editor of Friends of Socialist China, speaks to Jason Smith on the latter’s “The Bridge” podcast about a range of topics concerning China.

The two discuss the rationale for the formation of Friends of Socialist China; China’s achievements in poverty alleviation, environmental protection, and the fight against Covid-19; the nature of China’s political system; the slanders in the Western media about human rights in Xinjiang; the Belt and Road Initiative; China’s role promoting development in the Global South; the accusations around “debt trap diplomacy”; and the prospects for improving relations between China and the West.

The Bridge podcast can be found on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube.

Asian ‘Nato’ encircles China

Writing in the Morning Star, Fiona Edwards provides a useful and detailed analysis of recent developments in the US-led campaign of China encirclement.

Fiona describes a number of alarming steps taken by the US in the month of April: the announcement of a proposal for Japan to join AUKUS; a trilateral agreement between the US, Japan and the Philippines; and the first joint naval and air drills between the US, Australia, Japan and the Philippines in the South China Sea. Fiona observes that “these new initiatives aim to bolster the US’s already substantial military encirclement of China, threatening to destabilise the region and lay the foundations for a US-led hot war against China.”

The US has appointed itself “the world’s policeman”, and uses this role to justify its increasing militarisation of the South China Sea, claiming a responsibility to preserve freedom of navigation. One small detail is that there is not a single case of China having impeded freedom of navigation. Meanwhile, as Fiona points out, “the South China Sea is 12,000 kilometres away from the US … Beijing is not conducting naval exercises off the coast of California and has no military bases surrounding the US.”

Recent foreign policy shifts by the Philippines and Japan are particularly dangerous. As the article points out, the previous Filipino administration pursued a policy of neutrality which served to facilitate win-win cooperation between the Philippines and China and contributed to the cause of peace in the region. Meanwhile, “the plan to invite Japan into Aukus threatens to escalate Japanese militarism and encourage Japan to move even further away from its post-War World II pacifist constitution.”

The article correctly concludes: “The US’s increasing militarisation of the Asia-Pacific is a key component of Washington’s global war drive. It should be vigorously opposed by all those who want to stop the US dragging everyone into another world war.”

Major new announcements this month indicate that the US is intent on escalating its military interference in the Asia-Pacific and the seas around China.

The first announcement by the defence ministers of the US, Britain and Australia on the April 8 2024, revealed that the Aukus military alliance is seeking to expand with plans to invite Japan into the anti-China pact.

This was followed by another announcement, three days later, at a summit in Washington between the US President Joe Biden, Prime Minister of Japan Fumio Kishida and the President of the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos Jnr, where a new trilateral agreement between the countries was unveiled, including plans to conduct joint naval exercises in the South China Sea this year.

Days before this announcement, on April 7, the first joint naval and air drills between the US, Australia, Japan and the Philippines took place in the South China Sea.

These new initiatives aim to bolster the US’s already substantial military encirclement of China, threatening to destabilise the region and lay the foundations for a US-led hot war against China.

Continue reading Asian ‘Nato’ encircles China

Friends of Socialist China delegation returns from China

The first exclusive Friends of Socialist China (FoSC) delegation has just returned from a 10-day visit to the People’s Republic of China.

Invited by the China NGO Network for International Exchanges (CNIE), which works under the direction of the International Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (IDCPC), 14 comrades (11 from Britain, two from the United States and one from Ireland) visited Beijing, Hangzhou and Jiaxing (Zhejiang province), and Changchun and Siping (Jilin province) from April 14-24. Our packed program featured visits to public service and community facilities, historic revolutionary sites and museums, political, scientific, cultural, industrial, and agricultural organisations, exhibition centres and cooperatives, and famous scenic spots among others.

Bilateral meetings, lectures and roundtable discussions with our hosts, as well as at three party schools and two university departments of Marxism, along with other organisations, enabled us to explore a wide range of issues, including the contribution of Xi Jinping Thought to contemporary Marxism, the development of socialism with Chinese characteristics and whole process people’s democracy, latest developments in theoretical study and publishing  on issues of socialism and capitalism in China and the west, the early development and spread of Marxism in China, China’s distinctive modernisation, the building of an ecological civilisation, the opportunities and challenges posed by AI (Artificial Intelligence), and other topics.

All members of the delegation learned a great deal and came away with a deeper understanding of China’s revolutionary past, present and future, along with a renewed commitment both to building friendship with socialist China as well as to applying what we have learned to all of our political work in the struggle against imperialism, for the rights of working people and for the development of the socialist movement in our countries.

We take this opportunity to once again warmly thank our comrades at CNIE and all the organisations and institutions, and Chinese people from many walks of life, for their meticulous arrangements and kind hospitality every step of the way. It was an unforgettable experience.

We will be publishing further articles on the visit in the coming weeks.

69 years on, the Bandung Spirit remains alive in the Global South

The following article, originally published in Xinhua on 21 April 2024 to coincide with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s visit to Indonesia, explores the fascinating history of the historic Asian-African Conference, held in Bandung in 1955, and the significance of the Bandung Spirit for the world today.

The Bandung Conference marked “the first time that the countries of the Global South united to oppose imperialism and colonialism in defense of their sovereign rights and a more equitable world.” The significance of this united front against imperialism resonated across the world, including with the great African-American freedom fighter Malcolm X, who said in his Message to the Grassroots that the attendees of the conference “began to recognise who their enemy was” and formed a common front against colonialism and imperialism on this basis.

At Bandung all the nations came together. Their were dark nations from Africa and Asia. Some of them were Buddhists. Some of them were Muslim. Some of them were Christians. Some of them were Confucianists; some were atheists. Despite their religious differences, they came together. Some were communists; some were socialists; some were capitalists. Despite their economic and political differences, they came together.

Opening the conference, Indonesian President Sukarno stated:

Wherever, whenever and however it appears, colonialism is an evil thing, and it must be eradicated from the earth. I hope our conference will give evidence of the fact that we Asian and African leaders understand that Asia and Africa can prosper only when they are united, and that even the safety of the world at large cannot be safeguarded without a united Asia-Africa.

The article notes that Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai played a key role in the conference, proposing the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, which became “a crucial component of the Bandung Spirit and were later accepted by the vast majority of countries worldwide as the basic norms of international relations and the basic principles of international law.”

The Bandung Spirit remains as relevant as ever, in a world where the imperialist powers are still seeking to preserve their hegemony and suppress the development of the Global South. The article cites a 2015 speech by President Xi Jinping, Carry Forward the Bandung Spirit for Win-win Cooperation as follows:

We must carry forward the Bandung Spirit by enriching it with new elements consistent with changing times, by pushing for a new type of international relations featuring win-win cooperation, by promoting a more just and equitable international order and system.

The Bandung Spirit continues to inform China’s foreign policy and its approach to the united front against imperialism and for development. The article concludes:

Today, almost seven decades after the conference, the Bandung Spirit carries on, inspiring countries in the Global South to embark on a new path of common development through win-win cooperation under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative and other platforms.

“Few cities in history have won so many hearts and minds as Bandung,” the late Honorary President of the People’s Republic of China, Soong Ching Ling, commented on the Indonesian city.

The historic Asian-African Conference, also known as the Bandung Conference, was held in the city on April 18, 1955. It marked the first time that the countries of the Global South united to oppose imperialism and colonialism in defense of their sovereign rights and a more equitable world.

Continue reading 69 years on, the Bandung Spirit remains alive in the Global South

US anti-war conference builds unity against the hybrid war on China

The following article by Joe Lombardo, first published in Workers World, reports on the recent United National Antiwar Coalition held in St. Paul, Minnesota, on April 5, 6 and 7. The conference brought together a wide range of progressive and anti-imperialist forces, including Black Alliance for Peace, the US Palestinian Community Network, Veterans For Peace, CODEPINK, US Peace Council, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, Workers World Party, Alliance for Global Justice, Party of Communists-USA, Struggle La Lucha and more.

The various trends at the conference were united around support for Palestinian resistance against occupation, opposition to the genocide in Gaza, opposition to NATO, and opposition to the New Cold War on China. The article notes:

The impending U.S. war against China and how to oppose it was the focus of a major conference plenary, as well as a follow-up workshop where buzzing discussion provided participants with details of the bristling U.S. armada that now threatens China. Bruce Gagnon described the scale of U.S. space weapons blanketing the skies. Mike Wong, former national vice president of Veterans For Peace, gave a close-up view of the true stories in Hong Kong and Xinjiang, while Lee Siu Hin raised the importance of eyewitness delegations and video images to counter official U.S. propaganda’s false pictures of “genocide” and repression — hiding the true role of the CIA in both places.

Along with calling for an end to US aid to Israel and the abolition of the trillion-dollar US war budget, the conference demanded the dismantling of the US’s 800-plus overseas military bases and the unilateral elimination of its nuclear arsenal.

Over 400 antiwar, anti-imperialist and Palestine solidarity activists convened in St. Paul, Minnesota, on April 5, 6 and 7, in the first major conference of the U.S. antiwar movement since before the COVID-19 pandemic. Geographical representation ranged from Maine and New York to California and the Pacific Northwest, and from Minnesota to New Orleans and Florida, as well as Canada. There were international representatives from a number of countries.

More than 50 national and local groups participated — most notably the Black Alliance for Peace, the U.S. Palestinian Community Network, American Muslims for Palestine, Veterans For Peace, CODEPINK, U.S. Peace Council, Green Party Action Committee, BAYAN USA, International League for Peoples’ Struggle, Bolivarian Circle, Just Peace Advocates from Canada, Sanctions Kill Campaign, Task Force on the Americas, China-U.S. Solidarity Network, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, Workers World Party, Alliance for Global Justice, Socialist Action, Party of Communists-USA, Struggle La Lucha and Movement Against War and Occupation.

Conference hosts included Minneapolis-based Women Against Military Madness, local antiwar committees, Twin Cities Students for a Democratic Society and Students for Justice in Palestine. There were community-based groups from around the country including the Bethlehem Neighbors for Peace, Bronx Anti-War Coalition, Virginia Defenders, New Orleans Stop Helping Israel’s Ports, antiwar committees from Dallas and Denver and others.

Ajamu Baraka of Black Alliance for Peace and UNAC’s National Coordinator Joe Lombardo opened the conference, and the Twin City Free Palestine Coalition provided the opening panel, recapping lessons from months of struggle. At sundown Friday, the Twin Cities Free Palestine Coalition hosted a fast-breaking for Ramadan, followed by a Palestinian drum performance.

United for Palestine

The Palestine issue and Palestinian delegations inspired a high level of spirited unity against the U.S.-backed Israeli genocide in Gaza. At its founding 15 years ago, UNAC came together as an antiwar coalition determined to include support for Palestine and united on the demand to “End All U.S. Aid to Israel.”

The Palestinian resistance struggle was a key focus throughout the conference, generating shared determination and strong unity. Other major issues included “No to NATO,” opposition to the U.S. hybrid war against China and resistance to racist U.S. government attacks on migrants and people of color.

Greetings and receptions from the United Nations Ambassador Lautaro Sandino of Nicaragua and Dr. Sidi M. Omar, Ambassador of the Polisario Front of Western Sahara, were highlights of the conference. Ambassador Sandino told participants that the Nicaraguan government has filed a charge against Germany in the International Court of Justice for providing weapons to Israel.

Mnar Adley, founding editor of MintPress News, gave an extremely moving account of her family’s experience living in Jerusalem/Al-Quds during the Israeli crackdown against the Second Intifada of the 1990s. Conference participants also heard a greeting from Olga Sanabria Davila, representing the struggle to  decolonize Puerto Rico, while William Camacaro of the Alliance for Global Justice raised accelerating U.S. interventions in Latin America and the significance of the return of diplomat Alex Saab to Venezuela after torturous imprisonment by the U.S.

A video message from the Union of Political Emigrants, speaking from Ukraine about popular resistance to U.S.-backed fascism, along with Jeff Makler and Tom Baker from Socialist Action, addressed the danger of an expanding NATO war in Ukraine.

Stop the U.S. war against China

The impending U.S. war against China and how to oppose it was the focus of a major conference plenary, as well as a follow-up workshop where buzzing discussion provided participants with details of the bristling U.S. armada that now threatens China. Bruce Gagnon described the scale of U.S. space weapons blanketing the skies. Mike Wong, former national vice president of Veterans For Peace, gave a close-up view of the true stories in Hong Kong and Xinjiang, while Lee Siu Hin raised the importance of eyewitness delegations and video images to counter official U.S. propaganda’s false pictures of “genocide” and repression — hiding the true role of the CIA in both places.

K.J. Noh, noted Korean researcher and analyst, provided valuable details of ongoing U.S. war plans against China and the ominous threats by U.S. generals of war with China by 2025. Dee Knight, an author and GI resister during the Vietnam War, raised a proposal to build large-scale support for the right of active duty U.S. soldiers and sailors to say no to being sitting ducks and cannon fodder in extremely dangerous U.S. war moves against China.

Sara Flounders of Workers World Party posed the setbacks and defeats confronting U.S. imperialism — Afghanistan, Syria, Ukraine and the global turning point of resistance in Gaza driving U.S. imperialism toward war with China — a desperate attempt to reassert its fading global economic position by military means.

Defending our movement, confronting repression

A key part of the conference program was fighting repression across the U.S. Mick Kelly opened the session by recounting the unity built by the Antiwar 23 against FBI frame-up charges. The panel focused on the “Uhuru Three,” leaders of the African People’s Socialist Party, who are being prosecuted for opposing the U.S. proxy war against Russia; and Efia Nwangaza on the campaigns to Stop Kop Cities.

Roger Harris described the international campaign to gain the return of diplomat Alex Saab to Venezuela. Colleen Rowley focused on the mobilization for Julian Assange, while Tom Burke described the continuing campaign to free Colombian Simon Trinidad, currently held in a U.S. prison. Mel Underbakke described the two decades focused on the hundreds of FBI frame-ups of Muslims to justify the so-called U.S. War on Terror.

The conference took months in planning, with over 60 sponsoring organizations, all of which experienced a major surge in street actions in the past six months, since the Palestinian resistance forces broke out of military encirclement in Gaza last October 7.

Action Plans

Major action plans discussed in workshops and approved at the conference included:

  • Support for May 1/May Day actions as Workers Day to Defend Palestinian Resistance,
  • Major national protests at NATO’s 75th Anniversary Summit July 6-7 in Washington, D.C.
  • Mobilization against the Republican National Convention July 15-18 in Milwaukee and the Democratic National Convention Aug 19-22 in Chicago.
  • A call to oppose the “RIMPAC” naval war games in the Pacific in July, sponsored by ILPS and BAYAN.

The conference called for ending all U.S. aid to Israel, opposing all U.S. wars, abolition of the trillion-dollar U.S. war budget, shutting down the 800-plus U.S. military bases around the world and elimination of nuclear weapons worldwide starting with the U.S. arsenal.

There were 16 workshops during the conference, providing ample time for participants to discuss and make proposals. Focus topics included Palestine organizing across the U.S.; the ominous U.S. Pivot to Asia; tactics in bringing anti-imperialist issues into community, workplace and school settings; tactics in movement building; building Zones of Peace in the Americas; challenging U.S. sanctions and hybrid warfare; imperialism out of Africa; and connecting climate change and climate justice to war.

In the final plenary, a full range of resolutions and action plans were developed that reflected the cohesion and level of unity at the conference. Margaret Kimberley, senior editor of Black Agenda Report, gave the concluding talk to a resounding ovation.

Year of DPRK-China Friendship strengthens mutual support and cooperation for the socialist cause

The Friendship Year, marking the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), was formally inaugurated with an April 11-13 visit to the Korean capital Pyongyang by a Chinese party and government delegation led by Zhao Leji, Member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC). 

Zhao Leji met with DPRK top leader Kim Jong Un, General Secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) and President of the State Affairs of the DPRK, towards the end of his visit.

Zhao extended to Kim the kind regards and good wishes of General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee Xi Jinping.

This year marks the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and the DPRK, and the journey of the past 75 years epitomised good neighbourliness and friendship as the two countries stood side by side, fighting together and sharing a common destiny and common development, he said.

Zhao pointed out that the China-DPRK friendship, established and cultivated meticulously by the elder generations of revolutionists of both parties and both countries, has withstood various tests of the changing international situation and is an invaluable asset of the two countries.

The CPC and the Chinese government have always treated the China-DPRK relations from a strategic height and long-term perspective, and it is China’s unwavering policy to maintain, consolidate and develop the China-DPRK traditional friendly and cooperative relations.

Kim Jong Un extended his warm congratulations over the development achievements that China has made in the pursuit of its socialist cause under the strong leadership of General Secretary Xi and the CPC. He stressed that the DPRK-China relations have boasted a profound historical tradition, having withstood various tests and been passed on from generation to generation.

It is the unwavering policy of the WPK and the DPRK government to consolidate and develop the traditional friendly and cooperative relations between the two countries. The relationship is continuously developing to new and higher stages in line with the demands of the new era.

The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) added that Kim Jong Un affirmed that it is his consistent stand and the invariable and steadfast policy of the WPK and the government of the DPRK to develop the long-standing DPRK-China friendship decade after decade and century after century, expressing his expectation that the common will of the two parties and the two countries to dynamically promote the socialist cause and provide their peoples with substantial well-being by steadily carrying forward and developing these durable traditions of friendship would lead to responsible progress and successful fruition of the Year of DPRK-China Friendship.

Offering sincere congratulations to the Chinese party, government and people for registering remarkable successes in the struggle for implementing the tasks set forth at the 20th National Congress of the CPC, he expressed his hope that the fraternal Chinese people would make a more brilliant step forward in carrying out the historic task of building a modern and powerful socialist country this year marking the 75th founding anniversary of the PRC under the guidance of General Secretary Xi Jinping.

Following the talks, at a luncheon he hosted, Kim Jong Un proposed a toast to the eternal development of socialism in the two countries, longevity, and good health of General Secretary Xi Jinping and to the successful DPRK visit of the party and government delegation of the PRC led by Zhao Leji.

On April 11, in talks with his DPRK counterpart Choe Ryong Hae, Member of the Presidium of the Political Bureau of the WPK Central Committee and Chairman of the Standing Committee of the DPRK’s Supreme People’s Assembly, Zhao said that the China-DPRK traditional friendship was established and cultivated meticulously by the elder generations of leaders of both parties and both countries.

General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee Xi Jinping has repeatedly said that the CPC and the Chinese government attach great importance to the traditional friendly and cooperative relations between the two countries, and that it is China’s unwavering strategy to maintain, consolidate and develop bilateral relations.

China is ready to work with the DPRK to implement the important consensus reached by the top leaders of both parties and both countries and take the “China-DPRK Friendship Year” as an opportunity to intensify high-level exchanges, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation, promote people-to-people exchanges and strengthen strategic coordination, so as to further promote and advance China-DPRK relations to continue to move forward.

Choe said the blood-cemented friendship between the two countries has a long history and profound foundation and is the common precious heritage and wealth of the two countries.

The opening ceremony for the China-DPRK Friendship Year was held on April 12. In his speech, Zhao Leji said that it has always been the steadfast strategic policy of the CPC and the Chinese government to safeguard, solidify and develop China-DPRK traditional friendly cooperation. 

Continue reading Year of DPRK-China Friendship strengthens mutual support and cooperation for the socialist cause