Friends of Socialist China, Author at Friends of Socialist China

Xi Jinping congratulates Lula on inauguration as Brazilian president

On January 1st, the progressive forces in Latin America, standing for independence against imperialism, national development and social progress, took a big step forward with the return as President of Brazil of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

A co-founder of the BRICS, which presently groups Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, and veteran leader of Brazil’s Workers’ Party (PT), Lula addressed his country’s Congress as “a representative of the working class”, who “promotes economic growth in a sustainable way and to the benefit of all, especially those most in need.” The full text of Lula’s emotional and inspiring inauguration speech and his address to Congress can be read here.

In his message of greetings to his Brazilian counterpart, Chinese President Xi Jinping said that he attaches great importance to the development of the China-Brazil comprehensive strategic partnership, and is willing to work with Lula to continue to firmly support each other in taking a development path in line with their own national conditions, respect each other’s core interests, promote their practical cooperation, strengthen multilateral coordination, and lead and push the partnership to a higher level from a strategic and long-term perspective, so as to better benefit the two countries and their people.

China’s Vice President Wang Qishan attended the inauguration in the capital Brasilia as the Special Representative of President Xi. Wang joined a large number of other world leaders, including what amounted to a roll call of progressive Latin America, namely:

President Gustavo Petro of Colombia
President Xiomara Castro of Honduras
President Luis Arce of Bolivia and former President Evo Morales
President Alberto Fernandez of Argentina
President Gabriel Boric of Chile
President Irfaan Ali of Guyana
Former President Pepe Mujica of Uruguay (as part of a bipartisan national delegation that also included the current and another former President)
Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Cuban Vice-President Salvador Valdés Mesa
Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Denis Moncada
Mexican First Lady Beatriz Gutiérrez Müller
President of the Venezuelan National Assembly Jorge Rodriguez (according to the Orinoco Tribune, President Nicolás Maduro had been due to attend but was prevented by a last-minute security issue.)

They were also joined by a range of political leaders from other countries, including Russia, Serbia, Azerbaijan, Palestine, Iran, Algeria, Angola, Mozambique, Guinea Bissau, Cape Verde, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea, Mali, Timor Leste, Spain, Portugal, Germany Ecuador and Peru.

In their meeting, Wang Qishan said that President Lula is an old friend of the Chinese people, who has long been caring for and supporting the development of China-Brazil relations. Noting that both countries had recently completed major domestic political agendas, with the Communist Party of China holding its 20th National Congress and Brazil electing a new government, Wang said he believes that on their respective new journey, both countries and their people, and both the CPC and the Brazilian Workers’ Party (PT), will continue to strengthen solidarity and coordination, and jointly create an even better future for China-Brazil relations. He also said that the two countries can together play an important role in strengthening the overall cooperation between China and Latin America, for example with the holding of the Forum of China and the Community of Latin American States (CELAC) and in deepening relations with other regional organisations, such as the Southern Common Market (Mercosur) and the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR).

For his part, Lula said that his PT is willing to strengthen inter-party exchanges with the CPC, adding that he looks forward to leading a delegation to China to further deepen bilateral practical cooperation in various fields, enhance friendship between the people of the two countries, and lift Brazil-China relations to a new level.

The following reports were originally carried by the Xinhua News Agency.

Xi congratulates Lula on inauguration as Brazilian president

Xinhua, 3 January 2023

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday sent a congratulatory message to Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on his inauguration as president of the Federative Republic of Brazil.

In his message, Xi pointed out that China and Brazil are major developing countries with global influence and important emerging markets.

The two countries are comprehensive strategic partners sharing extensive common interests and shouldering common development responsibilities, Xi added.

Backgrounder: Optimisation of Covid-19 response measures in China

The following report on the optimisation of Covid-19 response measures in China has been provided to us by our comrades at the International Department of the Communist Party of China. It provides a comprehensive description of the changes that have been introduced in the last few months, along with a clear explanation of the rationale behind those changes.

The report points out that the success of China’s Dynamic Zero Covid strategy has meant that “the infection rate and fatality in China have been kept at the lowest level globally”. The extraordinarily low infection rate over three years has given China’s healthcare system, epidemiologists and medical researchers time to better understand the virus, to develop vaccines and treatments, and to prepare medical facilities and supplies.

The authors note that, “in the light of the marked decline of the pathogenicity and virulence in Omicron and the steady rise of China’s capacity for medical treatment, pathogen detection and vaccination, China has taken the initiative to refine its Covid-19 response measures.” The essence of the changes is to shift focus from preventing infection to preventing severe cases and fatality, whilst at the same time allowing a return to some level of normality for the bulk of the population.

The major changes described in the report are: 1) An end to routine compulsory PCR testing; 2) An end to hospital quarantine for asymptomatic and mild cases; 3) An end to nucleic acid test and health code requirements for public spaces (other than schools, nursing homes and medical facilities); and 4) a re-opening of borders to international travellers.

These changes do not constitute an adoption of the type of “laissez-faire” or “let it rip” approach being implemented in the West. The new measures are being adopted in an orderly fashion in response to changing reality, most notably the reduced virulence of the dominant Omicron variant, and China’s high level of vaccination coverage (92 percent). Beijing, Guangzhou and other cities have already passed the peak of infection and are gradually returning to normal – without having experienced high levels of severe illness and death.

The report concludes by citing China’s contribution to international cooperation against the pandemic – “China shared COVID-19 prevention, control and treatment protocols with more than 180 countries and international organisations, dispatched 38 medical expert teams to 34 countries, and provided over 2.2 billion doses of vaccines for 120 plus countries and international organisations” – and calling for continued mutual learning and close cooperation between the countries of the world.

Over the past three years, the COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc around the globe and posed enormous challenges to all countries including China. In 2020 when this public health emergency first broke out, the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Chinese government made a decisive decision to categorise COVID-19 as a Class-B infectious disease that would be subject to the preventive and control measures for a Class-A infectious disease in accordance with the Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Prevention and Treatment of Infectious Diseases. The strict management of the disease has enabled China to pull through the difficult times when the virus was wreaking havoc and to withstand multiple global waves. It has also helped buy precious time for the research, development and application of vaccines and therapeutics and getting medical supplies ready, thus minimising the number of severe cases and mortality, and greatly protecting the health and safety of the people.

The global COVID-19 situation has changed significantly. In the light of the marked decline of the pathogenicity and virulence in Omicron and the steady rise of China’s capacity for medical treatment, pathogen detection and vaccination, China has taken the initiative to refine its COVID-19 response measures. We have adopted in an orderly fashion the 20 refined measures and 10 new measures, and decided to manage COVID-19 with measures against Class-B instead of the more serious Class-A infectious diseases, shifting the focus of our response from “stemming infection” to “protecting health and preventing severe cases”. We aim to better adapt our response measures to the new development in the epidemic and features of new mutations, effectively coordinate COVID-19 response and socioeconomic development, protect the safety and health of the people to the maximum extent possible, and restore normalcy to people’s work and life. The shift is science-based, timely and necessary.

China under Xi Jinping: putting politics in command

This article by Jenny Clegg – a revised and enlarged version of a three-part series originally published in the Morning Star (part 1 | part 2 | part 3) – provides a broad overview of China’s political trajectory in the present era.

Jenny takes on the media caricature of Xi Jinping as an “authoritarian” leader, analysing his political development over the course of several decades, noting in particular his longstanding commitment to combating climate change, his dedication to poverty alleviation, and his belief that China should shift away from using GDP growth as the central metric of economic success. As CPC General Secretary and China’s President, the most prominent aspects of Xi’s record have been the extremely rigorous (and popular) anti-corruption campaign; the success in eliminating extreme poverty; a major focus on environmental questions; and the centring of a common prosperity agenda that is already operating to reduce inequality and improve the conditions of the poor.

Sympathetic but not uncritical, the article provides valuable insights and a realistic assessment of China’s prospects for developing into a “modern advanced socialist country that is strong and prosperous” by the centenary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China (2049).

1. Who is Xi Jinping?

The Communist Party of China’s 20th Congress confirmed Xi Jinping as General Secretary for a third term. According to the mainstream media, China is lurching once again toward ‘one-man rule’ under the ‘thrice crowned’ leader. But what kind of rule will this be? China is the world’s second largest economy and the politics of its leader is of great consequence for the world.

So what are Xi’s politics? What has his leadership over the last 10 years meant for China and what direction does he intend the country to take over the next 5 years and beyond?

Xi’s political development

The son of a revolutionary hero who became a vice premier of China in the 1950s only to later fall victim to political turmoil in the Mao period,^[1] Xi himself was a ‘sent down’ youth spending seven years from the age of 15 working in a poor community in China’s West. Serving for a time as a commune leader, he adopted the work style of ‘plain living and hard work’ – the ideal followed by the CPC from its earliest days.

Whilst these formative experiences moulded his core political outlook, it was through his work as Party Secretary of Zhejiang Province from 2002 to 2007 that a more concrete politics took shape.

Zhejiang is a commercialised province, one of those key Eastern seaboard areas which have driven the country’s hi-speed growth. After China joined the WTO in 2001, local cadres were exhorted to promote business, help new enterprises and court foreign investment, creating new jobs and opportunities.

But rapid industrialisation also brought increasing inequality, environmental degradation as well as corruption as the boundaries between politics and business blurred. Now in the senior ranks of Party leadership, one of some 3,000, Xi expressed his concerns in a series of articles in which he put great stress on the moral standards of the cadres and the need to prevent Party officials from solidifying into a privileged elite removed from the rest of society.

Power, he argued, was not a personal possession, to be used not for self-aggrandisement but for the public good. Grass roots levels were crucial – this was where the Party worked together with the people to build a better future. Emphasising the quality not just the quantity of growth – ‘not everything has to be done for GDP’; and the importance of the environment – ‘there is only one world and only one environment’ – Xi was paving a new way forward.^[2]

Cleaning up the Party

By 2012, when Xi became Party leader, China had recovered rapidly after taking a serious hit in the 2008/9 world financial crisis, resuming the fast growth that had seen the economy more than double in the previous decade. It was up to him now to realise the previously set goals of achieving a ‘moderately prosperous society’ by 2020.

Xi’s first step was to refocus the Party on its high values of public service, launching a far-reaching anti-corruption campaign targeted at ‘tigers’ at the top as well as ‘flies’ at the bottom. His insistence that his immediate family should not undertake any business dealings struck a chord with people, gaining him much popularity.

A graduate in chemical engineering, with a PhD in Marxist legal theory, Xi was also a good communicator, a skill acquired during his years in the countryside, and the fact that he could put over his political message in an accessible manner, avoiding stilted rhetoric, also added to his popularity.

Determined to restore ideology to the heart of the Party, he encouraged Marxist study as well as wider Marxist intellectual debate, these not for the sake of theorising but in order to drive policy and practice forward.

His affirmation in 2013 of the role of the market as playing ‘a decisive role in the allocation of resources in the economy’ saw a widening of market reforms whilst a new emphasis on commercial law which, together with the wider establishment of enterprise-based Party committees, vastly improved business practice. From 2015, a massive infusion of government support reinforced the role of state-owned enterprises at the centre of economic policy.

Two particular advances of Xi’s first term were, on the domestic front, the 2016 Made In China Initiative which laid the basis of China’s technological upgrading to a higher stage of modernisation; and, of international consequence, the Belt and Road Initiative, setting out a new mode for China’s integration with the world community.

A look back on three years of China’s anti-Covid-19 fight

In this important and in-depth article, Tings Chak, researcher and the art director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research and co-founding member of the Dongsheng collective, provides a detailed description of China’s evolving strategy for managing Covid-19, from December 2019 until today. Having lived in China since March 2020, Tings has witnessed each phase of China’s approach at close quarters.

Countering the endlessly repeated claims in the Western media that the recent adjustments and loosening of restrictions (since November 2022) are “chaotic” and will inevitably lead to vast numbers of deaths, Tings writes that “China has used the last three years to try to prepare itself the best that it can by vaccinating the people, studying the virus, building medical infrastructure, training workers, and waiting until a much less deadly strain had emerged.”

In the last two months, there have been outbreaks in several major cities, but the government and health authorities have responded quickly and effectively, for example distributing antipyretic medication for free, ramping up production, and exploring various measures to encourage older people to get vaccinated. There has been no major increase in fatal illness from Covid, and, “in Beijing where I live, people are back and bundled in the streets, at work, and on the subways, with traffic and travel recovering.”

The article was first published in MR Online.

I arrived in Shanghai, 36 hours after leaving São Paulo, a near deportation in South Africa, and a canceled connecting flight. It was March 21, 2020. In the following days, China implemented its mandatory centralized quarantine for all international travelers. Exactly a week later, on March 28, China started its travel ban¹ to prevent the spread of a still little-known virus called Covid-19, which was making its way to all corners of the earth.

Nearly three years later, on the coming January 8, 2023², China will officially open its borders, remove the mandatory quarantine and nucleic acid tests for people entering the country, and downgrade the management of Covid-19 from Class A to Class B³. It is not an end of an era; rather, it is a continuation of a rigorous process of confronting a historic and global pandemic, while putting science and the people at its center. It has been an incredible experience to see how the Chinese government and people have taken on this pandemic, while the world has suffered⁴ 6.68 million recorded deaths, with over 650 million people infected. The impact of this virus is one for the history books, the lasting effects to be studied for years to come, and the fight has not yet ended.

The Western mainstream media, however, has been quick to criticize China every step of the way, from the “draconian⁵” Zero-Covid strategy to the “dystopian⁶” measures to ensure a safe Winter Olympics games in Beijing, and now to the “nightmare⁷” of relaxing the country’s Covid-19 requirements. Rhetoric aside, what has the fight against the virus been like in China—characterized by the Zero-Covid strategy—and why are the relaxation measures happening now? It is important to look back at the last three years to understand how we arrived at this point today. Having lived in China throughout the ebbs and flows of the Covid-19 virus, I would categorize the country’s dynamic strategy into four key phases.

Phase 1: Emergency response (December 2019 to May 2020)

Two-and-a-half weeks after I arrived in China, on April 8, the country celebrated the end to the 76-day historic lockdown in Wuhan, where the pandemic first broke out and claimed the lives of 4,512 Chinese people⁸. It was an emotional and bittersweet victory for the entire country, which had mobilized its people and resources to fight a very deadly and never-before-seen virus.

On December 26, 2019, Dr. Zhang Jixian⁹, director of the Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine of Hubei Province hospital of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine, saw an elderly couple that had a high fever and a cough—symptoms that characterize the flu. But further examination ruled out influenza A and B, mycoplasma, chlamydia, adenovirus, and SARS. She and her team then quickly determined there was a new virus at play. Three days later, the provincial authorities were alerted, then the Chinese Center for Disease Control (CDC) and by December 31 the WHO was informed¹⁰. On New Year’s Day, the CDC officials called¹¹ Dr. Robert Redfield, head of the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention, while he was on vacation, to inform him of the severity of their findings.

Is there potential for improved relations between Britain and China?

The following Op-Ed by our Co-Editor Keith Bennett was originally published by China Daily and was excerpted from a long conversation with their reporter Xing Yi.

In the article, Keith assesses the current prospects for relations between Britain and China, following Rishi Sunak’s first major foreign policy speech as Prime Minister, in which he claimed that China presented a “systemic challenge” to the values and interests of the UK and advanced the ambiguous concept of “robust pragmatism”.

According to Keith, Brexit has left the British ruling class even more tightly aligned with the United States, which is presently in the grip of a McCarthyite new cold war hysteria. That and the increased right wing grip on a bitterly divided Conservative Party constrains Sunak’s freedom to manoeuvre. Despite this, the Prime Minister managed to dial down some of the more extreme cold war rhetoric (his ill-fated and hopeless predecessor Liz Truss was intent on labelling China with the even more incendiary designation of a threat) and acknowledged the need for a degree of engagement with the world’s second-largest economy. Previously, as Chancellor, Sunak had advocated a business-like relationship with China and had attempted to resume the two countries’ Economic and Financial Dialogue.

The United Kingdom’s latest Prime Minister Rishi Sunak recently declared that the “golden era” for the UK’s relations with China was over and he defined China as a “systemic challenge” to values and interests of the UK.

This was not surprising given that the dominant political thinking in most Western countries with regard to China is currently hostile, driven by a new McCarthyism fueled by the United States. The UK is a victim of this poisonous mindset.

With the current cost-of-living and energy crisis worsening and a looming recession ahead, it would be logical for the UK to take a more constructive attitude toward China, instead of following the US lead in trying to contain China.

However, since UK imperialism has been in a state of slow and managed decline over the last century, the mainstream thinking has been that the UK could best maintain its position in the world by being closely aligned to the US, and so it sought a “special relationship”.

Wave of anti-Asian racism fuelled by the New Cold War

We are pleased to publish below the text of the speech by an activist from the Goldsmiths Anti-Imperialist Society, given on 17 December at the second of two online seminars on the theme ‘The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and its World Significance’, organised jointly by Friends of Socialist China and the International Department of the Communist Party of China.

The speech focuses on the problems faced by minority communities in Britain, particularly people of Chinese descent in the context of a rising New Cold War, linking the recent rise in anti-Asian racism to the ‘yellow peril’ narrative pioneered in Britain in the 19th and 20th centuries – part of a campaign of demonisation connected to Britain’s attempts to impose colonial domination on China. Today’s anti-Asian racism represents “the imperialist legacy of the Yellow Peril in the 21st century, propagated by the New Cold War.” In spite of these problems, the speech concludes on an optimistic note, observing that there is a “growing number of young people who are fighting back against the propaganda that seeks to divide us and isolate us from each other”. This generation is building a united front based on opposing racism, imperialism and capitalism, and stands “in solidarity with our Chinese comrades and all our siblings in the Global South in self-determining and working together to create a fairer, multilateral world.”

I would like to use this opportunity to thank Friends of Socialist China and the Communist Party of China for hosting this meeting here today. My speech is from the perspective of an activist in anti-racist collectives. When I refer to the term ‘black’ in this speech it is used as an umbrella term referring to African, Asian, Arab, Caribbean and all non-white communities.

As a member of the Chinese diaspora, a British Born Chinese, it brings me great joy to speak with you all, though the topics of what I will be sharing will not be so joyous. In sharing my lived experience and material analysis of the current socio-political environment, I hope to share insight on what it is like to live as a Chinese in Britain and the impact of anti-China rhetoric on Asian communities.

After the murder of George Floyd, the Black Lives Matter movements that emerged around the world highlighted the institutional racism embedded in every aspect of western society, from how the media portrays Black children in negative, stereotypical ways to how the police brutalise Black people. Institutional racism towards Asian communities is perhaps not as overt as it is towards our African and Caribbean siblings but it is equally as insidious.

Racism against Asian communities has relied on the same vestiges of Yellow Peril that never left British shores after it arrived on the coattails of the Opium Wars almost two centuries’ ago. This “Yellow Peril” is the fear of the East – the anxiety that the so-called Orient was coming to colonise and conquer the West in the same way it has done. Historically, the Yellow Peril was enshrined in law such as the Chinese Exclusion Act in the US and Home Office policies that led to the deportation of Chinese seamen in Liverpool, UK. How many of us here know that 6 Chinese seamen survived the sinking of Titanic? Now Chinatowns are bustling hubs of culture and commerce. But there was a time when some Chinatowns were formed as self-contained protective enclaves against the tides of white supremacists intent on driving Asian immigrants out of their jobs.

For a while, the concept of the “model minority myth” has acted in counter to the yellow peril: quelling fears of Asian world domination with stereotypes of the typical Asian being smart but submissive, adept at assimilating, unthreatening to the white worker. Though it may seem harmless at first glance, Asians have been required to fulfil the role of the quiet, unassuming worker in order to be accepted as legitimate citizens. But this acceptance has been conditional. The Asian diaspora lives in the duality of being the Yellow Peril or the Model Minority. When the Asian diaspora has fought back or challenged anti-China, anti-Asian rhetoric, they – we – are no longer seen as friends but foes. Spies, saboteurs, traitors to the state.

When the Covid pandemic hit in 2020, this awoke the dormant beast of Yellow Peril once more. It became acceptable to spread vitriol, fake news, and disinformation as long as the precedent was set that there was no blame to be placed on the British state or the UK government for mismanagement of the pandemic.

Instead of reflecting inwards on how it could have handled the pandemic better, the British state opted to blame China for its failure to curb the early waves and with the mainstream media’s help, made China culpable for the deaths of hundreds of thousands in the UK. This was internalised by the general public.

“China” became synonymous with Asian which became synonymous with everything bad in the world. The novel coronavirus wasn’t just associated with China or Chinese people; Chinese people were seen as the virus itself. Everyone who looked Chinese became a sitting target for abuse and hatred; it did not matter their ethnicity nor place of birth.

2023 New Year Address by President Xi Jinping

The following is the full text of President Xi Jinping’s New Year Address for 2023, which he delivered on New Year’s Eve.

In his remarks, President Xi noted that in 2022, despite challenges, the country’s economy continued to enjoy sound development, including reaping a bumper harvest and consolidating the gains made in poverty elimination and rural revitalization. Surveying the country, he noted how innovation is thriving in the coastal areas, development is gathering pace in the central and western regions, the traditional industrial area of the northeast is being revitalized, and the border regions are also developing and becoming more affluent.

He addressed China’s record in tackling Covid-19, where “we have put the people first and put life first all along.” Referring to the recent adjustments in policy, he continued: “With extraordinary efforts, we have prevailed over unprecedented difficulties and challenges, and it has not been an easy journey for anyone. We have now entered a new phase of COVID response where tough challenges remain. Everyone is holding on with great fortitude, and the light of hope is right in front of us.”

Having referred to last October’s 20th National Congress of the Communist Party at the start of his address, President Xi later referred to the post-Congress visit that he and his senior colleagues made to the old revolutionary base area of Yan’an. “We were there to relive the inspiring episode in which the Party’s central leadership overcame extraordinary difficulties in the 1930s and 1940s, and to draw on the spiritual strength of the older generation of CPC members,” he said.

Echoing the sentiments expressed by Comrade Mao Zedong in his closing speech to the Seventh National Congress of the CPC, held in Yan’an in June 1945, which is published under the title, ‘The foolish old man who removed the mountains’, Xi Jinping reflected:

“Long as the journey is, we will reach our destination if we stay the course; difficult as the task is, we will get the job done if we keep working at it. As long as we have the resolve to move mountains and the perseverance to plod on, as long as we keep our feet on the ground and forge ahead with our journey by making steady progress, we will turn our grand goals into reality.”

Reflecting on the goal of national reunification, among other issues, Xi noted: “Ours is a big country. It is only natural for different people to have different concerns or hold different views on the same issue. What matters is that we build consensus through communication and consultation. When the 1.4 billion Chinese work with one heart and one mind, and stand in unity with a strong will, no task will be impossible and no difficulty insurmountable.”

The below text was originally published by the Xinhua News Agency.

Greetings to you all. The year 2023 is approaching. From Beijing, I extend my best New Year wishes to all of you.

In 2022, we successfully convened the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC). An ambitious blueprint has been drawn for building a modern socialist country in all respects and advancing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts through a Chinese path to modernization, sounding a clarion call of the times for us forging ahead on a new journey.

The Chinese economy has remained the second largest in the world and enjoyed sound development. GDP for the whole year is expected to exceed 120 trillion yuan. Despite a global food crisis, we have secured a bumper harvest for the 19th year in a row, putting us in a stronger position to ensure the food supply of the Chinese people. We have consolidated our gains in poverty elimination and advanced rural revitalization across the board. We have introduced tax and fee cuts and other measures to ease the burden on businesses, and made active efforts to solve the most pressing difficulties of high concern to the people.

Since COVID-19 struck, we have put the people first and put life first all along. Following a science-based and targeted approach, we have adapted our COVID response in light of the evolving situation to protect the life and health of the people to the greatest extent possible. Officials and the general public, particularly medical professionals and community workers, have bravely stuck to their posts through it all. With extraordinary efforts, we have prevailed over unprecedented difficulties and challenges, and it has not been an easy journey for anyone. We have now entered a new phase of COVID response where tough challenges remain. Everyone is holding on with great fortitude, and the light of hope is right in front of us. Let’s make an extra effort to pull through, as perseverance and solidarity mean victory.

Comrade Jiang Zemin passed away in 2022. We pay high tribute to his towering achievements and noble demeanor, and cherish the great legacy he left behind. We will honor his last wishes and advance the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era.

Wave upon wave, the mighty river of history surges forward. With the persistent efforts of one generation after another, we have taken China to where it is today.

Today’s China is a country where dreams become reality. The Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games concluded with a resounding success. Chinese winter sports athletes gave their all and achieved extraordinary results. Shenzhou-13, Shenzhou-14 and Shenzhou-15 soared into the heavens. China’s space station was fully completed and our “home in space” is roving in the deep-blue sky. The people’s armed forces marked the 95th birthday and all service members are marching confidently on the great journey of building a strong military. China’s third aircraft carrier Fujian was launched. C919, China’s first large passenger aircraft, was delivered. And the Baihetan hydropower station went into full operation… None of these achievements would have been possible without the sweat and toil of the numerous Chinese people. Sparks of talent are coming together, and they are the strength of China!

China stands on the right side of history and on the side of human progress

We are honored to publish below the text of the speech by Ms Wang Yingchun, Deputy Director-General of the Bureau for North American, Oceanian and Nordic Affairs, International Department of the Communist Party of China (IDCPC), given on 17 December at the second of two online seminars on the theme ‘The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and its World Significance’, organised jointly by Friends of Socialist China and IDCPC.

Comrade Wang Yingchun’s speech provides an inspiring summary of the major decisions, themes and achievements of the 20th Congress, and outlines the CPC’s positions on issues of global importance – particularly the pursuit of world peace and security, and putting sustainable, sovereign development at the center of the international agenda. The decisions of the Congress reflect the CPC’s resolute opposition to hegemonism and Cold War, and its commitment to respectful and mutually-beneficial relations on the basis of international law and the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence. China seeks “to be a pillar of global progressive forces and inject strong positive energy into safeguarding world peace on its new journey to fully build a modern socialist country.”

Good morning! I’m delighted to join you in this webinar. As old friends of China and experts on China, all of you have been following China and the CPC for a long time. I believe you’ve had deep understanding of the 20th CPC National Congress. Last weekend, I attended your online exchanges with Professor Liu Genfa of CELAP and Professor Qu Bo of China Foreign Affairs University. It is inspirational.

The significance of the 20th CPC National Congress is self-evident. My colleagues and I are still in the process of studying. I think it can be understood from the following perspectives:

From the history of the CPC, the Congress was held at a crucial moment when our Party has successfully completed its century-long struggle and embarked on another journey to take new tests. For the CPC, the largest Marxist party of government in the world, moving from one century to the new one is a very important historical juncture.

From the course of the new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics, the Congress was convened at an important moment as the first decade of the new era came to an end and the second has begun. It has outlined the strategic plan for building China into a great modern socialist country. All the Party members and the Chinese people have high expectations and high hopes from the Congress.

From the perspective of adapting Marxism to the Chinese context and the needs of the times, the Congress elaborated in depth on major issues such as breaking new grounds for adapting Marxism to the Chinese context and the needs of the times and Chinese modernization. Xi Jinping Thought of socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era is the Marxism of contemporary China and the Marxism of the 21st century. The great changes in the new era over the past decade have fully demonstrated how true and practical this scientific theory is. So it greatly strengthened the conviction of the CPC and the Chinese people in upholding and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics.

Internationally, the Congress takes place at a critical time when the world is undergoing profound changes unseen in a century and the international situation is becoming more volatile. How our Party responds to the situation, creates new opportunities and breaks new grounds will not only have bearings on China’s reform and development in the future, but also on world peace and development.

Next, I would like to share some of my observations around the theme of this event, “The 20th CPC National Congress and its world significance”.

The Congress has provided strong positive energy for safeguarding world peace

People all over the world long for peace, so does the Chinese nation for more than 5000 years. When Zheng He led what was then the world’s largest fleet to make seven maritime expeditions going as far as the South Seas and across the Indian Ocean (the Western seas) more than 600 years ago, he brought silk, tea and porcelain instead of war, colonization and plunder. China always believes that all countries, big or small, strong or weak, developed or otherwise, should uphold and promote peace.

General Secretary Xi Jinping proposed the Global Security Initiative, stressing that security is the prerequisite for development and mankind is an inseparable security community. He calls for a vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security. We advocate that all sides should adhere to mutual respect and consultation on an equal footing, bridge differences through dialogue and resolve disputes through negotiation. We oppose hegemonism and power politics in all forms. We have decided our position on the merits of matters, pushed for the political settlement of hotspot issues, be it the Iranian nuclear issue, the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue or Afghanistan issue. And we have been playing a constructive role in the Ukrainian crisis in our own way. We stand firmly on the right side of history and on the side of human progress. China has actively promoted international security cooperation and sent more than 50,000 personnel to UN peacekeeping operations. China is the second largest contributor to UN peacekeeping and the largest contributor of peacekeepers among the permanent members of the UN Security Council.

The report of the Congress solemnly declares that China firmly pursues an independent foreign policy of peace and that “taking the road of peaceful development” is one of the five features of Chinese modernization. I believe comrades here will agree that China’s development is a growing force for world peace. China has always been a builder of world peace and will never seek hegemony or expansion. This is the solemn political commitment of the CPC. We are confident that China, the world’s second largest economy with a population of over 1.4 billion, will continue to be a pillar of global progressive forces and inject strong positive energy into safeguarding world peace on its new journey to fully build a modern socialist country.

The Congress has offered new opportunities for common development

Development is the eternal theme of human society and the top priority of the CPC in governance and in rejuvenating the nation. In the new era, we have continued to promote all-round material abundance as well as people’s well-rounded development, and created two miracles, namely rapid economic growth and long-term social stability. Over the past decade, China’s GDP has grown from 54 trillion yuan to 114 trillion yuan, contributing about 30 percent to global growth on average annually, more than the combined contribution of the G7 countries. Thus, China becomes the primary driving force for world economic growth. We have built the world’s largest education, social security, and healthcare systems, and Chinese average life expectancy has risen to 78.2 years. We have won the battle against poverty, lifting nearly 100 million people out of absolute poverty and contributing 70 percent of the global poverty reduction.

We have worked hard to put development at the center of the international agenda. General Secretary Xi Jinping put forward the Global Development Initiative to accelerate the implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and achieve stronger, greener and healthier global development. We have promoted high-quality Belt and Road cooperation and signed cooperation documents with 149 countries and 32 international organizations. The Belt and Road Initiative has become a popular international public good and a platform for international cooperation, providing a strong driving force for global development. More importantly, the great achievements China has made in economic and social development over the past 10 years have successfully promoted and expanded the Chinese modernization, created a new form of human advancement, provided other developing countries with valuable experience and set a successful example, and offered humanity a new choice for achieving modernization. The Congress has outlined an ambitious blueprint for advancing the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts through a Chinese path to modernization. We will adhere to the fundamental national policy of opening-up and adopt high-quality opening-up to help create a new development pattern and achieve high-quality development. China will provide new opportunities for the world with its own development. We will input more resource for global development cooperation, remain committed to narrowing the North-South gap, and firmly support and help other developing countries accelerate their own development.

The Congress has injected new impetus to win-win cooperation

As we meet, the world has entered a new phase of instability and transformation, with geopolitical tensions overlapping with the evolving economic dynamics. The COVID-19 pandemic keeps resurging. The global economy faces mounting downward pressure and growing risk of recession. Food, energy and debt crises are emerging together. The Cold War mentality, hegemonism, unilateralism and protectionism are mounting. Human society is facing unprecedented challenges, when no country can stand alone. This requires all countries to pull together in times of difficulty, replace division with unity, confrontation with cooperation and exclusion with inclusiveness, accommodate the legitimate concerns of others while pursuing their own interests, and promote common development of all countries while pursuing their own development.

China is committed to the belief that the future of the world lies in the hands of all countries that international rules be written by all countries, that global affairs be managed by all countries, and that the fruits of development be shared by all countries. China is both a strong voice and practitioner of win-win cooperation. Over the past decade, we have worked hard to build a community with a shared future for mankind, firmly upheld international fairness and justice, advocated and practiced true multilateralism, and unequivocally opposed all hegemonism and power politics, and all acts of unilateralism, protectionism and bullying. As a responsible major country, we have taken an active part in the reform and development of the global governance system, and carried out comprehensive international cooperation in the fight against COVID-19, which has won widespread international acclaim.

Since the 20th CPC National Congress, the world has witnessed a wave of China’s “head of state diplomacy”. General Secretary Xi Jinping met with many visiting leaders of foreign countries and international organizations, and attended the G20 Summit, the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting, the first China-Arab States Summit, and the first China-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Summit. He has been vigorously promoting global governance, setting comprehensive vision for regional cooperation, and ushering in a new era of comprehensively deepening bilateral and multilateral relations. This fully demonstrates China’s strategic choice and firm confidence in working with other countries to meet global challenges and strengthen solidarity and coordination. On its new journey, the CPC will strengthen exchanges and cooperation with political parties and organizations of other countries on the basis of the principles of independence, complete equality, mutual respect and non-interference in each other’s internal affairs. China will continue to develop friendly cooperation with other countries on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, promote the building of a new type of international relations, deepen and expand global partnerships of equality, openness and cooperation, and strive to expand converging interests with other countries.

China has been and will always be a defender of the international order. We stand ready to strengthen solidarity and cooperation with other progressive forces in the world and jointly create a better future for mankind.

Comrades and Friends,

The 20th CPC National Congress has outlined an ambitious blueprint for China’s future development. On the new journey, we will unswervingly continue to uphold and strengthen the overall leadership of the Party, adhere to Marxism and follow the path of socialism based on our national conditions, so as to safeguard and deliver the fundamental interests of the people and make new and greater contribution to the noble cause of peace and development of mankind. A China that continues to modernize itself will provide more opportunities for the world, inject greater impetus into international cooperation and the world socialist movement, and make greater contribution to the progress of mankind!

On the journey ahead, we are also ready to maintain exchanges and cooperation with you, true friends of China, Chinese people and the CPC.

Thank you!

Carlos Martinez: China and the Future of Socialism

The video embedded below is of a presentation and extended question and answer session with Carlos Martinez, co-editor of Friends of Socialist China, on assorted topics connected to socialism in China. The session took place at the Critical Theory Workshop‘s Summer School in Paris, on 18 July 2022. The themes covered include: is China socialist? What is the specific importance of China in terms of global politics? Is China ‘authoritarian’? What is the basis of China’s foreign policy? How can we assess the overall record of actually existing socialism? What’s the nature of the New Cold War?

Telling the truth about China, and learning from China’s example

We are pleased to publish the text of a speech by Eben Williams, a Glasgow-based member of the International Committee of the Young Communist League (Britain), given on 17 December at the second of two online seminars on the theme ‘The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and its World Significance’, organised jointly by Friends of Socialist China and IDCPC.

Eben discusses the significance of the 20th Congress, in particular its relevance to young communists in Britain, contrasting Xi Jinping’s work report with the political pronouncements of Britain’s political leaders. The work of the CPC Congress reflects a profound orientation towards, and dedication to, meeting the needs of the masses of the people. The CPC’s adherence to the mass line couldn’t be more different to British parliamentary politics under the dictatorship of capital.

Eben calls on the progressive movement in Britain to learn from China’s experiences, to tell the truth about China, to take inspiration from the achievements of the Chinese people, to unite with Chinese people in the global struggle against imperialism, and to “redouble our efforts to strengthen the anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist resistance here at home.”

First of all, a warm hello to our comrades from the International Department of the Communist Party of China and a big thank you to Carlos and Keith and all of our comrades at Friends of Socialist China for the invitation to join this important discussion on the 20^th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and its world significance. I hope to give a few of my own thoughts from watching the congress, the perspective of young communists in Britain that have grown up watching the rise of China, and a small call to practical action.

As communists, our work is obviously very broad, and we do all kinds of different things to help build power for the working class where we live, but one of the areas of our work that I’m most interested in is our work building relationships with other working class and communist organisations around the world through our membership of the World Federation of Democratic Youth and through our International Department. This includes both the Communist Party of China and its youth wing, the Communist Youth League.

Recently, comrades from the CYL invited us to watch the opening ceremony of the 20^th National Congress online, together with them and other comrades from around the world. Many of our members are inspired by the Chinese socialist project and this was an exciting opportunity to say the least, like staying up until 3am to watch some kind of communist Superbowl of historic importance.

I was astounded by the scale of it, with more than 2,200 party delegates, representing over 96 million party members, representing over 1.4 billion Chinese citizens, all gathering together at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing to chart out the country’s future in one of the most advanced democratic exercises in the world.

I was moved by the Party’s commitment to ceremony and to its history, honouring the fallen martyrs of the revolution in a minute’s silence, including comrades Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Liu Shaoqi, Deng Xiaoping, Zhu De, and Chen Yun.

On the work of young communists in China

We are pleased to publish here the text of a speech by Ms Li Na, Communist Youth League branch secretary of Bureau VII of the International Department of the Communist Party of China (IDCPC), given on 17 December at the second of two online seminars on the theme ‘The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and its World Significance’, organised jointly by Friends of Socialist China and IDCPC.

Li Na’s speech gave a fascinating insight into the workings of the Communist Youth League at a branch level, including the league’s role in organizing study of Marxist theory and recruiting young members – “as the Party’s development needs new blood.”

I am Li Na from the Bureau for North American, Oceanian and Nordic Affairs of IDCPC. I am very honored and grateful to have this opportunity to speak here with you all.

The successful convocation of the 20th CPC National Congress marks a milestone in our Party’s history, as the whole Party and the entire nation embark on a new journey toward building a modern socialist country in all respects, and advance toward the Second Centenary Goal. As one of the youngest Party member of our Bureau’s Party branch and the Secretary of the Communist Youth League branch of our Bureau, today I want to share with you the CPC’s operation at primary-level and the Party’s youth work basing on our own practice.

I. Primary-level CPC organization

As is pointed out in the Report to the 20th CPC National Congress, “the Party’s advantage and strength lie in its close-knit organizational system”. As world’s largest political party of government with over 96 million members, the CPC attaches great importance to strengthening its over 4 million primary-level Party organizations, including those in Party and government offices and public institutions. Today I want to focus on 3 major functions of primary-level CPC organization, taking our Bureau’s Party branch as an example.

Human rights crisis as US Covid cases surpass 100 million

The following article, written by FoSC co-editor Carlos Martinez for CGTN, compares the rising hysteria in the Western media over China’s Covid situation with its near-total silence in relation to the ongoing public health crisis in the US. The US has just surpassed 100 million Covid cases; its Covid death toll exceeds 1 million; and its average life expectancy has dropped to 76.4 years – the lowest since 1999. What’s more, as a result of centuries of systemic racism, the impact of this crisis is multiplied for the black, Latino and indigenous population. The media prefers to sensationalize the wave of Covid cases in China – as a form of deflection and diversion, and as part of the generalized campaign of China-bashing. People should be awake to this tactic, and refuse to be fooled by it.

While the United States is failing to provide global leadership in such areas as ecological protection and the pursuit of peace, it has established itself as something of a COVID-19 trailblazer, with by far the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths.

This week, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the U.S. surpassed 100 million. Somewhat surprisingly, this milestone received precious little attention in the Western media, which appears to be far more interested in the evolving COVID-19 situation in China. A Washington Post editorial on December 20 went so far as to claim that “China’s new COVID nightmare could become a global catastrophe.”

Any sentient being would be hard pressed to miss the hypocrisy. The corporate media in the West has, for the last three years, loudly denounced China’s dynamic zero-COVID policy, labeling it as “authoritarian” and “unsustainable.” Now that China’s health authorities have adjusted the strategy in accordance with changing circumstances – the far lower pathogenicity of the dominant Omicron strain, the high level of vaccination, and the improved understanding of how to effectively treat symptoms – all of a sudden U.S. journalists and politicians are concerned for the people of China.

As the veteran Chicago-based education specialist and campaigner Michael Klonsky points out: “The common thread running through all these media stories is that the imperialist mind in the West knows what’s best for China’s health and wealth and has that country’s best interests at heart.”

Covid in China: Western propagandists look set to be disappointed again

The following article by Indian commentator Maitreya Bhakal, originally published in the Global Times, addresses the latest round of Coming Collapse of China hysteria in the imperialist media. Bhakal observes that, having relentlessly mocked China’s dynamic Zero Covid strategy for the last three years, the West is now hoping beyond hope that the lightening of Covid restrictions will trigger a massive public health crisis which will in turn foment widespread dissatisfaction with the Communist Party of China-led government. In these hacks’ fantasy world, the ensuing instability could deliver a mortal blow to Chinese socialism.

Bhakal concludes that the West’s journalists and politicians are destined for frustration: “As with many of their other predictions, whether China’s economy that’s been collapsing for thirty years, or the Communist Party that will be overthrown any time now, Western propagandists look set to be disappointed again.”

If there’s one quality that defines Western civilization, it is racism. Western culture is often filled with bigotry and intolerance.

Few things demonstrate this better than the West’s propaganda around COVID-19. After all, people generally don’t die in China like the way they do back home. Children aren’t shot in schools, civilians aren’t randomly killed by the police, and drug deaths and violent crime are extremely rare. As a result, any event that causes Chinese deaths is warmly welcomed by Western propagandists.

As usual, all of this is blamed on China’s political system. Western propaganda is as one-sided as it is lazy: anything wrong in China – from an initial setback against a new disease, to bad weather – is always blamed on China’s supposed “authoritarianism.”

Today, almost three years into the pandemic, Western “democracies” lie devastated. China has four times the population of the US, and its COVID death toll is about 5,200. So far, America’s death toll is 211 times higher, Britain’s 37 times higher, Italy’s 34 times higher, Germany’s 30 times higher, Spain’s 22 times higher, and Canada’s 9 times higher. All these “rich” “democracies” are at the forefront of criticizing China on “human rights”, but they can barely provide their own populations with the most basic human right: the right to live.

So much for the superiority of “democracy.”

Last month, China witnessed a few small-scale protests. The aims and political persuasion of the protestors varied. Some had genuine questions on the direction of China’s COVID policy. Some were protesting local lockdowns in their localities or cities. Some were university students. Some were Westernized liberals. Others were Western propagandists and provocateurs – Western “journalists” or “NGO workers” or “English teachers”, who somehow always seem to materialize at Chinese protest sites.

On the application of Xi Jinping Thought in an imperialist country

On 10 December, the first of two online seminars on the theme ‘The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and its World Significance’, organised jointly by Friends of Socialist China and the International Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, was held. We are pleased to publish below the contribution by Dr Hugh Goodacre, Managing Director of the Institute for Independence Studies and lecturer in the History of Economic Thought at University College London. Hugh’s speech provides a profound and thought-provoking analysis of the global relevance of Chinese socialism, situating the new developments in Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era within the overall and ongoing 170-year evolution of Marxism. He observes: “Xi Jinping Thought is deeply grounded in the scientific socialist tradition, standing in direct continuity with the work of its founders, and is indeed the Marxism of today.”

Thank you for the opportunity to participate in this Seminar on the world significance of the 20^th Congress of the Communist Party of China. This was indeed an event of historic significance, in particular for its having firmly established the core position of Comrade Xi Jinping in the Central Committee and the Party as a whole, as well as of Xi Jinping Thought.

As the Resolution on the Party Constitution amendment noted: “The Congress unanimously agrees that the new developments in Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era since the Party’s 19th National Congress should be incorporated into the Party Constitution, so as to better reflect the major contributions made by the Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core to advancing the Party’s theoretical, practical, and institutional innovations.”

As a contribution to the assessment of its significance, my following comments aim to establish three interlinked points:

First, Xi Jinping Thought, the guiding ideology of socialism with Chinese characteristics, epitomises the outstanding features of socialism in the world today.

Secondly, Xi Jinping Thought is deeply grounded in the scientific socialist tradition, standing in direct continuity with the work of its founders, and is indeed the Marxism of today.

Thirdly, Xi Jinping Thought provides the basis for substantial steps forward in our work in this country to forge a socialist ideology and political line, on the basis of which we can build a genuinely socialist movement in this, the oldest imperialist country.

Our cold warriors say they know what’s best for China as US covid deaths top 1 million

In this commentary on his Edu/Pol blog, veteran US progressive campaigner Mike Klonsky takes issue with the extraordinary hypocrisy of Western news reporting on the Covid situation in China. Since the start of the pandemic in early 2020, the media has, successively: 1) accused China of hatching Covid in a Wuhan lab; 2) attacked China’s dynamic Zero Covid for being authoritarian and/or ineffective; 3) cried copious quantities of crocodile tears over the recent loosening of restrictions, predicting this shift in strategy could result in millions of deaths.

As Mike points out: “The common thread running through all these media stories is that the imperialist mind in the west knows what’s best for China’s health and wealth and has that country’s best interests at heart.”

John Kirby, the White House national security spokesperson, has stated that the US stands ready to help China in its hour of need. Meanwhile, “US missile cruisers and nuclear submarines, sail into the South China Sea and the White House proclaims that China is enemy number one.” Not to mention the fact that the US is hardly in a great position to be advising other countries on how to manage the pandemic, given that over 300 people a day are still dying from Covid in the US.

Mike concludes with the apt proverb: “Physician, heal thyself.”

Whether it’s about the war in Ukraine or the cold war targeting China, it’s getting harder and harder to distinguish authentic news reports from the cold war propaganda produced daily by western intelligence agencies and willingly regurgitated by compliant reporters and news agencies.

Case in point: The continuing misleading and contradictory stories about China’s battles with Covid. They began, of course with Trump’s unsubstantiated claim that Covid was hatched in a Chinese lab. DT even coined the racist term Kung-flu as an anti-immigration dog whistle.

Then, with Biden, came the next two years, of continuous churn about China’s so-called Zero-Covid strategy which was mocked in the west, but was apparently successful in keeping that country virtually Covid-free while the virus was killing more than a million people here at home.

Not only was Zero-Covid supposedly to blame for China’s and Wall Street’s economic woes, but we were told that the recent anti-lockdown street protests (not unlike those in the west) could even lead to the downfall of China’s President Xi. Instead, the protests actually led to a shift away from Zero-Covid and towards a loosening of many government restrictions.

Taiwan local election shocks US imperialism

The following article from Fighting Words provides a useful summary of the recent local elections held in Taiwan Province. The author, Chris Fry, notes that although local elections are typically about local issues, in this instance Taiwan’s regional leader Tsai Ing-wen of the secessionist Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) had explicitly framed the election in terms of opposing the One China policy and “defending Taiwan’s democracy.”

It was, then, a huge blow to the separatists when the DPP was roundly defeated, winning just five seats, compared to the Kuomintang’s 13. The Kuomintang stands against secessionism and in favour of China’s reunification.

Chris observes that the imperialist powers, led by the US, are desperate to leverage Taiwanese secessionism against Chinese socialism. He concludes the article by calling on progressive forces in the West to oppose all such Cold War tactics aimed at containing and encircling China.

On November 26, local elections were held throughout Taiwan, an island that has always been part of China, but since 1949 has been ruled by a fascist leadership driven out of the mainland by the victorious Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Taiwan has since been “protected” by the military U.S. fleet, while Taiwan’s rulers maintained 48 years of martial law and a brutal regime of “White Terror”. In 1987, the regime allowed bourgeois elections.

Before the 2022 elections, Taiwan’s president, Tsai Ing-wen, had campaigned for her ruling “Democratic Progressive Party” (DPP) candidates with the assertion that Taiwan is an independent nation, and should prepare to wage war. As a Nov. 25th CNN article describes:

Polls opened in Taiwan on Saturday in local elections that President Tsai Ing-wen has framed as being about sending a message to the world about the island’s determination to defend its democracy in the face of China’s rising bellicosity.

The local elections, for city mayors, county chiefs and local councilors, are ostensibly about domestic issues such as the Covid-19 pandemic and crime, and those elected do not have a direct say on China policy.

But Tsai has recast the election as being more than a local poll, saying the world is watching how Taiwan defends its democracy amid military tensions with China, which claims the island as its territory.

China carried out war games near Taiwan in August to express its anger at a visit to Taipei by then-US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and its military activities have continued, though on a reduced scale.

Taiwan’s main opposition party the Kuomintang, or KMT, swept the 2018 local elections, and has accused Tsai and the DPP of being overly confrontational with China.

Trade unions in the ‘new economy’

In his report to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, held in October, General Secretary Xi Jinping said that China would do more to protect the rights and interests of those in flexible and new forms of employment. The following short article, which we reprint from Global Times, illustrates one way in which this is happening. It reports that all of China’s top 100 internet companies have formed trade unions and explains:

“In response to the diverse needs of the employees of internet enterprises, labor unions at all levels should actively implement targeted services, such as building special rooms for nursing mothers, providing childcare services, arranging matchmaking and dating events, sponsoring psychological lectures, and offering healing activities to take care of employees’ social lives and physical and mental wellbeing.”

It notes that with the rapid development of the platform economy, the number of workers engaged in new forms of employment, such as online-hailing cab drivers and internet marketing, has greatly increased.

All of the top 100 Chinese internet companies, including Meituan, JD.com and NetEase, have formed labor unions, a move aimed at protecting the legitimate rights and interests of internet industry workers and promoting the high-quality development of the industry, according to the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU).

The ACFTU has demanded that internet companies build the labor unions into the “homes of employees” that focus on protecting the most direct and realistic interests of the employees of internet enterprises.

The ACFTU urged the labor unions to take the initiative to participate in dispute mediation and settlement involving overtime payments and other labor issues, and guide and urge internet enterprises to further standardize employment management.

Why Chinese “debt trap diplomacy” is a lie

This useful and comprehensive article by Amanda Yee, originally published in Liberation News, discusses the accusation that China is engaged in “debt trap diplomacy”; that it imposes predatory loans on countries of the Global South with a view to taking control of their resources.

Amanda details the most-cited putative examples of this phenomenon – the Hambantota Port in Sri Lanka and the Entebbe International Airport in Uganda – and in both cases demonstrates incontrovertibly that the accusations of “debt trap diplomacy” are false. There is not a single case of China pressuring countries to take unsustainable loans; nor does China use national assets as collateral. The author points out that, in fact, China’s loan conditions are typically far less onerous than those of the West, and that the infrastructure projects it invests in “are determined by the recipient country, not China, based on their own economic and political interests.”

It’s the IMF and World Bank loans, not China’s, that are “granted on conditions of privatizing public sectors, gutting social welfare programs, and trade liberalization to enrich Western capitalist interests.” Thus a debt trap does exist; it was invented by, and continues to be used by, the imperialist powers. Accusations of China employing “debt trap diplomacy” are sheer projection and New Cold War propaganda.

U.S. politicians and corporate media often promote the narrative that China lures developing countries into predatory, high interest loans to build infrastructure projects as part of its Belt and Road Initiative. As the story goes, China anticipates that the borrowing country will default on that loan, so that it can then seize that asset in order to extend its military or geostrategic influence—evidence of China’s so-called colonizing of the Global South.

The concept of Chinese “debt trap diplomacy” finds its origins in a 2017 academic article published by a think tank in Northern India describing China’s financing of Sri Lanka’s Hambantota Port. The concept was then picked up by two Harvard graduate students in 2018, when they published a paper accusing China of “debtbook diplomacy” and “leveraging accumulated debt to achieve its strategic aims.” This paper was then widely cited by media publications, the idea of Chinese “debt traps” seeped into Washington and intelligence circles, and a short time later, by November 2018, a Google search of the phrase “debt trap diplomacy” generated nearly two million results.

By now the “debt trap diplomacy” accusation has become a bipartisan one: both the Trump and Biden administrations have peddled it, and it’s been further advanced by organizations such as the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, and corporate media outlets like The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Hill.

In one egregious instance, BBC News even edited an interview with Deborah Bräutigam—a scholar known for her work challenging the validity of the Chinese “debt trap diplomacy” myth—to only include her explanation of the myth itself, omitting all evidence she cited against it, leading listeners to believe that Bräutigam was, in fact, claiming the concept was true.

Problems with the “debt trap diplomacy” myth

Generally, there are three problems with this “debt trap diplomacy” myth.

The first problem is that this myth assumes China unilaterally dictates Belt and Road Initiative projects to lure other countries into taking on these predatory loans. In reality, Chinese development financing is largely recipient-driven, through bilateral interactions and deals. Infrastructure projects are determined by the recipient country, not China, based on their own economic and political interests.

Jenny Clegg on the complex and evolving US-China relationship

On the proposal of the International Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (IDCPC), Friends of Socialist China (FoSC) and the IDCPC jointly organised two online seminars, with participation by invitation, on the theme of, ‘The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and its World Significance’, on December 10th and 17th.

A total of 36 supporters and friends of FoSC from England, Scotland, Wales and the north of Ireland, from various nationalities and walks of life, and from a broad range of progressive organisations and areas of struggle, participated, the majority of them in both events.

The first seminar focused on expert presentations, with the speakers being:

Liu Genfa, Deputy Director, Department of International Exchange, Training and Development of the China Executive Leadership Academy, Pudong;
Qu Bo, Associate Professor and Director, Institute of International Relations, China Foreign Affairs University;
Dr Hugh Goodacre, Managing Director of the Institute for Independence Studies and Lecturer in the History of Economic Thought at University College London(UCL);
Dr Jenny Clegg, China specialist and former Senior Lecturer in Asia Pacific Studies at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN).

The second seminar concentrated more on an exchange of views and experiences, with younger comrades taking the lead. The speakers were:

Ms Wang Yingchun, Deputy Director General of Bureau VII of the IDCPC;
Ms Li Na, Communist Youth League Branch Secretary of Bureau VII of the IDCPC;
Eben Williams, Member of the International Committee and Chair of the Glasgow branch of the Young Communist League;
Fiona Sim, Organiser with Goldsmiths Anti-Imperialist Society

We plan to publish those of the papers for which we have the text on our website in the coming period and hope to organise more such joint activities with our comrades in the IDCPC in the new year.

Below is the speech given by Jenny Clegg at the session on December 10th. Jenny’s presentation explores in some detail the complex and evolving relationship between the US and China, as well as providing an overview of (and raising some questions for discussion in relation to) China’s socialist modernisation.

My contribution comes in two parts – firstly I focus on the US-China relationship with a view to making some assessment, at the current international conjuncture, of the recent Xi-Biden meeting on the sidelines of the G20 Bali summit. Secondly I raise some issues about China’s last stages of socialist modernisation.

The US-China relationship: the background

The US China relationship has become the dominant influence on the overall dynamics of international relations.

China’s rise counters US hegemonism; it challenges the system of imperialist rule-making; at the same time China’s socialist orientation shows there is an alternative to capitalism.

These three intertwined contradictions are fundamentally antagonistic but as Mao suggested antagonistic contradictions can also be handled in a non antagonistic way – of course depending on the circumstances. Today it is amidst the increasingly complex context of polycrises – of climate change, the pandemic, debt and economic recession, and now the Ukraine war – that we see the US and China engaged in a sharpening trial of strength.

Xi Jinping: global solidarity is the only way to protect biodiversity

The following speech by Xi Jinping, delivered at COP15 (the 15th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity), details China’s progress over the past decade in biodiversity protection, including the establishment of a system of conservation red lines, a system of national parks, and the successful protection of a large array of rare and endangered species. Xi makes it clear that China is strongly committed to improving biodiversity and will continue to work hard on ecological protection.

The speech also highlights the importance of international cooperation; that “solidarity and cooperation is the only effective way to address global challenges” such as biodiversity protection and the Covid19 pandemic. Xi calls for greater support to be given to developing countries to allow them to build capacity in dealing with climate change and biodiversity. This is a salutary reminder, at a time when the major imperialist powers are promoting “decoupling” and adopting aggressive geopolitical stances – promoting their own narrow, hegemonic interests over the wellbeing and long-term viability of humanity.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Friends,

Good morning.

On behalf of the Chinese government and people, and also in my own name, I would like to extend warm congratulations to the convening of today’s meeting.

Humanity lives in a community with a shared future. Be it in overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic, or in enhancing biodiversity protection and achieving sustainable development globally, solidarity and cooperation is the only effective way to address global challenges. A sound ecosystem is essential for the prosperity of civilization. We must work together to promote harmonious co-existence between man and Nature, build a community of all life on the Earth, and create a clean and beautiful world for us all.

— We need to build global consensus on biodiversity protection, jointly work for the conclusion of the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, and identify targets and pathways for global biodiversity protection.

— We need to push forward the global process of biodiversity protection, turn ambitions into action, support developing countries in capacity-building, and coordinate efforts to address climate change, biodiversity loss and other global challenges.

— We need to promote green development through biodiversity protection, speed up the green transition of development modes and lifestyle, and leverage the Global Development Initiative (GDI) to deliver greater benefits to people of all countries.

— We need to uphold a fair and equitable global order on biodiversity protection, firmly defend true multilateralism, firmly support the UN-centered international system and the international order underpinned by international law, and form strong synergy for protecting the Earth, our common homeland.