Friends of Socialist China, Author at Friends of Socialist China

Truss and China: opening a new war front?

This important article by Jenny Clegg, academic and campaigner with CND and Stop the War Coalition (and member of the Friends of Socialist China advisory group), analyses the foreign policy of the current British government, led by Prime Minister Liz Truss. Jenny notes that Truss is known for her “extreme hawkishness and a highly ideological world view” and has adopted an aggressively anti-China stance, viewing China as a threat to the so-called rules-based international order.

However, Truss and her team are also facing an extremely difficult and complex economic situation, and “questions will surely be raised from the business community as to the wisdom of jeopardising economic ties with the world’s second largest economy.” Jenny writes that at least 150,000 British jobs are connected to economic links with China, and hence it would be prudent for the government to reconsider its alignment with the US-led New Cold War. Certainly ordinary people in Britain have nothing to gain from this adventurism. Jenny concludes that the people of Britain should exert pressure on their government to adopt a sane policy in relation to China: “No way should we allow these extreme reactionaries to march us into a US-led war with China, a war bringing two nuclear-armed states into face-to-face combat.”

This article first appeared in the Morning Star.

Liz Truss, in her first international speech as prime minister at the UN, called on the G7 and “like-minded countries” to join together to limit the influence of “authoritarian aggressors.” Meeting with President Joe Biden later, she clarified her plans “to ensure Britain is fully equipped to tackle the evolving challenge from countries like China and Russia.”

Truss talks of “refreshing” the Integrated Review, which outlines British priorities in diplomacy and defence over the coming decade, to elevate the designation of China in particular from “systemic competitor” to an “acute threat” on a par with Russia.

It is clear she brings to her new role as head of government an extreme hawkishness and a highly ideological world view.

She believes in a “strong and outward-reaching Global Britain,” proposing to boost defence spending from 2 to 3 per cent of GDP by 2030 to back this. She has vowed “to push Russia out of the whole of Ukraine” and has called for Nato to “go global” to tackle “worldwide threats.”

In her previous posts as international trade secretary and then foreign secretary, she advanced Britain’s Indo-Pacific tilt promoting military and military-industrial links with the region, and indeed it was she who signed the Aukus pact to supply Australia with the technology to build nuclear submarines aimed at containing China.

Truss views China as a threat to the “rules-based international order,” and calls for the G7 to form an “economic Nato” so as to play an even a greater role in rule-making.

Manufacturing consent for the containment and encirclement of China

The following detailed article by Carlos Martinez explores the escalating propaganda war being waged by the imperialist powers against China. Carlos notes that “propaganda wars can also be war propaganda”, and that the torrent of anti-China slander has a clear purpose of manufacturing broad public consent for the US-led New Cold War.

Carlos shows how the propaganda model described in Herman and Chomsky’s classic work Manufacturing Consent has been updated and enhanced using modern communication techniques, and how it is being applied today against China, in particular in relation to the allegations of human rights abuses in Xinjiang. Carlos introduces the most frequently-hurled slanders on this topic and debunks them in detail.

The author concludes that this propaganda campaign is serving to “break the bonds of solidarity within the global working class and all those opposed to imperialism”, and that all progressives must resolutely oppose and expose it.

If you’re not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing. (Malcolm X)

The Western media is waging a systematic and ferocious propaganda war against China. In the court of Western public opinion, China stands accused of an array of terrifying crimes: conducting a genocide against Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang; wiping out democracy in Hong Kong; militarising the South China Sea; attempting to impose colonial control over Taiwan; carrying out a land grab in Africa; preventing Tibetans and Inner Mongolians from speaking their languages; spying on the good peoples of the democratic world; and more.

Australian scholar Roland Boer has characterised these accusations as “atrocity propaganda – an old anti-communist and indeed anti-anyone-who-does-not-toe-the-Western-line approach that tries to manufacture a certain image for popular consumption.” Boer observes that this propaganda serves to create an impression of China as a brutal authoritarian dystopia which “can only be a fiction for anyone who actually spends some time in China, let alone lives there.”^[1]

It’s not difficult to understand why China would be subjected to this sort of elaborate disinformation campaign. This media offensive is part of the imperialist world’s ongoing attempts to reverse the Chinese Revolution, to subvert Chinese socialism, to weaken China, to diminish its role in international affairs and, as a result, to undermine the global trajectory towards multipolarity and a future free from hegemonism. As journalist Chen Weihua has pointed out, “the reasons for the intensifying US propaganda war are obvious: Washington views a fast-rising China as a challenge to its primacy around the world.” Furthermore, “the success of a country with a different political system is unacceptable to politicians in Washington.”^[2]

CPC’s 20th National Congress – along the path towards building a modern socialist country

The following article by Chen Weihua, originally carried in China Daily, collates the opinions of various analysts in the West in relation to the forthcoming 20th National Congress of the CPC, which will kick off on Sunday 16 October. The article includes quotes from Friends of Socialist China co-editor Carlos Martinez, who opines that the Congress will likely emphasize common prosperity: “Alleviating poverty, reducing inequality, preventing the unchecked expansion of capital and ensuring all people in China benefit from China’s growing economic strength — these are all tremendously important in terms of working toward the second centenary goal of building a modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced and harmonious.”

Carlos also notes China’s important contribution to the global struggle to prevent climate breakdown, and states his belief that the Congress will reaffirm the CPC’s commitment to ecological issues.

Many international experts are voicing expectations that the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, which is expected to open on Oct 16 in Beijing, will generate successes not only for China but also the world.

Erik Solheim, former executive director of the United Nations Environmental Programme and former UN under-secretary-general, said that after 40 years of unprecedented economic growth and poverty reduction, China should focus on how to take the next step toward a high-quality and people-centered society.

He said the 20th CPC National Congress is an opportunity to celebrate China’s progress since it initiated the reform and opening-up drive in 1978, consequently eradicating extreme poverty, extending life expectancy to the level of developed countries and becoming a global leader in renewable energy and green development.

“China should set new high ambitions for its global leadership toward an ecological civilization and shared prosperity for humankind,” the Norwegian politician said.

He said China is already ahead of all other nations in new green technologies and can help lead the world on climate and the environment.

“At a time of much global uncertainty, China’s leadership is critical to create a stable world order for economic progress and green development,” he said.

Carlos Martinez, a British commentator and co-editor of Friends of Socialist China, said the 20th CPC National Congress will likely emphasize common prosperity.

“Alleviating poverty, reducing inequality, preventing the unchecked expansion of capital and ensuring all people in China benefit from China’s growing economic strength — these are all tremendously important in terms of working toward the second centenary goal of building a modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced and harmonious,” he said.

He pointed to China’s commitment to peak carbon emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060, and said he believes the Congress will reaffirm the Party’s commitment to the climate and biodiversity.

He said China is leading the way with renewable energy, electric vehicles, afforestation, pollution reduction and biodiversity preservation.

“With an increasingly urgent climate crisis, this (China’s) leadership is indispensable,” he said.

Martinez believes China will continue to pursue a foreign policy based on peace, development and mutually beneficial cooperation.

However, the 20th CPC National Congress will inevitably have to seriously consider China’s defense capacity, and the need to foster domestic innovation and consumption, in the face of increasingly hostile forces led by the United States, which is attempting to contain China.

Bernard Dewit, chair of the Brussels-based Belgian Chinese Chamber of Commerce, has traveled to China almost every year since the 1980s but has not been able to during the past three years because of COVID-19.

He said the Congress will need to focus on measures to support the economy and hopes China’s pandemic-control policies could adapt to ease travel for businesspeople and tourists from the rest of the world.

Dewit added that he hopes China’s economy will remain open to foreign investment and to partnerships between Chinese and foreign companies in China and abroad.

As Western capitalism faces repeated crises, socialist China achieves spectacular success

We are pleased to reproduce this article by Professor Radhika Desai, which originally appeared in Global Times.

Radhika notes that, “After the disintegration of the USSR, the People’s Republic of China, under leadership of the CPC, not only survived, but succeeded spectacularly…(but) none of this was inevitable.”

The secret behind the success of socialism in China and the failure of capitalism, particularly the variety practiced in the United States and Britain, she argues, is best understood by returning to the teachings of Marx.

A further very important factor identified by Radhika is that “the Chinese revolution, even more than the Russian revolution, was at once socialist and anti-imperialist.” Her conclusion is that, “while China does not aim to be a model for other nations, its experience and policies do serve as a worthy example. Other countries can best benefit from their relations with socialist China if they also adapt China’s experience to their aspirations and circumstances.” This resonates with President Xi Jinping’s important observation that: “It [socialism with Chinese characteristics] offers a new option for other countries and nations who want to speed up their development while preserving their independence.”

After the disintegration of the USSR, the People’s Republic of China, under leadership of the CPC, not only survived, but succeeded spectacularly. The party-state holding overall control of the economy composed of a pragmatic mix of state and private enterprise has managed to harness market forces to build socialism and brought a very poor society to the threshold of moderate prosperity. It has scored many technological achievements along the way.

None of this was inevitable. All of it required leadership, who has been capable of well-judged decisions, political skill and wisdom, the ability to learn from mistakes, to listen to the people and, above all, to stand up to powerful capitalism and imperialism. It also required a long-standing commitment to China’s original revolutionary principles.

Red Salute to Dr DS Kotnis on the 110th anniversary of his birth

October 10 sees the 110^th birthday of Dr. Dwarkanath Shantaram Kotnis, Indian surgeon, internationalist fighter, and member of the Communist Party of China.

Dr. Kotnis was one of a team of five Indian doctors, one of whom had previously served with the International Brigades in Spain, who were sent to help the Chinese people in their war of resistance against Japan by India’s Congress party, then led by Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhas Chandra Bose, after China’s Red Army leader Zhu De had written a request to Nehru on the suggestion of Agnes Smedley, the American internationalist who maintained deep ties with the freedom movements in both countries.

The team were seen off from Calcutta (today’s Kolkata) by Congress leaders Bose and Sarojini Naidu, who, at the conclusion of a mass meeting in Jinnah Hall, said: “You are sent to the war-stricken people of China as messengers of goodwill and sympathy. One or some of you may not return home.” Dr. Kotnis is the one who did not return.

In the spirit of the great Canadian communist, Dr. Norman Bethune, who the team had gone to replace following his death from sepsis incurred while operating behind enemy lines, Dr. Kotnis worked tirelessly, sometimes for 72 hours without sleep. He refused any special treatment, taught himself fluent Chinese, and passed on his knowledge by writing two textbooks on surgery (one uncompleted, he was actually struck by a fatal seizure as he was writing), and becoming a teacher and then the head of the Bethune Medical School.

It was while teaching at the school that he met, fell in love with and married Guo Qinglan, a nurse and nursing teacher. Their son, Yinhua, whose name means India-China was born just four months before Dr. Kotnis’s death.

Participation in the Chinese revolution had a profound effect on Dr. Kotnis. In an April 1, 1942 letter to his fellow team member, Dr. BK Basu, he wrote: “You know very well how backward I was before reaching Yan’an, my brain full of bourgeois ideas, and though full of national sentiments, hazy ideas of revolutionary methods. During over one year’s stay here, living the life of an Eighth Route Army man, ever receiving criticism from comrades, both during meetings and personal talks, I have myself been experiencing a good deal of transformation in my character, ideas etc.”

In July that year, Dr. Kotnis was admitted to membership of the Communist Party of China. When a student graduated from the Bethune School, Kotnis would write them the following words of encouragement: “Study hard for the sake of the liberation of the oppressed mankind” in English, and “Victory in the war of resistance against Japan” in Chinese.

In Shijiazhuang, the capital of Hebei province, the Ke Dihua (Kotnis’s Chinese name) Medical Science Secondary Specialized School, was founded in 1992. More than 45,000 medical professionals have graduated from it. Each of the new students and staff must swear in front of a statue of Kotnis that they will work like him.

The UN human rights regime fissures as OHCHR’s politicized “Assessment” of Xinjiang alienates the Global South

This article by Casey Ho-yuk Wan, an attorney and independent researcher, analyzes the UN Human Rights Council’s 6 October 2022 vote against a Western-backed motion to hold a debate on China’s alleged human rights abuses in Xinjiang. Casey observes that the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights is at serious risk of further losing credibility, particularly with the countries of the Global South, if it continues to allow itself to be used for a US-led anti-China propaganda campaign.

On 6 October 2022, the UN Human Rights Council (“HRC”) rejected the Western-sponsored draft decision A/HRC/51/L.6 (the “draft decision”) proposing that the HRC hold a debate on Xinjiang under agenda Item 2 at the 52nd HRC regular session in February 2023, with 17 supporting, 19 opposed, and 11 abstaining.^[1] The draft decision’s defeat and the closure of 51st HRC regular session on 7 October 2022 provide an opportunity to reflect on the deepening fissures in the UN human rights regime, represented by the HRC and the Office of the High Commissioner of the Human Rights (“OHCHR”), and the growing alienation of the Global South, in particular with regards to Western politicization of human rights and the OHCHR’s complicity in the West’s instrumentalization of human rights as a weapon against developing countries.

Item 2 of HRC sessions generally cover “reports of the Office of the High Commissioner and the Secretary-General” and thus customarily cover HRC-mandated proceedings. In the recently concluded 51st HRC regular session, Item 2 discussions included the report of the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar, established by HRC resolution 39/2, the report of the OHCHR on promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka, authorized by HRC resolution 46/1, and the report of the High Commissioner on the situation of human rights in Nicaragua, authorized by HRC resolution 49/3.

Xi Jinping: Enhance solidarity and cooperation to embrace a better future

From September 14-16, 2022, Chinese President Xi Jinping attended the 22nd Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), held in Samarkand, Uzbekistan’s historic Silk Road city, and paid state visits to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Attending nearly 30 multilateral and bilateral events in 48 hours, this was the Chinese leader’s first foreign visit since the onset of the global pandemic.

Below, we publish two important articles – the full text of Xi Jinping’s speech to the SCO summit, reproduced from the website of the Xinhua News Agency, and the briefing on the visit, given to accompanying journalists by Foreign Minister Wang Yi at its conclusion, reproduced from the website of the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

In his speech, President Xi identified a number of positives to be drawn on in the SCO’s practice:

Political Trust: “We respect each other’s core interests and choice of development path and support each other in achieving peace, stability, development, and rejuvenation.
Win-win cooperation.
Equality between nations: “We reject the practice of the strong bullying the weak or the big bullying the small.”
Openness and inclusiveness.
Equity and justice: “We are committed to the purposes and principles of the UN Charter…and oppose the pursuit of one’s own agenda at the expense of other countries’ legitimate rights and interests.”

He went on to outline what the organization needed to do:

We need to enhance mutual support: “We should guard against attempts by external forces to instigate ‘color revolution,’ jointly oppose interference in other countries’ internal affairs under any pretext and hold our future firmly in our own hands.”
We need to expand security cooperation.
We need to deepen practical cooperation. “To deliver a better life for people of all countries in the region is our shared goal.” SCO member states should “expand shares of local currency settlement, better develop the system for cross-border payment and settlement in local currencies, work for the establishment of an SCO development bank, and thus speed up regional economic integration… China stands ready to carry out space cooperation with all other parties and provide satellite data service to support them in agricultural development, connectivity and disaster mitigation and relief.”
We need to enhance people-to-people and cultural exchanges.
We need to uphold multilateralism.

Xi Jinping noted that: “In recent years, an increasing number of countries have applied to join our SCO family. This fully demonstrates the power of SCO’s vision and the widely shared confidence in its future.” Elaborating in his briefing, Wang Yi said:

“At the summit, the SCO accepted Iran as a member state, supported the starting of the procedure for the accession of Belarus, granted Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar the status of SCO dialogue partners, and reached agreement on admitting Bahrain, the Maldives, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kuwait and Myanmar as new dialogue partners…It helps consolidate the standing and influence of the SCO as an organization for regional cooperation with the largest population and the largest landmass in the world, and…also fully shows that the SCO is not an isolated and exclusive ‘small circle’, but an open and inclusive ‘big family’.”

Regarding President Xi’s diplomatic work, Wang Yi noted that besides the summit meetings held during his state visits to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, the Chinese leader held bilateral meetings with the leaders of Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Iran, Belarus, Pakistan, Mongolia, Türkiye and Azerbaijan, as well as a trilateral meeting together with Russia and Mongolia. Together with Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko, Xi issued a joint statement, unanimously deciding to upgrade China-Belarus relations to an all-weather comprehensive strategic partnership.

Wang Yi observed that international commentary had described the President’s tour as, “a strategic step China has taken to unite with its SCO friends in order to penetrate the attempted encirclement by the United States.”

Ride on the Trend of the Times and Enhance Solidarity and Cooperation to Embrace a Better Future

Statement by Xi Jinping at the 22nd Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of The Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Samarkand, Sept. 16, 2022

Your Excellency President Shavkat Mirziyoyev,

Colleagues,

I am delighted to attend the meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). I would like to thank you, President Mirziyoyev, for your warm hospitality and thoughtful arrangements. I salute Uzbekistan for the great job it has done to promote SCO cooperation in various fields during its presidency over the past year.

Samarkand, renowned as the pearl on the Silk Road, witnessed the glory of the ancient Silk Road, a route that greatly boosted the flow of goods, spread of science and technology, interaction of ideas, and integration of diverse cultures on the Eurasian continent. Indeed, the ancient Silk Road has remained a historical source of inspiration for us SCO member states as we pursue peace and development.

Video: on Xi Jinping’s ‘The Governance of China’, Volume IV

With the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China scheduled to open on October 16, the International Department of the Communist Party of China has released this short video highlighting the publication of Volume IV of President Xi Jinping’s collection of articles and speeches, The Governance of China.

The video highlights how China has achieved its first centenary goal (marking 100 years since the founding of the Communist Party of China in 1921) of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, with the complete elimination of extreme poverty, and is now advancing towards the second centenary goal (which will mark 100 years since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949) of building a great modern socialist country in all respects.

President Xi points out that China is now closer than ever before to realizing its cause of national rejuvenation and more confident than ever of achieving it.

The video also outlines the Chinese leader’s thinking on building a community with a shared future for humanity, highlighting in particular China’s global supply of vaccines and the role of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in poverty alleviation, along with China having signed BRI agreements with 149 countries and 32 international organizations.

Highlights of Wang Yi’s friendly meetings at the UN General Assembly

During his intensive working visit to New York last month for the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi held tens of meetings with his counterparts from all parts of the world. We present here some important highlights from his meetings with the representatives of a number of developing and progressive countries that are friendly to China. All materials are taken from news reports carried on the website of the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

Pakistan

In his September 19 meeting with Wang Yi, Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that the upcoming 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China is of historic and milestone significance. He is fully confident that the congress will be a complete success and boost China’s efforts to seek greater prosperity. Pakistan always regards its relations with China as the cornerstone of its foreign policy. This has become a common understanding of the whole Pakistani society. Bilawal expressed appreciation for China’s support to Pakistan in tackling the pandemic and floods. Pakistan is ready to work with China to implement the consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, maintain close strategic coordination, consolidate Pakistan-China all-weather strategic cooperative partnership, and deepen all-round cooperation between the two countries.

Cuba

Meeting Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla the same day, Wang Yi said that China and Cuba are good friends, good comrades, and good brothers with mutual trust and a shared future. The heads of state of the two countries have built their friendship and maintained close communication. The Chinese side stands ready to work with Cuba to follow the guidance of the important consensus reached by the two heads of state, deepen unity and cooperation, and consolidate and develop the special friendship between China and Cuba.

Rodríguez thanked the Chinese side for the long-term support for Cuba’s national course of justice and for the solidarity and assistance when Cuba suffered from the pandemic, disasters, and other difficult times. Cuba is glad about the profound friendship and political mutual trust between the heads of state of the two countries.

China marks the UN International Day of Peace

Marking the United Nations’ International Day of Peace on September 21, the Chinese People’s Association for Peace and Disarmament (CPAPD) organized a commemorative event in hybrid format, taking as its theme, ‘Acting on the Global Security Initiative to maintain world peace and stability’. Several hundred people from around the world attended, offline and online.

The event was opened with a congratulatory letter sent by Chinese President Xi Jinping, which was read by Liu Jianchao, Minister of the International Department of the Communist Party of China.

In his letter, President Xi said that the world has entered a new period of turbulence and transformation. “At this important historical juncture, I put forward the Global Security Initiative, call on all countries to uphold the common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security concept, respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries, abide by the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, and take seriously the legitimate security concerns of all countries.”

This was followed by a keynote speech from Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan, delivered via video link. Wang noted that, all countries need to practice mutual respect, enhance solidarity and coordination, respect others’ national security, sovereignty and development interests, and refrain from interfering in others’ internal affairs. “We need to work together to improve global governance, firmly oppose hegemony and bullying, practice true multilateralism, safeguard world peace and stability, and promote the development and prosperity of all countries.”

Why wasn’t the US-Pacific Island Country Summit set up years ago?

In the video embedded below, produced by and originally published on CGTN, FoSC co-editor Carlos Martinez responds to questions about why the US is suddenly showing an interest in the islands of the Pacific, and why the recent US-Pacific Island Country Summit wasn’t held years ago. Carlos notes that the US and the other imperialist powers have almost totally ignored these small nations in the post-colonial era. Their attention has been drawn by a blossoming and mutually-beneficial relationship between the Pacific Island countries and the People’s Republic of China. Of particular concern was the security agreement between China and the Solomon Islands, signed in April 2022.

Carlos points out that China has never had a colonial relationship with these countries, but is very willing to provide aid, trade, and investment; furthermore, it works with these countries without attempting to compromise their sovereignty. Unfortunately, this runs counter to the US’s evolving strategy of encircling and containing China.

Transcript

CGTN: Since Joe Biden came to office, the U.S. has put greater focus on the Asia-Pacific. What caused this shift?

Martinez: The difference between Donald Trump and Biden in terms of their approach to the Pacific Islands really reflects the overall difference in their foreign policy. Trump’s motto was “America First.” His administration didn’t really pursue alliances, but talked quite openly about the need to maintain U.S. hegemony.

Now, Biden’s foreign policy is somewhat more sophisticated than Trump’s, but he’s seeking ultimately the same thing as Trump. He’s seeking to consolidate and expand U.S. hegemony, U.S. imperialism, but he wants to do it in a more consensual way. He wants to build an alliance.

CGTN: Beijing in April signed a security pact with the Solomon Islands. In contrast, the country seemed to keep its distance from the U.S., given that the Prime Minister skipped a planned appearance with Wendy Sherman during her Asia Pacific trip in August. How do you explain the contrast between the Solomon Islands’ attitudes toward the U.S. and China?

Martinez: The fact is that in recent decades, the imperialist powers have almost completely ignored the Pacific Island countries. They’ve been left to try and overcome the legacy of a century of colonialism, a century of underdevelopment on their own. Many of these countries suffer terrible poverty, terrible inequality. Many of them struggle with high crime rates, with ethnic tensions. And these problems are largely a product of their colonial history, but the former colonizers don’t apparently feel any sense of responsibility toward them.

China, on the other hand, is a nearby major power. There has never been a colonial relationship with these countries, but it is very willing to provide aid, trade, and investment, that’s very willing to help these countries to develop without compromising their sovereignty. This will make sense for the Solomon Islands and for the other Pacific countries, but it’s the opposite of what the U.S. wants as part of its strategy of China encirclement.

That’s the reason for this kind of sudden flurry of diplomatic activity in the region. That’s the reason for this forthcoming U.S.-Pacific Island Country Summit. That’s the reason for the U.S., Australia, Japan, and Britain forming this Partners in the Blue Pacific. These are imperialist powers that are doing everything they can to prevent normal and mutually beneficial relations between China and the Pacific Island countries, the reason being that they insist on the whole region being part of a so-called sphere of influence, in which the people of the region are just sort of humble pawns in the U.S.’s imperial chess game.

CGTN: Why wasn’t the summit set up years ago rather than now?

Martinez: What the summit represents is an example of the cold war mentality. Why has the United States suddenly decided that it cares about its relationship with the islands of the Pacific? The reason is because those islands have increasingly good relations with China, and because China has emerged as a major trading partner of those islands. China is the principal supplier of COVID-19 vaccines to these islands. China’s working very strongly with these countries around climate change issues, which are having a very heavy impact on the islands of the Pacific.

The United States, not wanting to see China having good relations with these countries, suddenly decides that it will have a conference. It will have a summit and it will try and essentially bribe these countries back into the U.S. camp.

The Biden administration is paying much more attention to the Pacific Islands because he wants to incorporate these countries into an anti-China alliance so that they can form another island chain and used potentially to intimidate or to blockade China.

The bigger picture is that the U.S. economy has essentially run out of steam. There’s no question of the U.S. matching the dynamism of the Chinese economy. China has become by far the world leader in new energy, telecommunications, 5G, nanotechnology and several other key areas. Average life expectancy in China has now overtaken that of the U.S. So increasingly, ordinary Chinese people are living longer and living better than their counterparts in the U.S., and the U.S. sees this as a threat and it’s responding to this threat with what I think we should agree is a very dangerous militarization and by resorting to cold war strategies, block-based politics, division, and decoupling.

This runs counter to the interests of the American people. It runs counter to the interest of the Chinese people, and it runs counter to the interest of the people of the world.

Socialist countries greet China’s National Day

Marking the 73rd anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China on October 1, leaders of numerous countries sent greetings to President Xi Jinping and other Chinese leaders.

Reporting the messages of greetings, the Xinhua News Agency and other Chinese media gave notable pride of place to the greetings sent by China’s fraternal socialist countries, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, and Republic of Cuba.

DPRK leader Kim Jong Un noted that, over the past 73 years, China has made “remarkable successes in accomplishing the socialist cause, braving all sorts of challenges and trials of history” and had entered the new stage of comprehensively building a modern socialist country since the 18th Party Congress.

The Korean leader also expressed solidarity with China’s struggle to defend the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and realize national reunification. He further noted that the two parties and two countries are supporting and encouraging each other in the common socialist cause.

Vietnamese Party leader Nguyen Phu Trong and state President Nguyen Xuan Phuc expressed their firm belief that under the leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, the Chinese people will certainly achieve the national development tasks and goals set forth by the CPC and forge ahead on the road of building China into a great modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious, and beautiful.

Lao leader Thongloun Sisoulith expressed his belief that the brotherly Chinese people will make new and greater achievements in the new journey toward China’s second centenary goal of building a great modern socialist country in all respects, and successfully realize the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel and Prime Minister Manuel Marrero conveyed their conviction that the socialist cause in China will be strengthened after the successful holding of the Congress of the Communist Party this month.

The following articles were originally carried by the Xinhua News Agency, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the Vietnamese Communist Party newspaper Nhan Dan, and the Cuban news agency Prensa Latina.

Foreign leaders congratulate the People’s Republic of China on 73rd founding anniversary

Leaders of many countries and international organizations have recently telephoned or sent letters to Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and president of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), to warmly congratulate on the 73rd anniversary of the founding of the PRC and wish the upcoming 20th National Congress of the CPC a full success.

Kim Jong Un, general secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) and chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), on behalf of the WPK, the government of the DPRK and the people of the DPRK, extended warm congratulations to Comrade General Secretary Xi Jinping, the CPC, the government of the PRC and the brotherly Chinese people.

China set to open world’s largest hybrid energy plant in 2023

The following article, originally published in CGTN on 1 October 2022, details an important renewable energy project that will combine the output from the Kela Solar Power Station in Sichuan with that of the nearby Lianghekou Hydropower Station. The Kela solar plant will send its electricity output to the hydropower plant, which is already connected to the national grid. In combination, the two will be able to mitigate the problems of fluctuation and intermittency associated with both photovoltaic and hydropower technology.

When it opens in 2023, this will be the world’s largest hybrid energy plant, and will make an important contribution to China’s historic goals of peaking carbon emissions by 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality before 2060.

A nice detail from the article is that the solar panels at the Kela plant are being elevated to a height of 1.8 meters in order to allow local herdsmen to continue to feed their cows and sheep in the area.

China is upgrading a major hydro power plant as part of the world’s largest hybrid energy project, generating electricity from hydro and photovoltaic powers.

Kela Solar Power Station will be built in southwest China’s Sichuan Province, close to Lianghekou Hydropower Station, located on the Yalong River, with generating capacity of 1 million kW. The solar panels will be installed on the mountains at an altitude of up to 4,600 meters, with extra 1 million kW in capacity. The project is expected to operate for 1,735 hours in a year with an average annual power capacity of 2 billion kilowatt-hours when completed in 2023.

China is ushering in clean energy practices as it aims to peak carbon emissions in 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060.

Kela Station will help cut carbon dioxide emissions by over 1.6 million tonnes, an equivalent of burning 600,000 tonnes of coal, according to Qi Ningchun, chairman of the Yalong River Hydropower Development Co. Ltd., operator of the project.

Kela Station will be a complementary power source for the hydropower station as the two plants’ outputs change distinctively throughout the year.

China’s 73 years of moving forward

We are pleased to reproduce this article by Stephen Millies, originally carried by our US comrades of Struggle/La Lucha greeting the 73rd anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China and celebrating the struggles and achievements of the Chinese revolution.

Since Mao Zedong declared that “the Chinese people have stood up”, Stephen notes, life expectancy has more than doubled, surpassing that in the US. Illiteracy, which stood at some 80% at the time of liberation, has been virtually eliminated. Thirty-seven million people attend university. 52% of them are women.

Noting the centuries-long confrontation between China and imperialism, the author notes that imperialist hatred has only increased in the face of the socialist country’s achievements. The terrible wars in Korea and Indochina were a key part of US imperialism’s response to the Chinese revolution, as was McCarthyism at home. Refuting some of the key anti-China smears used to confuse working and oppressed people in the United States, Stephen concludes: “Our enemy is high rents, police brutality and mass incarceration. We need what China has: a socialist revolution.”

When the People’s Republic of China was born on Oct. 1, 1949, the country was devastated by years of war. At least 20 million Chinese people were killed. Starvation stalked the land.

The Chinese Revolution swept that misery away. Seventy-three years after Mao Zedong declared that “China has stood up,” look at what socialism has accomplished:

Life expectancy has more than doubled to reach 77.3 years. That’s a longer lifespan than in the U.S.
Women moved forward with unbound feet. Chinese scientist Tu Youyou won the Nobel Prize in medicine in 2015. She discovered artemisinin and dihydroartemisinin, which are used to combat malaria.
While 80% of China’s people couldn’t read or write in 1949, illiteracy has been virtually abolished. Thirty-seven million people attend universities compared with 117,000 before the revolution. More than 52% of college students were women.
China has become the workshop of the world. The People’s Republic makes more than a billion tons of steel annually. China has built more miles of high-speed rail than the rest of the world combined.
Even greater advances have been made by China’s national minorities, whose languages and cultures flourish. One of the great victories of human rights was the abolition of serfdom in Tibet by the People’s Liberation Army. The Chinese Revolution inspired oppressed people around the world, including Malcolm X.

Wang Yi: Making every effort for peace and development and shouldering the responsibility for solidarity and progress

China’s State Councilor and Foreign Minister Comrade Wang Yi attended the 77^th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York last month.

Besides delivering his address to the assembly on September 24, Wang Yi had a packed programme, which saw him:

Hold tens of bilateral meetings with other national leaders, both from countries friendly to China as well as those not so friendly, along with senior UN officials and leaders of international organizations
Meet with former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger
Meet jointly with representatives of the National Committee on US-China Relations, US-China Business Council and US Chamber of Commerce
Chair the Ministerial Meeting of the Group of Friends of the Global Development Initiative (GDI), attended by senior leaders from more than 40 countries
Address the Informal Leaders’ Roundtable on Climate Action
Attend the Security Council Foreign Ministers’ meeting on the Ukraine issue
Deliver a major speech on the prospects for China-US relations to the Asia Society
Participate in the meeting of BRICS Foreign Ministers

Delivering his September 24 speech, Wang began by noting that humanity was facing various challenges, including the continued resurfacing of the Covid-19 pandemic, uncertain global security, and fragile and unsteady global recovery. “The world has entered a new phase of turbulence and transformation…But we are also at a time full of hope. The world continues to move towards multipolarity…Around the world, the people’s call for progress and cooperation is getting louder than ever before.”

Posing the question of how to “ride on the trend of history to build a community with a shared future for mankind”, he explained that “China’s answer is firm and clear”:

We must uphold peace and oppose war and turbulence. “Turbulence and war can only open Pandora’s box, and he who instigates a proxy war can easily burn his own hands.”
We must pursue development and eliminate poverty, upholding all countries’ legitimate right to development.
We must remain open and oppose exclusion – “decoupling and supply chain disruption will hurt both those who practice them and others.”
We must stay engaged in cooperation and oppose confrontation. “Our biggest strength will come from solidarity; our best strategy is to stick together through thick and thin; and the brightest prospect is win-win cooperation.”
We must strengthen solidarity and oppose division. “Peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy and freedom are common values of humanity.”
We must uphold equity and oppose bullying. “International rules should be drawn up by all countries together. No country is above others, and no country should abuse its power to bully other sovereign countries.”

Affirming that China will “pursue the shared interests of the vast majority of countries”, Wang went on to note that:

China has been a builder of world peace and is “the only one among the five Nuclear-Weapon States that is committed to no-first-use of nuclear weapons.” (Note: Wang Yi refers here to the five recognised nuclear powers under the Non-Proliferation Treaty. The DPRK, India, Pakistan and Israel also possess nuclear weapons.)
China has been a contributor to global development. “Contributing about 30 percent of annual global growth, China is the biggest engine driving the global economy. China is a pacesetter in implementing the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It has met the poverty reduction goal ten years ahead of the envisioned timeframe and accounts for 70 percent of the gains in global poverty reduction… It has provided development aid to more than 160 countries in need and extended more debt-service payments owed by developing countries than any other G20 member state.”
China has been a defender of the international order. By this, Wang refers to “the international system with the UN at its core and the international order based on international law”, which, it should be noted, is very different from the so-called ‘rules based international order’, constantly touted by a handful of countries, principally the United States and Great Britain, which is nothing but a flimsy cover for the attempted maintenance of imperial diktat. “As a member of the developing world, China will forever stand together with other developing countries. We are heartened to see the rapid progress achieved by the developing world in recent years, and we will continue to speak up for other developing countries…Developing countries are no longer the ‘silent majority’ in international and multilateral processes. With stronger solidarity among ourselves, we China and other developing countries have spoken out for justice, and we have become a pillar of promoting development cooperation and safeguarding equity and justice.”
China has been a provider of public goods. “We have done our best to provide anti-pandemic supplies and shared our practices on combating the virus. China is among the first to promise making COVID-19 vaccines a global public good and to support waiving intellectual property rights on the vaccines. China has provided over 2.2 billion doses of vaccines to more than 120 countries and international organizations…In response to climate change, China is committed to pursuing a development path that puts ecological conservation first, one of green and low-carbon growth…China accounts for one-fourth of all the trees planted globally. We have been making unremitting efforts to foster a community of life for man and Nature… This year, we have provided over 15,000 tons of emergency humanitarian food assistance to other developing countries in need.”
China has been a mediator of hotspot issues. “While adhering to the principle of non-interference in others’ domestic affairs and respecting the will and needs of the countries concerned, China has endeavoured to help settle hotspot issues in a constructive way…China supports all efforts conducive to the peaceful resolution of the Ukraine crisis…The Palestinian question is at the heart of the Middle East issue. Justice is already late in coming, but it must not be absent… China firmly supports the Cuban people in their just struggle to defend their sovereignty and oppose external interference and blockade.”

Turning to the Taiwan issue, Wang Yi noted that: “Fifty-one years ago, right in this august hall, the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 2758 with an overwhelming majority, which decided to restore the lawful seat of the People’s Republic of China in the UN and to expel the ‘representatives’ of the Taiwan authorities from the place which they had unlawfully occupied. The so-called ‘dual representation’ proposal put forth by the United States and a few other countries to keep Taiwan’s seat in the UN became a piece of waste paper…When entering into diplomatic relations with China, 181 countries all recognized and accepted that there is but one China in the world and Taiwan is a part of China, and that the Government of the People’s Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole of China. By firmly upholding the one-China principle, China is not only upholding its sovereignty and territorial integrity, but also truly safeguarding peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, and non-interference in others’ internal affairs, a basic norm of international relations that is of vital importance to the large number of developing countries.”

Coming to the conclusion of his speech, Wang Yi declared: “As China has one-fifth of the global population, its march toward modernization has important, far-reaching significance for the world. The path that China pursues is one of peace and development, not one of plunder and colonialism; it is a path of win-win cooperation, not one of zero-sum game; and it is one of harmony between man and Nature, not one of destructive exploitation of resources.”

We reprint below the full text of Comrade Wang Yi’s speech, which was originally carried on the website of the Chinese Foreign Ministry. In a subsequent post, we will present some highlights from the minister’s New York meetings with the representatives of a number of friendly, progressive and developing countries.

Mr. President,
Dear Colleagues,

We are at a time fraught with challenges. The COVID-19 pandemic has kept resurfacing. Global security faces uncertainty. Global economic recovery is fragile and unsteady, and various risks and crises are emerging. The world has entered a new phase of turbulence and transformation. Changes unseen in a century are accelerating.

Videos: China encirclement and the imperialist build-up in the Pacific

On Saturday 24 September 2022, we hosted a webinar on the rising aggression of the US and its allies in the Pacific region. There were a number of excellent contributions dealing with issues including the Biden administration’s increased support for Taiwanese separatism; Western power projection in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Straits; the hysteria surrounding China’s security agreement with the Solomon Islands; the AUKUS nuclear pact; and developments in Korea and Japan. The event stream and the individual speeches are embedded below, and can be viewed directly on our YouTube channel.

Event stream: China encirclement and the imperialist build-up in the Pacific

Ken Hammond: Fearing the loss of their global hegemony, US elites are responding with desperation

Ju-Hyun Park: China encirclement not possible without imperialist national oppression of China’s neighbors

Lilian Sing: US geopolitical hostility to China is trickling down and fomenting anti-Asian hate

Sara Flounders: There’s US ruling class consensus around derailing China’s socialist development

Li Peng: The US plays the Taiwan card to undermine China’s development and obstruct reunification

Charles Xu: A “free and open Indo-Pacific” is exactly what imperialist forces have always subverted

Ben Norton: The US is developing plans to overthrow the Chinese government by military means

KJ Noh: The US is already engaged in a multi-faceted hybrid war on China

Zhong Xiangyu: Taiwanese separatism is being leveraged towards the West’s China containment strategy

Keith Bennett: A major conflict between China and the US would be a catastrophe for humanity

Seminar: China in the World Today

Britain’s General Federation of Trade Unions (GFTU) initiated an autumn series of online seminars, under the theme The Bigger Picture, on September 15, by inviting Friends of Socialist China co-editors Carlos Martinez and Keith Bennett to introduce on the theme ‘China in the World Today’. Chaired by GFTU General Secretary Doug Nicholls, Carlos kicked off with a look at China’s domestic situation, focusing on poverty elimination and preventing climate catastrophe. Keith followed, addressing the questions of Taiwan and the relations between China, Britain, and the US. A lively discussion ensued, which could certainly have gone on for much longer.

Next events in the series will feature Dr. Francisco Dominguez, academic, activist and member of our advisory group, who will speak on the Decline of US imperialism on October 20; and our friend Dr. Kate Hudson, General Secretary of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), who will speak on NATO Friend or Foe on November 17. You can register for these events at The Bigger Picture: Autumn Series of Online Seminars – GFTU.

The GFTU is pleased to facilitate informed debate and critical thinking about many subjects in its education programme and the views of speakers and participants do not necessarily reflect those of the GFTU.

The US gets ready for war in Taiwan

In the following article, first carried in the Morning Star, Kenny Coyle details the “major reversal in US-China relations”, most recently highlighted by Biden’s unequivocal declaration that the US would commit its forces in the event of a military conflict between China and its renegade island province of Taiwan. This, Kenny explains, is “viewed with alarm in Beijing”, as it “increases the possibilities of a US-China war.”

The article outlines the key points of the three Sino-US joint communiques, noting how the second was swiftly undermined by the ‘Taiwan Relations Act’, and drawing attention to the ‘Taiwan Policy Act’, currently making its way through the US legislature. This would allow for an “enduring rotational US military presence” on Taiwan, something that the US has not maintained since 1979 when it established diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic. As Kenny rightly concludes, this “suggests dark days lie ahead.”

On Sunday 18 September, US President Joe Biden told the US news programme 60 Minutes that the US military would go to war in Taiwan should Chinese forces land on the island chain to enforce its sovereignty.

While China has never ruled out the last-resort use of military force, it has always insisted on its preference for peaceful reunification. Biden’s most recent comments repeat previous statements, including one made in Japan, Taiwan’s former colonial occupying power, in May. They are, however, the first since US house speaker Nancy Pelosi’s journey to Taipei in August which resulted in China holding major military exercises after her visit.

Pelosi’s meeting with the political leadership of Taiwan certainly enraged China and inflamed tension in the area. This was no diplomatic faux pas; it was the whole point of her trip.

An official visit by the third most senior politician in the US on a US Air Force special air mission Boeing C40 military jet emblazoned with US livery to a territory in which Washington does not have an embassy or a consulate was a deliberate provocation.

China got the message. Once Pelosi’s jet departed Taiwan’s self-declared air space, rejoined by her US Air Force escort, China announced a series of live-fire military drills around the main island of Taiwan and reaffirmed its declaration of sovereignty over the territories administered by the Taipei authorities.

Xi Jinping: Consistently develop and uphold Socialism with Chinese characteristics

With the Twentieth National Congress of the Communist Party of China scheduled to open on October 16, the party’s leading theoretical journal, Qiushi, has recently published an extract from an extremely important speech made by General Secretary Xi Jinping on January 5, 2018, at a seminar for new central committee members and other leading cadres.

Echoing the opening of Comrade Mao Zedong’s famous article, ‘Where do correct ideas come from?’, Comrade Xi asserts that, “Socialism with Chinese characteristics did not fall from the sky”, but rather is deeply rooted not simply in the four decades of ‘reform and opening up’, but in the whole history of the Chinese revolution and in the inheritance of 5,000 years of Chinese civilization.

He goes on to explain that the socialist revolution constituted, “the most extensive and profound social transformation in the history of the Chinese nation.” After the establishment of the basic socialist system, the Party has, “made a long-term exploration of how to build socialism in China and has made important achievements as well as experienced serious twists and turns. The main problem here is that building socialism in a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society like ours is an unprecedented undertaking, and there is no ready-made model to follow.”

Engels, he points out, noted that “‘the so-called ‘socialist society’ is not something that is set in stone, but should be seen, like any other social system, as a society that changes and reforms frequently.'” Socialism with Chinese characteristics has to be grasped, “in the course of the evolution of socialism in the world,” from Marx and Engels who turned socialism from an ideal into a science, to the October Revolution, which saw scientific socialism develop from theory to practice. Furthermore: “After the end of the Second World War, a number of socialist countries were born, especially our Party led the people to establish New China and the socialist system, which led scientific socialism from practice in one country to development in many countries. At that time, the socialist camp was flourishing, and together with the anti-imperialist and anti-colonialist struggles of Asian, African and Latin American countries, it formed a basically evenly matched pattern with the capitalist world, which is why Comrade Mao Zedong said that ‘the east wind overwhelmed the west wind.'”

However, historical development is full of twists and turns. Events in the late 1980s and early 1990s not only led to the collapse of the Soviet Union and the East European socialist countries, they also, “brought a serious impact on the vast number of developing countries that aspired to socialism, and many of them were forced to take the path of copying the Western system.”

Noting that the previous year had seen the 100th anniversary of the October Revolution, Comrade Xi explained, “I mentioned this major historical event at the beginning of the second part of the 19th Party Congress report in order to declare the historical impact of the October Revolution on the birth and development of the Chinese Communist Party. As Lenin profoundly pointed out in commemorating the fourth anniversary of the October Revolution, ‘this first victory is not yet final,’ but ‘we have already begun this enterprise. It does not matter when and for what period the proletarians of which country will carry this cause to its conclusion. What is important is that the ice has been broken, the voyage has been opened, the way has been shown.'”

Therefore, Xi notes, “The success of scientific socialism in China is of great significance to Marxism and scientific socialism, and to socialism in the world.” It is conceivable, he continues, that if the leadership of the CPC and China’s socialist system had also collapsed, then the cause of socialism as a whole could have been plunged into darkness. As it is, “Socialism with Chinese characteristics is becoming the banner for the development of scientific socialism in the 21st century and the mainstay for the revitalization of socialism in the world.”

The Chinese leader also addresses the question of the CPC being both a “ruling party” and a “revolutionary party”. He explains that those who assert that the party has transitioned from a revolutionary party to a ruling party are mistaken. They are not two distinct things. “We are communists and revolutionaries and should not lose our revolutionary spirit,” Comrade Xi notes, and continues: “Our Party is a Marxist ruling party, but at the same time it is a Marxist revolutionary party, and we must maintain the same vigor, revolutionary enthusiasm, and desperate spirit as in the past during the revolutionary war and carry out the revolutionary work to the end.”

This document has yet to be officially published in English translation. What follows is a machine translation from the Chinese original, received from the Dongsheng news group. As a result, it may contain some minor inaccuracies and should not be considered definitive. However, we are reprinting it on account of its great importance, rich content and timeliness.

When I met with Chinese and foreign journalists after the First Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee, I said that practice has proved that our Party is able to lead the people not only in a great social revolution, but also in a great self-revolution of the whole Party. Let me first make some comments from the perspective of social revolution.

Socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era is the fruit of the great social revolution led by our Party and the continuation of the great social revolution led by our Party, and must be carried out consistently.

Both history and reality tell us that a social revolution often requires a long historical process to achieve ultimate victory. Only by looking back at the road taken, comparing the road of others, looking far ahead of the road, to figure out where we came from, where to go, many issues to see deep, accurate.

Why the US wants to destroy China and Russia: Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega explains

We are very pleased to reproduce this key extract from an important speech by Daniel Ortega, President of revolutionary Nicaragua, with thanks to our friends at Multipolarista. As a multipolar world emerges, Comrade Ortega explains, the US is trying desperately to maintain its hegemony by attempting to destroy the Russian Federation, the People’s Republic of China and the economies of the European countries.

What harm, Ortega asks, has People’s China done to the United States or to the peoples of the world – to the peoples of Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa or Asia. What worries them rather is that China is providing benefits to these peoples, so the United States is losing its power to keep them enslaved.

Speaking on the day that US House Speaker Pelosi arrived in Taiwan, Ortega said that he was sure that the Chinese people, under the leadership of President Xi Jinping, have the strength, intelligence and experience to formulate the correct response that will further strengthen the People’s Republic and weaken US hegemony.

Amidst all these tumultuous events, the veteran Nicaraguan revolutionary leader points out, a new world is being born, something to which Nicaragua and its people are contributing their little grain of sand every day.