Category: History

Xi Jinping delivers major speech marking 105 years of the Communist Party of China

On the occasion of the 105th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, a grand commemorative gathering was held in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People on July 1st, at which Comrade Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, President of the People’s Republic of China and Chairman of the Central Military Commission, made an important speech.

Among the key points made by Xi Jinping are:

One hundred and five years ago, amid the great awakening of the Chinese people and the Chinese nation and the close integration of Marxism-Leninism with China’s workers’ movement, the Communist Party of China was born. From that point on, the Chinese people and the Chinese nation had a most reliable backbone, and a China beset by internal turmoil and external aggression and mired in poverty and weakness embarked on an earth-shaking historical transformation.

Over these 105 years, our Party has held fast to its founding mission of seeking happiness for the Chinese people and rejuvenation for the Chinese nation. It has discerned the broad trends of world development, accurately grasped the changes in the principal social contradiction across different historical periods, and united and led the people of all ethnic groups in unremitting struggle. It has achieved the great successes of the new democratic revolution, of socialist revolution and construction, of reform and opening up and socialist modernisation, and of socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era, writing the most magnificent epic in the several-thousand-year history of the Chinese nation.

Leading the people through magnificent and great struggles, our Party overthrew the three big mountains of imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucrat capitalism, established a New China in which the people are masters of the country, brought a definitive end to old China’s history as a semi-colonial, semi-feudal society, and achieved the historic leap in the people’s lives from inadequate food and clothing, to moderate prosperity in general, and then to moderate prosperity in all respects.

Through the great endeavours of revolution, construction, reform, and the new era, our Party has led the people through countless hardships to successfully open up and stay on the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics, completing in a few decades an industrialisation process that took developed countries several centuries, and producing the twin miracles of rapid economic growth and long-term social stability.

One hundred and five years of unremitting struggle have demonstrated the powerful vitality of Marxism. Our Party has integrated the basic tenets of Marxism with China’s specific realities and with fine traditional Chinese culture, continually advancing the adaptation of Marxism to the Chinese context and the needs of the times, and giving rise to Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory, the Theory of Three Represents, the Scientific Outlook on Development, and the Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, thereby greatly enriching and developing Marxism. Today the vigour and vitality of the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics have fully borne out the scientific and truthful nature of Marxism, fully displayed its people-centred and practical character, and fully demonstrated its openness and contemporary relevance.

One hundred and five years of unremitting struggle have profoundly shaped the course of world history. Our Party has always stood on the right side of history and on the side of human progress, and through tireless self-strengthening it has profoundly changed the trends and configuration of world development. Today, as the Party leads the people in advancing Chinese modernisation, it has created a new form of human civilisation and broadened the paths by which developing countries can achieve modernisation. We are working to build a community with a shared future for humanity, contributing Chinese wisdom, Chinese proposals, and Chinese strength to solving humanity’s major problems. Socialist China under the Party’s leadership is widely recognised as a builder of world peace, a contributor to global development, and a defender of the international order.

Our Party has kept firmly in mind the nature, purpose, and goals of a Marxist party, vigorously carried forward the great founding spirit of the Party, and grown ever more resolute through adversity and ever stronger through repeated tempering. Today our Party has grown into the world’s largest governing party with major global influence, enjoying the wholehearted support of the people, serving as the strong core of leadership for the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and proving itself fully worthy of being called a great, glorious, and correct party.

At this moment we deeply cherish the memory of the older generation of revolutionaries such as Comrades Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Liu Shaoqi, Zhu De, Deng Xiaoping, and Chen Yun, and of Comrade Jiang Zemin, and we deeply cherish the memory of the revolutionary martyrs and people of high ideals who advanced wave upon wave, sacrificing and giving of themselves for national independence, the liberation of the people, the prosperity of the country, and the happiness of the people.

Our Party takes Marxism as a powerful ideological weapon for transforming both the subjective and the objective world; it upholds emancipating the mind, seeking truth from facts, keeping pace with the times, and taking a realistic and pragmatic approach; it works to reveal and apply truth within the movement of social contradictions.

Our Party keeps in mind that this country is its people and its people are the country; it upholds building the Party for the public good and exercising power for the people; it consciously acts on the fundamental purpose of serving the people wholeheartedly; and it stands firmly together with the people, thinking and working as one with them, giving it a solid foundation that no storm can shake.

Our Party cherishes the lofty ideal of communism and is dedicated to the enduring great cause of the Chinese nation; it firmly bears on its shoulders the heavy responsibilities entrusted to it by history and the people; it keeps long-term goals and stage-specific goals unified, sets central tasks in line with changes in the principal social contradiction, and formulates and implements correct lines, principles, and policies, ensuring that it keeps a firm grip on leadership and initiative in the development of its cause.

With a strong sense of history and a broad global vision, our Party has a clear-eyed grasp of China’s national conditions and the themes of the era; it actively recognises, responds to, and seeks change, forging ahead with determination.

It is both willing and able to struggle and has always maintained the conviction of certain victory. Our Party upholds and carries forward the spirit of fearing no sacrifice and fighting valiantly; for the sake of the people, the country, and the nation, and for the sake of its ideals and convictions, it cuts through thorns and presses forward.

It attaches great importance to its own development, resolutely removing every factor that damages the Party’s advanced nature and purity and clearing out every virus that erodes the Party’s healthy body, growing stronger and more capable through revolutionary tempering.

China’s development is at a stage in which strategic opportunities coexist with risks and challenges and in which uncertain and unpredictable factors are increasing, requiring us to be ready at all times to withstand major tests of high winds and rough seas, and even perilous storms. On the new journey, the whole Party must strengthen its sense of adversity and adhere to bottom-line thinking, carry forward the fighting spirit and enhance its capacity to struggle, better coordinate the two overall situations of the domestic and international spheres, coordinate development and security, and improve its ability to scientifically anticipate change, detect risks in good time, and respond effectively to challenges, ensuring that the great ship of China’s rejuvenation cuts through the waves and sails steadily into the distance.

To be firm in confidence and carry the struggle forward, we must continue to promote the building of a community with a shared future for humanity. As the once-in-a-century changes accelerate, the world has entered a new period of turbulence and transformation, and humanity once again stands at a crossroads over which way to go. On the new journey, we must follow the aspirations of the people and the trend of the times, hold high the banner of peace, development, cooperation, and mutual benefit, champion the common values of humanity, promote the building of a new type of international relations, and push forward the implementation of the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, the Global Civilisation Initiative, and the Global Governance Initiative, injecting more positive energy into world peace and development.

Taking the Party’s political building as the overarching principle, we must strengthen Party building in all respects, resolutely wage the tough, protracted, and all-out battle against corruption, and continually enhance the Party’s capacity to provide political leadership, to guide through theory, to organise the people, and to inspire society, ensuring that the Party always remains the strong core of leadership in the historical process of upholding and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era.

The 105-year glorious history of the Communist Party of China is a source of pride, but we must never become arrogant or complacent or come to a halt. By the middle of this century, we are to build China into a great modern socialist country in all respects and achieve the Second Centenary Goal. Time waits for no one. History waits for no one. All comrades of the Party must never forget our original aspiration and keep our mission firmly in mind, we must be modest and prudent and work hard, we must dare to struggle and be adept at struggling, closely rely on and unite with and lead the people of all ethnic groups of the whole nation in forging ahead on the new journey and performing meritorious deeds in the new era, and strive to create new historic glories!

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Carlos Martinez: What would Rajani Palme Dutt have made of contemporary China?

The following is the text of a lecture delivered by Carlos Martinez, author of The East is Still Red: Chinese Socialism in the 21st Century and a co-editor of Friends of Socialist China, marking the 130th anniversary of the birth of Rajani Palme Dutt – theoretician, organiser and, for half a century, one of the foremost Marxist minds in the British movement.

Taking as its starting point Palme Dutt’s 1967 pamphlet Whither China?, written at the height of the Sino-Soviet split and a year into the Cultural Revolution, the lecture asks what this towering figure of British Marxism – who died in 1974 – would have made of the People’s Republic today. Carlos tests Palme Dutt’s critique against the verdict of history: on the Cultural Revolution, on the Theory of the Three Worlds, and on the rival conceptions of peaceful coexistence – finding some of it vindicated, and some of it a product of a European Marxism that struggled to fully grasp a peasant-driven revolution.

Confronted with two stubborn facts – that the People’s Republic still exists while the Soviet Union does not – Palme Dutt, who even in 1967 refused to write China out of the socialist camp, would, Carlos argues, have recognised China as the largest and most developed socialist society in history. He would have recognised that in China it is the state that disciplines capital, not the other way round. The lecture closes with a call to carry forward Palme Dutt’s enduring principle: solidarity with a socialist country under imperialist siege, “irrespective of any differences”.

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The CPC continues to lead China’s journey toward prosperity, strength and a better life for the people

As the Communist Party of China (CPC) marked its 105th founding anniversary on July 1st, the Xinhua News Agency reported that the party had nearly 101.29 million members as of the end of 2025. The number increased by more than 1.01 million, or one percent, from the end of 2024.

When it was founded in 1921, the CPC had just over 50 members. Now, according to the latest figures reported by Xinhua, it had over 5.43 million primary-level organisations by the end of last year, up by some 181,000, or 3.4 percent year on year. Those aged 35 or below accounted for 84 percent of newly admitted members. More than half of the new members, or 51.4 percent, came from the forefront of production and work. Workers and farmers remained the largest segment of the Party, representing 32.4 percent of the total members.

China has continued sending “first Party secretaries” to villages, drawing cadres from across the nation to help drive rural revitalisation. By the end of last year, approximately 188,000 first secretaries were serving in villages nationwide.

A commentary published by the Xinhua News Agency on June 30 noted: “As the Communist Party of China (CPC) marks its 105th anniversary, its journey represents a mission of resilience, innovation and strong leadership. Staying true to its founding aspiration, the CPC has led one of the most far-reaching modernisation transformations in human history.

“Against the backdrop of a weak country that suffered from foreign humiliation, poverty, and failed attempts to save the nation, the CPC was founded in 1921 with a mission to seek happiness for the Chinese people and rejuvenation for the Chinese nation. The CPC united and led the Chinese people of all ethnic groups in working tirelessly to achieve national independence and the people’s liberation. In the following decades, the CPC has continued to lead China’s journey toward prosperity, strength and a better life for its people.”

Analysing the secrets of the CPC’s success, it explains:

“Unlike parties that primarily represent particular groups or interests, the CPC has always put the people first, responded to their concerns and needs, and worked to improve their well-being. These deep-rooted, inseparable flesh-and-blood ties with the masses provide the CPC with an inexhaustible source of strength. As a service-oriented political party, the CPC makes decisions and sets policies based on the fundamental interests of the people…

“Unlike Western political systems that are often plagued by partisan gridlock and the pursuit of electoral gains, the CPC maintains a long-term perspective and carries a blueprint through to the end. The five-year plans, which have guided national development since 1953, stand as a testament to this strategic consistency — a key reason for China’s rapid development and a sharp contrast to the policy volatility often observed in Western democracies.”

Among the other key points stressed by the article are:

The CPC is a dynamic organisation that constantly adapts to changing times. It is not bound by rigid dogma but has developed as a learning and innovative party that integrates the basic tenets of Marxism with China’s specific realities and fine traditional culture. Scientific political theories enable the CPC to grasp the overarching trends of human development and always stand at the forefront of the times.

The CPC is clear minded about the dangers and risks it faces, such as detachment from the people and corruption. With a zero-tolerance approach to corruption, the CPC has pursued full and rigorous self-governance.

The CPC is open minded and has a global vision, making China’s development increasingly integrated with the rest of the world. The Party has championed the building of a community with a shared future for humanity. Through its global initiatives on development, security, civilisation and governance, the CPC has contributed significantly to global peace, stability and prosperity.

It concludes: “The CPC’s 105th anniversary coincides with the 90th anniversary of the victory of the Long March of the CPC-led Red Army. The spirit demonstrated by that epic military maneuver, including a firm belief that a just cause will surely prevail, fearlessness in the face of any difficulties, a commitment to seeking truth from facts, and a steadfast reliance on the masses, will continue to empower the CPC to march forward and navigate any challenges.

“With a clear sense of mission, a strong executive capacity and a commitment to shared development, the CPC is certainly capable of leading China to achieve new victories on today’s Long March: advancing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts through a Chinese path to modernisation, and working with the rest of the world for a better future.”

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105 years of the Communist Party of China – true to its principles, firm in its course

The 1st of July 2026, marks the 105th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China. To mark the occasion, we are pleased to publish this reflection by Oliver Vargas, a British-Bolivian current affairs commentator working for CGTN in Beijing, written from Yan’an – the revolutionary base where the Long March ended and where the Party made its headquarters through the most decisive years of war and revolution.

Vargas argues that the revolutionary sites of Yan’an are best understood as global heritage sites of the international workers’ movement, whose lessons belong to the peoples of Latin America and the wider Global South. He locates the secret of the Party’s enduring vitality in its tradition of rigorous self-governance and self-reform – a habit written into its DNA since 1921 and raised by Xi Jinping into a systematic doctrine – bound together with its unbroken bond with the people.

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Ho Chi Minh’s birthday marked in China

May 19 was the 136th birthday of the Vietnamese revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh.

As part of its coverage of the anniversary, the newspaper Nhân Dân reported on an interview given by Chinese cultural and historical scholar Xie Chaode regarding Ho’s activities in the Chinese regions of Guangxi, Guangzhou and Yunnan during a crucial preparatory stage of the Vietnamese revolution. It writes that at a time when Vietnam’s revolutionary movement was still in its infancy, young patriot Nguyen Ai Quoc, later known as Ho Chi Minh, lived and operated under extreme hardships, constantly relocating to evade persecution while secretly mobilising and rallying revolutionary forces. These years of revolutionary activities in China were decisive in shaping both his political ideology and strategy for liberating Vietnam.

In particular, Guangxi then served as a gathering place for overseas Vietnamese and various Chinese revolutionary groups. There, Ho forged ties with patriotic organisations, absorbed revolutionary theory, and studied Chinese revolutionary experience before adapting those lessons to Vietnam’s struggle for independence.

Li Jie, a tour guide at Nanyang Hotel Memorial House in Liuzhou, Guangxi, said that during President Ho Chi Minh’s stay there, he produced a body of literary works and poems that reflected resilience, determination, and an unbroken will under hardships, all while operating in secrecy. He later relocated to Guangzhou where he ran political and military training courses and educated core personnel for Vietnam’s revolutionary cause.

Xie stressed that President Ho Chi Minh’s activities in China not only made critical contributions to Vietnam’s revolutionary struggle but also embodied the traditional friendship cultivated between the two peoples across multiple historical periods.

Nhân Dân also reported that on May 19, the Vietnamese Consulate General in Hong Kong organised a flower-offering ceremony in tribute to President Ho Chi Minh at the Tai Kwun heritage site, a historic place closely associated with his revolutionary activities, including the founding of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) and his detention in Hong Kong in the early 1930s.

Vietnamese Consul General in Hong Kong and Macao Le Duc Hanh said that every year on May 19, the Consulate General joins members of the Vietnamese community in in visiting Tai Kwun, formerly Victoria Prison, where President Ho Chi Minh was arrested and imprisoned during his revolutionary activities.

She said the annual activity recalls a pivotal chapter in Vietnam’s revolutionary history while reminding younger generations of the sacrifices, hardships and moral example set by the country’s early revolutionary leaders in the struggle for national independence and reunification.

In addition to Tai Kwun, Hong Kong is home to several other historic landmarks linked to President Ho Chi Minh’s revolutionary activities in the early 20th century, including Sung Wong Toi Park, where a stone from Sung Wong Toi Hill marks the site where he convened the conference leading to the establishment of the CPV. House No. 186 Tam Kung also served as one of his secret residences before his arrest. Hanh noted that the Tai Kwun heritage site has been restored and preserved by the Hong Kong authorities, with exhibitions documenting President Ho Chi Minh’s activities and locations associated with his revolutionary journey.

 The following articles were originally published by Nhân Dân.

Chinese scholar reflects on President Ho Chi Minh’s footsteps in Guangxi

May 17 (Nhân Dân) – At a time when Viet Nam’s revolutionary movement was still in its infancy, young patriot Nguyen Ai Quoc, later known as Ho Chi Minh, lived and operated under extremely hardships, constantly relocating to evade persecution while secretly mobilising and rallying revolutionary forces.

President Ho Chi Minh’s years of revolutionary activities in China were decisive in shaping both his political ideology and strategy for liberating Viet Nam, Chinese cultural and historical scholar Xie Chaode told Viet Nam News Agency reporters in Beijing.

Xie said President Ho Chi Minh spent a long time conducting revolutionary activities in China, especially in Guangxi, Guangzhou and Yunnan, where he not only advanced revolutionary work but also focused on personnel training and laying the groundwork for Viet Nam’s national liberation movement.

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Chinamaxxing in the 1960s and 1970s

The following is the full text of the presentation prepared by our co-editor Keith Bennett for our April 12 webinar on the subject of ‘Socialist Chinamaxxing: How China’s achievements are a product of socialism’. Due to time constraints, Keith previously delivered an abbreviated version of his remarks. The livestream of the webinar and videos of all the speeches as delivered can be viewed here. The video of Keith’s speech is embedded below the text.

We’ve heard some excellent speakers on the present trend of Chinamaxxing.

For my part, I’m going to attempt to give a certain historical and comparative perspective. Going back to the 1960s and 70s. And therefore, if you like, making a case that what we see today is at least Chinamaxxing 2.0, even if the term itself didn’t previously exist.

My focus here is on the cultural and intellectual rather than the party political. Although the background and context are inevitably political.

The late 1960s and 70s were a time of great change in China. Political life was still in tumult, but the mass mobilisations of the Cultural Revolution abated and were curtailed. A stridently revolutionary foreign policy gave way to handshakes between Chairman Mao and President Nixon. And a procession of other western political leaders generally from the right of the political spectrum, such as Britain’s Edward Heath.

But what remained at the time was a sense that China was a remote and somewhat mysterious place. Literally a world away from the West. Few people went there. Besides political considerations on both sides there were also objective factors. Social media and mobile telephony simply did not exist. As late as the mid-1980s, the London-Beijing flight with BA was London-Rome-Bahrain-Hong Kong-Beijing.

Yet the fascination for China in important sectors of western societies belied and overcame the physical and mental remoteness.

The political seeped into the cultural and each impacted on the other.

Barely two months after France had been shaken by the events of May 1968, and four months after demonstrators protesting the American war in Vietnam had clashed with police outside the US embassy in London, the Beatles recorded a track entitled Revolution, composed by John Lennon. Initially released as the B side to the single Hey Jude, it includes the lines:

But if you go carryin’ pictures of Chairman Mao

You ain’t gonna make it with anyone anyhow

Apparently, this was a late addition to the words, being added in the studio, but Lennon said in a promotional clip that he regarded them as the song’s most important lyrics.

They may have been meant to express disapproval, but he had certainly noticed the phenomenon. Moreover, they encountered a backlash.

New Left Review dismissed the song as “a lamentable petty bourgeois cry of fear.” But by January 1971, in a conversation with Tariq Ali, Lennon said of the song: “I made a mistake, you know. The mistake was that it was anti-revolution.” The following year, he remarked: “I should have never said that about Chairman Mao.”

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Pioneers of Ireland-China friendship make 50th anniversary return trip

On April 22, 18 former students from University College Dublin (UCD) arrived in Beijing for what for most of them is their first visit to China for half a century. The last time was in September 1976 when they came as members of a 24-strong UCD Soccer Club squad, the first Western football team to play in China since the establishment of the People’s Republic in 1949.

In an interesting article previewing this return visit, Denis Staunton, the newspaper’s Beijing correspondent, writes in the Irish Times:

“Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger had already initiated the West’s opening to Beijing, which was by then represented at the United Nations, but it was still a highly unusual destination for Irish people.”

Indeed, it was to still be another three years before Ireland and China established diplomatic relations.

Setting out some of the background, Staunton writes: “Paddy Dwyer was an 18-year-old commerce student when he captained the team in China on an expedition that seemed too outlandish when their coach Tony O’Neill proposed it. A medical student known as the Doc, O’Neill worked out the plan, found contacts in China and secured sponsors to help pay for the trip.”

“Certainly, my parents were in disbelief initially. I don’t think anybody believed that it was going to materialise,” Dwyer recalls.

“David Andrews,” Staunton continues, “who was the club’s president and already a Fianna Fáil TD [member of the Irish parliament], described the idea of playing in China as like going on a trip to the moon.”

Their first game was in Shanghai, where they played in front of a crowd of 40,000 people. Dwyer recalls: “We were wearing green Irish jerseys. And I think in retrospect, the Chinese soccer people believed that this was an Irish team. But this was an under-19 UCD team.

“For me, the team that we played against, it was like a provincial team. It would be the equivalent of a Leinster team or a Munster team now in rugby terms. It wasn’t a university side. I think they hammered us 4-1.”

Their trip was to take a dramatic turn. John McGrath, one of the team’s goalkeepers who was a first-year student of history and politics, recalls that a few days after the match in Shanghai, they walked up a hillside to a tea house where they were drinking “a cup of hot water with some tea leaves in it”, when Andrews appeared.

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Chinese martyrs remembered in Tanzania

The Qingming Festival, when Chinese people traditionally remember their dead and their ancestors, this year fell on April 5.

Far away from China, in Tanzania, east Africa, the festival acquired particular poignancy. On its eve, China and Tanzania jointly commemorated the Chinese experts who sacrificed their lives during the construction of the Tanzania-Zambia Railway (TAZARA), the occasion also marking 50 years since the railway’s commercial operations began. Dignitaries from both countries gathered at the Chinese Expert Cemetery in Dar es Salaam, where they solemnly laid wreaths at the graves of the fallen heroes in a gesture of remembrance and respect.

Chinese Ambassador to Tanzania Chen Mingjian noted that more than 50,000 Chinese workers participated in the railway’s construction in the 1970s, with 70 losing their lives in the process.

Together with Tanzanian and Zambian counterparts, they carved a railway through mountains, valleys, and wilderness, overcoming immense logistical and environmental challenges.

“They are heroes who built a monument of China-Tanzania and China-Africa friendship,” she said.

Reporting the occasion, the Xinhua News Agency wrote: “What emerged was not just infrastructure, but a powerful symbol of solidarity among developing nations… For many in Zambia and Tanzania, TAZARA is not an abstract symbol; it is a lifeline woven into personal and national histories.”

Bruno Ching’andu, managing director of TAZARA, reflected on its importance to Zambia’s survival during the early years of independence.

“Without this railway, we would have suffered greatly,” the Zambian national said. “It gave us access to the port of Dar es Salaam when we needed it most.”

The railway enabled the movement of copper exports, agricultural goods, and essential supplies at a time when all land-locked Zambia’s neighbours to the south were under white racist colonial and apartheid rule, while Zambia, as one of the ‘frontline states’ that had itself just shaken off the yoke of British colonialism, was supporting its sister liberation movements whilst itself facing constant threats of aggression.

Tanzania’s Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation James Kinyasi Millya highlighted that China’s support came at a time when it was itself still developing.

“They gave assistance purely as a gesture of friendship,” he said. “No conditions, no demands, just solidarity.”

He contrasted this with colonial-era railways, which were often built to extract resources rather than empower local populations. That difference, officials said, continues to define the spirit of China-Tanzania relations today.

A fresh agreement signed between China, Tanzania and Zambia in 2025 aims to revitalise the railway. Millya said:

“To honour those who sacrificed, we must ensure this railway continues to serve future generations. Generation after generation will remember. This is a friendship written not just in history, but in blood.”

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Chinese and Vietnamese Defence Ministers commemorate Ho Chi Minh Trail at Sea

Following the First Ministerial Meeting of the China-Vietnam “3+3” Strategic Dialogue on Diplomacy, Defence and Public Security held in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi on March 16, Chinese Defence Minister Dong Jun led a programme of joint military-related activities with his Vietnamese counterpart Phan Van Giang.

The 10th Vietnam – China Border Defence Friendship Exchange got underway on March 18, launching a two-day programme aimed at strengthening defence cooperation between the two countries. Events were held in Vietnam’s Quang Ninh province on the first day and in China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region the following day.

In Quang Ninh, activities began with a welcome ceremony for the Chinese defence minister at the Mong Cai International Border Gate. The two ministers then took part in a range of joint engagements, including a friendship tree-planting ceremony at the border gate, the start of work on a medical station in Hai Son commune, and visits to the Tran Phu High School and Tra Co Border Guard Station.

In China, the main activities included a welcome ceremony for the Vietnamese delegation at the Dongxing International Border Gate; a visit by the two defence ministers to a border guard company, where they also planted friendship trees; and the launch of a joint patrol and training exercise in the Gulf of Tonkin.

The two sides also visited an exhibition wall highlighting the starting point of the Ho Chi Minh Sea Trail, as well as local enterprises. In addition, they laid wreaths at a monument to fallen soldiers of the Vietnam – China people’s revolutionary forces, before a farewell ceremony for the Vietnamese delegation at the Dongxing International Border Gate.

Another highlight of this year’s exchange was the joint patrol and training exercise in the Gulf of Tonkin involving the two countries’ navies.

The two defence ministers held talks on March 18.

Reviewing a decade of the exchange since its launch in 2014, the Vietnamese minister described the mechanism as a bright spot in bilateral defence relations, evolving steadily in both scope and substance. Initially focused on military-to-military activities, the programme has expanded to include local authorities and mass organisations, with regular initiatives such as free medical services for border residents and cultural exchanges among communities and students on both sides. Notably, this year’s edition marks the first time the two navies have conducted joint training activities.

For his part, Dong expressed thanks to the Vietnamese Ministry of National Defence for its thorough preparations and warm reception. He noted that both ministers had recently participated in the first “3+3” strategic dialogue, where defence cooperation was a key topic of discussion. Affirming that relations between the two countries and their militaries have continued to grow stronger, Dong emphasised the need to expand exchanges to contribute to regional and global stability. Since its inception in 2014, the border defence friendship exchange has fostered goodwill and driven forward bilateral ties, while playing an important role in maintaining border security, he emphasised.

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Storming the heavens – a master class in revolution

The following is a series of five articles, originally published in the Morning Star, and written by Jenny Clegg to introduce her recently published book, ‘Storming the Heavens: Peasants and Revolution in China, 1925-1949 Viewed Through a Marxist Lens’.

Introducing the key themes of the book, which began life as her PhD thesis some decades previously, Jenny notes that: “The first step was to establish the condition of the peasants and the nature of their exploitation so as to identify their revolutionary character. This meant challenging the Western misconception of China as a society of owner-cultivators, farming small parcels of land. In the absence of the large landed estates of European feudalism, it was assumed that traditional China had a peculiar Oriental or Asiatic structure under a centralised bureaucratic state.

“Chinese Marxists, Chen Boda and Chen Hanseng, however, both put the landlord system at the centre as the determining factor in China’s economic stagnation and the peasants’ acute impoverishment. Whilst Chen Hanseng’s focus was on the fusion of the political and economic power of the landlords at the base of society, highlighting the grassroots nature of a revolutionary transformation, Chen Boda’s analysis of monopoly rent highlighted the concentration of land in the hands of a minority, the landlords and rich peasants, with the increasing dispossession and land hunger of the majority of rural households. In so doing, he identified the main force for revolution as the poor and middle peasant majority.”

She goes on to argue that the key question was therefore, given the small size of China’s working class, how was the Communist Party of China (CPC), as a proletarian party, able to lead the revolution?

Here she sees her argument as confronting the misconceptions of both Stalin and Trotsky who interpreted China’s peasant struggle along the lines of the Russian and European model where a rural bourgeoisie and proletariat emerged to challenge feudal power, when rather, as shown by Chen Boda, it was land hunger — subsistence — that drove the rural majority to revolution.

In her second article, Jenny tackles the inter-related questions of was China feudal and what made the peasants revolutionary.

Having noted the work of contemporary Western scholars such as RH Tawney, who saw a way out through reforms, she argues:

“To support the argument of revolution over reform, it was first necessary to establish the centrality of the landlord-peasant relationship with feudal relations as the major constraint of growth. This would then demonstrate the centrality of the peasant movement as the main force in China’s democratic revolution, in a grassroots transformation of Chinese society through radical land reform to completely eradicate feudal relations.

“The problem of the reform approach lies in the failure to identity those power structures and interests hostile to its agenda for change and at the same time to find allies capable of driving reforms forward.”

Jenny further tackles the twin issues of why was capitalism unable to develop in China as it had in Europe and why did peasant rebellions tend to end in failure:

“The answer lies in the way Chinese feudalism was shaped by Asiatic characteristics: while landlords served as mediators between the centralised bureaucratic state and the patriarchal villages, these features served equally to maintain their privileged position from above and below…

“In China then, unlike Europe, where commerce confronted landed interests from the cities, economic power accumulated in the hands of a trinity of urban-based landlord-merchant-officials and the development of market relations instead of releasing peasant independence led to increasing rural impoverishment. A parasitic relationship between town and country suffocated the ‘sprouts of capitalism’ ensnaring a potentially entrepreneurial rich peasantry in feudal relations.

“Imperialism accelerated commercialisation but this only strengthened the landlord economy, while in turn the imperialist powers, to secure the drain of the surplus to the world capitalist core, depended on the landlords both to extract the surplus by extra-economic means and to control the countryside.”

Through trial and error, she concludes, “the CPC came to grasp [that] the forces of revolutionary change were not a rising petty bourgeoise but the impoverished mass of poor and middle peasants, more interested in the confiscation of landlords’ land to meet their needs than in the preservation of private property.”

In her third article, Jenny looks at debates on the role of peasants in revolution starting with Russian revolutionary leader VI Lenin.

She explains that Lenin saw the peasants, as a whole, as a force against landlordism but with the bourgeoisie and proletariat struggling for leadership of the movement. The role of the vanguard proletarian party was then to mobilise the poor peasants so as to pave the way to socialism. For the neo-narodniks on the other hand it was the traditional village organisation, the mir, that provided the basis for a Russian-style socialism, and continues:

“In China, the question of how to build a Communist Party in a country predominantly of peasants with a weak working-class base, is clearly a challenging one to answer. Was Mao just a peasant leader, and the CPC a populist party which rode to power on a wave of peasant unrest, as many in the West, both Sinologists and Marxists, have argued?”

On the contrary: “Mao, following Lenin, was to argue in his early ‘Analysis of Classes in Chinese Society’ (1926) that the peasants were the largest ally of the proletariat. Observing the peasants organising in Hunan just months later, he was the first to grasp the significance of peasant power: although at first their demands for rent reductions were not that radical, he saw, as they paraded the landlords up and down in dunces’ caps, a bold challenge to the authority of landlord power.”

Continue reading Storming the heavens – a master class in revolution

Book launch: Jenny Clegg – Storming the Heavens (14 February)

📆  Saturday 14 February 2026, 3pm Britain, 10am US Eastern

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Join us in person or online for a discussion of Jenny Clegg’s Storming the Heavens: Peasants and Revolution in China, 1925-1949.

The book launch will be held at Marx Memorial Library. This event will feature a discussion of the book’s themes with the author along with China specialists and leading Marxist scholars, followed by a Q&A session and book signing.

‘A major accomplishment … (combining) detailed historical analysis..with a keen sense of theory….’ David Laibman, Editor Emeritus, Science & Society

‘Extremely useful in all capitalist countries, especially those in the South’ Cheng Enfu, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences

‘An essential guide to negotiating the complex terrain of the agrarian class structure in pre-revolutionary China’ Utsa Patnaik, Professor Emerita, Jawaharlal Nehru University, India.

‘A masterful analysis that puts class struggle back at the heart of our understanding of China’s revolution’, Ben Chacko, editor, Morning Star

Storming the Heavens sets peasant mass struggle centre-stage in the Chinese revolution: the peasant movement changed China and China changed the world. Revolutions, said Marx, project themselves towards the future: nothing could be more true than the case of China today with the special characteristics of its ongoing socialist modernisation rooted in this history of societal transformation.

There will be copies of the book available for purchase!

Speakers

  • Jenny Clegg, author and researcher
  • Vijay Prashad (video link), author and historian
  • Cheng Enfu (video link), President of the World Association for Political Economy
  • Michael Dutton, Emeritus Professor, Goldsmiths, University of London
  • John Foster, Emeritus Professor of Social Sciences, University of the West of Scotland
  • Chair: Radhika Desai, Professor, University of Manitoba

Organisers

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BK Basu – Indian doctor and internationalist in China

In the following article, which was originally published on the Indian website Scroll, Ajay Kamalakaran shares fascinating details regarding the five Indian doctors, particularly Dr. BK Basu, who served on the frontlines during the Chinese people’s war of resistance against Japanese aggression, providing critically needed medical care.

Prior to their August 1938 departure from Bombay (now Mumbai) they were cautioned by Indian independence movement leader Sarojini Naidu: “You are undertaking a dangerous task…some, or one of you, may not return.”

They were all aware of the risks, but as the 28-year-old Dr. Basu wrote, their anxieties were outweighed by the pride they felt in taking part in an act of “internationalism and anti-imperialism”.

Throughout a long voyage, the Indian doctors received an impressive welcome at each port of call.

In Colombo [Ceylon now Sri Lanka], an enthusiastic Chinese store owner took a photo with the group in front of his shop. In Penang [Malaya], a “welcoming mass of people”, predominantly overseas Chinese and Indians, garlanded the doctors.

“Singapore was much the same, with large crowds at the pier waving Indian and Chinese flags… In Hong Kong, too, they were greeted with cheers and applause.”

Reaching Guangzhou, then known as Canton, they were feted by Soong Ching-ling, the widow of Dr. Sun Yat Sen and later a Vice-President and finally the Honorary President of the People’s Republic of China.

Reaching Changsha, in Hunan province, “the spirit of international support was palpable… Volunteers from the United States, Europe, Russia and even Java joined a banquet hosted for the Indians by Ye Jianying, the chief of the Eight Route Army, the larger of the two communist forces that fought the Japanese. Among those at the banquet was the writer-journalist Agnes Smedley, an ardent supporter of Indian independence.” [An account of Smedley’s role in the fight for Indian independence may be read here.]

Basu developed a particularly close relationship with Dr. DK Kotnis, who was admitted to membership of the Communist Party of China and died of illness in 1942, aged just 32. “Together their efforts extended beyond treating the wounded. When crossing enemy lines, they would actively sabotage infrastructure used by the Japanese, including railway tracks.”

Continue reading BK Basu – Indian doctor and internationalist in China

Remembering Zulfikar Ali Bhutto – Architect of China-Pakistan Friendship

Third World Solidarity organised a meeting on Monday January 5, 2026, marking the 98th birth anniversary of the late Pakistani leader Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who made an outstanding contribution to the friendship between his country and China.

The meeting, held in the Baseline Studios, home to a number of community organisations and projects in west London, was attended by many prominent members of the Pakistani community, and others who have been friends with members of the Bhutto family.

Chairing the meeting, Mushtaq Lasharie, Chair of Third World Solidarity, the British Pakistani Mayors Association and Lancaster West Residents Association, drew attention to the price that has often been paid by leaders of the Global South who stand for independence and popular democracy, from the martyrdom of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and his daughter Benazir Bhutto, to today’s illegal kidnapping of Venezuelan President Maduro and his wife. This was also one of the themes that was returned to in the discussion period following the main speeches, in which Keith Bennett explained how the hand of US imperialism was present in all these cases, whether overtly or covertly.

The first speaker was London-based Pakistani journalist Javed Soomro, whose family has long had a close relationship with the Bhuttos. He explained that before Z.A. Bhutto founded and led the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), politics in the country had been confined to the feudal class and the boardrooms of the industrialists. The people were irrelevant. Bhutto was “the first to bring the voices of the masses and ordinary people” to the political arena. The basic slogan of the PPP was for clothes, food and shelter. [Note: In its simplicity and profundity this has echoes of the Bolshevik call for bread, peace and land.]

In 1974, he organised a major conference aimed at uniting the Muslim countries. This effort was key to the animosity that the United States came to harbour for Bhutto. [This has clear parallels with the way that the efforts of the late Hugo Chávez and President Maduro to unite the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean has intensified the hatred of the United States for the Bolivarian revolution in Venezuela.]

Javed was followed by Keith Bennett, co-editor of Friends of Socialist China, who spoke on the great contributions of Z.A. Bhutto, as well as his daughter Benazir Bhutto and grandson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, to Pakistan’s friendship with both the People’s Republic of China and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).

The full text of Keith’s speech is reproduced below.

The final speaker was Victoria Schofield, author of ‘Bhutto: Trial and Execution’ (1979) and ‘The Fragrance of Tears: My Friendship with Benazir Bhutto’ (2020).

Victoria forged a close friendship with Benazir Bhutto when they were fellow students at Oxford University. With Benazir’s encouragement she succeeded her as President of the Oxford Union. She travelled to Pakistan in 1978, when Z.A. Bhutto was on trial and subsequently hanged, at Benazir’s invitation. She was one of the last people to see Bhutto alive and recalled how Benazir was not even allowed to hug her father on their last meeting, just a couple of days before he was executed.

She further recalled Bhutto’s vision for his country, as outlined to the Spectator:

“My vision is that of a Pakistan whose social standards are comparable to some parts of Europe. This means a war against illiteracy and ignorance. It means fighting prejudice and obscurantism. It involves the equality of men and women. It demands the mobilisation of the people’s selected energies. It dictates the restoration of dignity to the human person… It requires a check on the growth of population and easy access to education and medical care throughout the country. It contemplates better towns and cities and cleaner villages. It raises 100 challenges. It is a long haul. We have braced ourselves for it.”

Following a lively Q&A, closing remarks were delivered by Mian Saleem, President of PPP Greater London.

The formal proceedings were followed by two songs from Hugh Goodacre on guitar and dinner.

The following is the full text of Keith’s speech.

Continue reading Remembering Zulfikar Ali Bhutto – Architect of China-Pakistan Friendship

Whitewashing Japanese and German war crimes paves way to new imperialist aggression

The following is a speech given by Sevim Dagdelen, foreign policy spokesperson for Germany’s Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) and a former member of the Bundestag (German parliament), to the 12th Beiing Xiangshan Forum, which took place between September 17-19, 2025.

Dagdelen begins by noting that: “The High Representative of the European Union, Kaja Kallas, declared in September 2025 that it was entirely new to her that Russia and China referred to a shared past as fighters against fascism and militarism in the Second World War. Russia and China wanted to rewrite history, and the world believed them, according to Kallas.”

She goes on to note that what is interesting is that this statement encountered no objection from the heads of state and government of Germany, France, Poland and Italy.

Having pointed out that it was the Soviet Union and China that bore the main burden of the struggle against the fascist powers joined together in the “Anti-Comintern Pact”, she adds: “That pact was complemented by the secret German-Japanese agreement of 1937. Joint plans of military intelligence aimed at dividing Central Asia and the Caucasus into German and Japanese spheres of influence.”

The attempts to deny this history are intended not only to make people forget the crimes of the Nazi regime and Japanese militarism but above all to seek a revision of the outcomes of the war.

“Germany and Japan had attempted with their imperialist wars of plunder to subjugate the USSR and China and to divide the countries. Both powers failed due to bitter anti-fascist resistance. On the ruins of the destructive works of the Third Reich and the Japanese empire, a multipolar world was to emerge, not least shaped by the national liberation struggle of colonised peoples.”

Now, “US President Donald Trump, with his punitive tariffs against India and – with qualifications – also German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, with the conclusion of the German-Japanese armaments agreement, have revealed to the world that a departure from colonialism can only be achieved against the West and its leading powers.”

“However, the global balance of power has changed fundamentally. Neither China nor Russia nor India allows its policy to be dictated any longer by Washington, Brussels, Berlin or Tokyo. The west has simply missed the rise of the Global South.”

However, the west will not simply accept this situation. Presciently, she notes: “Latin America and a claimed Western hemisphere seem to be the first focus of the US, while in Asia, the Middle East, and Europe, Washington’s allies are placed in the front row to preserve US resources.”

She concludes: “We have a just world to gain. We should not let this opportunity pass.”

At its recent congress, the BSW voted to rename the party as the Alliance for Social Justice and Economic Reason, effective from October 1, 2026, while retaining the same initials. A brief report of the congress was carried by the Xinhua News Agency.

The following article was originally published by Consortium News.

The High Representative of the European Union, Kaja Kallas, declared in September 2025 that it was entirely new to her that Russia and China referred to a shared past as fighters against fascism and militarism in the second world war. Russia and China wanted to rewrite history, and the world believed them, according to Kallas.

One could dismiss this statement by one of the E.U.’s highest representatives as confused or uninformed. What is interesting, however, is that it encountered no objection from the heads of state and government of Germany, France, Poland and Italy. One must therefore understand Kallas’s historical judgment as an expression of an E.U. policy that seeks to rewrite history in order to flank the preparation for war with historical politics.

In any case, Kallas’s remark is reminiscent of the phrase by the Spanish-American philosopher George Santayana (1863-1952): “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” 

Continue reading Whitewashing Japanese and German war crimes paves way to new imperialist aggression

First Nations and Chinese migrant workers pioneered Australia-China people-to-people links

For the last nearly six months, a landmark exhibition at the National Museum of Australia in the capital Canberra has been reminding visitors that Indigenous-Chinese bonds helped forge the links between the two peoples long before the two countries established diplomatic relations in 1972.

Our Story: Aboriginal–Chinese People in Australia, is the fruit of a five-year research project led and curated by Chinese-Australian artist Zhou Xiaoping and shows how mixed heritage communities wove ties of survival and solidarity on nineteenth century goldfields and in pearling camps. Drawing on historical records and oral histories, Our Story challenges monolithic accounts of Australian history.

During the gold rushes and in industries such as pearling, railways, and agriculture (1850s–1900), Chinese labourers settled across northern Australia and many formed relationships with Aboriginal women, in the face of the White Australia policy and other racist legislation that targeted both peoples.

These families blended Chinese traditions – language, cuisine, festivals – with Aboriginal kinship and cultural practices. “I’m Aboriginal, but I’m also proud of my Chinese heritage,” says Peter Yu, whose family photographs in the exhibition tell the story of how his Hakka father and Yawuru mother raised nine children under restrictive cohabitation laws, similar to those of apartheid South Africa.

Survival often demanded ingenuity. In the 1930s, Wen Liqun registered her Larrakia stepson – her Chinese husband’s son with a Larrakia woman – as “Chinese” to shield him from the Stolen Generations. (According to Wikipedia: “The Stolen Generations [also known as Stolen Children] were the children of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent who were removed from their families by the Australian federal and state government agencies and church missions, under acts of their respective parliaments. The removals of those referred to as ‘half-caste’ children were conducted in the period between approximately 1905 and 1967, although in some places mixed-race children were still being taken into the 1970s. Official government estimates are that in certain regions between one in ten and one in three Indigenous Australian children were forcibly taken from their families and communities between 1910 and 1970. The Bringing Them Home Royal Commission report [1997] described the Australian policies of removing Aboriginal children as genocide.”)

In the article published below, which was originally published on the website of the Australian Institute of International Affairs, Dr. Marina Yue Zhang, an associate professor at the Australia-China Relations Institute, University of Technology Sydney (UTS: ACRI), writes:

“As the exhibition prepares to tour China in 2026, it forces a reckoning: how does a nation reconcile its suppressed histories with its multicultural present? By reconnecting with these hidden roots – embodied in everyday objects and intimate stories – Australia may yet forge its most resilient, relational partnership with China and its people.

“‘In an age of tariff wars and tech sanctions,’ says Dr. Jilda Andrews, curator of the museum, ‘Our Story isn’t just an exhibition. It’s a milestone in putting First Nations voices at the centre – creating a space for truth-telling, listening and honest conversation.’”

As the exhibition prepares to move on to China next year, readers in Australia still have until 27 January 2026 to see it at Canberra’s National Museum of Australia.

As Australia marked Reconciliation Week (27 May – 3June ), a landmark exhibition at the National Museum of Australia reminds us that Indigenous–Chinese bonds helped forge the links between the two peoples long before Canberra and Beijing formalised diplomacy in 1972.

Our Story: Aboriginal–Chinese People in Australia, a five-year research project led and curated by Chinese-Australian artist Zhou Xiaoping, uncovers a legacy of resilience and cultural fusion. Mixed-heritage communities—unwitting pioneers of people-to-people diplomacy—wove ties of survival and solidarity on 19th-century goldfields and in pearling camps. Drawing on historical records and oral histories, their stories—Our Story, the untold narratives of the nation—challenge monolithic accounts of Australian history and reveal a premodern form of “soft power.”

Through videos, installations, and embedded texts in family trees and photographs, the exhibition invites contemporary Aboriginal artists to interpret these “our stories.” Together, they illuminate the accidental diplomacy of Chinese men and Aboriginal women who built communities against the odds.

Continue reading First Nations and Chinese migrant workers pioneered Australia-China people-to-people links

88 years on: Remembering the Nanjing Massacre by the Japanese imperial army

We are very pleased to publish below an article by Stephen Chang, Director of People’s Forum Limited, written to mark the 88th anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre and China’s 12th National Memorial Day. In the course of just six weeks, the Japanese slaughtered some 300,000 civilians in the city. Today, there are just 24 registered survivors of the massacre, after eight of them passed away in the course of this year.

Having outlined the cruelty and barbarity of the fascist Japanese army, Stephen notes that in the West such facts remain little-known, for example in comparison to the Nazi war crimes. This is in large part due to the United States incorporating the Japanese fascist remnants as junior partners in their own imperial and hegemonic project right from the end of the war. This has extended through a number of Japanese prime ministers, up to and including the present incumbent, whose shameless far right ultra-militarism and dangerous threats against China have plunged relations between the two countries to a new low.

Stephen concludes with a poignant account of his China visit this April, when he took his three youngest grandchildren to see for themselves the real China:

“In Nanjing we spent three solid hours at the Nanjing Massacre Museum as my youngest grandson aged 12 was totally absorbed in slowly looking at the museum’s exhibits and reading the English translations.  It is very heartening to see the younger generation taking an interest and learning from history, and hopefully contributing to a better world… We all have a duty to equip the younger generation to learn from history.”

December 13 was the anniversary of the Nanjing massacre by the fascist Japanese Imperial Army, a barbaric force subservient to war criminal Emperor Hirohito who was worshipped by the Japanese Imperial Army and people as a deity.

The fascist Japanese invaded and occupied the Northeastern part of China on 18 September 1931 and attacked the whole of China from 1937.  The Nanjing massacre started on 13 Dec 1937, four days following the retreat of China’s National Revolutionary Army following its defeat at the Battle of Nanjing.  For six weeks the fascist Japanese army, with orders to kill all and burn all, rampaged through Nanjing, committing acts of barbaric inhuman violence on defenceless civilians, murdering 300,000 men, women and children and raping between 60,000 to 80,000 women, followed by killing them so that they could never bear witness.  The Japanese barbaric and animalistic crimes against women are the most notorious in modern warfare.

To put the scale of Japan’s atrocities into perspective the number of people killed by the fascist Japanese exceeded (1) the estimated deaths of 80,000 to 120,000 by the US bombing of Japan throughout WW2, and (2) the combined estimated 140,000 and 70,000 killed by the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki respectively in August 1945.

Continue reading 88 years on: Remembering the Nanjing Massacre by the Japanese imperial army

Remembering a shared struggle against Japanese militarism

The Birmingham People’s History Archive (BPHA) organised a day of speeches and film on Saturday December 13 to mark the 80th anniversary of the victory over Japanese fascism.

Held in the Birmingham and Midland Institute, which houses the archive, it was attended by over 50 people, including academics, trades unionists and members of the city’s Asian community. The day’s proceedings were chaired by Pete Higgins, a trustee of the archive, who first welcomed BPHA patron Andy Hudd, who is also Vice President of the train driver’s union ASLEF, to make opening remarks.

Pete then facilitated a fascinating conversation with Don Grant. Don is a mentally and physically agile 97-year-old who held the audience enthralled and spellbound with his at times harrowing, but always matter-of-fact account of life as a teenage prisoner of the Japanese in 1940s China.

Don was born in Shanghai in 1928. His father had first moved to China to work in 1910, having previously been a fireman on the railways, and returned to Shanghai in 1919, following service in World War I.

To give a small flavour of his account:

“It was while at the playing fields that I witnessed another awful event. It was in the summer of 1941 … They ringed the city and controlled the amount and flow of rice allowed in … A number of people had been caught by a Jap patrol including men, women and several children, and were being herded along by the soldiers with their rifles, but one poor fellow was being dragged along with his hands tied behind him and a rope around his neck … Then one of the soldiers took a trenching tool and went behind the mound where the man lay and killed him, the rest were led away and later their bodies were laid in the road on our side of the boundary. All of them were shot as a warning to others…

“We witnessed on many occasions small columns of similar groups … who had managed to cross the line only to be shot openly in the street by the Kempetei [Japanese Gestapo].”

BPHA hopes to publish Don’s full memoir in 2026 and are seeking support to help make this possible. It is an entirely voluntary organisation and you can email birminghampha@gmail.com if you’d like to help.

Following a ‘Birmingham seasonal’ lunch of samosas and mulled wine, Keith Bennett, on behalf of Friends of Socialist China, delivered a talk highlighting some key aspects of the war against Japanese militarism.

First picking up on a point made by Don, he noted that December 13 was the 88th anniversary of the start of the Nanjing Massacre, as well as China’s 12th National Memorial Day. In the course of just six weeks the Japanese slaughtered some 300,000 civilians in that city. In a long period of world war marked by countless atrocities this stands out as one of the most egregious.

He noted that the Second World War did not begin in 1939 in Europe but in 1931 in China and highlighted the key roles played by the Chinese people, led by the Communist Party, as well as by the Soviet Union.

Keith said that “had not the Chinese people tied down millions of Japanese troops, thereby preventing them from opening up a second front against the USSR, the consequences could well have been calamitous, and not least for Western Europe and for this country as well.

“In other words, when we faced the most existential threat to our country and people, China and Russia, and their peoples, were not our enemies. They were our indispensable, vital, sincere, loyal and good friends, allies and comrades-in-arms,” adding that, “we absolutely cannot separate the march to war against the very countries that saved us from fascism from the march towards fascism here and in almost all the imperialist countries.”

Finally, he introduced the film, ‘The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru’, which depicts the heroism of a Chinese fishing community who risked everything to rescue British POWs, who had been left to drown by the Japanese.

Keith was followed by Philip Harris, from the Lisbon Maru Memorial Association. Philip’s father-in-law was among the rescued POWs and was sheltered and cared for by Chinese fishermen and their families for three months.

After he left the army, Philip’s father-in-law became a post man. Having been denied the award due to him for long service on a technicality, the local council then took away his beloved allotment, whereupon he became the gardener and porter for his local community hospital. He died from pancreatic cancer three days after his retirement party.

Interestingly, Don Grant’s story also served to illustrate the ruling class contempt for working class people. When he and his family were finally released from internment and repatriated to Britain they were presented with a bill for their Red Cross parcels.

The event concluded with a showing of ‘The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru’, followed by a social.

The media were represented by China’s CCTV television and BBC Midlands Today television.

The following is the text of Keith’s speech.

I’d like to thank the Birmingham People’s History Archive for organising this important event and for inviting me. It’s an honour to be here.

I want first to pick up on a point that Don made during the Q&A part of his presentation. He referred to the book, ‘The Rape of Nanking’ and to the terrible atrocity committed by the Japanese in that city.

Today is the 88th anniversary of the start of the Nanjing Massacre. And it is also China’s 12th National Memorial Day established in that connection. In the course of just six weeks the Japanese slaughtered some 300,000 civilians in that city. In a long period of world war marked by countless atrocities this stands out as one of the most egregious. There are now just 24 recognised survivors and sadly the laws of nature dictate that they grow fewer with each passing year.

Continue reading Remembering a shared struggle against Japanese militarism

China celebrates 50 years of Angolan independence

China last month marked the 50th anniversary of Angolan independence (November 11th 1975), which followed a protracted armed struggle for liberation against Portuguese colonialism and the overthrow of the fascist regime in Lisbon.

On November 28, Vice Foreign Minister Miao Deyu attended and spoke at the reception hosted by the Angolan Embassy in Beijing.

He stated that the friendship between China and Angola has a long history and enjoys a solid foundation. In recent years, under the strategic guidance of President Xi Jinping and President João Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço, practical cooperation in various fields between China and Angola has yielded fruitful results, benefiting the peoples of both countries. China is willing to work with Angola to carry forward the traditional friendship, join hands in seeking common development, and make greater contributions to building an all-weather China-Africa community with a shared future for the new era.

Ambassador of Angola Dalva Maurĺcia Calombo Ringote Allen stated that Angola and China share a deep traditional friendship, and that bilateral relations are rooted in the values of friendship, peace, solidarity, respect, and mutual benefit. The Angolan side sincerely thanks the Chinese side for the valuable support it has long provided for Angola’s national independence, reconstruction and development.

Earlier, from November 10 to 11, Special Representative of the Chinese Government on African Affairs Liu Yuxi visited Angola. Angolan President João Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço met with him, and they exchanged views on bilateral relations and issues of common concern.

Liu Yuxi handed over President Xi Jinping’s congratulatory message on the 50th anniversary of Angola’s independence and stated that under the strategic guidance of the leaders of both countries, the bilateral relationship between China and Angola has gained in-depth development, and mutually beneficial cooperation has yielded fruitful results.

President João Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço thanked President Xi Jinping for his congratulatory message, and expressed that Angola admires the historic achievements China has made under the leadership of President Xi Jinping, regards China as the most important partner for development cooperation, and is willing to strengthen coordination and cooperation with China to safeguard the interests of the vast number of developing countries, including those in Africa.

During the visit, Liu Yuxi also held working exchanges with Foreign Minister Téte António and attended the celebration of the 50th anniversary of Angola’s independence on behalf of the Chinese side.

In all, some 45 foreign delegations, including more than a dozen heads of state or government, along with a number of former African Presidents, attended the celebrations in the capital Luanda, which included both civilian and military parades. Among them were the Presidents of Namibia, Zimbabwe, the Republic of Congo, São Tomé and Príncipe, Cape Verde, Comoros, the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), and Portugal, the Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the President of the Assembly of Mozambique, and the President of the Council of the Nation of Algeria. An especially warm welcome was given to Esteban Lazo Hernández, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of Cuba Central Committee and President of the National Assembly of People’s Power and the Council of State.

Granma, the newspaper of the PCC, reported: “Our country’s internationalist epic, especially during the heroic Operation Carlota, was an enduring page of altruism and solidarity, whose contribution was decisive in preserving and consolidating Angola’s independence and achieving that of Namibia, as well as making a significant contribution to the demise of the apartheid regime.

Continue reading China celebrates 50 years of Angolan independence

Chinese scholars question Japanese sovereignty over Ryukyu islands

Academic circles in China are paying increasing attention to Ryukyu studies, specifically the history of the island group, often referred to as Okinawa, and the legitimacy or otherwise of Japan’s claim to sovereignty over the ancient kingdom.

On November 18, the Global Times newspaper reported that an academic conference marking the 30th anniversary of the China Ryukyu Research Institute, and advancing the development of Ryukyu studies, had been held at Fujian Normal University.

Global Times spoke with Professor Xie Bizhen, academic head of the institute, who emphasised that Japan’s annexation of Ryukyu and subsequent assimilation policies, including the forced change of surnames, place names, and even rebranding the “Ryukyu Islands” as the “Southwestern Islands,” were aimed at erasing historical memory. “As a result, many Okinawans today are unfamiliar with this part of their own past,” he said. “This is why our research matters: to restore historical truth, preserve collective memory.”

On November 23, CGTN published an opinion piece by Tang Yongliang, a researcher at the Institute of Japanese Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, outlining what he described as the “undetermined status of Ryukyu.”

Stating that “the sovereignty over the Ryukyu Islands remains disputed,” Tang added that this could be understood in both a broad and a narrow way.

“In the broad sense, the ‘undetermined status of Ryukyu’ refers to the situation since modern times, where Ryukyu was illegally occupied by Japan without widespread recognition by the international community. To this day, the sovereignty issue remains unresolved.

“In the narrow sense, it refers specifically to the end of World War II, when the Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Proclamation – documents concerning the post-war disposition of fascist Japan – explicitly delimited Japan’s territorial scope, separated Ryukyu from Japan, placed it as a ‘potential trusteeship territory’ and left its sovereignty legally unsettled to this day.”

Further in the broad sense: “Historically, Ryukyu was an independent kingdom. Japan’s modern annexation of Ryukyu was a unilateral act of violent seizure: no treaty regarding state sovereignty was concluded, no consent was obtained from China, the suzerain power, and the annexation contravened international legal norms on the acquisition of territorial sovereignty in the 19th century.”

Further in the narrow sense: “From November 22 to 26, 1943, the leaders of China, the United States, and the United Kingdom convened the Cairo Conference in Egypt, during which they discussed the post-war disposition of Ryukyu. Although the issue was not ultimately written into the Cairo Declaration, the declaration’s provision that ‘Japan will also be expelled from all other territories which she has taken by violence and greed’ undoubtedly applied to Ryukyu.

“On July 26, 1945, the three nations issued the Potsdam Proclamation, urging Japan’s unconditional surrender. It clearly stated that ‘the terms of the Cairo Declaration shall be carried out’ and that ‘the Japanese sovereignty shall be limited to the islands of Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, Shikoku and such minor islands as we determine,’ thereby explicitly separating Ryukyu from Japanese territory.”

What happened later was that: “With the deepening of the Cold War, the US-Japan alliance became increasingly intertwined; the United States gradually relaxed its restrictions on Japanese influence within the Ryukyu Islands, and in 1953 and 1968 unilaterally transferred administrative rights over the Amami Islands and the Nanpo Islands to Japan.

“In 1971, under pressure from the Vietnam War and the Ryukyuan anti-US movement, the Nixon administration concluded the ‘Agreement Between Japan and the United States of America Concerning the Ryukyu Islands and the Daito Islands,’ again unilaterally transferring administrative rights to Japan on the condition that Japan allow continued US military presence in the islands.

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Anti-fascist battlefields from Spain to China linked in Beijing exhibition

“For a Common Cause: From the Spanish Battlefield to China’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression,” is the title of a major exhibition which opened in August at Beijing’s Museum of the Communist Party of China (CPC), marking the 80th anniversary of victory in the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War. It will run till the end of 2025.

Through more than 260 photographs, 150 cultural relics and historical footage, the exhibition shows how anti-fascist volunteers of the International Brigades fought bravely on both the Spanish and Chinese battlefronts – unfolding an inspiring chapter of mutual aid in the global struggle against fascism.

A feature article published by the Xinhua News Agency on November 27 notes that: “The International Brigades mobilised over 40,000 volunteers from more than 50 countries to defend the Spanish Republic against forces including those sent from fascist Italy and Nazi Germany during its civil war (1936-1939). They fought in brutal battles such as the Defence of Madrid and the Battle of Jarama, where an estimated 10,000 lives were lost.”

It adds that less widely recognised is the Chinese contribution to this history. Among the International Brigades’ volunteers were more than 100 Chinese, many of whom were CPC members.

One prominent figure was Xie Weijin, who fought under the alias Lin Jishi. He fought in pivotal engagements, sustained two battle wounds, and narrowly avoided amputation. Beyond the frontline, Xie established an orphanage for over 100 children.

In a 1938 speech, Xie crystallised the shared struggle: “The Spanish and Chinese peoples are in a very tense phase of struggle… They are waging a revolutionary war for the national and social liberation of their respective countries, leading the fight against fascism…”

After the International Brigades were withdrawn from Spain that year, a number of internationalist fighters made their way to China, which was the main anti-fascist battlefield in the east. Among them was the Canadian surgeon Norman Bethune.  After pioneering a mobile blood-transfusion service in Spain, he arrived in north China in 1938. There, he famously worked 40-hour shifts and championed setting up operating tables near the front lines. Alongside other international medical workers, Bethune saved countless lives and revolutionised battlefield medicine in China.

The following article was originally published by the Xinhua News Agency.

“There’s a valley in Spain called Jarama. It’s a place that we all know so well. It was there that we gave of our manhood, where so many of our brave comrades fell.”

These plaintive strains of the folk ballad “Jarama Valley” are more than a memorial — they are a portal to the stories of the International Brigades. This diverse group of anti-fascist fighters, drawn from across continents, now takes center stage in a touching exhibition in Beijing.

Titled “For a Common Cause: From the Spanish Battlefield to China’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression,” the ongoing exhibition opened in August at the Museum of the Communist Party of China (CPC), marking the 80th anniversary of victory in the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War.

Through more than 260 photographs, 150 cultural relics and historical footage, the exhibition shows how anti-fascist volunteers of the International Brigades fought bravely on both the Spanish and Chinese battlefronts — unfolding an inspiring chapter of mutual aid in the global struggle against fascism.

“This marks the first time China has contextualized the two battlefields within a single exhibition space, underscoring the united anti-fascist spirit of people across the world,” said Zhao Jiaojian, planner of the exhibition, which will run through the end of 2025.

A staff member introduces exhibits to visitors at the exhibition titled “For a Common Cause: From the Spanish Battlefield to China’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression” held at the Museum of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in Beijing, capital of China, Nov. 14, 2025. (Xinhua/Yin Gang)

BATTLES IN SPAIN

Organized by the Comintern — an international communist alliance — the International Brigades mobilized over 40,000 volunteers from more than 50 countries to defend the Spanish Republic against forces including those sent from fascist Italy and Nazi Germany during its civil war (1936-1939). They fought in brutal battles such as the Defense of Madrid and the Battle of Jarama, where an estimated 10,000 lives were lost.

Less widely recognized is the Chinese dimension of this chapter. Among the International Brigades’ volunteers were more than 100 Chinese, many of whom were CPC members.

One prominent figure was Xie Weijin, who fought under the alias Lin Jishi. A multilingual individual with military training, Xie rose to lead the Chinese volunteers and serve as the political commissar of an artillery brigade.

He fought in pivotal engagements, sustained two battle wounds, and narrowly avoided amputation. Beyond the frontline, Xie established an orphanage for war-orphaned children, which provided shelter for over 100 children by 1938.

In a speech delivered that year, Xie crystallized the shared struggle: “The Spanish and Chinese peoples are in a very tense phase of struggle… They are waging a revolutionary war for the national and social liberation of their respective countries, leading the fight against fascism…”

Their contributions were acknowledged back in China. A replica of the red banner sent by then CPC leaders to the volunteers in Spain is now displayed at the Beijing exhibition, bearing the inscription: “Unite the peoples of Spain and China! Down with the common foe of mankind — the Fascists!”

The heroic deeds of the volunteers, exemplified by figures like Xie, demonstrated “a commitment to justice that crossed national borders, and constituted an indelible chapter in the global fight against fascism that should never be forgotten,” said Jiang Ying, researcher of the Academy of Military Sciences.

A visitor views a photo of Canadian surgeon Norman Bethune at the exhibition titled “For a Common Cause: From the Spanish Battlefield to China’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression” held at the Museum of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in Beijing, capital of China, Nov. 14, 2025. (Xinhua/Yin Gang)

THE EASTERN FRONT

As the Spanish Civil War drew to a close in 1938, the International Brigades were officially withdrawn. Following a period of internment in France, the Chinese volunteers returned home to join in China’s nationwide resistance against Japanese aggression.

Yet the tide of internationalism did not recede — it flowed eastward. Foreign fighters redirected their focus from Spain to China, which had become the main theater of the World Anti-Fascist War in the East.

Among these volunteers, the most renowned was Canadian surgeon Norman Bethune, a household name in China. After pioneering a mobile blood-transfusion service in Spain, he arrived in north China in 1938. There, he famously worked 40-hour shifts and championed setting up operating tables near the front lines. Alongside other international medical workers, Bethune saved countless lives and revolutionized battlefield medicine in China.

They were joined by journalists and artists who documented the Chinese people’s arduous struggle for the rest of the world. Among them, Hungarian-American photographer Robert Capa captured the war’s brutal reality in 1937, while Dutch filmmaker Joris Ivens arrived in 1938 to produce “The 400 Million” — the first Western documentary to portray China’s resistance in a positive light, galvanizing global support.

“In this exhibition, I can clearly see how the Chinese people assisted foreign revolutionaries and how foreign revolutionaries assisted the Chinese people,” said Lin Tao, a doctoral student at Hunan Normal University, while visiting the exhibition.

This photo taken on Nov. 14, 2025 shows photographic works by Hungarian-American photographer Robert Capa displayed at the exhibition titled “For a Common Cause: From the Spanish Battlefield to China’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression” at the Museum of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in Beijing, capital of China. (Xinhua/Yin Gang)

Many young Chinese visitors like Lin have been profoundly moved by the exhibition, which also highlights the pivotal contributions of International Brigades anti-fascist fighters on the Chinese battlefield.

Decades later, China continues to honor this international solidarity. On the occasion of marking the 80th anniversary of its victory in World War II on Sept. 3 this year, the nation expressed sincere gratitude to the foreign governments and individuals who aided its people.

China was the first country to rise against fascist aggression with the longest-lasting resistance that began in 1931. The country tied down and struck over half of Japan’s overseas forces, at the cost of 35 million military and civilian casualties — accounting for approximately one-third of all WWII casualties worldwide.

“The exhibition aims to deepen the understanding that the Chinese people, at a tremendous national cost, made significant contributions to the victory of the World Anti-Fascist War,” Zhao told Xinhua.

“Meanwhile, the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression received extensive support from the international community, and the Chinese people will forever cherish these contributions. China will continue to work hand in hand with the rest of the world — and strive tirelessly to build a brighter future for humanity,” Zhao added.