Multipolarity Archives - Friends of Socialist China

Spain opposes a new cold war – Prime Minister Sánchez in Beijing

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez paid an official visit to China between April 11-15 at the invitation of his Chinese counterpart Li Qiang. It was the fourth visit paid to China by the Spanish head of government in four years and both this symbolism and the substance of the visit served to underline that Spain under its current government is the most friendly country to China in western Europe.

Sánchez’s substantive political meetings were held in Beijing on April 14.

In his meeting with President Xi Jinping, the Chinese leader noted that despite the changing and turbulent international landscape, China-Spain relations have developed steadily, forging a relationship with strategic resolve. An important experience of this lies in the ability to make the right decisions based on common interests. Facts have proven that deepening cooperation serves the interests of both peoples, aligns with the prevailing trend of our times, and bolsters each other’s strength and confidence in pursuing an independent path. China combines its long-term strategic goals with phased objectives, and acts with historical patience to draw up and carry out five-year plans generation after generation. China has firm resolve in advancing Chinese modernisation and the broad-mindedness to share development opportunities with the world through high-standard opening up.

Xi Jinping emphasised that today’s turbulent world faces the struggle between right and might. How a country approaches international law and the international order reflects its views of the world, order, and values, and its sense of responsibility. China and Spain are both countries that value principle and justice. We need to strengthen communication, consolidate mutual trust, and work closely together to reject any backslide into the law of the jungle, jointly uphold true multilateralism, safeguard the UN-centred international system and the international order underpinned by international law, promote an equal and orderly multipolar world and a universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalisation, and foster the building of a community with a shared future for humanity.

Sánchez noted that his four visits to China in four years demonstrate the high importance both sides attach to Spain-China relations. Investment and cooperation by Chinese businesses in Spain have strongly boosted Spain’s economic development. Spain firmly adheres to the one-China principle, highly values China’s status as a major country, and is deeply committed to developing a Spain-China partnership with strategic resolve. Spain hopes to strengthen cooperation in trade, investment, new energy, and other sectors, as well as to enhance people-to-people exchanges. Faced with a complex and challenging international situation and multiple recurring conflicts and disputes, only by adhering to multilateralism and fostering a multipolar world can lasting peace be achieved for humanity. Spain actively supports the four major Global Initiatives proposed by President Xi Jinping and stands ready to maintain close communication and coordination with China to jointly address challenges related to international geopolitics, trade protectionism, and climate change, while upholding international law and multilateralism. Spain opposes a new Cold War and attempts to decouple and sever supply chains, and supports enhanced communication, understanding and cooperation between Europe and China. The sound development of EU-China relations serves the common interests of both sides and contributes to world peace and stability.

In their meeting, Premier Li Qiang said that China is ready to import more high-quality products from Spain and encourages more capable Chinese enterprises to invest in Spain. The more volatile and turbulent the international landscape becomes, the more China and Spain should strengthen practical cooperation, empower each other and achieve mutual success.

China is willing to enhance cooperation with Spain in areas such as new energy vehicles and energy storage to create more highlights of cooperation, Li said, adding that China supports universities, research institutions and enterprises from both sides to strengthen joint research and development, enhance scientific and technological innovation capabilities, and work together to seize future development opportunities.

Sánchez said the Spanish side is willing to maintain close and high-level political dialogue with China, enhance strategic communication, increase mutual understanding, expand cooperation in trade, investment, science and technology, renewable energy, education, culture and other fields, expand tourism and people-to-people exchanges, continuously enhance the stability and sustainability of bilateral relations, and better benefit the two peoples. Spain is ready to enhance multilateral communication and coordination with China and firmly support the United Nations and multilateralism.

In his meeting with Zhao Leji, chairman of the National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, Sánchez said that Spain firmly adheres to the one-China principle and hopes to enhance cooperation with China in trade, investment, culture, education, tourism and other fields, promote exchanges between legislative bodies, uphold multilateralism, and facilitate the healthy and stable development of Spain-China and Europe-China relations.

The following day, the China-Spain innovative enterprises exchange conference brought together over 100 representatives from Chinese and Spanish businesses.

Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao said that China is willing to work with Spain to strengthen strategic alignment and policy coordination, continuously improve the business environment, and promote deeper cooperation among enterprises in technological innovation and industrial and supply chains. The two countries can foster more landmark projects in sectors such as new energy vehicles, intelligent manufacturing, and photovoltaic and wind power, which will benefit enterprises and people of both sides.

Sánchez said that bilateral relations are at their best in history, with deep cooperation in trade, investment, green energy, industrial manufacturing and technological innovation.

Earlier, on April 13, Sánchez delivered a speech at Beijing’s prestigious Tsinghua University.

Beginning by referring to the China visit of the Italian Jesuit Matteo Ricci in the late 16^th century, he said:

Interview: Understanding China’s foreign policy

In the video embedded below, Friends of Socialist China co-editor Carlos Martinez joins Roger McKenzie for a detailed exploration of China’s foreign policy, its domestic progress, and the geopolitical strategies shaping the 21st century. The two discuss the importance of understanding China’s rise, the global shift towards multipolarity, and the need for solidarity against imperialist pressures.

Some of the key ideas put forward include:

• China’s foreign policy rests on the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, first formulated by Zhou Enlai in 1954 and adopted at the Bandung Conference the following year. These principles – mutual respect for sovereignty, non-aggression, non-interference, equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful coexistence – elevate what Lenin conceived as a tactical necessity into a principled theoretical framework. The core insight is that countries with fundamentally different social systems can and must coexist, and that all non-imperialist countries share a common interest in opposing domination and pursuing their own development paths. Today these principles find expression in China’s vision of a community with a shared future for humanity, underpinned by the Belt and Road Initiative, BRICS (which now surpasses the G7 in GDP, population and landmass), the SCO, and the G77. Multipolarity – a negotiated international order in which no single power can impose its will – is not only urgently needed to address existential challenges like climate change and nuclear war, but is, as Samir Amin argued, the necessary framework for the possible overcoming of capitalism itself.

• The United States is not accepting this shift passively. Brzezinski identified the nightmare scenario decades ago: a grand coalition of China, Russia and Iran. US responses have included proxy war against Russia in Ukraine, military encirclement of China through AUKUS and Pacific buildups, unconditional support for Israel, tariff wars, semiconductor controls, the kidnapping of president Maduro, the suffocation of Cuba, the reassertion of the Monroe Doctrine, and now open war on Iran. The US is losing economic and technological primacy but retains overwhelming military power, and the danger is precisely that of a declining empire reaching for military solutions.

• The war on Iran must be understood in this context. It is not about nuclear weapons – nobody believes that. It is not about women’s rights – women’s rights are improving in Iran and deteriorating in the West. It is a criminal attack, carried out by presidential decree without reference to international law or domestic legal process, against a sovereign state that supports Palestinian resistance, maintains public ownership of its energy resources, and is a key node in the multipolar project – a crucial link in the Belt and Road, a member of BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, and an important energy partner for China. The attack is simultaneously an attempt to seize control of energy flows, to develop strategic chokepoints that could be used against China in a hot war, and to destroy the axis of resistance across West Asia. It is the empire striking back.

• China is supporting Iran to the best of its abilities – diplomatically, economically, and with military cooperation – but does not have the capacity to project military power into the region. Nonetheless, Iran is a fiercely independent country with formidable military capabilities. The US and Israel will not achieve their objectives: they will not install a puppet regime, will not destroy the Palestinian resistance, and will not seize Iran’s strategic position.

• The task for progressive forces in the West is to oppose the war on Iran, oppose the New Cold War on China and the propaganda war that sustains it, and build the broadest possible united front against imperialism, racism and neoliberalism. We are not the vanguard – that role belongs to the socialist countries and the peoples under direct attack. But everyone has a part to play, and we must do what we can to build solidarity and make war untenable for the imperialists.

Interview: Why does the West fear China?

The video below is an interview of Friends of Socialist China co-editor Carlos Martinez by Jason Smith, for CGTN’s The Bridge podcast. In this wide-ranging discussion, touching on a range of issues from the war in Iran to the nature of China’s whole-process people’s democracy, Carlos opines that “democracy” is not an abstract universal but always has a specific class content. What the West calls liberal democracy is more accurately described as capitalist democracy: a system in which the ruling class – those who own and deploy capital – dominates political life, and government is fundamentally oriented towards preserving existing production relations and expanding capital. As Marx observed, the oppressed are permitted once every few years to choose which representatives of the oppressing class shall govern them.

China operates a different democratic model suited to a different social system. The capitalist class cannot organise politically, cannot direct state power in its own interests, and cannot dictate to the government – for example, Huawei does not tell Beijing what to do. The Communist Party, with over 100 million members, is a party of the working class and its allies, obliged to maintain legitimacy by actually delivering – on poverty alleviation, healthcare, pollution control, housing, renewable energy and more. The result, borne out by polling data including a Harvard Kennedy School survey showing 94 percent government approval, is that Chinese citizens report far higher levels of satisfaction with their democracy than citizens of the US or Britain. The Two Sessions – the annual meetings of the National People’s Congress and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference – give concrete institutional expression to this whole-process people’s democracy, translating debates from across society into national policy, including this year’s 15th Five-Year Plan.

The US-China rivalry is not a conventional geopolitical contest between two comparable powers. The US helped integrate China into the global economic order in the late 1970s on the assumption that China would remain permanently at the bottom of the hierarchy – making cheap goods, opening up to Western capital, abandoning its socialist orientation through peaceful evolution. The reality has been entirely different: China is now the world’s largest economy, the leading force in renewables, telecoms, advanced infrastructure and space exploration, and is advancing an alternative model of modernisation that operates entirely outside the paradigm of imperialism – without war, occupation, austerity or the Washington Consensus. That is the real threat: not military aggression, but the ideological and material demonstration that another development path is possible. The hybrid war against China – sanctions, tech controls, military encirclement, demonisation – is aimed at preventing China’s further rise, weakening its global relationships, and ultimately reversing the Chinese Revolution. China, for its part, simply wants to develop and to cooperate.

The multipolar project is in essence a demand that the principles of the UN Charter – sovereign equality, non-interference, peaceful coexistence – be actually observed, not merely invoked rhetorically. The record of US-led imperialism in the postwar period, from the Korean War to the 1953 coup in Iran to the current wars on Venezuela and Iran, makes clear these principles have never been adhered to by Washington. Institutionally, multipolarity means strengthening the UN, building out BRICS, the SCO, the NAM and the G77+China, developing alternative financing, and expanding south-south cooperation backed by China’s economic weight and the Belt and Road Initiative. This project increasingly has institutions, momentum and a trajectory – though it faces the enduring obstacle of US military hegemony and the reckless aggression of a declining empire.

For those in the West who want to engage constructively, the starting point is to resist the war propaganda that saturates mainstream media, tell the truth about China, and actively participate in anti-war movements – making the case for maximum global cooperation on climate, peace and development.

While the US pursues war and hegemony, China pursues peace and progress

On Friday 6 March, Friends of Socialist China co-editor Carlos Martinez appeared on the Empire Watch live stream, hosted by Ileana Chan, Sara Vivacqua and João Amorim.

The wide-ranging conversation includes detailed discussion on the criminal US-Israeli war on Iran; how that war is reshaping the multipolar world order; China’s vision of peaceful coexistence; a comparison of the US and China’s military posture; China’s 15th Five-Year Plan; its newly-announced GDP growth target of 4.5 to 5 percent; and the Kenyan state’s illegal detention and torture of Comrade Booker Ngesa Omole.

The full stream is embedded below, followed by a selection of thematic extracts.

The US is pursuing a global Monroe Doctrine

The following article is based on a presentation given by Friends of Socialist China co-editor Carlos Martinez at the Latin America Adelante Conference in London on 7 February 2026. The presentation was part of a session on ‘Latin America, the New Cold War and the Rising Global South’, which was also addressed by Sophie Bold (CND General Secretary), Roger McKenzie (Morning Star International Editor) and Fiona Sim (Co-founder, Black Liberation Alliance). The session was chaired by Carole Regan of the Cuba Solidarity Campaign.

Carlos’s presentation focused on the Trump administration’s National Security Strategy and its implications for Latin America, as well as its connection to the US’s longstanding global strategy of encirclement and containment against China. Carlos concludes:

The ruling class is pushing an agenda that is increasingly unpopular and untenable — an agenda of permanent war, economic decline and ecological destruction. We need to push our own agenda: one of peace, multilateralism, solidarity, and the broadest possible global cooperation to confront the existential threats facing humanity.

The Trump administration’s National Security Strategy (NSS), released in late November 2025, has been the subject of widespread comment and a diverse array of interpretations. For those of us concerned with questions of peace, sovereignty and international justice, its most striking feature is its explicit reassertion of the Monroe Doctrine, shifting the focus of US military strategy towards “defending our hemisphere”, with more troops, bases and military operations in the Americas.

US hegemony over the Western Hemisphere is of course nothing new. Since the Monroe Doctrine was first promulgated in 1823, the United States has treated Latin America and the Caribbean as its backyard, overthrowing governments, installing dictatorships, funding death squads and imposing economic subjugation as a matter of routine. But, at least in the post-WW2 era, previous administrations have at least maintained some pretence of respect for international law and the sovereignty of other nations. The NSS does away with any such niceties, declaring that “the United States will reassert and enforce the Monroe Doctrine to restore American preeminence in the Western Hemisphere” and “deny non-Hemispheric competitors the ability to position forces or other threatening capabilities, or to own or control strategically vital assets, in our Hemisphere.”

Multipolarity and Chinese modernisation are distinct concepts but they are inextricably intertwined

As previously reported by us, an international forum on the theme of Multipolarity and Chinese Modernisation, hosted by the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics (SUFE), was held on 13 December 2025 in Shanghai. This conference brought together numerous scholars, authors and researchers from around the world to explore pathways toward a prosperous and multipolar future for humanity.

We print below the text of the speech to the conference by Friends of Socialist China co-editor Keith Bennett, which was delivered by video recording.

Keith’s speech stresses the interrelationship of multipolarity and Chinese modernisation in the context of President Xi Jinping’s thesis that the world is presently seeing changes unseen in a century.

Proceeding from Lenin’s 1923 observation that, “In the last analysis, the outcome of the struggle will be determined by the fact that Russia, India, China, etc., account for the overwhelming majority of the population of the globe. And during the past few years it is this majority that has been drawn into the struggle for emancipation with extraordinary rapidity… In this sense, the complete victory of socialism is fully and absolutely assured,” Keith notes how the progress of humanity over the ensuing century has conformed to that essential paradigm, such that quantitative increase is leading to qualitative change. “We are indeed witnessing the sun setting in the west and rising in the east and south.”

With bodies such as BRICS+ and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in the forefront, “it is socialist China that is today the indispensable nation in driving the changes unseen in a century.”

Until now, Keith notes, modernisation has only been achieved by a minority of, overwhelmingly majority white, nations. In terms of scale alone, therefore, as China is home to some 22 per cent of the world’s population, China’s modernisation will more than double the percentage of humanity living in modernised societies. As such, it will profoundly change, and indeed revolutionise, global society, economy and culture, and hence the prospects and possibilities for those nations and peoples still facing the tasks of development and modernisation.

Therefore, socialism with Chinese characteristics offers a new option for other countries and nations who want to speed up their development while preserving their independence.

I would like to express my thanks to the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics for their kind invitation to participate in this important international forum and regret not being able to join you in person.

Multipolarity and Chinese moderniation are distinct concepts but they are inextricably intertwined.

General Secretary Xi Jinping often reminds us that we are living in a moment of history where we are witnessing changes unseen in a century.

This statement has applicability and relevance across a range of events and numerous spheres of human endeavour. But perhaps it does not express itself quite so cogently, or with such profound import, as it does with regard to both the tectonic changes in the world’s geopolitical configuration, and the accompanying evolution and reform of global governance, and the long march of more than 1.4 billion Chinese people towards a modernisation of their own style.

In his last published article, ‘Better Fewer, But Better’, Lenin insisted that:

“In the last analysis, the outcome of the struggle will be determined by the fact that Russia, India, China, etc., account for the overwhelming majority of the population of the globe. And during the past few years it is this majority that has been drawn into the struggle for emancipation with extraordinary rapidity, so that in this respect there cannot be the slightest doubt what the final outcome of the world struggle will be. In this sense, the complete victory of socialism is fully and absolutely assured.”

The ensuing century since Lenin wrote these words has seen a whole number of momentous events and trends that include the Chinese people’s victory in the war of resistance against Japanese aggression, the world peoples’ victory in the global anti-fascist war, the founding of the United Nations, the triumph of the Chinese revolution and the founding of the People’s Republic, and the independence of India and the other countries of South Asia.

Community or Command: China, the American Pole, and the battle for Latin America

The following article from Weaponized Information, published in late December 2025, frames the current period as a pivotal moment for Latin America and the Caribbean, with competing visions of how the region fits into broader geopolitical shifts.

“Within weeks of each other, two texts appeared that quietly announced Latin America and the Caribbean as a decisive front in the struggle over the next world order. China released its third Policy Paper on Latin America and the Caribbean, framing the present as a moment of ‘changes unseen in a century’, with the Global South rising in influence while unilateral coercion destabilises peace and development. At nearly the same time, the Trump administration issued its National Security Strategy, declaring that American power had been ‘restored’, borders militarised, tariffs weaponised, and the Western Hemisphere re-centred as a strategic priority under an unapologetic America First doctrine. These are not parallel statements. They are opposing blueprints.”

China’s policy paper presents the region as an active political subject and an essential force within the rising Global South. It emphasises integration through trade, infrastructure, industrial cooperation, technology transfer, cultural exchange, regional institution-building, local-currency settlement, and engagement via multilateral bodies such as CELAC. In China’s vision, sovereignty is strengthened through diversified partnerships that reduce exposure to US financial vetoes, sanctions and conditional lending.

The Trump administration’s NSS, by contrast, is framed in terms of the restoration and enforcement of US hegemony. It asserts that US power has been “restored” under an unapologetic America First doctrine, militarising borders, weaponising tariffs and engaging in direct military aggression. Such a strategy does not treat Latin America and the Caribbean as a collective political subject at all, but as a managed perimeter and strategic rear base, echoing the Monroe Doctrine without any liberal euphemism. Infrastructure, ports, supply chains, payment systems and information spaces are reclassified as assets to be locked down or insulated from “non-hemispheric competitors”. Security becomes the alibi for expanded coercive reach.

The article highlights that in the lived history of the Americas, “security” has often meant security for capital and compliant oligarchies, enforced through coups, lawfare and counterinsurgency against popular movements.

When China speaks of development without political conditions, it challenges the architecture that has historically converted economic dependency into political obedience. The US response to China’s role is to attempt to narrow options for countries of the region, via the threat of tariffs, sanctions, statecraft, destabilisation, lawfare and – as we are currently witnessing in Venezuela – direct military aggression and the blatant violation of the most basic principles of international law.

The author concludes that the difference between the US and Chinese approach is not about democracy versus authoritarianism, but community versus command. Multipolar integration introduces something disruptive the region has long been denied: the normalisation of choice. The intensity of the US’s reaction signals a historic shift – autonomy is no longer unthinkable. The hemisphere now faces a clear struggle over whether it remains frozen in managed dependency or expands sovereignty through cooperation and plural development paths.

The Hemisphere at the Breaking Point

There are moments when states stop improvising and start publishing doctrine. Not press statements, not campaign slogans, but documents meant to harden intentions into policy and turn instinct into structure. Late 2025 was one of those moments. Within weeks of each other, two texts appeared that quietly announced Latin America and the Caribbean as a decisive front in the struggle over the next world order. China released its third Policy Paper on Latin America and the Caribbean, framing the present as a moment of “changes unseen in a century,” with the Global South rising in influence while unilateral coercion destabilizes peace and development. At nearly the same time, the Trump administration issued its National Security Strategy, declaring that American power had been “restored,” borders militarized, tariffs weaponized, and the Western Hemisphere re-centered as a strategic priority under an unapologetic America First doctrine. These are not parallel statements. They are opposing blueprints.

Chinese scholar says resistance is only viable approach but patience is needed

The following is the text of an interview conducted by the Tehran Times with Chinese scholar Professor Jin Liangxiang on the sidelines of the recent Conference on People’s Rights and Legitimate Freedoms in the Thoughts of Ayatollah Khamenei.

Professor Jin notes that: “The Americans like to talk about liberal democracy and, when doing so, they link it to human rights. They even intervene in the domestic affairs of countries in the Middle East – such as Iran and many others – in the name of humanitarian concerns.

“But in Gaza and Palestine, we have witnessed atrocities committed by Israel, resulting in more than 70,000 deaths. In this regard, the Americans have turned a blind eye. So, I believe the United States is not in a position to lecture others about liberal democracy or to intervene under the banner of humanitarianism.”

Responding to a question on different perceptions of people’s rights and freedoms, he stresses that resistance is the only way out:

“When we talk about freedom, we must begin with justice. The most serious challenge to justice in the region is hegemony and power politics. Therefore, resistance becomes the only viable approach to achieving justice.

“We should not assume that hegemonic powers will make concessions on their own. Those policies will not disappear by themselves. The only way to deliver justice is through resistance. Even though the Middle East has experienced some changes in recent years, as long as oppression exists, resistance will continue.”

However: “The evolution of the international order will be a long process. People across the region – not only Iranians – do not accept hegemony. But weakening hegemonic structures and transforming the global order will take time… So, patience is required. BRICS is developing strong momentum and is expanding with new members. It will need time for internal integration, improving mechanisms, and organising resources. But it will become an important mechanism in shaping the future international order, playing a growing role not only financially but also politically and in the security arena.”

Jin is a senior research fellow at the Shanghai Institute for International Studies (SIIS) as well as a nonresident senior fellow at the Middle East Council on Global Affairs, based in Doha, Qatar.

The following article was originally published by Tehran Times. A video of the interview may be viewed here.

China, the construction of multipolar world, and the pursuit of sovereignty

In the following article, which was originally published on the website of Al Mayadeen, Pedro Monzón Barata argues that, through a series of major initiatives and practical programs, China is offering the Global South tools for financial autonomy, strategic alliances, and development beyond US hegemony:

“At a historic moment when the Western liberal order shows clear signs of exhaustion… China emerges not merely as an economic competitor, but as the architect of a geopolitical alternative… China is no longer an emerging power: it is the only nation with the economic, technological, financial, and diplomatic scale capable of seriously challenging US unipolar hegemony.”

Faced with this reality, he suggests that “Western elites have revived the old rhetoric of the ‘Yellow Peril’ – racist and manipulative narrative that seeks to criminalise the peaceful rise of a non-Western country and justify policies of containment, blockade, and confrontation.”

But for its part: “China’s strategy does not aim simply to displace Washington, but rather – through historical patience and strategic pragmatism – to weave the pillars of a multipolar world in which power is no longer concentrated in a single pole but distributed among multiple centres of sovereign decision-making.”

An example is how the SWIFT international payments mechanism, which has been misused to disconnect Cuba, Russia and other countries from the international financial system, has been answered by China’s rolling out of the Cross-Border Interbank Payment System (CIPS), “an infrastructure that, while not replacing SWIFT, offers a sovereign, more efficient, and less costly channel for international transactions.”

On a grander scale, the significance of BRICS+ goes beyond statistics: “By bringing together the world’s leading oil and gas producers – controlling over 40% of global reserves… and now also incorporating strategic actors from the Caribbean, the Southern Cone, and Southeast Asia, the bloc has acquired unprecedented geopolitical weight.”

Moreover: “Cuba’s inclusion – historically a symbol of anti-imperialist resistance in Latin America, with a small economy but a vast medical, scientific, educational, ethical, solidarity-based, and diplomatic capital – marks a shift of notable significance: for the first time, a socialist Third World country that has resisted more than six decades of blockade joins the core of a bloc aspiring to redefine the global order away from neoliberalism and toward fraternity. This reinforces the BRICS+’s plurinational, anti-hegemonic, and civilisational diversity, distancing it even further from the exclusive G7 club.”

However, the nature and role of BRICS+ should not be overestimated or misrepresented. “Beneath its discourse of South-South solidarity and equitable multipolarity, historical bilateral tensions persist (traditionally between India and China), alongside ideological differences and often contradictory energy and geopolitical agendas. Thus, BRICS+ is not a unified front, but a complex negotiating space where cooperation and competition coexist.”

Latin America is a key arena: “Historically trapped in the dynamics of dependency, the region now sees China as an opportunity to diversify partners and break from its traditional subordination to the West. Yet opposing forces exist: on one side, oligarchic interests subordinate to the United States and Western capitalism; on the other, those who genuinely support deeper relations but simultaneously aim to protect national interests…

“Venezuela and Nicaragua represent paradigmatic cases of how the pursuit of national sovereignty intertwines with the construction of a multipolar order. Both countries, subjected for decades to unilateral sanctions, financial blockades, and destabilisation operations orchestrated from Washington, have found in China a strategic ally that respects their right to self-determination.”

How China’s initiatives are paving a new path to a better world

The following article, originally published in Xinhua, provides an overview of the four major global initiatives proposed by President Xi Jinping over the last five years – the Global Development Initiative (GDI, 2021), the Global Security Initiative (GSI, 2022), the Global Civilisation Initiative (GCI, 2023) and the Global Governance Initiative (GGI) – and discusses how these proposals link together to form a unified framework for building a community with a shared future for humanity, addressing, respectively, material development, peace and stability, cultural understanding, and institutional reform.

The article notes that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has described the initiatives as being “totally compatible with the UN Charter” and that they have attracted broad support from countries around the world, particularly the Global South.

The piece argues that systems of international cooperation are increasingly fractured by unilateralism, sanctions, protectionism and bloc confrontation, contrasting these trends with China’s emphasis on sovereign equality, dialogue and multilateralism. It highlights deepening global crises: development is in reverse in parts of the world, the poverty gap is widening, and security tensions are intensifying. The article states that progress toward the UN’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goals has stalled: only 35 percent of targets are on track, nearly half are moving too slowly, and 18 percent have regressed. It stresses worsening global inequalities, noting the poorest half of humanity holds only 2 percent of global wealth, billions face food insecurity exacerbated by conflicts, and climate-adaptation financing gaps are growing.

The article describes the GDI as a break from Western-dominated development models, emphasising China’s long-term planning combined with market dynamism. Projects funded by the Global Development and South-South Cooperation Fund in Nepal and major infrastructure cooperation such as the China-Laos Railway are cited as examples of China “teaching a man to fish”: the Laos railway cut logistics costs by over 30 percent and created 100,000 jobs, while China-Africa Agricultural Technology Demonstration Centres increased crop yields by 30-60 percent and benefited over a million farmers. Meanwhile, China-Brazil clean-energy cooperation centres are extending power access to remote communities, linking development to ecological protection.

The Global Governance Initiative, which was announced in September this year, proposes a program of global governance reform rooted in respect for sovereign equality, international rule of law, genuine multilateralism, adherence to the principles and purposes of the UN Charter, and a people-centred focus on employment, education and healthcare. China is turning these ideas into practice by supporting reforms in multilateral institutions, expanding BRICS and SCO cooperation, promoting South-South platforms such as FOCAC (Forum on China-Africa Cooperation) and the China-CELAC Forum, and advancing new governance norms in data security, AI, and cross-border data flows. The article notes China’s increased funding to the China-UN Peace and Development Fund, and highlights the creation of the International Organisation for Mediation headquartered in Hong Kong, established with more than 30 countries, as an example of security governance via law rather than force.

Group of Friends of Global Governance launched at UN

The formation of the Group of Friends of Global Governance was formally announced at the United Nations in New York on December 9. This follows President Xi Jinping launching the Global Governance Initiative at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Plus Meeting in Tianjin on September 1.

The group initially consists of 43 members. Besides China, among them are Belarus, Burkina Faso, Cuba, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Iran, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Niger, Palestine, Senegal, Venezuela and Zimbabwe.

The founders state that they reaffirm their firm commitment to upholding the legacy won by the Second World War, including the international system with the UN at its core, the international order underpinned by international law, and the basic norms of international relations based on all the purposes and principles of the UN Charter in their entirety, including respecting sovereign equality, territorial integrity and political independence of any state, and the principle of non-interference in internal affairs of other states, and refraining in their international relations from the threat or use of force.

They express particular concern over the serious under-representation of the Global South, the erosion of the authority of international law, including the purposes and principles of the UN Charter. “We emphasise the need to achieve sustainable development in its three dimensions, economic, social and environmental in a balanced and integrated manner and address other urgent and emerging global challenges.”

They further welcome the Global Governance Initiative proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping, and its five core concepts – sovereign equality, international rule of law, multilateralism, a people-centred approach and taking real actions.

“Through this Group, we commit to deepening dialogue and coordination on global governance issues, engaging with relevant stakeholders, amplifying our collective voice, building and expanding consensus, and delivering concrete outcomes that respond to the yearns of our peoples and the legitimate aspirations of our nations.

“We emphasised that the international community must address the challenges and needs faced by developing countries, especially countries in special situations in particular, African countries, least developed countries, landlocked developing countries and small island developing States.”

Finally: “We extend a cordial invitation to all like-minded Member States to join this Group of Friends. Together, we stand ready to strengthen solidarity and cooperation in pursuit of a more just and equitable global governance system and a brighter future of peace, security, prosperity, and progress for all.”

Two complementary strategies in support of Palestine and multipolarity

We are very pleased to publish the following contributed article by Comrade Massimiliano Ay, General Secretary of the Communist Party (Switzerland), which makes an original analysis of the present state of the Palestinian struggle, and the role of various international actors in this regard, within the context of the multipolarity trend and on the basis of Marxism-Leninism.

He notes that, back in September 2024, he had written that, from a tactical viewpoint, Israel was apparently winning, but from a strategic one, it would lose, and this is now being reflected in a range of tactical adjustments on the part of various imperialist forces.

Against this background, he continues: “China (and its Communist Party) will probably tactically follow a different line from us Western communists (and perhaps also from Arab communists) who lack governmental responsibility. This potential difference in method must in no way be read as a capitulation or, worse, as a Chinese betrayal of the Palestinian cause, but rather as an intelligent political move complementary to our struggle! For although, as stated by the top Chinese representative at the UN, “the Palestinian question is at the heart of Middle Eastern issues” and is therefore not an insignificant element in the path of the New Silk Road, it is also true that the conflict between imperialism and multipolarism is fought on a global level and not only in Gaza: Ukraine, for example, is at this moment a war scenario potentially much more dangerous for the world than Gaza, and Moscow therefore has this priority. Beijing for its part must win the battle against Trump’s tariffs, otherwise the entire Chinese economic strategy would be weakened.”

In this way, Comrade Ay creatively utilises and applies the same dialectical approach advanced by Mao Zedong, for example in his speech to the November 1957 Moscow Meeting of Communist and Workers’ Parties, where he said that the compromises made by socialist countries in their relations with capitalist states should not necessarily be followed by others. “Each party and country must consider its own conditions.”

Ay adds: “It is therefore no surprise that last November 17th, both Beijing and Moscow abstained in the UN Security Council, thus allowing the (awful) Donald Trump plan to pass de facto. Comrade Fu Cong, China’s ambassador to the UN, while stressing that this resolution, put to a vote rather hastily, was ‘deficient in many aspects and deeply concerning’, especially because it does not establish that ‘Gaza belongs to the Palestinian people and to no one else’, explicitly reiterated that Beijing’s priority remains, at all costs, ‘a lasting ceasefire, alleviating the humanitarian disaster, and starting post-war reconstruction to rekindle the hope of peace and development for the population of Gaza’.

China and the West: two systems, two futures

In the video embedded below, Jyotishman Mudiar of the popular India and Global Left channel interviews Friends of Socialist China co-editor Carlos Martinez on a range of topics related to China and global political economy, including: the dimensions of China’s economic progress since 1949; the differences between the first three decades of socialist construction and the Reform and Opening Up period; the differences between Socialism with Chinese Characteristics and capitalism; the definition of socialism; the political system that enables China’s unprecedented progress on poverty alleviation and green energy; the nature of multipolarity; the differences between today’s emerging multipolarity and the inter-imperialist rivalry of the early 20th century; how multipolarity opens a path for advance to socialism; the nature of the current long crisis of capitalism; and the meaning of “changes unseen in a century”.

Change unseen in a century: The collective rise of the Global South with Socialist China at the core

The 15^th World Socialism Forum was held in Beijing from November 3-4. Organised by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), the forum was hosted by the World Socialism Research Centre, the Academy of Marxism, and the Institute of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, all of which operate as units of CASS.

With an overall theme of ‘At the Crossroads of World History: The Choice of all Nations’, the forum addressed a number of topics, namely:

Chinese Modernisation and a New Form of Human Advancement
The Rise of Global South Countries and Transformation of the Global Governance System
Rejecting Unilateral Power Politics and Upholding International Equity and Justice
New Features and Trends of World Socialism amid Profound Global Changes
Safeguarding the Outcomes of the World Anti-fascist War and the Postwar International Order

Several hundred Chinese delegates were joined by comrades from Vietnam, Laos and Cuba and by senior representatives from communist parties from around the world, including:

Communist Party of Peru (Red Fatherland)
Peruvian Communist Party
Communist Party of Argentina
Colombian Communist Party
Communist Party of Uruguay
Communist Party of Spain (Party of the European Left)
Communist Refoundation Party of Italy (Party of the European Left)
Italian Communist Party
Communist Party (Italy)
Communist Party of Italy
Hungarian Workers’ Party
Communist Party (Denmark)
Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia [Czech Republic]
Communist Party (Switzerland)
Communist Party of Finland
German Communist Party
Progressive Party of the Working People of Cyprus (AKEL)
Communist Party of Ireland
Portuguese Communist Party
Communist Party of Armenia
Communist Party of the Russian Federation
Belarusian Communist Party
Socialist Platform (Georgia)
New Socialist Movement of Georgia
South African Communist Party
Japanese Communist Party
Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist)
Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Socialist) [On November 5, this party was one of 10 that united to form the Nepali Communist Party]
Communist Party of Bangladesh
Communist Party of Lebanon
Iraqi Communist Party

Other participants included academics and scholars of Marxism from Venezuela, Colombia, Tanzania, Russia, Hungary, Ireland, Britain and other countries, think tanks and Marxist study institutions, including from Latin America, Russia, India, Germany, Italy and Cyprus, and young scholars of Marxism currently studying in China, including from the United States, Denmark and India.

Friends of Socialist China was represented by our co-editor Keith Bennett. Below we publish his speech to the forum on the subject of ‘Changes Unseen in a Century – The Collective Rise of the Global South with Socialist China at the Core.’

Following the World Socialism Forum, Keith also attended the ‘International Academic Conference on Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and 21^st Century Marxism’, with sessions in Xi’an and Yan’an, and then the ‘International Forum on Overseas Studies on Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era’, held in Beijing.

General Secretary Xi Jinping often reminds us that we are living in a moment of history where we are witnessing changes unseen in a century.

This statement has applicability and relevance across a range of events and numerous spheres of human endeavour. But perhaps it does not express itself quite so cogently, or with such profound import, as it does with regard to the tectonic changes in the world’s geopolitical configuration and the consequent evolution and reform of global governance.

Over a century ago, as Lenin observed, the division of the world among the great powers had been completed. This meant that the world was divided into a small number of oppressor nations on the one hand and a great mass of oppressed nations on the other. Semi-colonial, semi-feudal China, despite being the world’s longest continuous civilisation, was to be found in the latter group.

The US war on China, Venezuela and the international left

Over the past two months, the US has been engaged in an alarming military buildup around Venezuela, launching lethal strikes in international waters and openly weighing plans for direct attacks on Venezuelan territory. It is the largest US military concentration in the region in decades.

The arrival of the USS Gerald R Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, along with three destroyers and more than 5,500 troops, has heightened fears of imminent assault. The Ford joins roughly 10,000 US troops already stationed in the region. Ostensibly, these deployments are to counter drug trafficking, but Washington has provided exactly zero to substantiate any such threat. Since early September, US forces have carried out at least 19 airstrikes, killing nearly a hundred people on boats in international waters. These attacks have been widely denounced as being extrajudicial killings and blatant violations of international law.

The article below, written by CODEPINK activists Megan Russell and Michelle Ellner for Counterpunch, argues that the escalation against Venezuela is part of a multi-front war – domestically through repression and abroad through sanctions, tariffs, proxy wars and military aggression – to maintain US hegemony; to assert control over natural resources; and to subvert the global trajectory towards a multipolar world. The US push for war against both China and Venezuela “is but a violent reaction to the impending truth that US hegemonic status is slipping, and with it, its control on global resources, political power, and the ability to dictate the terms of development and sovereignty for the rest of the world.”

A similar point is made by Jeremy Corbyn in a piece for the Stop the War Coalition, in which he writes that the attack on Venezuela “is about the United States reasserting power in its (imperially named) ‘backyard’. It is no coincidence that this action is being taken at a time when countries in Latin and South America are looking increasingly towards BRICS trading partners, particularly China. Military intervention is just one part of a concerted assault on multipolarity.”

Megan and Michelle observe that China’s growing partnership with Venezuela provides a crucial counterweight to US hegemonism. Through loans, infrastructure projects, and friendly, mutually respectful relations, China has provided indispensable support for Venezuela’s sovereign development.

China has, over the past few decades, maintained a strong alliance with Venezuela. Starting in the early 2000s, China began providing Venezuela with tens of billions of dollars in loans to be repaid in oil shipments. This has enabled Venezuela to fund social programs and infrastructure while bypassing Western-controlled financial systems like the IMF and World Bank… China has also helped Venezuela build railways, housing projects, and telecommunications infrastructure as part of its broader Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to foster development across the Global South.

In response to this latest escalation, China has taken a clear and principled stand, continuing to develop its bilateral cooperation with Venezuela and roundly condemning the US’s “unilateral and excessive enforcement operations”, stressing that these violate international law and the UN Charter. China has urged the US to return to proper judicial cooperation frameworks rather than acting as a self-appointed global policeman. In contrast to Washington’s coercion, China’s position rests on respect for sovereignty and international law, and an orientation towards peace.

The article concludes with a call for the broadest possible solidarity:

The struggle against US imperialism is a global struggle. To stand with Venezuela, with China, or with any nation resisting domination is to stand for the possibility of a new internationalism rooted in solidarity across borders.
That is our task–to connect these struggles, to see in every act of resistance the reflection of our own, and to build a world of shared humanity and global equality.

Everywhere you look, the United States is at war– at home, through military occupation of cities, institutional violence, and state-sanctioned kidnappings, and abroad, through economic coercion, proxy warfare, and endless intervention. In times like these, when it is far too easy to be overwhelmed by the inexhaustible nature of the war machine, we must remember that these are not separate crises, but different fronts of the same struggle. And to resist one is to resist them all.

The enemy, in every case, is U.S. imperialism.

Resistance movements against U.S. imperialism have sprouted up all over the world in response to its indiscriminate violence and disregard for human life. Together, they form the living front of the international left, a network of people and organizations that seek liberation from the same systems of domination and colonial control. While their forms differ, from student encampments to workers’ strikes, the purpose remains the same: an end to empire and the creation of a new multipolar world rooted in the simple truth of our shared humanity and the equal worth of every nation and people.

The alliance between China and Venezuela is part of this broader project. And the U.S. push for war against both nations is but a violent reaction to the impending truth that U.S. hegemonic status is slipping, and with it, its control on global resources, political power, and the ability to dictate the terms of development and sovereignty for the rest of the world.

Is China’s foreign policy ‘good enough’?

The following article is a chapter by Friends of Socialist China co-founder Danny Haiphong from the forthcoming compilation China Changes Everything, put together by the FoSC US Committee and featuring chapters by Ken Hammond, Gerald Horne, Paweł Wargan, Kyle Ferrana, Jacquie Luqman, KJ Noh, Margaret Kimberley, Radhika Desai, Dee Knight, Keith Bennett, Carlos Martinez and others.

Danny argues that widespread Western claims about China’s foreign policy – from “debt trap diplomacy” to imperial ambitions – are unfounded and rooted in projection.

The article debunks the “debt trap” narrative, using research by scholars such as Deborah Brautigam showing that most Global South debt is owed to Western lenders, the IMF, and the World Bank rather than China. Cases often cited as examples of Chinese asset seizures, such as Sri Lanka’s Hambantota port or Uganda’s airport, are shown to be fabrications. Meanwhile, the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) focuses on infrastructure development and mutual benefit – building railways, ports, metros, energy systems, communications pathways, schools and hospitals in countries long exploited by colonial powers. These projects create jobs, raise living standards, promote development, and expand global connectivity.

Taking up the complex issue of whether China is “doing enough” in relation to Israel’s genocide in Gaza, Danny rejects the accusation that China is passive. He cites China’s resolute stand at the UN demanding comprehensive ceasefire and withdrawal, its mediation efforts among Palestinian factions, and its support for the principal regional backers of Palestinian self-determination, most notably Iran. Demands that China “do more,” he says, misplace responsibility: the genocide is enabled by US military, financial, and diplomatic support. The real task for people in the West is not to pressure China, but to confront their own governments and the US-led imperial system that causes these crises.

There isn’t a single statement from the Palestinian resistance organizations or from the entire Axis of Resistance demanding that China do more. In fact, these forces are building closer ties to China with the aim of strengthening their stability and therefore their effectiveness in resisting imperialism and colonialism. China’s relations with Iran have grown tremendously, helping the biggest supporter of Palestine to survive and to even make military and industrial advances despite U.S. and EU sanctions.

Furthermore, Danny notes that China is operating under significant constraints while working systematically to oppose imperialism and enable a multipolar world order. He concludes:

It is clear that China is operating within the contradictions of a decaying US-led unipolar order, and by doing so can offer many tangible benefits to humanity. The real question we in the West should be asking is, how can we collectively strengthen our movements to put real pressure on the root cause of the genocide in Gaza: the U.S. empire. Once we do, new and ample opportunities will emerge, to end not only the horrors in Gaza, but also the entire system of empire from which they sprang.

The question in the title may seem hyperbolic, but it is one that comes up in one form or another across the U.S. political spectrum.

U.S. elites slam China’s foreign policy as riddled with “debt traps” for poorer countries in the Global South. The Western corporate media asserts that China is pursuing its own kind of empire and has a target on its own province of Taiwan as well as its neighbors in the South China Sea.

For the US ruling circle and its European vassals, China is an imperial competitor seeking to destroy the West’s “rules-based” international order (actually a euphemism for U.S. imperialism).

There are also plenty on the political “left”, even some communists, who view China in the exact same light. They consider China to be “state-capitalist” and therefore pursuing profits at the expense of humanity. And then there are those who, even if they rebuke this criticism and uphold China’s socialist foundation, are profoundly disappointed in China’s foreign policy. To these critics, China falls short of the global solidarity required in this historical moment and is not aggressive enough in the pursuit of justice.

Xi Jinping: Hegemonism causes only war and disaster; fairness and justice ensure global peace and development

Chinese President Xi Jinping visited the Republic of Korea (ROK) from October 30-November 1 to attend the 32nd APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) Economic Leaders’ Meeting and to then pay a state visit to the ROK.

On October 31, he delivered a written address to the APEC CEO Summit, entitled, ‘Putting the Asia Pacific at the Forefront of the Joint Endeavor for World Development and Prosperity.’

Xi Jinping noted that: “The world has come to a new crossroads – solidarity, cooperation and mutual benefit or return of hegemonism and the law of the jungle; multilateralism, openness and inclusiveness or unilateralism and protectionism. What we choose will profoundly affect the future of the world. We must have vision, step up to our responsibility, and choose what meets the expectation of the people in the Asia Pacific and stands the test of history.

“As the saying goes, ‘He who knows the past understands the present.’ Since the great victory of the World Anti-Fascist War 80 years ago, the international system with the United Nations at its core has been put in place gradually, and multilateral systems in economic, trade, financial and other areas have been established. A new chapter was opened for humanity’s pursuit of peace and development.

“History attests that humanity shares a common destiny. While hegemonism causes only war and disaster, fairness and justice ensure global peace and development. While confrontation and antagonism breed only estrangement and turbulence, win-win cooperation proves to be the right way forward. While unilateralism precipitates division and regression, multilateralism is the viable option for tackling global challenges.”

In the current situation he noted: “We embrace peaceful development and reject the assertion that a strong country will inevitably seek hegemony. We champion win-win cooperation and denounce winner-takes-all practices. We advocate mutual learning among civilisations, and do not believe in clash of civilisations. We promote fairness and justice and oppose power politics. China has successively put forward the Belt and Road Initiative as well as the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, the Global Civilisation Initiative, and the Global Governance Initiative. They are China’s solutions to the salient issues across the world, based on Chinese wisdom. We look forward to working with all parties to promote common prosperity and a win-win future for all and building a community with a shared future for humanity.”

He then advanced four proposals as follows:

We should take the lead in safeguarding peace and stability. We must always ensure the equal right of all countries to participate in international affairs regardless of their size, strength, or wealth.

We should take the lead in enhancing openness and connectivity. We should firmly safeguard the WTO-centred, rules-based multilateral trading system, strengthen solidarity and collaboration, oppose protectionism, reject unilateralism and bullying, and prevent the world from reverting to the law of the jungle. We must have the courage to remove barriers, keep global industrial and supply chains stable and unimpeded, advance regional economic integration, push forward the Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific, and play the Asia Pacific part in global economic growth.

We should take the lead in promoting win-win cooperation. We should stay true to the vision of harmony without uniformity, fully leverage the diversity of Asia Pacific economies, draw on each other’s strengths, and jointly make the pie of Asia Pacific cooperation bigger.

We should take the lead in pursuing benefits for all and inclusiveness. We should put the people first and fully implement the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. We should create greater synergy between our development strategies and step up support for developing economies. We should bridge development gaps, increase people’s well-being, and deliver prosperity to all the people in the Asia Pacific.

Next year, he added, China will host APEC for the third time. “This demonstrates our full commitment to Asia Pacific cooperation and our willingness to fulfill our responsibilities.”

Introducing China’s current domestic situation, he explained:

“China has been a major engine of world economic growth for many years. China’s 14th Five-Year Plan period ends this year. In the past five years, despite increasing external shocks, the Chinese economy has registered an annual growth rate of around 5.5 percent on average, contributing around 30 percent of global growth. A few days ago, the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China adopted the Recommendations for Formulating the 15th Five-Year Plan at its fourth plenary session.”

In this regard:

China can provide more growth opportunities for the global business community. It is now the world’s second largest market of consumption and import, and the only developing country that hosts a national-level international import expo and continually opens its market to the world. The China market is huge and promising.

China can provide a good business environment for the global business community. China is universally recognised as one of the safest countries in the world and grants either unilateral visa exemption or full mutual visa-free entry to 76 countries.

China can provide enabling conditions of green growth for the global business community. China is making coordinated advances in decarbonising, mitigating pollution, expanding green transition and promoting growth. It has the largest renewable energy system and the biggest, most complete new energy industrial chain in the world. The increased area of afforestation in China accounts for a quarter of the world total. We are committed to meeting our carbon peaking and carbon neutrality targets. We are actively advancing cooperation in launching green energy projects. We support the free flow of quality green technologies and products and do our best to provide assistance to developing countries.

In his address to the second session of the leaders’ meeting on November 1, President Xi said that:

“At present, the new wave of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation is deepening. In particular, the rapid advance of frontier technologies such as artificial intelligence is opening new horizons for humanity. On the other hand, the world faces lackluster economic growth and a widening gap in global development. Challenges such as climate change, food security and energy security are intensifying. Asia Pacific economies must enhance mutually beneficial cooperation, make good use of new opportunities, stand up to new challenges, and forge a sustainable and brighter future together.”

In this regard, he advanced three proposals:

We should further unleash the potential of digital and smart development to give the Asia Pacific region a fresh edge in innovation-driven development. We should fully harness new technologies to empower and propel us forward, seize the opportunities of digital, smart and green development, and move faster to nurture and promote new quality productive forces. AI is very important for shaping the future and should contribute to the well-being of people of all countries and regions. We should bear in mind the well-being of the entire humanity and promote the sound and orderly development of AI while ensuring that it is beneficial, safe and fair.

We should stay committed to green and low-carbon development to build a new paradigm for sustainable development in the Asia Pacific region. Clear waters and green mountains are just as valuable as gold and silver. We should keep in mind our responsibility to our future generations, enhance synergy between green development strategies of all economies, promote free flows of quality green technologies and products, accelerate the green and low-carbon transition, and vigorously tackle climate change. We should ensure the true fulfillment of common but differentiated responsibilities, and urge developed economies to continuously provide necessary support for developing economies in financing, technology, capacity building and other areas.

We should build an inclusive and universally beneficial future to foster a new dynamism in the inclusive growth of the Asia Pacific. We should always put the people first, and strengthen policy communication, experience sharing and results-oriented cooperation to fully implement the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, eliminate poverty together, and promote shared prosperity for all the people in the Asia Pacific.

Also, on the morning of November 1, President Xi attended the handover ceremony of the 32nd APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting and announced that China would host the 33rd APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province.

Understanding the changes unseen in a century

The following text is based on a presentation given by Friends of Socialist China co-editor Carlos Martinez at the Thinkers Forum, held at Fudan University, Shanghai, on 16 October 2025, which event brought together thinkers and scholars from around the world to discuss “Global Changes and the Reshaping of the World Order.”

Carlos explores the meaning of Xi Jinping’s observation that “the world is undergoing profound changes unseen in a century”, arguing that these changes reflect a historic shift from Western-led unipolar dominance toward a multipolar, post-imperialist global order. The article traces these changes back to the October Revolution of 1917, which opened a new era of socialist development and anti-colonial liberation.

After the setbacks of the 1980s and 1990s — including the collapse of the Soviet Union and the rise of neoliberal globalisation — Western commentators like Francis Fukuyama declared “the end of history”. Yet, as Deng Xiaoping noted, history advances through contradictions and reversals. The 2008 financial crisis, widening inequality and environmental collapse have since exposed the limits of neoliberal capitalism.

Meanwhile, a multipolar world is emerging. China stands at the centre of this process, advancing initiatives such as the Belt and Road, the Global Development Initiative, and the Global Governance Initiative — all based on sovereignty, non-interference, and mutual benefit. Such efforts are helping countries of the Global South break from dependency and pursue sustainable, sovereign development.

The US and its allies, meanwhile, cling to hegemony through wars, sanctions, economic coercion and destabilisation. Humanity faces a stark choice: socialism or barbarism, cooperation or confrontation. Carlos concludes by calling for a global united front of socialist, anti-imperialist, and progressive forces to ensure that this century’s transformations lead to peace, justice, and sustainable development.

Carlos’s presentation was summarised in the popular Chinese news website Guancha.

General Secretary Xi Jinping has observed several times that “the world is undergoing profound changes unseen in a century”. What are these changes, and what are their implications for the current global situation?

Before addressing the changes the world is experiencing today, it is worthwhile reflecting on the major changes that occurred a century ago, since the dramatic shifts of that time laid the foundations for the transformations we are witnessing now.

The October Revolution of 1917 was a watershed moment marking the beginning of humanity’s transition from capitalism to socialism. The revolution in Russia led to the formation of the world’s first socialist state – the Soviet Union – which became a revolutionary base area for the working class and oppressed peoples of the world. The Soviet Union provided crucial support for the liberation of, and construction of socialism in, Eastern Europe, China, Cuba, Korea, Vietnam and elsewhere.

The Soviet Union and China played the decisive role in the defeat of fascism in World War II. This victory gave tremendous impetus to the anti-colonial movement and national liberation struggles around the world – in Africa, in Asia, in Latin America, in the Caribbean and the Pacific. The colonial system was no longer viable.

As such, the October Revolution constituted the first major breach in the imperialist world system, thereby marking the start of the current era of human development.

Tianjin Declaration advances roadmap for Shanghai Cooperation Organisation

On August 31-September 1, the Chinese coastal city of Tianjin hosted the 25th Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).

The meeting adopted the Tianjin Declaration. At just over 6,000 words, it sets out a comprehensive roadmap for the next phase of the organisation’s development across a wide range of issues and sectors. It begins by noting that:

“The global political and economic landscape, as well as other fields of international relations, are undergoing profound historical changes. The international system is evolving toward a more just, equitable, and representative multipolarity, opening new prospects for countries’ own development and mutually beneficial cooperation.

“At the same time, geopolitical confrontations are intensifying, posing threats and challenges to the security and stability of the world and the SCO region. The global economy, particularly international trade and financial markets, is suffering severe shocks.

“The year 2025 marks the 80th anniversary of the victory in World War II and the founding of the United Nations. The great victory of peace-loving nations united to defeat Nazism, fascism, and militarism determined the course of world history and created conditions for establishing a stable international relations system ensuring peaceful development for humanity. Member states call for remembering the heroic feats of peoples and the historical lessons of World War II.”

In a clear reference to the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, adopted by China’s Premier Zhou Enlai and Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in 1954, it states:

“Member states advocate respect for the right of all peoples to independently choose their political, economic, and social development paths, emphasising that mutual respect for sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity, equality, mutual benefit, non-interference in internal affairs, and the principle of non-use or threat of use of force are the foundation for the stable development of international relations.”

It adds that: “Member states reaffirm the practical significance of promoting the building of a new type of international relations featuring mutual respect, fairness, justice, and win-win cooperation, as well as a community with a shared future for humanity, and conducting dialogue based on the concept of ‘One Earth, One Family, One Future.’”

Regarding some key international issues at present, the Declaration affirms:

PALESTINE:

“Member states reaffirm their deep concern over the ongoing escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and strongly condemn the actions that have caused numerous civilian casualties and a humanitarian disaster in the Gaza Strip.

Largest ever gathering of SCO family held in Tianjin

On August 31-September 1, immediately prior to China’s grand celebration of the 80^th anniversary of victory in the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War, the north China coastal city of Tianjin, near to Beijing, hosted the 25th Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) followed by the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Plus meeting.

These were the biggest gatherings to date in the SCO’s quarter century history, drawing more than 20 heads of state or government, along with the heads of 10 international organisations, including the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

As we previously reported, at the latter meeting, President Xi Jinping proposed the Global Governance Initiative (GGI), which aims at establishing “a more just and equitable global governance system and advancing toward a community with a shared future for humanity.”

Presiding over the SCO Summit, President Xi delivered an important statement entitled, “Staying True to SCO Founding Mission and Ushering in a Better Future.”

He said that the SCO has established itself as a model for a new type of international relations. The organisation was the first to set up a military confidence-building mechanism in its member states’ border areas and the first to take multilateral actions against the three forces of terrorism, separatism and extremism, thereby maintaining peace and tranquility in the region. The SCO was the first to launch Belt and Road cooperation, providing a robust driving force for development and prosperity and further improving the multidimensional connectivity network across the region. The SCO was the first to conclude a treaty on long-term good-neighbourliness, friendship and cooperation, and proclaim the member states’ commitment to forge lasting friendship and refrain from hostilities, bringing the hearts of the peoples closer to each other. The SCO was the first to put forth a vision of global governance featuring extensive consultation and joint contribution for shared benefit as an effort to practice true multilateralism, thus becoming a proactive force for world peace and development.

President Xi emphasised that the SCO has grown into the world’s largest regional organisation, and its international influence and appeal are increasing day by day. Looking ahead, the member states should carry forward the Shanghai Spirit, forge ahead with solid steps, and better tap into the potential of the SCO in the following five ways:

Seeking common ground while putting aside differences. SCO member states should respect their differences, maintain strategic communication, build up consensus, and strengthen solidarity and collaboration.

Pursuing mutual benefit and win-win results. SCO member states need to better align their development strategies and promote the high-quality implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative, improve trade and investment facilitation, enhance cooperation in such areas as energy, infrastructure, green industry, the digital economy, scientific and technological innovation, and artificial intelligence, so as to march toward modernisation hand in hand by bringing out the best in one another and working together for a shared future.

Championing openness and inclusiveness. SCO member states need to enhance mutual understanding and friendship through people-to-people exchanges, firmly support one another in economic cooperation, and jointly cultivate a garden of civilisations in which all cultures flourish in prosperity and harmony through mutual enlightenment.

Upholding fairness and justice. SCO member states must promote a correct historical perspective on World War II, oppose the Cold War mentality, bloc confrontation and bullying practices, safeguard the UN-centred international system, support the multilateral trading system with the WTO at its core, and make the global governance system more just and equitable.

Striving for real results and high efficiency. SCO member states should continuously promote the reform of the Organisation, increase resources input and enhance capacity building to improve its institutional structure and make its decision-making more scientific and its actions more efficient, and provide stronger underpinnings for security and economic cooperation among them.

The leaders of the member states signed and issued the Tianjin Declaration of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, approved the SCO Development Strategy to 2035, released a statement on the victory of World War II and the 80th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations, a statement on supporting the multilateral trading system, and adopted 24 outcome documents covering enhanced cooperation in security, economy, people-to-people ties, and organisational development.