Speeches Archives - Page 2 of 7 - Friends of Socialist China

Those that stand for socialism and peace should build solidarity with China

At the invitation of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), Friends of Socialist China co-editor Carlos Martinez attended the 14th World Socialism Forum, held in Beijing from 9-10 September 2024.

The theme of this year’s forum was Current changes in the world and our times, and addressed the possibilities for furthering the cause of socialism around the world. There were over 200 delegates from China, Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, Britain, Cameroon, Cuba, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Hungary, Iraq, Italy, Japan, Laos, Lebanon, Nepal, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, Syria, Uruguay, Vietnam and Zambia. Keynote speakers included Zhen Zhanmin (Vice President of CASS), Cheng Enfu (Former President of the Academy of Marxism) and Zhang Weiwei (Dean of the China Institute at Fudan University).

Carlos spoke in one of the parallel sessions, introducing the book The East is Still Red – Chinese Socialism in the 21st Century and explaining the rationale for writing it. We reproduce his contribution below.

A write-up of the forum can be found on China Daily.

The East is Still Red: Chinese Socialism in the 21st Century was published in English by Praxis Press last year and will soon be available in Chinese through Jiuzhou Press, having been translated by comrade Zhuo Mingliang from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Many books have been written by Westerners about China. Did the world really need another one?

Looking at the US and UK best-selling book lists, you can find titles such as:

How China Derailed Its Peaceful Rise
China’s New Tyranny
How China Took Over While America’s Elite Slept
How the Chinese Communist Party is Reshaping the World

And so on.

There are dozens, even hundreds, of books describing China as authoritarian, dystopian, aggressive, repressive and reactionary.

These are not serious works of politics, economics and history; they are part of an increasingly wide-ranging propaganda campaign aimed at building public support for an anti-China New Cold War.

One of the key reasons for the book to help build a movement against that New Cold War.

In the West, the most disgraceful slanders are being hurled at China: that it’s committing human rights abuses against Uyghur people in Xinjiang Province; that it’s suppressing religious freedoms; that it’s preventing the use of minority languages; that it’s engaged in predatory policies in its trade and investment relations with the countries of Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, the Middle East and the Pacific; that it’s an aggressive, expansionist power seeking to violate the sovereignty of other countries in the region; that it’s cracking down on basic democratic rights; and so on.

This is ultimately propaganda in favour of the West’s anti-China foreign policy, and in support of the US’s mission to maintain its hegemony, to hold on to its global economic and strategic advantages, and to pursue a Project for a New American Century.

The heroic Palestinian people are helping to bring about the defeat of imperialism

On Saturday 29 June 2024, the International Manifesto Group and Friends of Socialist China co-organised a webinar on the topic Changes unseen in a century – Gaza, the shifting balance of forces and the rise of multipolarity, bringing together leading analysts of global politics to explore the unfolding geopolitical consequences of Zionism’s genocidal assault on the Palestinian people.

The speakers included Seyed Mohammad Marandi (University of Tehran), Lowkey (Political campaigner and hip-hop artist), Ramzy Baroud (Editor, Palestine Chronicle), Faoud Bakr (Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine), Sara Flounders (International Action Center) and Bikrum Gill (International relations expert).

Embedded below is the full video of the event, followed by the text of the remarks given by Friends of Socialist China co-editors Carlos Martinez and Keith Bennett.

Carlos Martinez: The heroic Palestinian people are in the vanguard of the struggle for a better world

Thank you very much everyone for joining this webinar today, and thanks especially to the speakers.

The speakers are all a great deal more knowledgeable than I am on the subject matter, so I’m going to keep these introductory remarks brief.

I just wanted to explain a little bit about the theme of the event; the rationale for holding it.

The title references “Changes unseen in a century”, which is an expression that’s often been used by Chinese President Xi Jinping over the course of the last five years to describe the global political shift that’s taking place.

What does “changes unseen in a century” mean? And what were the big changes that happened a century ago?

What happened a century ago, in 1917, is that a revolution took place in Russia, which was the start of humanity’s transition from the era of capitalism to the era of socialism. The October Revolution led to the formation of the Soviet Union, which contributed to the building of socialism in China, Cuba, Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Nicaragua, and the people’s democracies of Eastern Europe.

It also gave an important impetus to the anti-colonial movement and national liberation struggles around the world – in Africa, in Asia, in Latin America, in the Caribbean, in the Pacific.

It was the first major breach in the imperialist world system, and it hastened the demise of colonialism. It changed the world forever.

Of course, a lot has happened in the intervening period, and not all of it good. A lot of countries won their liberation, but the Soviet Union and many other socialist countries don’t exist any more. We’ve witnessed the rise of neoliberalism and neocolonialism. We’ve lived through the supposed “end of history”.

But times are changing once again. These are the changes unseen in a century. The so-called post-war rules-based international order – that is, US hegemony – is breaking down.

The “end of history” narrative isn’t convincing any more.

Neoliberalism has run out of road.

The countries of the Global South are rising. China is stronger than it’s ever been. Iran is stronger than it’s ever been. Several countries of Latin America and the Caribbean have thrown off the neocolonial shackles and are pursuing sovereign development and explicitly aligning themselves with the forces resistance of worldwide.

Africa is recovering from the period of structural adjustment and moving towards unity and development. BRICS is becoming increasingly important – and has overtaken the G7 in population size, economic size, and global influence.

The US and its allies can no longer impose their will on the world.

They pummelled Afghanistan for 20 years and ended up handing it back to the very same forces that they claimed to be going after in the first place.

Xi Jinping: Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence a groundbreaking achievement in the history of international relations

A conference marking the 70th anniversary of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, a cornerstone of Chinese foreign policy, was held in Beijing on June 28. With guests from around the world, including former political leaders from some 20 countries, President Xi Jinping made an important speech, and the event was moderated by Premier Li Qiang.

In his speech, President Xi said that the five principles, “marked a groundbreaking and epoch-making achievement in the history of international relations.”

He noted:

“The Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence answered the call of the times, and its initiation was an inevitable historic development. In the wake of the Second World War, national independence and liberation movements swept across the globe, and the colonial system around the world crumbled and collapsed. At the same time, the world was overshadowed by the dark clouds of the Cold War.”

Meanwhile, newly independent countries aspired to safeguard their sovereignty and grow their national economy. New China followed the principle of independence, actively sought peaceful coexistence with all countries, and endeavoured to improve its external environment, especially in its neighbourhood.

Having been endorsed in joint statements with India and Myanmar, in 1955, “more than 20 Asian and African countries attended the Bandung Conference. They proposed ten principles for handling state-to-state relations on the basis of the Five Principles, and advocated the Bandung spirit of solidarity, friendship and cooperation. The Non-Aligned Movement that rose in the 1960s adopted the Five Principles as its guiding principles. The Declaration on Principles of International Law adopted at the 25th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in 1970 and the Declaration on the Establishment of the New International Economic Order adopted at the Sixth Special UNGA Session in 1974 both endorsed the Five Principles.”

Xi Jinping went on to note that:

The principles fully conform with the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, with the evolving trend of international relations of our times, and with the fundamental interests of all nations.
When following the Five Principles, even countries that differ from each other in social system, ideology, history, culture, faith, development stage, and size can build a relationship of mutual trust, friendship and cooperation.
Inspired and encouraged by the Five Principles, more and more countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America have voiced and extended support to each other, stood up against foreign interference, and embarked on an independent path of development. The Five Principles have also boosted South-South cooperation and improved and further developed North-South relations.
The Five Principles were initiated with the purpose of protecting the interests and pursuits of small and weak countries from power politics. They categorically oppose imperialism, colonialism and hegemonism, and reject belligerent and bullying practices of the law of the jungle.

Seventy years ago, the Chinese leader continued, “our forefathers, who experienced the scourge of hot wars and the confrontation of the Cold War, concluded that the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence were the crucial way to safeguard peace and sovereignty. This answer has withstood the test of international vicissitudes and has become more appealing rather than obsolete. Seventy years later today, challenged by the historic question of ‘what kind of world to build and how to build it,’ China has answered the call of the times by proposing a community with a shared future for humanity.”

Xi went on to say that both the five principles and the concept of a community with a shared future for humanity “demonstrate the broad vision of the Communist Party of China to contribute more to humanity.”

“Looking at the past and future at this critical moment in history, we believe our exploration for the betterment of human civilisation will not end, and our efforts for a better world will not end. No matter how the world evolves, one basic fact will not change. There is only one Planet Earth in the universe, and the whole humanity have one common home.”

On this basis, Xi set out a number of imperatives:

We need to uphold the principle of sovereign equality.

The five principles reject the big subduing the small, the strong bullying the weak, and the rich exploiting the poor.

We need to cement the foundation of mutual respect.

We must jointly uphold the “golden rule” of non-interference, and jointly oppose acts of imposing one’s will on others, stoking bloc confrontation, creating small circles, and forcing others to pick sides.

We need to turn the vision for peace and security into reality.

All countries must work together to seek peace, safeguard peace, and enjoy peace. In today’s interdependent world, absolute security and exclusive security are just not viable.

We need to unite all forces to achieve prosperity.

Here Xi invokes a Latin American proverb: “The only way to be profitably national is to be generously universal.”

We need to commit to fairness and justice.

China believes in true multilateralism. Our goal is that international rules should be made and observed by all countries. World affairs should be handled through extensive consultation, not dictated by those with more muscles.

We need to embrace an open and inclusive mindset.

All countries are on board the same giant ship. It carries on it not only aspirations for peace, economic prosperity and technological advancement, but also the diversity of civilisations and the continuation of the human species.

Whilst the Five Principles are intended to address the full spectrum of international relations, Xi emphasised that:

“Of all the forces in the world, the Global South stands out with a strong momentum, playing a vital role in promoting human progress. Standing at a new historical starting point, the Global South should be more open and more inclusive and join hands together to take the lead in building a community with a shared future for humanity.”

Addressing the Global South, he made the following calls:

Together, we should be the staunch force for peace.
Together, we should be the core driving force for open development.
Together, we should be the construction team of global governance.
Together, we should be the advocates for exchange among civilisations.

He continued by outlining a series of concrete measures that China will take to better support Global South cooperation.

Noting that, “the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence has been written into China’s Constitution long before,” Xi said that:

“China’s resolve to stay on the path of peaceful development will not change. We will never take the trodden path of colonial plundering, or the wrong path of seeking hegemony when one becomes strong. We will stay on the right path of peaceful development. Among the world’s major countries, China has the best track record with respect to peace and security. It has been exploring for a distinctly Chinese approach to resolving hotspot issues. It has been playing a constructive role in the Ukraine crisis, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and issues relating to the Korean peninsula, Iran, Myanmar, and Afghanistan. Every increase of China’s strength is an increase of the prospects of world peace.”

The conference also adopted a Beijing Declaration, summarising key viewpoints of the participants.

We reprint below the full text of President Xi Jinping’s speech and of the Beijing Declaration. They were originally published on the website of the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

BRICS and the reconfiguration of the world order

The 37^th annual dinner of Third World Solidarity, an organisation that enjoys a close working relationship with Friends of Socialist China, was held on June 4, at the Royal Nawab Restaurant in the west London suburb of Perivale.

Among the guests were Councillor Tariq Dar MBE, Mayor of the London Borough of Brent, Councillor Shakeel Akram, Deputy Mayor of the London Borough of Hounslow, Nisar Malik, prospective parliamentary candidate for Brentford and Isleworth for the Workers’ Party of Britain (WPB), veteran journalist Shafi Naqi Jamie, and many others, from the embassy of Kazakhstan, local government, community activism, the arts, business and other walks of life, including members and friends of Friends of Socialist China from Britain, Luxembourg and Malaysia.

The 135 guests were greeted by Evie Hill of the Znaniye Foundation and its Russian School, who introduced the host, Honorary Alderman Mushtaq Lasharie CBE, the founder and Chairman of Third World Solidarity.

With the ongoing genocidal war of aggression against the Palestinian people in Gaza, and with June 14 marking the seventh anniversary of the Grenfell fire, which claimed the lives of 72 people, the first speakers were Palestinian activist for women’s rights, Ahlam Akram, the founder of Basira (British Arabs Supporting Universal Women’s Rights), and Emma O’Connor, a disabled resident on Grenfell’s 20^th floor.

The main speaker was Keith Bennett, Co-editor of Friends of Socialist China, who spoke on the BRICS cooperation mechanism and its role in the evolution of a new global order.

A video message of greetings was received from Dave Anderson, former miner, care worker, Labour MP and shadow minister under Jeremy Corbyn, who is now the Chair of Marras – the Friends of the Durham Miners Gala, who was unable to be present.

Following the speeches, Hugh Goodacre sang a song marking the 40th anniversary of the miners’ great strike and this was followed by a virtuoso performance from singer and musician Mubarak Ali to round off the evening.

Keith began his speech by thanking all those who had made the evening possible, especially Mushtaq Lasharie, highlighting his decades of tireless activism and public service.

Referring to the two previous speakers, he expressed solidarity with the struggles of the Palestinian people and the Grenfell community. In the 1960s and 1970s, hundreds of thousands of people in India and Pakistan had taken to the streets raising the slogan, “My name, your name, Vietnam”. Today, for people around the world, their rallying cry has become, “In our thousands, in our millions, we are all Palestinians.”

Grenfell was one of those events where people will remember where they were and what they were doing when they first heard about it. It was an entirely avoidable tragedy, an act of social murder in the memorable words of Friedrich Engels. The council, the government and the companies concerned, knew that the building’s cladding, like that of other residential buildings still standing, was flammable and lethal. The building was known to be a death trap. The fire was one more manifestation, like the Hillsborough football stadium disaster, the Post Office Horizon scandal, the contaminated blood scandal, and the treatment of the Windrush generation, among others, of the ruling class’s contempt for working people. But the multinational working class community of Grenfell, like the others mentioned, is a community that has refused to be silenced and which has courageously persisted in the struggle for justice.

The following is the text of the main body of Keith’s speech.

I’ve been asked to speak this evening about the BRICS and their growing role in the reconfiguration of the world order.

But like a good novel, it takes a while, and there are a few plot twists before things start to fall into place. So please bear with me for a bit.

Let’s start with the origins of our host organization, Third World Solidarity. What world were we living in? What was happening?

The key event that led to the formation of Third World Solidarity was the US bombing, with the support of the Thatcher government here, of Libya on April 15, 1986 – an act of state terrorism in which the adopted baby daughter of head of state Colonel Gaddafi was among those killed.

This was the period when Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher were turning the cold war hot throughout the Global South. (Or Third World as it was then generally called and from which we derive our name.) This was the case from Afghanistan to Nicaragua to Angola. And from Ethiopia to Cambodia.

It was also, although we did not realise it at the time, the period when the Soviet Union, and its allied socialist countries in central and Eastern Europe, were entering their final days.

Their demise also triggered the collapse, or the retreat, of many socialist experiments throughout the Third World.

Although five socialist countries survived, most notably China, elsewhere, attempts to build socialism, or just to pursue independent development, were often replaced by IMF/World Bank Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs), the downgrading of the role of the state, and the decimation of social programs and basic services, including in the vital areas of health and education. Neoliberalism acquired a practically religious aura. In the words of Margaret Thatcher, we were repeatedly told: “There is no alternative.” And for good measure, she added that there was, “no such thing as society, only individuals and their families.”

This neoliberal ideological hegemony was such that US political theorist Francis Fukuyama even proclaimed the end of history. And was catapulted from relative obscurity to intellectual rock star and guru status for his banal observation.

This apparently and now obviously ridiculous claim that history had come to an end meant that the evolution of human society was considered to have reached the destination of its journey with the hegemony of liberal democracy and the free market.

Although if democracy is to have any relationship to people having some measure of actual control over their own lives, and collectively over the evolution and running of their state and society, for hundreds of millions there was plenty of neoliberalism, plenty of economic impoverishment, but precious little democracy.

With the end of history there was also supposed to be a peace dividend. No more wars. And the Soviet Union was effectively persuaded to surrender with US promises that its NATO military alliance would not move one inch further east from a reunified Germany.

Of course, NATO marched inexorably eastwards. Slowly but surely laying the groundwork for today’s Ukraine tragedy.

As for no more wars, even to utter the phrase now can only draw a bitter laugh as we recall Yugoslavia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Libya, Syria, Ukraine, Palestine and so many other conflicts, together claiming the lives of millions of innocent children, women and men.

Xi Jinping’s speech at the 10th ministerial conference of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum

The tenth conference of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum (CASCF) was held in Beijing on May 30, marking 20 years since the launch of the biannual gathering.

Representatives from the 22 member countries of the League of Arab States participated and the growing importance attached by both sides to their relationship was underscored by President Xi Jinping delivering a keynote speech in the opening session and the presence of the heads of state of Bahrain, Egypt, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), who combined attendance at this ministerial level gathering with state visits to China.

President Xi began his speech in personal vein, stating that, “I always find it heart-warming to meet Arab friends,” adding:

“The friendship between the Chinese and Arab peoples is deeply rooted in our friendly exchanges along the ancient Silk Road, in our joint struggles for national liberation, and in our win-win cooperation in promoting national development.”

He noted that: “As changes unseen in a century unfold rapidly across the world, both China and Arab states strive to accomplish their historical missions of national rejuvenation and faster national development. Building a China-Arab community with a shared future is a strong statement of our common desire for a new era of China-Arab relations and a better future for the world.”

The Chinese leader’s remarks served to underscore the difference between China’s approach to fellow members of the Global South compared to that displayed by the imperialist powers. He observed: “In this turbulent world, peaceful relations come from mutual respect, and lasting security is built on fairness and justice… In a world of growing diversity, more dialogue means less confrontation, and more inclusiveness means less estrangement.

“We are ready to work with the Arab side to jointly champion an equal and orderly multipolar world and a universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalisation and set a model of South-South cooperation on global governance.”

His forward looking spirit was also reflected in the key areas he highlighted for cooperation, which included not only oil and gas, but also trade and infrastructure, along with new growth areas such as artificial intelligence (AI), investment, new energy, and green innovation.

Referring to the first China-Arab States Summit, which was held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in December 2022, and having announced that the second summit will be held in China in 2026, Xi recalled that he had put forward eight major cooperation initiatives in Riyadh, adding:

“New progress has been made in scientific R&D and technology transfer. Trade and energy cooperation have scaled new heights. Small and beautiful livelihood projects are advancing in parallel with signature flagship projects. Cooperation in areas such as food security, green innovation and health is deepening and getting more substantial. Platforms for people-to-people exchanges and cooperation are functioning well.”

To further propel these positive developments, he suggested five cooperation frameworks, aimed at achieving:

A more dynamic framework for innovation
An expanded framework for investment and finance cooperation (including welcoming Arab banks to join the Cross-border Interbank Payment System, which represents an alternative to the US-controlled SWIFT system)
A more multifaceted framework for energy cooperation – embracing renewable energy projects
A more balanced framework for mutually beneficial economic and trade ties – including accelerating negotiations on bilateral and regional free trade agreements; and
A broader framework for people-to-people exchanges. China will invite 200 leaders of Arab political parties to visit China every year.

Naturally, no dialogue with Arab leaders, especially at the present time, could possibly fail to pay keen attention to the situation facing the embattled Palestinian people in the face of a genocidal Zionist war of aggression.

President Xi noted that, since last October, the people in Gaza had been thrown into tremendous suffering:

“War should not continue indefinitely. Justice should not be absent forever… China firmly supports the establishment of an independent State of Palestine that enjoys full sovereignty based on the 1967 borders and with East Jerusalem as its capital. It supports Palestine’s full membership in the UN, and supports a more broad-based, authoritative and effective international peace conference.”

He further pledged another round of emergency humanitarian aid from China.

The following is the full text of President Xi’s speech. It was originally published by the Xinhua News Agency.

China’s modernisation is a historic contribution to the global socialist project

What follows is a presentation by Friends of Socialist China co-editor Carlos Martinez for a webinar on China’s modernisation organised by the International Department of the Communist Party USA.

Carlos discusses the meaning and importance of modernisation, going on to describe China’s process of modernising over the course of 75 years and its proposal for “basically realising socialist modernisation by 2035”.

Carlos continues by describing the modernisation process in the advanced capitalist countries – in particular its reliance on colonialism, domination, hegemony, slavery and plunder – and compares that with China’s modernisation trajectory. While China doesn’t have the ‘advantage’ of dominating other countries, it does have the advantage of a socialist system which “enables us to pool resources in a major mission”, as Xi Jinping has put it. China’s modernisation will therefore differ enormously from Western modernisation in that it will not be based on hegemony; it will be a modernisation of common prosperity; and it will be sustainable – the modernisation of harmony between humanity and nature.

The presentation concludes:

China’s modernisation will be a historic contribution to the global socialist project, to the struggle against imperialism, and to humanity’s shared goal of a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable future.

The other presentations submitted to the webinar (by members of the CPUSA and the Communist Party of Australia) can be found on the CPUSA International Department’s Youtube channel: @idcpusa

Today’s webinar is all about modernisation, which is something that’s talked about a great deal in China today, but which is not a concept that’s discussed very much in the West.

Is it something that’s worth talking about? Is it something that’s worth pursuing?

For China and for other developing countries, what modernisation means is higher living standards for the masses of the people.

Modernised industry, greater productivity, modern communication methods, transport systems, energy systems, healthcare strategies and so on add up to the possibility of providing a healthy, meaningful and dignified life to every human being.

That means every single person having reliable access to nutritious food, to good quality housing, guaranteed education and healthcare, modern energy, clean water, and to a vibrant cultural, social, intellectual and working life. So when we talk about modernisation, we’re essentially talking about attending to people’s basic human rights.

It’s called modernisation because it involves leveraging developments in science and technology; it means adapting to the latest, the most advanced ideas and techniques for meeting humanity’s material and cultural needs.

We can broadly think of it as transitioning from ‘developing country’ status to ‘developed country’ status; from a predominantly rural society to a predominantly urban society; from a technologically backward society to a technologically advanced society.

Video: Black Liberation and People’s China – Rediscovering a History of Transcontinental Solidarity

Friends of Socialist China, in conjunction with the International Manifesto Group, organised a well-attended webinar on Saturday May 11 on the theme of Black Liberation and People’s China – Rediscovering a History of Transcontinental Solidarity.

The webinar marked the 65th anniversary of the historic visit to China by Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois, where, together with his wife Shirley Graham Du Bois, the great scholar and revolutionary celebrated his 91st birthday on February 23rd, 1959.

Focusing specifically on transcontinental solidarity between the Chinese revolution and the African-American freedom struggle, the webinar noted that this revolutionary history neither begins nor ends with Dr. Du Bois. It embraces Langston Hughes and Paul Robeson from the 1930s; Robert F. and Mabel Williams and Malcolm X in the 1960s; the Black Panther Party in the 1960s and 1970s; and many others, joined by Chinese leaders, including Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai, as well as Chinese American communists and progressives and returned overseas Chinese.

The event was moderated by our co-editor Keith Bennett and featured a distinguished panel of speakers as follows:

Professor Gerald Horne, John J. and Rebecca Moores Chair of History and African American Studies, University of Houston, USA;
Dr. Charisse Burden-Stelly, Associate Professor of African American Studies, Wayne State University, USA;
Dr. Gao Yunxiang, Professor of History, Toronto Metropolitan University, Canada;
Dr. Zifeng Liu, Post Doctoral Scholar, Africana Research Center, Pennsylvania State University, USA;
Margaret Kimberley, Executive Editor and Senior Columnist, Black Agenda Report; and
Qiao Collective, a diaspora Chinese media collective challenging US aggression against China

The video of this interesting and important webinar is embedded below, followed by the individual contributions.

Black Liberation and People’s China: Rediscovering a History of Transcontinental Solidarity

Keith Bennett

Gerald Horne

Gao Yunxiang

Charisse Burden-Stelly

Zifeng Liu

Charles Xu

Margaret Kimberley

Building a Beautiful China: promoting harmony between humanity and nature

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

First, we must intensify the battle against pollution

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

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

The global struggle against imperialism, for multipolarity, for peace and for socialism

The following text is based on a talk given by Friends of Socialist China co-editor Carlos Martinez at the Young Communist League of Britain’s Harry Pollitt School, held on 6-7 April 2024 in Manchester.

Participating in a panel Towards A Multipolar World: The End of U.S. Hegemony – alongside YCL International Officer Berkan Çelebi, Fiona Edwards of No Cold War Britain, and comrades from the Communist Party of China, Leninist Komsomol of the Russian Federation and Student Federation of India, Carlos focuses on the meaning of the term multipolarity, and particularly on distinguishing it from inter-imperialist rivalry.

He notes that, while some people point to the period leading up to World War 1 as being ‘multipolar’, the modern idea of multipolarity “isn’t simply about readjustments in the relations between the major powers, but it also includes the rise of the Global South – the increasing influence of China, of India, of Brazil, of regional organisations such as the African Union, ASEAN and Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, as well as international organisations such as the G77 and the Non-Aligned Movement.”

Carlos continues:

Because this process of multipolarisation incorporates the rise of the Global South, and is being led to a significant degree by a socialist country, by which I mean China, it’s much more than just a change in cast; it’s a fundamental, a qualitative change.

He addresses the concern held by some on the left that, with the decline of the US, China will simply become the new imperialist power, noting that such an idea has no theoretical basis, and an observation of today’s reality and the state of international relations amply rebuts it.

Carlos concludes:

The most important dynamic of global politics today is this struggle between, on the one hand, an emerging multipolarity, and on the other, the attempts by the imperialists – led by the US – to preserve their hegemony. Clearly we can’t stand on the sidelines in this fight. Clearly we must do whatever we can in the struggle against imperialism, for multipolarity, for peace and for socialism. That global struggle is our struggle.

I’d like to use my few minutes today to go into a bit of depth on the subject of multipolarity.

This is a word that we hear increasingly often, but in my view it’s not something that’s particularly well understood.

In particular, in some parts of the left, multipolarity is thought to be a sort of synonym for inter-imperialist rivalry.

People understand that there’s a shift from a unipolar situation – the post-Soviet ‘end of history’ of the 1990s – and that increasingly there are multiple centres of power. Which of course is part of the definition of multipolarity.

But they point out: the world situation in 1914 was also ‘multipolar’. The US was a power, Britain was a power, France, Germany, Japan, Russia.

But there was nothing progressive or peaceful about that version of multipolarity; in fact it was precisely that intense, violent rivalry between competing imperialist powers that led to the terrible death and destruction of World War 1.

So what do we mean when we talk about multipolarity?

Jenny Clegg, who’s written an excellent book on the subject, called China’s Global Strategy: Towards a Multipolar World, defines it as a situation where there are “multiple centres of power, all with a certain capacity to influence world affairs, shaping a negotiated order.”

She adds a very important point that multipolarity isn’t simply about readjustments in the relations between the major powers, but it also includes the rise of the Global South – the increasing influence of China, of India, of Brazil, of regional organisations such as the African Union, ASEAN and Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, as well as international organisations such as the G77 and the Non-Aligned Movement.

Jenny’s book was published in 2009. Since that time BRICS has become a very important body in the push towards multipolarisation, as has the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC).

With multiple centres of power, you shift away from a situation where one country can impose its will on the others. Which means specifically, in our current context, that you undermine the US-led imperialist world system. You deprive the imperialist bloc of its power to determine the fate of the rest of the world.

This is of course profoundly important and welcome.

The US-led imperialist world system is what’s driving the genocide taking place this very moment in Gaza.

The US’s insistence on upholding and expanding its hegemony in Europe is what’s driving the conflict in Ukraine.

The genocidal war on, and occupation of, Iraq – in which an estimated one million civilians lost their lives, and which set the country’s development back by decades – took place in that same context.

The 20-year war on Afghanistan, which has brought relentless misery to that country.

NATO’s war of regime change against Libya, which transformed a prosperous and thriving country – the country with the highest human development index in Africa – into a failed state.

NATO’s war to destroy Yugoslavia.

The Western-backed Saudi war against Yemen, creating what until six months ago was the worst humanitarian disaster the world had witnessed this century.

Suffocating sanctions against Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Iran, Syria, the DPRK, Zimbabwe and other countries.

Structural adjustment programs, economic coercion, loans tied to privatisation and deregulation, taking advantage of the dollar’s role in the global economy in order to threaten, coerce and blackmail.

Such is the reality of the US-led imperialist world system. Such is the so-called “rules-based international order” that Biden and his ilk talk so often about.

Undermining and overcoming that situation clearly represents a historic victory for the peoples suffering under it.

And because this process of multipolarisation incorporates the rise of the Global South, and is being led to a significant degree by a socialist country, by which I mean China, it’s much more than just a change in cast; it’s a fundamental, a qualitative change.

It’s not Spanish and Portuguese domination making way for Dutch domination.

It’s not Dutch domination making way for British domination.

It’s not British domination making way for US domination.

It’s an end to the whole system of domination and hegemony. It’s an end to the dynamic whereby a small group of countries sets itself up as ‘rule makers’ and the remaining countries are ‘rule takers’.

It’s an end to the 500-year-old division of the world into oppressor and oppressed nations.

What about China?

Some people seem to worry that, with the decline of the US and the rise of China, China itself could emerge as a new imperialist power.

This is an idea that simply doesn’t hold up, at either a theoretical or practical level.

As of a century ago, the division of the world among the great powers is complete – as observed by Lenin in his famous pamphlet on imperialism. The only way for a new imperialist power to emerge is to displace existing ones, typically by means of war. But China’s record is remarkably peaceful.

Whereas the US maintains over 800 overseas military bases, spends over a trillion dollars annually on its military, and is in a state of more-or-less permanent war, China’s military hasn’t dropped a bomb in over four decades.

China’s per-capita military spending is around one-twentieth of that of the US, in spite of the fact that China is strategically far more vulnerable, and faces a long-running and escalating campaign of containment and encirclement.

China has peaceful development literally written into its constitution. China’s a nuclear power, but it maintains a strictly defensive nuclear posture: it has around 300 nuclear warheads, compared to the US’s 5,500, and it has had a policy of no-first use ever since its first successful nuclear test in 1964.

The Chinese leadership is clear and consistent. In the words of Xi Jinping, as it modernises and becomes more prosperous, “China will neither tread the old path of colonisation and plunder, nor the crooked path taken by some countries to seek hegemony once they grow strong.”

If you look at China’s role in the world – for example in relation to the crises in Gaza, Ukraine or Yemen – its approach is to settle difference through dialogue and to promote peace and cooperation.

China’s global strategy is profoundly different to that of the US or Britain. These countries are driven by a particular economic and political logic that China isn’t subject to.

The relentless drive for expansion, for domination of the world’s land, resources, labour and markets is a function of the expansionist logic of capitalism. A capitalist state represents a capitalist ruling class – the group of people that own and deploy capital, for whom “expand or die” is a basic law of economics.

As the New York Times journalist Thomas Friedman put it with such shocking honesty: “the hidden hand of the market will never work without a hidden fist – McDonald’s cannot flourish without McDonnell Douglas”.

But China’s development is driven by a socialist dynamic. Unlike the imperialist powers, China is not a state run by and for the capitalist class, and China’s rise isn’t built on colonialism or imperialism. It’s built on the basis of a workers’ state, the leadership of the Communist Party, public ownership, an economic strategy directed towards meeting the needs of the people, and of course the incredibly hard work of the Chinese people.

In fact, the existence of a socialist camp is a crucial difference between today’s emerging multipolarity and the system of international relations at the time of World War 1. The world changed forever in October 1917 – that date marks the beginning of the end of era of imperialism. Today Socialist China is the single most important factor driving this historic shift in international relations.

Multipolarity and the path to socialism

So, multipolarity means a framework for ending US hegemony, and for establishing a more democratic, more equal, more peaceful system of international relations, in which all countries enjoy sovereignty.

This is valuable on its own terms, but it also provides foundations for humanity’s global transition to socialism, because it means allowing the nations of the world to defend their sovereignty and choose their own development path.

As Samir Amin put it in his 2013 book Beyond US Hegemony – Assessing the Prospects for a Multipolar World, multipolarity “provides the framework for the possible and necessary overcoming of capitalism”.

New Cold War

Needless to say, what’s good for the socialist countries, for the global working class and oppressed nations, is not good for the imperialists.

So as multipolarity gains strength, so does the resistance to it from the Western ruling classes. Hence the New Cold War, hence the rejuvenation of NATO, hence the creation of AUKUS, hence the trade war and the semiconductor war. The US and its allies are doing everything they can to reverse the multipolar trajectory.

Indeed, the most important dynamic of global politics today is this struggle between, on the one hand, an emerging multipolarity, and on the other, the attempts by the imperialists – led by the US – to preserve their hegemony.

Clearly we can’t stand on the sidelines in this fight. Clearly we must do whatever we can in the struggle against imperialism, for multipolarity, for peace and for socialism. That global struggle is our struggle.

China and the struggle for peace

The following text is based on presentations given by Friends of Socialist China co-editor Carlos Martinez at Morning Star Readers and Supporters meetings in Manchester (19 February), Leeds (13 March) and Brighton 24 March), on the subject of China’s global strategy.

Carlos responds to the assertion by Western politicians and media that China is an aggressive and expansionist power, comparing China’s foreign policy record with that of the United States. He shows that China’s foreign policy is based on the principles of peace, development and win-win cooperation, and explains how this approach is rooted in China’s history and ideology, and is consistent with China’s overall strategic goals.

Carlos also takes note of China’s contribution to the global struggle for multipolarity and to the project of global development. He highlights the Belt and Road Initiative and China’s role in the struggle against climate catastrophe.

The text concludes:

On questions of peace, of development, of protecting the planet, China is on the right side of history. It’s a force for good. As socialists, as progressives, as anti-war activists, as anti-imperialists, we should consider China to be on our side… Those of us who seek a sustainable future of peace and prosperity, of friendship and cooperation between peoples, have a responsibility to oppose this New Cold War, to oppose containment and encirclement, to demand peace, to promote cooperation with China, to promote understanding of China, to build people-to-people links with China, and to make this a significant stream of a powerful mass anti-war movement that our governments can’t ignore.

The Manchester event was also addressed by Jenny Clegg; the Leeds event by Kevan Nelson; and the Brighton event by Keith Bennett.

I’m going to focus my remarks on China’s international relations and its global strategy. This is a subject about which there’s a great deal of misunderstanding and obfuscation, particularly in the context of an escalating New Cold War that’s being led by Washington and that the British ruling class is only too happy to go along with.

The mainstream media is full of hysteria about China’s “aggression” or “assertiveness”. When China reiterates its position on Taiwan – a position which in fact has not meaningfully changed in the last seven decades, and which is completely in line with international law – it’s accused of ramping up the threat of war.

When China refuses to go along with the US’s illegal, unilateral sanctions (for example on Russia, Iran, Syria, Nicaragua, Cuba, Venezuela, Eritrea and Zimbabwe), it’s accused of “subverting the international rules-based order”.

When China establishes bilateral relations and trade agreements with Solomon Islands, Honduras, Nicaragua and Nauru, it’s accused of engaging in colonial domination.

When Chinese companies invest in Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean and the Pacific, they’re accused of imposing debt traps.

And unfortunately much of the left takes a fairly similar position to the ruling class on these issues, considering that China’s an imperialist power, that it’s engaged in a project of expansionism.

This sort of analysis on the left leads inexorably to a position of “Neither Washington Nor Beijing”, putting an equals sign between the US and China; putting China in the same category as the imperialist powers. According to this analysis, the basic dynamic of global politics is today that of inter-imperialist rivalry between the US and China.

And of course if that’s the case, if China’s just another imperialist power, and its only interest is growing its own profit margins and competing with the US, Britain, the EU, Canada and Japan for control of the world’s resources, labour, land and markets, it goes without saying that the global working class and oppressed – the vast majority of the population of the world – cannot possibly consider China to be a strategic ally in the pursuit of a better, fairer, more peaceful, more equal, more prosperous, more sustainable world.

China’s view of international relations

How does China consider its role in the world? What does the Communist Party of China propose regarding China’s foreign relations?

What the Chinese leadership calls for is “building a global community of shared future, with the goal of creating an open, inclusive, clean and beautiful world that enjoys lasting peace, universal security, and common prosperity.”

China consistently expresses its commitment to multipolarity; to peace; to maximum and mutually beneficial cooperation around economic development and tackling climate change, pandemics, and the threat of nuclear war; to working within the context of the UN Charter and international law in support of peaceful coexistence.

Foreign Minister Wang Yi, at his recent Meet the Press session, talked of China “advocating vigorously for peace, development, cooperation and mutual benefit”, and urged that “countries should rise above their differences in history, culture, geography and system, and work together to protect the Earth, the only inhabitable planet for us all, and make it a better place.”

Xi Jinping often talks about China’s orientation towards peace: “Without peace, nothing is possible. Maintaining peace is our greatest common interest and the most cherished aspiration of people of all countries.”

All of this is of course a pretty beautiful and compelling vision. But to what extent does it line up with reality? To what extent is China actually working towards peace, development and sustainability? To what extent does China diverge from the model of international relations pursued by the US and its imperialist allies?

Britain, China, and the struggle for peace

What follows is the text of a speech given by Kevan Nelson, International Secretary of the Communist Party of Britain (CPB), at a public meeting in Leeds on 13 March 2024 on the theme of The Struggle for Peace: Understanding China’s Position in 21st Century Geopolitics. The meeting was organised by the Morning Star Readers and Supporters Group in Yorkshire, and was also addressed by Friends of Socialist China co-editor Carlos Martinez.

Kevan starts with an overview of the British media’s portrayal of China – overwhelmingly negative and fearmongering – and goes on to explain the CPB’s position on China, which is based on a Marxist-Leninist analysis of the country’s history, politics and economy. He observes that “our Party has always been committed to the defence of countries building socialism”, and affirms the party’s firm opposition to the propaganda war and the escalating US-led New Cold War. Kevan explains that the CPB’s position is based on the pursuit of peace and cooperation, and that it wholeheartedly supports the efforts of campaigns and platforms such as Friends of Socialist China, the Stop the War Coalition, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, and No Cold War.

While “income inequality remains a major concern” in China (one that is being actively addressed), Kevan argues that “the processes of capital accumulation are politically subordinated to state power aligned to socialist goals” and that “a mass communist party and the potential for popular mobilisation remains the basis of this state power”.

Kevan notes the importance of Chinese trade and investment to the British economy, and the potential for mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries. However, “the New Cold War threatens to undermine all these mutual benefits – particularly tens of thousands of jobs in the affected sectors – something trade unionists should consider when facing externally orchestrated calls for a boycott of China.”

The speech concludes with a call for developing deeper people-to-people relations between Britain and China, and building friendship and solidarity around shared interests of peace, progress and socialism.

Thanks for the invitation to speak at this important meeting which is an antidote to the relentless barrage of anti-China propaganda we are being subjected to in this period of the New Cold War against China.

Anyone reading the British press – the magnificent Morning Star excepted – is left in little doubt: China is our enemy.

The FT reported that ‘Biden vows to fight if China invades Taiwan’ – the same paper three days later ran a headline ‘China poses greatest threat, warns Blinken’.

The Guardian informs us that ‘China offers cash and spiritual rewards to citizens for national security tip offs’ (the spiritual reward being a mere certificate, not a weekend in heaven!).

The Economist (by far the worst offender) warns that ‘Chinese money is pouring into Britain’s universities. Critics say it comes at the cost of free speech’.

The Daily Mail claimed that the ‘NHS is dangerously reliant on China with 1 in 6 medical items coming from Beijing’, and a final example from the Daily Mirror: ‘I survived a labour detention camp where prisoners had organs harvested’ – this from a Falun Gong sect member who defected to Britain 15 years ago and did not witness anything of the sort.

At a Friends of Socialist China webinar last year – co-sponsored by the Morning Star – about the propaganda warfare being waged against China by the US and its allies, Danny Haiphong dismissed this relentless propaganda as ‘an imperialist and racist set of fabrications wielded in the interests of US unipolar hegemony’. The examples of this are endless and explain why many in the West increasingly perceive China as a hostile power.

The Communist Party of Britain’s attitude to China

In terms of the Communist Party’s attitude to China, our Party has always been committed to the defence of countries building socialism.

That is no less the case with China today than with the Russian Revolution in its early years, the Chinese Revolution in 1949 and the Cuban Revolution in 1959.

Looking back at Party statements, it is remarkable at how little has changed since the early days of China leaving the orbit of capitalism and imperialism.

In his report to the 21st National Congress of the Communist Party, November 1949 (75 years ago), Harry Pollitt said:

‘In the Far East, American imperialism is building up Japan… as well as maintaining puppet governments in South Korea and the Philippines, and Chiang Kai-shek in Formosa (today known as Taiwan). It has threatened New China with disruption and is fomenting counter-revolution wherever it can find agents in China. Under cover of warning the People’s Armies that any advance beyond the frontiers of China will be met by force, American imperialism is encouraging war preparations in Tibet, which is an old province of China. At the same time, the British Government has heavily reinforced Hong Kong, and may at any moment launch provocative action’.

Today the Uyghurs of Xinjiang may have replaced the Dalai Lama and Tibet as the main focus of destabilisation and propaganda, but the playbook of imperialism remains the same.

A rising China and a rising Africa? This is doubly frightening to the imperialist powers

What follows below is the text of a speech given by Fiona Sim on behalf of the Black Liberation Alliance at the recent Friends of Socialist China event Africa, China and the Rise of the Global South, held at the Marx Memorial Library on 16 March 2024.

Fiona describes the blossoming relationship between Africa and China – which even extends to South Africa and China collaborating to build a research base on the moon – and contrasts it with the “playbook of neo-colonial extraction and political puppeteering” that the West has used to exploit Africa for centuries. The China-Africa partnership is inspiring fear and loathing in the West, representing as it does a challenge to the global hegemony of the US and its allies:

“A rising China and a rising Africa? This is doubly frightening to the imperialist powers. It is the precursor to the fall of western hegemony altogether.”

The West’s response has been to ramp up its propaganda war against China and to try to drive a wedge between China and Africa – most obviously by denouncing Chinese “imperialism” and slandering its investments as “debt traps”. But the reality is that “China’s loans to African countries have some of the lowest interest rates, no political strings attached, mass debt relief programmes, and the massive infrastructure projects they fund and build result in positive net growth.” Chinese loans and investment are paving a road out of poverty and underdevelopment.

Fiona concludes by calling for solidarity with China and Africa in their struggle against imperialism, for countering the lies and distortions of the Western media, and for resolutely opposing the New Cold War.

It is my great honour to be included in this panel alongside our esteemed comrade from the Communist Party of Kenya and all these powerful organisers and activists. There is nothing more powerful than being united in struggle with comrades who are not only from across the diaspora but from around the globe.

It is a reminder of the importance of internationalist, anti-imperialist solidarity that transcends borders and bureaucracy. Our struggles are connected by the chains of imperialist domination and sown from the seeds of destruction left by colonial conquest. But our joint history stretches back centuries further.

While Europe was in its so-called Dark Ages, Africa, Asia and the Islamic world were experiencing their Golden Ages. The renowned Chinese Muslim naval navigator Zheng He led peaceful expeditions along the ancient Silk Road, with voyages as far as East Africa, where the seas connecting the two continents would go on to establish trade routes and friendly relations for years to come.

Now, centuries later, with the Silk-Road-inspired Belt and Road initiative, we are seeing the rebirth of Africa-China relations and establishment of South-South cooperation at an unprecedented scale. The relationship between Africa and China could not be stronger. Kenya is China’s number one trade partner in East Africa. South Africa and China are collaborating to build a research base on the moon. After the uprisings in the Sahel, the coup governments formed were quick to affirm their relations with China, which reiterated its policy of non-intervention and non-interference in African politics. Burkina Faso’s President Traore declared that he considered China an important trade partner early on, and Niger’s interim President General Tchiani has reportedly met with the Central and North African representative for BRICS in the last few weeks.

It is no wonder that the countries of the West – where whole civilisations have been built on the foundations of plunder and pillaging of the global South – see this as a threat. The West has seen that Africa has taken great interest in the rise of China especially in the last decade and it is running scared. Scared that its playbook of neo-colonial extraction and political puppeteering is no longer going to work on its former colonies.

Let us be clear. The West only sees China as a threat to its hegemony because it cannot conceive a country that less than a century ago was one of the poorest in the world is now a global powerhouse whose economy rivals the US. Since the 1990s, China has been the only country whose GDP has grown exponentially, increasing on average by 9 percent a year. In 2023, China’s GDP increased by 5.2 percent – the highest among the major powers, with the US in second place at 1 percent.

Booker Ngesa Omole: Amidst the rise of the Global South, we welcome China’s engagement with Africa

On Saturday 16 March, Friends of Socialist China hosted an event on Africa, China and the Rise of the Global South at the Marx Memorial Library in London (and online). The library was packed to capacity, and heard powerful contributions from Booker Ngesa Omole (National Vice-Chairperson and National Organising Secretary of the Communist Party of Kenya (CPK)), Roger McKenzie (Foreign Editor, Morning Star), Fiona Sim (The Black Liberation Alliance), Cecil Gutzmore (veteran Pan-African community activist and historian), Alex Gordon (RMT President), and Radhika Desai (Convenor, International Manifesto Group). Unfortunately Frank Murray of Caribbean Labour Solidarity was unable to attend due to personal reasons. Roger McKenzie’s event report can be read in the Morning Star.

Booker’s wide-ranging and passionate keynote speech focused on China-Africa relations and China’s role in the world. Booker noted that his two visits to China in 2023 “filled me with a renewed sense of hope and convinced me of the superiority of the Chinese socio-economic and political system over the liberal Western model often imposed on African nations wholesale.”

On the economic relationship between China and Kenya – and Africa more generally – Booker observed that the character of this partnership is profoundly different to the exploitative relationships that African nations have historically had with Western powers. “This relationship has highlighted an alternative approach to engaging with development partners and international capital. Unlike the United States and Western nations, which have historically imposed detrimental policies on African nations through institutions like the IMF and World Bank—such as the infamous Structural Adjustment Plan—China has adopted a policy of non-interference in the internal affairs of sovereign countries. This shift has spared African nations from the suffering and hardships inflicted by such destructive policies.”

Booker went on to state that “the United States and the rest of the West have used exploitation and force to impose their will for far too long.” However, in an era of emerging multipolarity and a rising Global South, “the geopolitical environment has fundamentally changed, with the Global South emerging as a major actor in world affairs. And it is amidst this shift that China has emerged as a beacon of hope for the oppressed and exploited.” In relation to imperialism, “China stands as a counterforce, presenting an alternative path founded on mutual respect and cooperation… China’s policy of non-interference starkly opposes Western interventionism, whose legacies of looting and colonialism still haunt and define regions like Africa.”

Turning his attention to the propaganda war on China, Booker asserted: “The racist and cynical attacks on China are intolerable”, and that “labelling China as an imperial power is both ridiculous and reactionary.” He reminded the audience that Africans know only too well what imperialism looks like: “Having experienced direct and indirect imperialist interventions in Africa, we have witnessed the devastating consequences of imperialist wars and interventions.” This contrasts starkly with China’s engagement with the continent, which is based on mutual benefit, respect for sovereignty, and assisting African countries to develop their own economies and infrastructure. “Leveraging China’s resources and expertise, Africa can accelerate its development and address important issues such as infrastructural deficiencies, industrialization, and poverty.”

Booker concluded:

The voices of the Global South demand respect and sovereignty, challenging the hegemony of the West. Amidst the rise of the Global South, we welcome China’s engagement with Africa in this new era of collaboration.

This speech was first published on the website of the Communist Party of Kenya.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Esteemed Comrades, it is an honour to stand before you today, representing the Communist Party of Kenya (CPK) and the Pan African Socialist Alliance (PASA). I extend my deepest gratitude to the Friends of Socialist China (FSC), particularly Comrade Keith Bennett, for their steadfast support and for granting me this forum to address such a significant topic.

Gathered here in the Karl Marx Memorial Library, we are reminded of the enduring influence of Marx’s ideas, which continue to guide us in our struggle for a just and egalitarian society. It is the ideal place as we embark on a discussion that not only holds relevance but also holds the key to shaping the future of the Global South: “China and the Rise of the Global South.”

Comrades, today I represent the Communist Party of Kenya, a party that has undergone a split resulting in the formation of two factions: the majority faction, which I am part of, and a minority faction that has entered into a strategic alliance with the current kleptocratic regime and serves as a puppet of US interests in Nairobi. While this split can be seen as both fortunate and unfortunate, it underscores the complex dynamics within our party.

It is fortunate in the sense that a united Communist Party of Kenya based on opportunism would serve no purpose for the Kenyan working class. However, it is unfortunate because a united party would undoubtedly be stronger and more effective in advancing the interests of the working class. Yet, such is the nature of development—just as in the human body, where cells divide and multiply to maintain health, our party undergoes transformations to adapt to changing circumstances. I proudly represent the majority faction of the Communist Party of Kenya, which stands in staunch opposition to the comprador ruling class in Nairobi.

As for the Pan-African Socialist Alliance (PASA), it is a revolutionary movement that unites Pan-Africanist organizations in Kenya and beyond. Dedicated to achieving African liberation and unity on a global scale, PASA vehemently opposes imperialism in all its manifestations, including colonialism, settler-colonialism, Zionism, and neo-colonialism. Moreover, PASA advocates against social oppressions rooted in gender, class, or nationality.

Aligned with genuine Pan-African forces worldwide, PASA advocates for a unified socialist and non-capitalist path to development in Africa and the African diaspora. It stands in solidarity with oppressed peoples fighting against labour exploitation and land exploitation, striving for a future where all Africans can thrive free from oppression and exploitation.

In 2023, I had the privilege of visiting China twice, where I witnessed first-hand the remarkable achievements of Chinese Socialist Construction. These visits filled me with a renewed sense of hope and convinced me of the superiority of the Chinese socio-economic and political system over the liberal Western model often imposed on African nations wholesale. Contrary to Western rhetoric, I found a nation and its people in harmony with nature, dispelling the myth that Chinese socialist development wreaks ecological havoc.

Despite potential language barriers, I was pleasantly surprised to find that many young Chinese individuals in the streets of Beijing were proficient in English and engaged in lively debates. Unlike the institutionalized racism prevalent in the United States, China actively discourages and punishes racist behaviour—a stark contrast to the US, where racial privilege persists. It became evident to me that Western media propagates falsehoods far too often, obscuring the realities of Chinese society and governance.

Allow me to revisit my 2017 commentary on the Africa-China relationship. The partnership between China and Kenya, as well as Africa at large, has not only spurred remarkable infrastructural development but has also fostered a genuine cultural exchange between Chinese and African communities. It has provided Africans with first-hand insights into Chinese culture, dispelling the half-truths and misinformation perpetuated against China and its people, often propagated globally by western media outlets like CNN, BBC, Fox News et al.

Moreover, this relationship has highlighted an alternative approach to engaging with development partners and international capital. Unlike the United States and Western nations, which have historically imposed detrimental policies on African nations through institutions like the IMF and World Bank—such as the infamous Structural Adjustment Plan—China has adopted a policy of non-interference in the internal affairs of sovereign countries. This shift has spared African nations from the suffering and hardships inflicted by such destructive policies.

Another notable aspect is the efficiency with which projects are executed. Previously, bureaucratic red tape and exorbitant costs often prolonged project timelines, sometimes spanning several years before ground activities commenced. However, with the influx of Chinese investment, we have witnessed a swift turnaround. Projects are now executed promptly, delivering high-quality results. This stands in stark contrast to the portrayal by Western media, which often dismisses products and projects from China and Russia as inferior before their arrival. These words remain true today even though the attitude of the ruling class in the global north towards the Chinese socialist experiment remains unchanged, more than five years later.

The challenges facing the Global South are vast, encompassing a myriad of socio-economic and political issues rooted in colonial and neo-colonial histories. From underdevelopment to disease, violence, and exploitation, these afflictions persist. Yet, amidst these struggles, it is essential to recognize the shared responsibility between the global North and South.

While geopolitical unrest and interventions ravage countless lives worldwide, there is a glimmer of hope. The vulnerability of imperialism is laid bare in places like Gaza, where Western hegemony faces daily erosion, and in conflicts like the NATO-led proxy war with Russia in Ukraine, which exposes fractures in imperialist stability. Recent events in the Congo underscore the diminishing influence of Western imperialism.

In the Sahel region, including Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger, French imperialism falters on a daily basis. In the North, Libya stands in history and in the present as the perfect example of imperialist violence and failure. Southwards, Somalia’s position since the Black Hawk Down incident highlights the pitfalls of US interventions. The Sudanese people have remained strong in their continued resistance against imperialism since the war broke out in Sudan.

Eritrea, often likened to the “Cuba of Africa,” bears the brunt of punitive unilateral actions and economic sanctions imposed by the United States. Its perceived transgression? Embracing self-reliant economic strategies. This exemplifies the treatment meted out by the US towards African nations daring to diverge from the neoliberal norms dictated by the West. Such brazen arrogance of the US begs the question: How can such dominance prevail on a global scale? The inevitable outcome is not progress but rather a descent into chaos, perpetuating a cycle of disorder and instability similar to what has now become of Libya.

And every day, the escalating Cold War tensions with China further shake the foundations of the fragile imperialist economy. Overall, the emerging picture reveals that the decline of the US empire mirrors historical patterns, signalling the dawn of a new era where empires inevitably fall.

China is blazing a trail towards modernisation for the global majority

A high-level forum on the Chinese path to modernisation amidst great global changes was held in hybrid format on March 3-4. The organisers were the Institute of Japanese Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS); the Advanced Research Institute for 21^st Century Chinese Marxism of the CASS University; and the Shanghai Research Institute, CASS-Shanghai People’s Government. Some 17 senior Chinese specialists in Marxism addressed the forum, including Wang Weiguang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), and Deng Chundong, a member of the CPPCC National Committee.

FoSC co-editor Keith Bennett presented a paper, in which he outlined Xi Jinping’s five key criteria for Chinese modernisation and went on to note that, “whilst China’s socialist modernisation shares some characteristics with the path trod by western capitalist nations, it has more differences than similarities. It represents something fundamentally new – something that moreover will come to be seen as a trail blazer for the only modernisation that is actually comprehensive, equitable and sustainable. The Chinese leader’s thesis on modernisation is a significant component of Xi Jinping Thought and as such even a cursory study of its significance will highlight both that it is thoroughly grounded in the scientific socialist tradition and also that it constitutes Marxism for the 21^st century.”

Touching on the international significance of this, Keith continued:

“As China advances in its modernisation goals, so, through such means as the Belt and Road Initiative, the steady expansion of the BRICS Plus mechanism, the institutionalised forums for cooperation with Africa, with Latin America and the Caribbean, and with other regions, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, and so on, it is also inviting fellow developing countries of the Global South, and indeed others, to join the train of China’s rapid development and growing prosperity. As a result, Socialist China has truly become the powerful locomotive blazing the trail towards modernisation for the global majority.”

The fact that China’s modernisation is modernisation of peaceful development is the most fundamental point of all and provides the starkest contrast with the capitalist road to modernisation, Keith noted, before going on to illustrate how capitalist modernisation had been built on the super exploitation of the oppressed nations and peoples, yet, “the fact that the key developed nations, to a very great extent, built their modernisation on the blood and bones of the global majority does not mean that they have been able to achieve common prosperity for all at home. In the advanced capitalist countries, even after hundreds of years, not only does the gap between rich and poor remain, does the phenomenon of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer persist, they are once again being exacerbated and becoming acute.”

Other international speakers included Fukushima Mizuho, leader of the Social Democratic Party of Japan; several prominent scholars from Russia; leading members of the communist parties of Portugal, Italy and the USA; and Stephen Perry, Honorary President of Britain’s 48 Group Club.

We reprint below the full text of Keith’s contribution.

Dear comrades and friends

I would like to thank the Institute of Japanese Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the Advanced Research Institute of 21st Century Contemporary Chinese Marxism, the University of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences – Shanghai Research Institute of the Shanghai People’s Government for their kind invitation to address this timely conference on the important theme of Chinese Modernisation under Great International Changes.

The process of modernisation, as it is generally understood today, essentially began with the development of first Great Britain, and then some other countries in Western Europe, as well as the United States, in the nineteenth century, with the industrial revolution. Following the Meiji Restoration in 1868, Japan became the first non-white nation to join this historical process.

Xi Jinping: Chinese modernisation is unprecedented in both scale and difficulty

The following is a partial text of a speech given by Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Central Committee (CC) of the Communist Party of China (CPC), on February 7, 2023, to newly-elected members and alternate members of the CPC CC and other senior party officials following the 20th party congress, held in October 2022, in which he expounds on the significance of the five distinctive features of Chinese modernisation put forward by the Congress.

As Xi Jinping notes, the path to modernisation a country chooses is determined by its historical traditions, social system, developmental conditions, and external environment, among other factors. To achieve modernisation, a country needs not only to follow the general laws governing this pursuit; more importantly, it needs to keep in mind its own realities and distinctive features.

Moreover, a sure path does not mean that there will be no challenges along the way to modernisation. To fully leverage the following five distinctive features of Chinese modernisation and turn them into unique strengths calls for arduous efforts.

Dealing with these five distinctive features in turn, Xi notes first that China’s is a modernisation of a huge population. Today, only more than 20 countries around the world, with a combined population of around one billion, have achieved modernisation. China is working to achieve modernisation for more than 1.4 billion people, more than the combined population of the world’s developed countries. This will largely reshape the landscape of global modernisation. Chinese modernisation is unprecedented in human history in terms of both scale and difficulty.

Second, it is the modernistion of common prosperity. “This is a defining feature of Chinese modernisation, and what distinguishes it from Western modernisation. The biggest problems with Western modernisation are that it is capital-centred rather than people-centred and that it seeks to maximise capital gains rather than serve the interests of the vast majority of the people. This has created a huge gap between the rich and the poor and led to severe polarisation.”

He also relates this to the so-called ‘middle-income trap’ that has plagued and derailed many developing countries:

“In their efforts to achieve modernisation, some developing countries once approached the developed country threshold only to fall into the ‘middle-income trap’ and become mired in prolonged stagnation, or even experience severe regression. A major cause for this is that these countries failed to solve the problems of polarisation and solidification of social strata.”

Third, it is the modernisation of material and cultural-ethical advancement. Material poverty is not socialism, nor is cultural impoverishment. An important cause of Western countries’ predicaments today is their failure to check greed, which is the nature of capital.

Fourth, is the modernisation of the harmony between humanity and nature. Western modernisation has typically involved a stage of wanton plundering of natural resources and destruction of the environment. While creating enormous material wealth, it has often caused serious problems such as environmental pollution and resource depletion. Whereas, in pursuing modernisation, China is committed to sustainable development.

Finally, it is the modernisation of peaceful development.

“Western modernisation was fraught with sanguineous crimes such as war, slave trade, colonisation, and plunder, which inflicted untold misery on developing countries. Having suffered from aggression, bullying, and humiliation by Western powers, we Chinese are keenly aware of the value of peace and will never follow the beaten path of the West… We should never oppress other nations or loot the wealth and resources of other countries in any form. Rather, we should provide support and assistance to other developing countries to the best of our ability.”

This speech extract was originally published in the Chinese language edition of the CPC theoretical journal, Qiushi (No. 16, 2023). This English language version is reproduced from Qiushi English Edition, No. 6, November-December 2023.

The path to modernization a country chooses is determined by its historical traditions, social systems, developmental conditions, and external environment, among other factors. As countries differ in their conditions, they may take different paths to modernization. As we have seen, to achieve modernization, a country needs not only to follow the general laws governing this pursuit; more importantly, it needs to keep in mind its own realities and distinctive features. Chinese modernization has features that are common to the modernization processes of all countries as well as features that are unique to the Chinese context. The Report to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) articulated the five distinctive features of Chinese modernization, profoundly capturing the essence of the concept. Both a theoretical summary and a guide to action, this offers a sure path for China to build itself into a great modern socialist country and achieve the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

A sure path does not mean that there will be no challenges along the way to modernization. To fully leverage the following five distinctive features of Chinese modernization and turn them into unique strengths calls for arduous efforts.

First, the modernization of a huge population

This is a salient feature of Chinese modernization. As countries differ in population size, they face different tasks which vary in magnitude and complexity, and their paths of development and ways of advancement are necessarily different. Today, only more than 20 countries around the world, with a combined population of around one billion, have achieved modernization. China is working to achieve modernization for more than 1.4 billion people, more than the combined population of the world’s developed countries. This will largely reshape the landscape of global modernization. Chinese modernization is unprecedented in human history in terms of both scale and difficulty.

A huge population provides ample human resources and a vast market, but it also poses many problems and challenges. Ensuring that our more than 1.4 billion people are fed is a tough challenge to begin with, and there are other issues to be resolved, such as employment, income distribution, education, health care, housing, eldercare, and childcare. None of these issues can be easily solved and each of them involves an enormous number of people. When we are considering problems, making decisions, and taking actions, we need to keep in mind our population size as well as the gaps in development between urban and rural areas and between different regions. We should neither pursue grandiose goals nor stick to old ways. We need to be patient in advancing our course and take steady and incremental steps to sustain progress.

Hands off China! Full solidarity with Palestine!

The following article by Sara Flounders, based on a talk given at our event Peace delegates report back from China: Building solidarity and opposing the New Cold War, calls for a joined-up anti-imperialism, positing that “the best way to oppose the new Cold War with China is to be the most militant opponent of every US war.”

Sara observes that the events of 7 October 2023 “opened a new chapter in the worldwide class war”. US imperialism is backing Israel to the hilt, desperate to protect its interests in the region – part of defending and expanding US global hegemony. “That means Palestine fights for all of us”, and those that oppose the US-led program to encircle and contain China should also stand with the people of Palestine.

Further, we should be standing firmly against the US’s unilateral sanctions, which are being used to undermine and destabilise a total of 40 countries currently.

The US and its allies are also engaged in a proxy war against Russia in Ukraine. The over-arching strategy is to “impose regime change on Russia, which would be a key step to their next move — against China.”

The basic dynamic in geopolitics today is the contest between a moribund imperialism and a rising multipolarity. As Sara writes, “China’s very existence as a prosperous, developing country confirms that humanity has another choice. The developing world, the Global South, looks to China — not to U.S. imperialism. That is a threat to imperialism.”

Sara concludes by calling on our movement to unite behind the slogans: “Hands off China! Full solidarity with Palestine!”

This article appeared first in Workers World.

With U.S. wars coming thick and fast, the best way to oppose the new Cold War with China is to be the most militant opponent of every U.S. war.

If Israel succeeds in crushing Palestinian resistance, based on U.S. financial, political and military support, then U.S. imperialism is stronger on a world scale. That means Palestine fights for all of us. Palestine’s resistance has ignited a global resistance.

Before October 7, Israel, after 75 years of U.S. backing, seemed all powerful. Now the Israeli military has been frustrated at every turn by the indomitable spirit of Palestinian resistance. The Israelis face ambushes without end.

There is a sea change in the U.S. working class. For the first time, a majority of the population supports Palestine. There is sharp opposition to U.S. policy, shown by mass marches, shutdowns, walkouts. Let’s build on this global outrage over the U.S. role as the “enabler” of this genocide!

Global support for Palestine

On a world scale, people side with Palestine, whose resistance is our resistance. The liberation of Palestine is an important step in the liberation of humanity.

October 7 opened a new chapter in the worldwide class war. The Israeli regime’s genocidal crimes against the people of Gaza demand our international solidarity.

Faced with an unwinnable quagmire, the U.S. and Israel have expanded this war. Just this week, they bombed Muslims in Syria, Iraq and Yemen. Three days ago, they blew up two main natural gas pipelines in Iran, leaving millions of Iranians without heat and cooking fuel in winter. This is the way the U.S. and Israel fight wars — they target essential civilian infrastructure.

The U.S. and NATO countries cut off all food, medical care and schools to all Palestinians — even in Jordan and Lebanon, and on the West Bank, by cutting off funding to UNRWA [United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East].

I raise all of this, because the U.S. media and politicians claim they want to protect Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang. The sheer hypocrisy of this claim is blatant. Yet it is the basis of the sanctions! This false charge is a big weapon in the war on China and in lining up and demanding compliance of all U.S. allies against China.

Thousands of Volkswagen, Audi, and Porsche cars are impounded on ships at U.S. ports, just because they include a small Chinese electronic part. These German auto corporations are told they must pay U.S. fines, remove the offending part and agree to U.S. charges against China regarding Xinjiang.

Bales of clothing made in Vietnam and Malaysia go through isotopic testing at U.S. Customs. If even a thread of cotton comes from Xinjiang, the clothing is destroyed. This is because the U.S. authorities allege there is slave labor in Xinjiang — even though Xinjiang’s cotton industry is fully mechanized.

Anti-war activists need to militantly oppose the wanton use of economic sanctions, which are used against not only China but a total of 40 countries, inhabited by one-third of the world’s population. Applying sanctions is a powerful weapon of economic destabilization.

However, this is a double-edged sword. Enforcement of these sanctions now widens U.S. isolation. They intensify trade wars with Washington’s imperialist “partners” — or are they better called imperialist rivals?

Much to the frustration of U.S. imperialism, sanctioned countries are finding new roads to cooperation and trade.

Understanding the role of the private sector in the Chinese economy

We are pleased to publish below the text of a speech by Dr Jenny Clegg at a public meeting in Manchester, Britain, organised by the Greater Manchester Morning Star Readers and Supporters Group. The title of the event was China and the Western Left, and it aimed to uncover the nature of China’s political economy and its role in the world. The other guest speaker was Friends of Socialist China co-editor Carlos Martinez.

Jenny’s speech seeks to explain the role of the private sector in the current phase of China’s development. Jenny lays the ground for understanding today’s domestic capitalist class by uncovering the role of the national bourgeoisie in the history of the Chinese Revolution, including in the massive strike wave of the 1920s, the United Front to resist Japanese invasion, and the period of rebuilding during the New Democracy phase between 1949 and 1956. Jenny posits that this group, while not always reliable, “had an anti-imperialist side” and furthermore “was prepared to accept CPC leadership in the right circumstances – something still influencing the CPC’s attitude to today’s private entrepreneurs.”

The speech explains the unusual nature of China’s socialist market economy, in which the public and private sectors have an essentially symbiotic relationship, and where the state maintains overall control.

“The majority of large-scale private enterprises are linked into the state through mixed-ownership arrangements, with the state investing and divesting to shape industrial growth according to overall plans… Around 40 percent of private entrepreneurs are Party members and around half of private enterprises have CPC cells organised within them. Over 40 percent of workplaces so far are unionised, more than twice the rate here in Britain.”

As such, “the relationship then between the socialist state and the private sector is one of unity in developing the economy as well as struggle to ensure public benefit.”

A member of our advisory group, Jenny is a retired academic and an activist in the anti-nuclear, peace and friendship movements. She is the author of China’s Global Strategy: Towards a Multipolar World, published by Pluto Press.

The major stumbling point for the Western Left in understanding China as a socialist country is the question of the growth in recent decades of market relations and the private sector. This question requires in the first place a consideration of the contribution that the domestic capitalist class made in China’s revolutionary process before getting some measure of the private economy in China today.

The historical role of the national bourgeoisie in the Chinese revolution

One hundred years ago – minus one year – in 1925, on May 30, a British officer ordered the police in the Shanghai British concession to open fire on Chinese protestors, killing at least nine of them. The protests were part of a mounting strike wave in which the Communist Party of China (CPC) – founded in 1921 – was very active, and the incident sparked some momentous developments as anti-imperialist feelings surged.

Ayear-long strike in Hong Kong, starting in 1925, dealt a great blow to British imperialism, which from its island base had extended its influence, becoming the leading imperialist power not only in China but across Southeast Asia. The fact that Chinese capitalists supported and funded the strike, showing they too had an anti-imperialist side, was a particular lesson for the CPC.

The Kuomintang (KMT), supported by the CPC in the first United Front, began to prepare its army for the Northern Expeditionwhich set off in 1926to overthrow the feudal warlords and imperialist rule. As it advanced, peasant associations spread like wildfire.

The British Tory government launched a 20,000 strong expeditionary force; and in due course cities along the Yangtze came under British bombardment.

And in Britain, Hands off China became the largest anti-imperialist movement during the General Strike.

The situation in China became highly radicalised as peasants’ moderate demands for rent reductions gave way to land seizures and workers took over the British concession in Wuhan. These developments caused KMT Nationalist army officers to take fright, and what followed was a brutal massacre of communists in Shanghai, ordered by KMT head Chiang Kai-shek. Too late, the remaining CPC activists formed their own Red Army but, failing to capture an urban base, retreated to the mountains to set up worker-peasant soviets.

Over the next ten years, the CPC carried out various land reform policies with limited success. It was Mao who recognised the Leftist errors thatfailed to take capital into account in implementing reforms to eradicate feudal relations. Taking corrective measures, following the Long March (1934-35), by the time the Japanese escalated its occupation of China in 1937, the CPC was ready to meet the new anti-imperialist upsurge by entering a second United Front of resistance with the KMT.

In the red base areas under its control, the CPC moderated its land reform policies, and the two-class Soviet strategy was replaced with a New Democratic alliance including the national bourgeoisie as well as the petty bourgeoisie.

These adjustment proved a great success: in the eight years to the defeat of Japan in 1945, the red bases grew from a population of one million to nearly 100 million people, almost a quarter of China, and the Red Army from 30,000 to 900,000.

New Democracy was to continue through the ensuing years of civil war (1945-49), the founding of the People’s Republic (1949), up to the 1956 transition to socialism.

In 1949, whilst others fled, some capitalists stayed on to make valuable contributions to China’s recovery. The fact that China was able to stabilise within three years to 1952 after a century of wars and economic ruin was truly remarkable.

Then in 1956, when private enterprises were nationalised, these former owners stayed on as managers, as Mao declared the contradiction with the national bourgeoisie, now antagonistic under socialism, was to be handled in non-antagonistic ways, that is by ideological struggle.

History thus shows the important role the nationalist capitalist class played in the Chinese revolution: if not always reliable, not only did it have an anti-imperialist side but it was prepared to accept CPC leadership in the right circumstances – something still influencing the CPC’s attitude to today’s private entrepreneurs.

Chinese Embassy in London organises round table discussion on building a shared future for humanity

On February 21, the Chinese Embassy in London organised a lunch and round table discussion for representatives of fraternal parties and other British friends of China to celebrate the Lunar New Year and to explore the topic of building a shared future for humanity along with the other major themes raised at the Central Conference on Work Related to Foreign Affairs, held in Beijing last December.

In his keynote report, Ambassador Zheng Zeguang first dealt with economic developments. China’s economy, he noted, had become greener, the middle income group had already reached 400 million, and Premier Li Qiang has noted that it will reach 800 million in five years. There were intensified efforts to sort out the problems in the real estate market.

On foreign policy, the Ambassador laid particular stress on high quality Belt and Road (BRI) developments, the historic reconciliation between Iran and Saudi Arabia, brokered by China, China’s contribution to the UAE consensus on climate change reached at COP 28, along with China’s role in the Global South, championing the expansion of the BRICS cooperation mechanism and the African Union’s admission to the G-20.

China’s policy, he explained, was to promote peace and oppose war. Without peace there could be no development and peace can only be possible if the independence and territorial integrity of nations was defended. It was further necessary to uphold mutual learning and to oppose ideas of a clash of civilisations.

Friends of Socialist China was represented by our co-editor Keith Bennett along with committee member Dr. Ali Al-Assam. In his contribution, Keith laid stress on how President Xi’s concept of a community with a shared future for humanity, which is described as the core tenet of Xi Jinping Thought on Diplomacy, embodies Xi’s concept of the “two integrations”, namely the integration of Marxism with China’s specific realities and especially the best of its traditional culture.

Other speeches were made by Robert Griffiths, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Britain (CPB); Andy Brooks, General Secretary of the New Communist Party of Britain (NCP); Christina Kostoula, Vice Chair of the Communist Party of Great Britain (Marxist-Leninist) (CPGBML); Wang Qi, Minister of the Chinese Embassy; Stephen Perry, Honorary President of the 48 Group Club; Right Honourable Lord Davidson KC of Glen Cova, Labour Member of the House of Lords; Martin Albrow, Fellow of Britain’s Academy of Social Sciences; Martin Jacques, author of the best selling ‘When China rules the world’; Sam Daws, Director of the Project on UN Governance and Reform at the Centre for International Studies, University of Oxford; and Hugh Goodacre, Secretary of the Xi Jinping Thought Study Group of the Institute for Independence Studies.

Further contributions were made in discussion by Roger McKenzie, Foreign Editor of the Morning Star; and Ali Al-Assam of Friends of Socialist China.

The below article was originally published on the website of the Chinese Embassy in the UK. It is followed by the full text of Keith’s contribution to the discussion.

The Chinese Embassy in the UK Holds a Chinese New Year Luncheon for Representatives of British Political Parties to Discuss China’s Practice and the Global Significance of Building a Community with a Shared Future for Mankind

On 21 February 2024, the Chinese Embassy in the UK invited representatives from various British political parties and people from different sectors for a Chinese New Year luncheon. H.E. Ambassador Zheng Zeguang delivered a keynote address and the other participants shared their views. While celebrating the Chinese New Year, the participants engaged in in-depth discussions on China’s practice and the global significance of building a community with a shared future for mankind.

In his address, Ambassador Zheng pointed out that building a community with a shared future for mankind is the core tenet of Xi Jinping Thought on Diplomacy. It is the Communist Party of China (CPC)’s answer to the question of what kind of world we should build and how to build it. It is also the noble goal pursued by China in conducting major country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics in the new era.

Ambassador Zheng elaborated on the goal, the pathway, the guiding principle, the basic underpinning, the strategic guidance and the platform for building a community with a shared future for mankind. He pointed out that building a community with a shared future for mankind has developed from a conceptual proposition to a scientific system, from a promising vision to substantive actions and from a Chinese initiative to an international consensus. Extending to various regions and covering various areas, it has served as a glorious banner leading the progress of the times.

Ambassador Zheng noted that over the past year, China continued to steadfastly advance the building of a community with a shared future for mankind through practical actions. China’s economy grew by 5.2%, contributing about one-third of the global economic growth. China’s rapid green and low-carbon transition propelled global sustainable development. And China shared more development opportunities with the world through expanded high-level opening up.

China made active efforts to improve relations between other major countries, successfully mediated a historic reconciliation between Saudi Arabia and Iran, and played a constructive role in addressing regional hotspots such as the Palestine-Israel conflict and the Ukraine crisis, making new contributions to world peace.

China actively contributed to the UAE Consensus at the COP28 UN Climate Change Conference, enhanced solidarity of the Global South, promoted the historic expansion of BRICS and gave support to the African Union in joining the G20, playing an important role in improving global governance.

Peace delegates report back from China

Although the Biden administration has made some small gestures towards improving US-China relations, the US continues to escalate its campaign of encirclement and containment. The US has ramped up its military aid to Taiwan; it is attempting to strengthen the AUKUS nuclear alliance; it is doing everything it can to prevent China’s emergence as a major computing power; it is imposing sanctions and tariffs on China; and it is relentlessly spreading lurid anti-China slander.

Recognising the terrible dangers posed by the New Cold War (and its potential degeneration into a hot war), a number of peace activists from the US have recently taken part in delegations to China, in order to build understanding and solidarity, and to see China’s reality with their own eyes.

On Sunday 18 February 2024, we heard back from these peace delegates and discussed ways to continue building people-to-people links between the West and China, and to develop a powerful movement for peace and cooperation.

Embedded below are the videos from the event.

Full event stream

Lee Siu Hin: building US-China relations at the grassroots

Charles Xu (Qiao Collective): reflections on a trip to China

Sara Flounders: Organize collectively to demand hands off China and show solidarity with Palestine

Danny Haiphong: telling the truth about China and being an ambassador for peace

Dee Knight: If we want to make peace, more of us should visit China

Bahman Azad: debunk lies about China in order to advance the cause of peace

CPUSA: By developing people-to-people relations, we can all build a bedrock for peace

Hugo Chávez, Xi Jinping, and a global community of shared future

The following is the text of the presentation delivered by Carlos Martinez, co-editor of Friends of Socialist China, at a round-table discussion on Venezuela’s foreign policy in a changing world, held on 20 February 2024 at Bolivar Hall in London. The event was organised by the Ambassador of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in the UK in coordination with the Venezuela Solidarity Campaign.

The speech discusses Hugo Chávez’s vision of a multipolar world, and explores how that vision overlaps with China’s strategy of pursuing a global community of shared future.

Other speakers at the event included Her Excellency Rocío Maneiro, Ambassador of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in the UK; Francisco Domínguez, Secretary of the Venezuela Solidarity Campaign; Calvin Tucker, Campaigns Manager of the Morning Star; and Radhika Desai, Convenor of the International Manifesto Group.

Dear friends and comrades, thanks so much for inviting me to today’s important event.

And thank you in particular to Her Excellency compañera-embajadora Rocío Maneiro, who continues to do such a wonderful job representing her country and standing in solidarity with the progressive movement here in Britain and with the working class and oppressed peoples of the world.

Thanks also to the indefatigable comrade Francisco Domínguez for his hard work putting this event together.

I’m going to focus these brief remarks on the connection between Venezuela’s foreign policy and that of China.

As you’re all no doubt aware, Hugo Chávez had an extremely far-sighted worldview. While the Bolivarian Revolution has always aimed to have good relations with the US, its foreign policy has nonetheless been informed by the identification of that country as the principal enemy to sovereignty and to socialism, not just in Venezuela but throughout the world.

And of course the US’s consistently aggressive stance in relation to Venezuela – its campaign of sanctions, of coercion, of destabilisation – has only confirmed what Chávez and his comrades already knew.

Chávez saw Venezuela as part of a global movement challenging half a millennium of colonialism, imperialism and racism; a global movement that included the growing leftist and pro-sovereignty trend in Latin America and the Caribbean, but also China, Cuba, Russia, Libya (until NATO’s war of regime change in 2011), Syria, South Africa, Vietnam, Iran, the DPRK, Belarus and others.

This global movement seeks to put an end to the unipolar era of US hegemony, and to create a multipolar – or as Chávez called it, pluripolar – world, with multiple centres of power, in which countries and regions all have their role in global politics and in which no one power can impose its will on others.

Under the guidance of Hugo Chávez and then Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela has become one of the most prominent voices in support of this multipolar project.

Indeed, one of the slogans of Chávez’s 2012 presidential election campaign was: “to develop a new international geopolitics forming a multicentric and pluripolar world to achieve equilibrium in the universe and guarantee planetary peace.”