Contribution of CP of China [En]

Mr. President,

Dear Comrades:

It is my great pleasure to attend the 18^th International Meeting of Communist and Workers’ Parties.

This meeting has been successfully held for eighteen sessions. “Eighteen” is an age that defines whether a person has come of age in many countries and regions. But in China, it represents auspiciousness, symbolizing tangible outcome of one’s wishes.

Over the past 18 years, the international meeting of communist and workers’ parties has turned itself into an influential platform of exchanges among progressive forces in the world, driving the progress of the world communist movement after the severe setback of drastic changes in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. We have every reason to believe that the world communist and workers’ parties will scale up exchanges and exploration through this platform and make greater headway along the path of the realization of communism and new contribution to a brighter future of mankind.

Comrades,

July 1^st, 2016 marks the 95^th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China. Over the past 95 years, the Communist Party of China has grown into a long-governing party with over 88 million members and more than 4.4 million party organizations, governing a country of over 1.3 billion people.

At his important speech at the 95^th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, General Secretary Xi Jinping summed up the three historic contributions made by the Communist Party of China—founding the People’s Republic of China, establishing the basic system of socialism, and pursuing the policy of reform and opening-up.

General Secretary Xi also pointed out that the great victory achieved by the Chinese people under the leadership of the Communist Party of China has

-- enabled the over-5,000-year-old Chinese nation to embrace modernization across the board;

-- made the 500-year-old socialism highly relevant and practical in the world’s most populous country, injecting fresh vigor into scientific socialism in the 21^st Century;

-- and helped the over-60-year-old New China to register remarkable achievements in national construction, creating a growth miracle in the history of mankind by making the world’s largest developing country shake off poverty and become the second largest economy in the world in a short span of some 30 years.

General Secretary Xi reminded the whole Party to carry on the unremitting efforts of the Party’s founding members and stay true to the people. One who wants to stride ahead should not forget the path that was trodden. No matter how far one has travelled and how glorious a future one will have, they should never forget what they have experienced and why they have started the journey. Looking forward in the face of the challenges, all Party members must stay true to the mission and forge ahead.

General Secretary Xi called on the whole Party to uphold the guiding role of Marxism, integrate the basic tenets of Marxism with China’s conditions and the underlying trend of the times, make theoretical and practice innovation, and continue to adapt Marxism to China’s conditions. The Communist Party of China has never wavered in the faith in Marxism. Moreover, it will continue to enrich and develop Marxism in practice. Marxism does not mark the end of truth; rather, it blazes a trail toward truth. Engels said long before: “Marx’s way of viewing things is not a doctrine but a method. It does not provide ready-made dogmas, but criteria for further research and the method for this research.” The Communist Party of China holds the view that the change of times and the breadth and depth of China’s development have gone far beyond the imagination of the writers of Marxist classics. Given the limited decades of China’s socialist practice and the primary stage of socialism we are at, we will encounter more new situations and problems, which requires the Communist Party of China to make innovation in practice and constant breakthroughs in theoretical development.

The Communist Party of China bears in mind that since the founding of our Party, we have set the Communism and Socialism as our guiding principle, upheld the lofty ideals of communism and common aspiration for socialism with Chinese characteristics, and moved ahead with the great practice of striving for these objectives.

What the Communist Party of China works to build is Chinese socialism, not any other ism. History has not come to an end, nor will it be ended. We have full confidence in the path, theories and systems of Chinese socialism and in Chinese culture, never waver in the Party’s basic line, and continue to push forward the great cause of Chinese socialism. Whether socialism is good or not is determined by hard facts and the judgment of the Chinese people, not the subjective assumption of those who have bias about socialism. The CPC members and the entire Chinese people are fully confident of providing a China solution to exploration of a better social system.

The Communist Party of China believes that our Party is rooted in the people, and serves the people. We must rely on the people, fully mobilize their initiative, enthusiasm and creativity, and take their wellbeing further.

The Communist Party of China will lead the Chinese people to unswervingly follow the path of peaceful development and a win-win strategy of opening up. We will increase friendly exchanges with all countries, and work with the people of other countries to push forward the lofty cause of peace and development.

Leadership by the Communist Party of China is the most essential feature of Chinese socialism, as well as its greatest strength. Upholding and improving the Party’s leadership is the foundation and lifeblood of both the Party and the country, and affects the interests and wellbeing of people of all China’s ethnic groups. The CPC has no other alternative but to maintain its advanced nature and purity, steadily improve its art of governance and leadership, increase its ability to ward off risks, resist corruption, and prevent degeneration, and enhance the building of the Party itself in response to the trend of the times. Party building should always keep in pace with the cause of the Party and the people.

As the governing party, the CPC is confronted with the biggest threat—corruption. Since its 18^th National Congress in 2012, the Partyhas caught “tigers” as well as “flies”—senior officials as well as junior ones guilty of corruption. We have shown no mercy to those “big tigers” bringing calamity to the country and people, and worked hard to resolve problems of corruption that directly affect the people. Through these efforts, the people can see the practical results of the fight against corruption, and the officials will be deterred from committing corruption. Initial progress has already been made so that officials cannot and do not want to be corrupt. An anti-corruption momentum is releasing its full force on all fronts.

Comrades,

More than thirty years’ reform and opening-up has brought tremendous changes to China. At the start of reform in 1970s, western capitalist economy developed fast; gap between socialist China and developed capitalist countries were widening; and our national economy was on the verge of collapse. Facing the severe situation, Comrade Deng Xiaoping, chief architect of China’s reform and opening-up, succinctly pointed out, “If we do not ever again engage in reform, our modernization drive and socialist cause will come to an end.” The idea of reform and opening-up has not been simply conjured up, nor a compromise or back-peddling; rather, it is a choice of history, times and the people.

The Communist Party of China has united and led the Chinese people to carry out the great cause of reform and opening-up, which has significantly boosted the creativity of our people, emancipated and developed social productivity, and enhanced the vitality of social development.

During more than thirty years of rapid economic development,

--China has turned from the verge of economic collapse to a booming economy and an engine of the world economy;

--people’s livelihood has improved a lot, undergoing a historic transformation from inadequate food and clothing to a moderately prosperous society in all respects;

--and notable progress has been made in social development, with the fruits of reform and development benefiting the entire population.

Through reform and opening-up, China’s overall national strength has grown considerably, and Chinese socialism has gained fresh vigor and vitality.

Reform and opening-up is significant in that

--the path, theories and systemof Chinese socialism have been established;

--China has caught up with the times;

--and Chinese people have achieved great progress from standing up to getting richer and stronger.

Chinese socialism is a cause that has never before been pursued. Description and forecast about socialism by Marx and Engels was based on the law of development and a study on proletarian revolution in capitalist society. No clear answer was provided by them about description and building of socialist society in real world. Comrade Deng Xiaoping once said that poverty is not socialism, and that the superiority of the socialist system is demonstrated, in the final analysis, by faster and greater development of the productive forces than under the capitalist system. It is clear from this perspective that without reform and opening-up, there will be neither economic and social achievements over the past three decades, nor socialism with Chinese characteristics.

At the new historical starting point, the Communist Party of China declares solemnly to the world that we will follow the correct direction of reform and opening-up, rejecting both the old path of a rigid closed-door policy and an erroneous path by abandoning socialism.

--We have set the overall goal of deepening the reform comprehensively, which is to improve and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics, and to promote the modernization of the national governance system and capacity.

--We will ensure that institutions in all areas become more mature and complete, improve quality of development and governance, and deliver to the people a stronger sense of satisfaction.

--We will forge ahead along the path of reform, opening-up, and socialist development, and honor our commitment to the people with new progress in building Chinese socialism, a commitment that the people’s aspiration for a better life is our goal.

Comrades,

History always marches on without waiting for those who hesitate, look on, relax their efforts, or remain weak. Only those who keep pace with the times will have a bright future.

The world today has come to a critical juncture in development. The dynamism provided by the last round of scientific progress is waning while the new round of scientific and industrial revolution is yet to gain momentum. The world economy is on the whole along the path to recovery, but still confronts multiple risks and challenges. Economic stagnation, social crisis, and democracy dilemma appear in western capitalist countries. However, do the crises in capitalist world necessarily mean opportunities for socialist forces? How can communists translate the crises in capitalist world into historic opportunities for self-development and the progress of socialist cause? All these questions are major tasks for us that merit serious exploration.

In 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed the major initiative of building the silk road economic belt and the 21^st Century maritime silk road. The Belt and Road that goes through Eurasian continent extends from the Asia-Pacific region in the east to Europe in the west, involving 4.4 billion people from 65 countries. The initiative represents a major strategic move for expanding China’s opening up. In doing so, China will not only develop itself, but also share the benefits of development with all countries along the Belt and Road. During the past three years, over 100 countries and international organizations have participated in the initiative, and a series of landmark projects have been launched. The Belt and Road upholds the spirit of peace, cooperation, openness, inclusiveness, mutual learning and mutual benefit, providing a China solution with distinctive socialist features to the common development of the world, South-South cooperation, and progress of mankind.

The Belt and Road initiative, cross-border connectivity, enhanced trade and investment cooperation, and international cooperation on production capacity and equipment manufacturing—all these advocated by China boil down to stimulating new demands through effective supply, and addressing lack of growth engines and global economic imbalance. The Belt and Road, initiated on the basis of wide consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits as well as the principle of equality and mutual benefits, identifies development as the biggest common interest to promote common development of China and all other countries along the Belt and Road for the benefit of our peoples.

Getting stronger through unity is the common aspiration and best wishes of developing countries. In the 21^st century, quality and upgrading of South-South cooperation have once again become a priority for developing countries. As the biggest developing country, China has all along been a firm representative of the interests of the developing world, and an active participant and promoter of South-South cooperation. In pursuing the Belt and Road initiative, China aims to work with other developing countries to improve economic and social development, share experience in development, and explore a path of diversified development.

The Belt and Road initiative represents the view of Chinese communists on the future of the world and mankind. The world economy is still in a period of deep adjustment after the international financial crisis. The triangle cycle, with markets of capitalist countries, production in emerging economies, and raw materials in resource-rich countries, has been broken. New drivers of global economy are yet to emerge. The world is in need of new growth models and new forms of regional cooperation. At the crucial moment when crises and opportunities coexist, the Communist Party of China, being the largest governing party in a socialist country, has the obligation to actively explore a new path of substituting socialist globalization for capitalist globalization.

Comrades,

In pursuing Chinese socialism, the Communist Party of China values exchanges, dialogue and cooperation with international political parties. We have established various forms of contacts with more than 600 political parties from over 160 countries and regions. At the just concluded third conference of“ the CPC in Dialogue with the World” held in Chongqing, China on 14-15 October, 260 participants representing 78 political parties and organizations from 52 countries, attended and conducted in-depth exchanges and discussions on the theme of “Innovation in Global Economic Governance: CPC’s Proposition and Practice”.The participating political parties all agreed that the 11^thG20 Summit, heldin Hangzhou, China in September, was not just a summit for its 20 members, but a milestone summit in the development of global governance. It offered a China solution to global governance and transformation, and set forth China’s position on establishment of a fair and equitable international order. The Hangzhou Summit, under the theme of “Towards an Innovative, Invigorated, Interconnected and Inclusive World Economy”, offered new thinking on tackling the difficult situation of the world economy in light of the practice of China’s reform and opening-up. President Xi Jinping proposed at the summit his outlook on global governance featuring equality, win-win, cooperation, and shared benefits, charting the course for shaping a fair and equitable global governance system.

Twenty years have passed since the drastic changes in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. Over the past two decades, communist parties, workers’ parties, and other socialist forces across the world have reflected on themselves and made self-adjustment to improve themselves and extend their influence. Capitalism, though suffering setback, prepares to come back through self-recovery and shifting crisis to others. Imagine the intense struggle between capitalism and socialism, and between conservative forces and progressive forces in the future. In this context, all communist and workers’ parties should seek common ground while shelving their differences, be united as one, increase exchanges, and draw on each other’s useful experience, so as to strengthen self-development and improve our capability to defuse risks. Along that line, let me make the following proposals.

First, all parties should seek common ground while shelving differences. Every country and Party has its own particular conditions. As the realities vary, they may have different understanding of the definition of socialism and of the ways to build socialism. These differences should not be obstacle to their cooperation. Instead, they should be a driving force for their mutual learning, which will be conducive to independently exploring, in light of their conditions on the ground, a path of building socialism suited to their own national and party realities.

Second, all parties should increase experience sharing. Rejuvenation and development of the world socialist movement depends on the concerted efforts of the world communist and workers’ parties. Only when we grow strong can we have comparative advantage over capitalist political parties in competition and make our ideas and proposals gain recognition in a wider area. To this end, we suggest that the international meeting of communist and workers’ parties create more opportunities for all participating parties to exchange views on party building, draw on each other’s strength, and explore ways to grow stronger through this platform.

Third, all parties should strengthen solidarity and support each other. Communism is a value and an objective pursued by the world communist and workers’ parties. It determines their shared strategic interest, which is to defend the ideal of communism. One should not be afraid of differences. What we need to do is to have timely consultation and communication, minimize the negative impact, and refrain from increasing or playing up those differences to uphold solidarity among communist parties. Only when we are united and forge synergy can we accomplish things where possible.

Comrades,

No matter which country or which part of the planet we come from, our presence at the meeting means we are part of the big family of the world socialism, and we are brothers and sisters sharing the same ideal and following the same path. As long as we join hands to increase exchanges and draw on each other’s strength, we can reinforce each other and grow stronger. When that day comes, no difficulty or challenges can stop the march of communism. I am confident that the world socialist movement will tide over this long “severe winter”, and embrace the next splendid spring.

Long live socialism! Long live the communist parties!

Thank you.