On July 1, we celebrated the centenary of the Communist Party of China with a solemn ceremony. At the time of its founding, the Communist Party of China had just over 50 members. Today, with more than 95 million members in a country of more than 1.4 billion people, it has become the largest governing party in the world and enjoys tremendous international influence. The CPC united and led the Chinese people in founding the People’s Republic of China with the people as its master.
We have established our basic system of socialism and resolutely advanced the reform and opening up while upholding and improving the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics. We have realized the first centenary goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, bringing about a historic resolution to the problem of absolute poverty in China. We are now marching with confident strides toward the second centenary goal of building China into a great modern socialist country in all respects.
Success of CPC
How could the CPC make it in China? I would like to share my opinions. First, the CPC always upholds the people-centered philosophy. President Xi Jinping emphasized in his speech on the CPC’s 100th anniversary: “This country is its people; the people are the country. As we have fought to establish and consolidate our leadership over the country, we have in fact been fighting to earn and keep the people’s support. The Party has in the people its roots, its lifeblood, and its source of strength. The Party has always represented the fundamental interests of all Chinese people. The Party has no special interests of its own.” Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, a total of more than 500,000 cadres have been dispatched as first secretaries to poverty-stricken villages and more than three million cadres have been sent to work and help as resident officials in these villages. Among them, more than 1800 cadres sacrificed their lives on the front line of poverty alleviation. Since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, a total of 29.771 million party members have devoted themselves to the pandemic prevention and control efforts on the front line, accounting for 76.1 percent of the total. Among them, 396 sacrificed their lives. Confronted with urgent, dangerous and difficult tasks, CPC party members always rushed to the forefront for the fundamental purpose of serving the people wholeheartedly.
Second, the CPC always upholds innovation while respecting the tenets. Looking back to the 100-years old history, the Chinese communists have always adhered to the guidance of Marxism in different historical periods and adapted it to the national conditions and the call of the times. They have the courage to break the stereotypes and push forward conceptual and theoretical innovation. Adapting Marxism to the Chinese context and the needs of the times, they have created Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory, the Theory of Three Represents, the Scientific Outlook on Development, and Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. These have provided scientific and theoretical guidance for the development of the party and the people. The CPC has always been attaching importance to the need for modernizing China’s system and capacity for governance and it has built and improved the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics, including the system of People’s Congress, the system of multi-party cooperation and political consultation, the system of regional national autonomy and the system of community-level self-governance. All of these have provided a system guarantee for the realization of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
Third, the CPC always upholds self-reform. President Xi said: “A hallmark that distinguishes the Communist Party of China from other political parties is its courage in undertaking self-reform.” Self-reform is to uphold truth and correct errors, to remove whatever undermines the party’s purity and advanced nature, to strengthen the party’s ability to purify, improve, and reform itself. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has promoted the great new project of party building with the firm will of “reforming themselves and bracing for the pain of removing the poison to heal quickly”. From December 2012 to May of this year, 392 cadres at or above the ministerial level and nearly 800,000 cadres at other levels were filed and investigated. Only because the CPC has the courage to settle problems in earnest, it has been able to build the Party strong, keep the Party’s body healthy forever and make the Party an invulnerable Marxist party.
The CPC not only aims to seek happiness for the Chinese people and rejuvenation for the Chinese nation, but is also concerned about people in the whole world and strives for the advancement of humanity. In the context of the Covid-19 epidemic and other major changes unseen in a century, the international situation and order is undergoing fast and profound changes. At this critical historical moment, the CPC and World Political Parties Summit was successfully held recently. President Xi Jinping met with leaders of more than 500 political parties, political and other organizations from over 160 countries as well as the ten thousand and more representatives of political parties and various circles through video. They felt the pulse of the times and charted the way forward. President Xi Jinping gave a solution to the problems confronted by us at the summit. That is multilateralism. Multilateralism has been the core concept of the current international system and order. The better multilateralism is exercised the faster humanity’s common problems will be resolved.
The Communist Party of China stands ready to work with political parties and political organizations of all countries including Nepal to make even greater contributions to the building of a community with a shared future for mankind, high-quality development of BRI and a better world.
Multilateralism means taking actions and finding solutions. We must bear in mind that each and every country will benefit from what is best for the world. No action should be taken at the expense of the long-term peace and sustainable development of the whole world. Building small circles in the name of multilateralism is, in fact, a “group politics”. Multilateralism with one’s own interests taking precedence is still unilateral thinking. “Selective multilateralism” is not the right choice. President Xi Jinping has emphasized: “The CPC will unite and lead the Chinese people in pressing ahead with the Chinese-style modernization to make new contributions to humanity’s search for ways to modernize. The CPC will unite and lead the Chinese people in taking comprehensive steps to deepen reform and opening up to make new contributions to shared development and prosperity of all countries of the world. The CPC will shoulder its responsibilities as a major political party in a major country to make new contributions to improving the wellbeing of mankind. The CPC will actively improve global governance to make new contributions to humanity’s joint response to common challenges.”
These four commitments have fully shown China’s determination and responsibility to integrate its development with the common prosperity of the world.
To practice multilateralism, major countries in particular must lead by example. This year also marks the 50th anniversary of the restoration of China’s lawful seat in the United Nations. Fifty years ago, our fellow developing countries including Nepal “carried” the People’s Republic of China into the United Nations.
China-Nepal cooperation
In the five decades since, China has firmly upheld the legitimate rights and interests of fellow developing countries and spoken up for the developing world. China has proposed the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and shared development opportunities with developing countries. Nepal is an important partner for China to jointly build the BRI, and China-Nepal bilateral cooperation in various fields has made positive progress. China aided Kathmandu Durbar High School Reconstruction Project has been completed and handed over to the Nepali side. The pre-feasibility study of the Tokha-Chhahare Tunnel Project has been finished. The construction of Pokhara International Airport and Gautam Buddha International Airport is progressing well. The construction of the third phase of China aided Araniko Highway Long-term Opening Maintenance Project has been started. Trans-Himalayan Multi-Dimensional Connectivity Network is gradually taking shape.
Since the outbreak of the pandemic, China has actively carried out international cooperation in the fight against the pandemic, and is committed to ensuring accessibility and affordability of vaccines in developing countries. To date, China has provided over 450 million doses of vaccines to nearly 100 countries, including Nepal. The first batch of the vaccines procured by Nepal from China has arrived. I hope those vaccines will play an important role in building an immune firewall for the Nepali people. When China encounters difficulties, developing countries including Nepal also provide support to China within their capabilities, actively speak for China on international and multilateral occasions, resolutely oppose some countries’ smearing campaigns against China on issues such as human rights and origin-tracing of Covid-19. Just as President Xi Jinping reiterated, China will always be a member of the developing world. No matter how the international situation changes, we will always be a reliable friend and sincere partner of the developing countries.
Our journey ahead will be a long and arduous one. But as long as we press ahead with a sense of perseverance, there will be much to expect. On the journey ahead, China will remain committed to promoting peace, development, cooperation, and mutual benefit, to an independent foreign policy of peace, and to the path of peaceful development. The Communist Party of China stands ready to continue to work with political parties and political organizations of all countries including Nepal, to make even greater contributions to the building of a community with a shared future for mankind, high-quality development of BRI and a better world.
(Edited version of the speech delivered by Chinese Ambassador Hou Yanqi at the Online Press Conference on July 12 in Kathmandu)
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