The 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China convened its sixth plenary session successfully in Beijing from November 8 to 11, 2021. It is convened as we celebrate the centenary of the Party and the fulfillment of the First Centenary Goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and move on toward the Second Centenary Goal of building China into a great modern socialist country in all respects. At the session, General Secretary of the Central Committee Xi Jinping delivered an important address, and the Central Committee considered and adopted the Resolution on the Major Achievements and Historical Experience of the Party over the Past Century, which fully and systematically reviews the Party’s major achievements and historical experience over the past century, places emphasis on the new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics, mainly reviewing the historic achievements and the historic shifts during this period, and is of great significance for the development of both China and the world.
When CPC was founded in 1921, it only had 50-plus Party members, but today it is the world’s largest political party with more than 95 million members. Over the past hundred years, CPC has remained true to its original aspiration and mission of seeking happiness for the Chinese people and rejuvenation for the Chinese nation. It has united and led Chinese people of all ethnic groups in working tirelessly to achieve national independence and liberation, and then to make our country prosperous and strong and pursue a better life.
From 1921 to 1949, CPC led the Chinese people through bloody battles, bravery and sacrifice to defeat domestic reactionaries and foreign invaders, overthrow the three mountains of imperialism, feudalism and bureaucrat-capitalism oppressing Chinese people, and found the People’s Republic of China run by the people, achieving national independence and liberation and marking the country’s great transformation from a millennia-old feudal autocracy to a people’s democracy. The Chinese nation had stood up.
From 1949 to 1978, CPC led the Chinese people to work diligently with a spirit of self-reliance, surmounting a multitude of political, economic, and military challenge, as well as the attempts of subversion, sabotage and economic blockade by the imperialist and hegemonist powers. The new China thus gained a firm foothold amid complex domestic and international environments, and achieved a great transformation from a poor and backward Eastern country with a large population to a socialist country.
From 1978 to 2012, CPC led the Chinese people to free minds and seek truth from facts, shift the focus of work onto economic development, and to launch the reform and opening up drive, founding socialism with Chinese characteristics. China achieved the leap to the world’s second largest economy, and made the historic strides of raising the living standards of its people from bare subsistence to moderate prosperity in general, marking the tremendous advance of the Chinese nation from standing up to growing prosperous.
Following the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012, socialism with Chinese characteristics entered a new era. The Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has demonstrated great historical initiative, tremendous political courage, and a powerful sense of mission. Keeping in mind both domestic and international imperatives, the Central Committee has pushed ahead with many major tasks, and overcome a number of major risks and challenges. The moderately prosperous society in all respects has come to fruition as scheduled, and socialism with Chinese characteristics radiates with great vitality. China’s economic development has become much more balanced, coordinated, and sustainable. China’s GDP has exceeded 100 trillion yuan, while per capita GDP has topped US$10,000. China’s economic strength, scientific and technological capabilities, and composite national strength have reached new heights. China has been contributing to over 30% of the global economic growth for many consecutive years. The high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has been achieved, which is built into an initiative of peace, prosperity, openness, green development and innovation that brings different civilizations closer, and a widely welcomed public good and platform for international cooperation in today’s world, joined by 140 countries and 32 international organizations. CPC takes satisfying the people’s aspirations for a better life as the goal of all the Party’s work, and ensuring a better life for the people as the immutable aim of all the Party’s endeavors. China has attained the victory in the fight against poverty, with all of 832 poor counties and 128,000 poor villages and nearly 100 million poor rural residents lifted from poverty, accounting for more than 70 percent of the global total, meeting the poverty eradication target set in the “United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” 10 years ahead of schedule, and achieving a great miracle in human history of poverty alleviation.
In 2020, facing the sudden outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic, the Party Central Committee protected the health and safety of the people to the greatest extent possible with the commitment to putting the people and human life above all else. These efforts enabled China to lead the world in getting the epidemic under control, restarting work and production, and resuming economic and social development. China has established the world’s largest social security system, with 1.02 billion people covered by basic old-age insurance and 1.36 billion people by basic medical insurance.
The Party Central Committee has conducted strategic planning on the major-country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics, and worked to develop a new type of international relations, promote the building of a human community with a shared future, champion the shared human values of peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy, and freedom, and steer the tide of human progress. In combating COVID-19, China has engaged in international cooperation, providing supplies, medical support, and vaccine assistance for many countries, especially developing countries, and engaging in vaccine cooperation with a number of them. China has led the world in providing more than 1.7 billion vaccine doses to more than 110 countries and international organizations, and has provided the international community with 4 billion protective suits, 6 billion testing kits and 350 billion masks
While enhancing the high-quality development of Chinese economy, CPC has also been promoting common prosperity for all, and supporting areas with large ethnic minority populations and border areas in improving production and living conditions. Xinjiang has long been an inseparable part of Chinese territory, and used to be plagued by separatists, religious extremists and terrorists. Faced with the severe problem, CPC has implemented the right policies for the governance of Xinjiang. With endeavors in all aspects, the security situation in Xinjiang has been fundamentally improved, unprecedented achievements have been scored in economic and social development as well as the improvement of people’s wellbeing. There are nearly 25,000 mosques located in Xinjiang, where people of all ethnic groups, including the Uyghur population, enjoy freedom of religious belief and live together in harmony, with their sense of fulfillment, happiness and security constantly enhanced. In the past ten years, the per capita disposable incomes for urban and rural residents in Xinjiang have respectively rose by 1.4 times to $5,443, and by 1.8 times to $2,196, and 3.0649 million rural residents have been lifted out of poverty.
CPC’s endeavors over the past century have fundamentally transformed the future of the Chinese people, opened up the right path for achieving rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, demonstrated the strong vitality of Marxism, produced a profound influence on the course of world history, and made the CPC a forerunner of the times.
So, what is the important experience of CPC’s achievements over the past century?
The first is to uphold CPC’s leadership.
The Communist Party of China is the central leading force of Chinese society. The strong leadership of the Party is the fundamental reason why the Chinese people and Chinese nation have been able to achieve the great success we see today. Both the facts of history and the reality of today prove that without the Communist Party of China, there would be no new China, no happy life of Chinese people and no national rejuvenation.
The second is to put the people first.
CPC has in the people its roots, its lifeblood, and its source of strength. The Party always represents the fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority of the Chinese people. It has no special interests of its own, nor has it ever represented the interests of any individual interest group, any power group, or any privileged stratum. CPC was committed to the fundamental purpose of serving the people, and has been implementing it during the Party’s development over the past century.
The third is to advance theoretical innovation.
The fundamental reason why CPC has been able to lead the people through painstaking searches, setbacks, and pioneering efforts to accomplish enormous tasks that were inconceivable for any other political force in China is its commitment to the following: freeing minds, seeking truth from facts, advancing with the times, and applying a realistic and pragmatic approach. Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era represents a new breakthrough in adapting Marxism to the Chinese context, and has become the guiding ideology that CPC must remain committed to.
The fourth is to stay independent.
Independence is the essence of China’s national spirit, and it is CPC’s major principle for building our country. The Party has always followed an independent path as it has pressed forward, maintaining that China’s affairs must be decided and run by the Chinese people themselves. When the People’s Republic of China was newly founded, faced with tight blockade by the United States and other Western countries, CPC led Chinese people to build up our country’s strength from painstaking trials, not intimidated by threats of power, and in the end a relatively complete national economic framework was established, surmounting the blockade by Western countries and achieving self-generated development.
The fifth is to follow the Chinese path.
Throughout its endeavors over the past century, CPC has always stayed grounded in China’s conditions and felt out a right path consistent with China’s realities—the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics. It is a sure path toward a better life for the people and the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. The Chinese land, the Chinese civilization, and the Chinese path provide our Party and people an infinitely vast stage, a heritage of incomparable depth, and unmatched resolve for forging ahead.
The sixth is to maintain a global vision.
CPC has been cogitating on the future of humanity with a global vision, and has correctly understood and handled China’s relations with the rest of the world in the context of the general trend of human development, the grand scheme of things amid global changes, and the entire course of Chinese history. It champions opening up over isolation, pursues mutual benefit instead of zero-sum games, and stand on the right side of history and the side of human progress. We will keep to the path of peaceful development, developing our country by safeguarding world peace and contributing to world peace through our development. We will move forward in tandem with all progressive forces around the world, work jointly to build a community with a shared future for mankind, and continue contributing our wisdom and strength to the progress of human civilization.
The seventh is to break new ground.
CPC has led the people in surmounting all difficulties, searching high and low for a way forward, and pressing ahead with determination. As we have made constant innovations in theory, practice, institutions, culture, and other areas, we have demonstrated the courage to be pioneers and pursue a path hitherto uncharted. No difficulty or obstacle has been able to hold back the advance of the Party and the people.
The eighth is to stand up for ourselves.
Having the courage to fight and the mettle to win provides CPC and the people with inviolable strength. The Party was born amid the national crises of domestic turmoil and foreign aggression, was tempered through numerous tribulations, and has grown strong by surmounting difficulties. Thus, it has built the courage to fight and stand up against the threats of power.
The ninth is to promote the united front.
Developing the broadest possible united front provides important assurance for CPC to defeat the enemy and to govern and rejuvenate the country. The Party has remained committed to great unity and solidarity, united all forces that can be united, and mobilized all positive factors available in order to promote harmony between different political parties, ethnic groups, religions, social strata, and compatriots at home and abroad. This has allowed us to pool strength to the greatest extent possible for our common goals.
The tenth is to remain committed to self-reform.
CPC has emerged from one hundred years of vicissitudes with even greater vitality. The secret to this lies in the Party’s commitment to upholding truth and righting errors. The Party is great not because it never makes mistakes, but because it always owns up to its errors, actively engages in criticism and self-criticism, and has the courage to confront problems and reform itself.
China and Afghanistan are very close neighbors connected by mountains and rivers, and have been standing together to support each other. Since the modern times began, both China and Afghanistan were once colonized and invaded by Western powers, but always remained unintimidated by the threats of those powers and fought for the national independence and sovereignty. Looking back on the past century, CPC has led the people through hard and great endeavors in which it has become stronger by rising above setbacks, made breakthroughs by pushing forward, and improved itself by reflecting on its past, with the achievements earning worldwide recognition. Meanwhile, it has accumulated valuable historical experience and enlightenment, providing important reference to all the countries and peoples in the world working to achieve national independence and freedom, and to make their countries prosperous and strong, especially Afghanistan and Afghan people after the undergoing fundamental changes.
Which path a country chooses should be decided by its people, based on its history, culture and actual conditions. The experience and lessons of Afghanistan over the past two decades again indicates that the right way to develop international relations is to respect the rights of all countries to independently choose their development paths and promote inclusiveness and mutual learning between different civilizations. Imposing one country’s ideology and political systems on others, and arbitrarily interfering with the internal affairs of other countries, even turning to military intervention, will only bring about continuous turmoil, poverty and wars, and surely will fail.
Currently, Afghanistan has the historic opportunity to independently decide its future, achieve inclusiveness and reconciliation, and promote its reconstruction. Meanwhile it is also faced with challenges in the aspects of humanity, economy, anti-terrorism and governance. The international community should respect the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Afghanistan, provide further assistance and support to it, remove the sanctions, and abandon military threat. All parties in Afghanistan should unite with each other, work together, conform to the trend of the times, meet the needs of Afghan people, maintain the policy of good-neighborly relations, stand firm in safeguarding peace and achieve economic development.
China and Afghanistan are neighbors, and the two peoples enjoy long-lasting friendly exchanges. Many Afghan friends said that China is a major country that has never bullied Afghanistan, and a great neighbor of Afghanistan. China and Afghanistan have long been partners with a shared future. The sound development of China could only be maintained with the sound development of Afghanistan. China’s policy towards Afghanistan is clear and consistent. China has never meddled in Afghanistan’s internal affairs or sought any private interests, and has no intention to build any sphere of influence in the country.
In order to help Afghanistan overcome the current difficulties, China is now accelerating the work on 200 million yuan ($31 million) worth of emergency assistance to Afghanistan, including food, winter supplies, vaccines and medicines. Meanwhile, through the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), China is coordinating with Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to provide a large number of materials urgently needed by Afghan people. China also opens “pine nut air corridor” that will bring Afghan pine nut farmers with the income reaching hundreds of millions of U. S. dollars. Moreover, China will assist Afghanistan in further expanding its export and the projects that could help improve people’s livelihood, playing an active role in rebuilding Afghan economic and achieving its independent development.
With their diligence, bravery and wisdom, and through their continuous endeavors, Afghan people will surely build a new Afghanistan where peace and stability are achieved, economy keeps developing, different ethnic groups live in harmony, and the policy of good-neighborly relations is maintained.
