On November 1, Chinese Ambassador to Sudan Ma Xinmin publishes an signature article titled 100-Year Achievements Glorious in History, New Journey Promising in Future - 20th CPC National Congress Successfully Convened and Concluded for the China Focus Column on Brown Land. The full text is as follows:
The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) came to a successful conclusion on October 22, 2022. Comrade Xi Jinping was elected general secretary of the 20th CPC Central Committee. Providing a blueprint for China’s future development, the Congress sounded the clarion call for the country’s journey toward realizing the Second Centenary Goal and advancing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts. Chairman of Sudan’s Sovereignty Council Burhan sent a congratulatory message to General Secretary Xi Jinping on the successful convening of the 20th CPC National Congress, and multiple political parties of Sudan also sent their congratulatory letters on the Congress. This far-reaching Congress is of great historic significance in the history of the development of the Chinese nation, attracting wide attention from the rest of the world including Sudan. The major results, significance and influence of the Congress are summarized in five aspects.
I. New CPC Central Leadership with Xi Jinping at Its Core Elected
The new central leadership was elected at the first plenum of the Congress. Comrade Xi Jinping was re-elected General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee and will continue to take the helm of the great vessel of China on the journey ahead. Also, the Congress established Comrade Xi Jinping’s core position on the Party Central Committee and in the Party as a whole and the guiding role of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, which represents all Chinese people’s common aspiration, full recognition of the great changes in the first decade of the new era, and heartfelt support for General Secretary Xi Jinping.
The historic achievements and changes China has made in the decade following the 18th CPC National Congress are fundamentally attributable to the establishment of both Comrade Xi Jinping’s core position on the Party Central Committee and in the Party as a whole and the guiding role of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era.
The reality in the first decade of the new era provides ample proof that establishing Comrade Xi Jinping’s core position on the Party Central Committee and in the Party as a whole and establishing the guiding role of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era represent the biggest political achievement and the most significant historical experience the Party has gained in the new era. It is the firm leadership of General Secretary Xi Jinping that makes it possible for the Party to rally and lead the Chinese people in realizing the first centenary goal despite of various risks and challenges in terms of politics, economy, ideology, nature and others, and then embarking on a new journey of building a modern socialist country in all aspects.
Marching toward the Second Centenary Goal in the new era, General Secretary Xi Jinping’s core position on the Party Central Committee and in the Party as a whole offers the Party, the entire Chinese people and the Chinese nation a fundamental guarantee for a more brilliant future.
II. Work of the Past Five Years and Great Changes in the First Decade of the New Era Expounded
In the first decade of the new era, the Party has rallied the people and led them in solving a great number of problems that had long gone unsolved, securing many accomplishments that hold major future significance, and achieving impressive advances in the cause of the Party and the country.
The Report to the 20th CPC National Congress elaborated on 16 historic achievements and changes. They are establishing the Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, strengthening Party leadership in all respects, achieving moderate prosperity which is the millennia-old dream of the Chinese nation, developing well-conceived and complete strategic plans for advancing the cause of the Party and the country in the new era, putting forward and applying a new development philosophy, comprehensively deepening reform with tremendous political courage, pursuing a more proactive strategy of opening up, keeping to the path of socialist political advancement with Chinese characteristics, establishing and upholding a foundational system for ensuring the guiding role of Marxism in the ideological domain, implementing a people-centered philosophy of development, acting on the idea that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets, applying a holistic approach to national security, setting the Party’s goal of building a strong military in the new era, fully and faithfully implementing the policy of One Country, Two Systems, pursuing major-country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics on all fronts, and making significant advances in exercising full and rigorous Party self-governance.
The past decade has witnessed China’s new heights in terms of economic, scientific and comprehensive national strength. China’s GDP has expanded from 53.9 trillion yuan to 114.4 trillion yuan to accounts for 18.5% of the world economy, up 7.2 percentage points. China has remained the world’s second largest economy, and the per capita GDP has risen to $12,500. China ranks 11th in the Global Innovation Index, up 23 places from ten years ago. The average life expectancy of the Chinese rose to 78.2 years. Nearly 100 million impoverished rural population has been lifted out of poverty. China now has in place the world’s largest systems of education, social security system and medical and health care, and has seen historic, transformative, and comprehensive changes in ecological and environmental protection. Furthermore, China has become a major trading partner for more than 140 countries and regions, and leads the world in total volume of trade in goods. China’s average rate of contribution to global economic growth has reached 38.6%.
III. New Breakthrough in Adapting Marxism to the Chinese Context and the Needs of Our Times Achieved
To stay at the forefront of the times, a nation must always be guided by the right theories. Since its inception, the CPC has embraced Marxism as the fundamental guiding ideology upon which the Party and the country are founded and thrive. However, the Party does not confine itself to specific ideas of classic Marxist authors. Instead, it has made unremitting efforts to adapt Marxism to the Chinese context and the needs of our times. Our experience in the past century has taught us that, at the fundamental level, we owe the success of the Party and socialism with Chinese characteristics to the fact that Marxism works, particularly when it is adapted to the Chinese context and the needs of our times.
Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era is the Marxism of contemporary China and of the 21st century, embodying the best of Chinese culture and ethos of this era. It is a new breakthrough in adapting Marxism to the Chinese context and the needs of our times, and is theoretically underpinned by “integration in two aspects” and “six commitments”.
Taking deep root in China, the Thought is the result of integrating the basic tenets of Marxism with both China’s specific realities and fine traditional culture. By applying dialectical and historical materialism, we have provided correct answers to the major questions presented by the times and discovered through practice and ensured that Marxism always retains its vigor and vitality. In this way, we have opened up a new frontier in adapting Marxism to the Chinese context and the needs of our times.
The worldview and methodology of the Thought could be crystallized into six commitments. We must be committed to putting the people first, maintaining self-confidence and standing on our own feet, upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground, adopting a problem-oriented approach, applying systems thinking, and maintaining a global vision.
Adapting Marxism to the Chinese context and the needs of our times is the key to continued success in the cause of the Party. Marxism’s great success in China tells us that there is neither orthodox model of development nor one-size-fits-all criteria in development. China is firmly opposed to other countries imposing their own development model on China, and will never “export” the Chinese model or ask other countries to “copy” China’s practice. China insists that every country’s endeavors to independently explore a path to modernization suited to its conditions shall be respected.
IV. Task of Advancing the Rejuvenation of the Chinese Nation on All Fronts through a Chinese Path to Modernization Defined
The Report to the 20th CPC National Congress proposed the mission of advancing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts through a Chinese path to modernization. That is to say, from this day forward, the central task of the CPC will be to lead the Chinese people of all ethnic groups in a concerted effort to realize the Second Centenary Goal of building China into a modern socialist country in all respects and to advance the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts through a Chinese path to modernization.
The Report to the 20th CPC National Congress also clearly stated that China will be committed to the Chinese path to modernization. It elaborated on the features and essential requirements of Chinese modernization and major principles that must be firmly adhered to, so that we will be able to keep firmly in our own hands the destiny of the country’s development. Chinese modernization, a new approach to a new form of modernization, charts the course of China’s development.
First of all, Chinese modernization is socialist modernization pursued under the CPC’s leadership. To achieve Chinese modernization, we must uphold the overall leadership of the CPC, and adhere to the path, theory, system and culture of socialism with Chinese characteristics. It is imperative for us to pursue high-quality development, develop whole-process people’s democracy, enrich people’s cultural lives, and adopt a people-centric approach to achieve common prosperity for all, so as to keep meeting the people’s ever-growing needs for a better life.
Second, Chinese modernization is characterized by features unique to the Chinese context. It is the modernization of a huge population, of common prosperity for all, of material and cultural-ethical advancement, of harmony between humanity and nature, and of peaceful development.
Third, Chinese modernization is the comprehensive modernization that will be a new form of human advancement. Different from western-style modernization that is centered on modernization of the economy, Chinese modernization is committed to the material and cultural-ethical advancement and to the harmony between humanity and nature. It is the multi-faceted modernization stressing national strength, people’s wellbeing, politics, democracy, social harmony, spiritual affluence, and ecological beauty. Besides, Chinese modernization is aimed at common prosperity for all, an overall prosperity with distinct Chinese characteristics. This distinguishes it from western modernization that leads to the circumstance where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
Unlike the modernization process of other countries, Chinese modernization will create a new form of human advancement. While addressing a ceremony marking the centenary of the CPC, General Secretary Xi Jinping said that “As we have upheld and developed socialism with Chinese characteristics and driven coordinated progress in material, political, cultural-ethical, social, and ecological terms, we have pioneered a new and uniquely Chinese path to modernization, and created a new model for human advancement.” He stressed in his Report to the 20th CPC National Congress that creating a new form of human advancement is one of the essential requirements of Chinese modernization.
Fourth, Chinese modernization is the modernization of self-reliance, openness and inclusiveness. Chinese modernization is not a duplicate of modernization from abroad. Instead, it is a new, independent path to modernization. There is one principle always observed in the CPC’s endeavors over the past century, that is, China’s problems must be analyzed in line with its national conditions and solved by our Chinese people. Chinese modernization is bound to be a new path to modernization that is pioneered by the people and suited to China’s realities. It will be a new option for human society to realize modernization.
Meanwhile, Chinese modernization is the modernization of openness and inclusiveness. In deepening reform and opening-up, China will continue to learn from good experience of other countries in pursuing modernization, which embodies the integration of traditional Chinese culture and shared values of humanity. China has put forward humanity’s shared values of peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy, and freedom, stressing that “peace and development are our common cause, equity and justice our common aspiration, and democracy and freedom our common pursuit.” Humanity’s shared values take shape based on the consensus on values reached via interaction of civilizations, rather than on the West’s “universal values” derived from their superiority of certain civilizations. The shared values of humanity represent the common aspirations of mankind, and provide guidance on the modernization process of the 21st century. Such values will open a new chapter in the modernization history of humanity.
Fifth, Chinese modernization is the modernization of peaceful development. On the new journey in a new era, China remains committed to its foreign policy goals of upholding world peace and promoting common development, and is dedicated to promoting a human community with a shared future. China remains firm in pursuing an independent foreign policy of peace and has always decided its position and policy on issues based on their own merits. China adheres to the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence in pursuing friendship and cooperation with other countries. It is committed to its fundamental national policy of opening to the outside world and pursues a mutually beneficial strategy of opening up. China plays an active part in the reform and development of the global governance system and works to make global governance fairer and more equitable. China sincerely calls upon all countries to hold dear humanity’s shared values of peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy, and freedom and join forces to meet all types of global challenges.
V. China’s Overall Development Objectives for the Year 2035 and Major Goals and Tasks for the Next Five Years Outlined
At the 20th CPC National Congress, major goals and tasks for China’s development and strategic plans for strengthening the overall leadership of the Party and advancing the Party building in the period to come were set out. These goals, tasks and plans, covering reform, development, stability, domestic affairs, diplomacy, national defense, Party self-governance, national governance, and the armed forces, chart the course and provide fundamental guidance for advancing the cause of the Party and the country in the new era.
There is no end either to pursuing our dreams or to our journey. Over the past century, the Party has scored remarkable achievements for the Chinese people. Looking ahead to the second century, we will work tirelessly in line with the programs of action and major policies for the cause of the Party and the country set out by the Report to the 20th CPC National Congress. We are convinced that the goal of building China into a modern socialist country in all respects will become reality and the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation will come true.