Africa -China Review Africa -China Cooperation and Transformation
Published: October 24,2022
By Gerald Mbanda
The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) ended on Sunday after a week of discussions on the way forward for China’s present and future aspirations. It was not surprising that president Xi Jinping was re-elected general secretary of the 20th Central Committee of the CPC. Xi truly deserved it because of the remarkable progress and miraculous achievements realized by China since he became the president on March 14, 2013.
Xi Jinping’s New Age of Socialism With Chinese Characteristics highlight four characteristics: The theory of character of inheritance and innovation, Centering on people’s value concept, rock-solid political concentration, the essence of realistic and practical, the concept of Community of human destiny. This philosophy that makes Xi Jinping thought, has been the magic bullet behind China’s political stability, unity, development and a foreign policy that envisages a shared future for mankind. The continuity of Xi Jinping as the general secretary of the CPC is of great significance in the consistency and smooth governance of the party, towards Chinese modernization.
In February 2021, Xi announced that China had scored a “complete victory” in its fight against poverty. Since the launch of the reform and opening up in the late 1970s, nearly 800 million impoverished rural residents were lifted out of poverty. China, the most populous country in the world with more than 1.4 billion people made history and became the envy of every developing nation, wondering how the Chinese leaders managed to do it in less than a generation. This was no mean achievement; it was miraculous. By doing so, again, China contributed more than 70 percent of global poverty reduction.
During the fight against poverty, China took five measures, including boosting the economy to provide more job opportunities, relocating poor people from inhospitable areas, compensating for economic losses associated with reducing ecological damage, improving education in impoverished areas, and providing subsistence allowances for those unable to shake off poverty through their own efforts alone. These are lessons which many countries in the developing world can learn from China.
China’s success in poverty alleviation proved that the problem of poverty, in essence, is how the people should be treated, because the people-centered philosophy is the fundamental driving force behind this cause, which president Xi and the CPC put forward. As in a football team, the winning captain does not easily get changed for the sake of changing. The captain is retained to keep winning. This is the reason why the CPC delegates decided to re-elect Xi Jinping as the general secretary of the party to continue the development path towards national rejuvenation.
The Belt and Road Initiative(BRI) has been embraced by the international community as a public good and cooperation platform spreading connectivity, infrastructure development, investments, industrialization, trade, tourism, technological and capital fund transfer to spur economic growth, transformation and shared prosperity and common future for mankind. Xi has proven to be a leader with a global outlook rather than looking at the development and prosperity of China in isolation or with ambitions to out compete other countries.
Launched in 2013, BRI is a centerpiece of Xi Jinping’s foreign policy providing opportunities for shared development and investment initiatives across the world without discrimination. Xi has emerged as a defender of globalisation.
President Xi Jinping‘s leadership has witnessed a technological revolution that has created immense impact on the Chinese society. China has made significant strides in Artificial Intelligence (AI), making outstanding contributions to AI globally. Scientific research and innovation, has been president Xi Jinping’s deliberate efforts in the journey towards China’s modernization.
Xi instigated a campaign that cracked down on corruption disciplining over one million officials, reaffirmed China’s commitment to the Paris Agreement on climate change, and also made environmental protection a priority. When I visited China in the summer of 2019, I could see the blue skies of Beijing almost seven days a week. I was told that this was not possible a few years before, as industrial pollution kept a constant smog on the horizon of China’s capital city. Again as I travelled across many cities of China, I could see trees planted in many areas that were empty before, making the environment green and protected.
At the opening session of the 20th National Congress, Xi stressed further modernizing of national defense and the military, with enhanced Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) capability in safeguarding the country’s security.
Xi said, achieving the goals for the centenary of the PLA in 2027 and more quickly elevating the people’s armed forces to world-class standards are strategic tasks for building a modern socialist country in all respects. China’s military capability is for national security as well as promoting global peace and security through peacekeeping engagements.
During the 20th National Congress, Xi stressed that China plays a crucial role in the reform and development of the global governance system. He said that China will pursue a vision of global governance featuring shared growth through collaboration. Under his leadership, China has promoted common values of democracy, peace, justice, fairness and freedom. China has consistently supported multilateralism and has been persistent in calling for a world order devoid of bullies and confrontation. China under Xi, advocates for peaceful co-existence and mutual respect.
The governance of China and its development are hinged on people-centered philosophy. “Everything is for the people and everything depends on the people.” Xi Jinping was re-elected the party’s general secretary because of the confidence the Chinese people have in him because his action and achievements speak for themselves. They want him to continue leading the party to realize the Second Centenary Goal of building China into a great modern socialist country in all respects and to advance the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts through a Chinese path to modernization. Where there is a will there is a way.
Gerald Mbanda is a Researcher and publisher on China and Africa.
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