COMMENT: People-centered approach shines through CPC’s 103-year-long journey

BEIJING | Xinhua | With the Communist Party of China (CPC) celebrating its 103rd founding anniversary on July 1, the CPC is set to unveil a new round of deep and comprehensive reforms to better serve China’s 1.4 billion people.

On July 15, the CPC will convene the third plenary session of its 20th central committee in Beijing, with a host of reforms on the table that could chart the course forward for the world’s second largest economy.

“It is imperative to plan and advance reform with a focus on the people’s overall, fundamental and long-term interests,” Chinese President Xi Jinping said at a symposium attended by representatives of businesses and academia in May.

The CPC never forgets that the ultimate goal of pursuing reform and development is to ensure that people live better lives. And the touchstone of any reforms should be the approval of the general public.

“As many reform measures as possible should be taken addressing the most pressing concerns of the people and responding to their will, and as many concrete approaches as possible should be adopted that deliver real benefits to the people, win their approval and respect their will, so that the reform can ensure that the people have a stronger sense of fulfillment, happiness and security,” said Xi, also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission.

The secret to the CPC’s success in the world’s most populous country is to put people’s interests and wellbeing above all else.

While Western political parties are obsessed with short-term partisan interests even at the cost of people’s wellbeing, the CPC focuses on the happiness of the people, making relentless self-reform and self-improvement. It knows well that without the acknowledgment and support of the people, its governance would be like a tree without roots or water without a source.

The CPC’s history bears witness to its pursuit of the happiness of the people. As a political party that is of the people, by the people and for the people, it has always regarded the Chinese people as the supreme and ultimate judge of its work.

China has witnessed profound changes over the modern era that transformed the country from untold sufferings to splendid modernity. History proved that only the CPC could lead the Chinese people in fighting the enemy and winning the revolution. Since then, lives have been saved, humiliation has ended and the destiny of the Chinese people has been illuminated.

The CPC believes that only through development can people’s lives be improved and national strength be enhanced. Since China ushered in the reform and opening up in 1978, earth-shaking changes have taken place in people’s lives.

The country’s gross domestic product (GDP) now ranks the second largest in the world. Just within a decade, nearly 100 million people shook off poverty. The middle-income population has exceeded 400 million, the world’s largest.

China also has the world’s second largest consumer market, the biggest online retail sales market and the second largest import market. The country is also backed by a stable and bumper output of grains, and has built the world’s largest carbon market and clean power generation system.

The speed and quality of infrastructure construction in China has often astonished those who have traveled in this land of wonders. Foreigners are stunned when they board the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway, impressed with the comfortable carriages and bullet-like speed.

Rome was not built in a day. Similarly, China’s achievements have been built through days and nights of hard work, led by the CPC, which always summons the necessary resources and responds to people’s demands as its top priority.

Whether in earthquake-relief or the anti-poverty mission, it was the CPC that led the people in rising anew from the ruins and shaking off poverty in a relatively short period of time.

The CPC’s attractiveness cannot be resisted. With close to 100 million members, the CPC is the world’s largest ruling Marxist political party. The Party’s appeal is sharpened by its broad range of perspectives, as it is willing to listen to opinions from a wide array of members, from the top level to the grassroots, which encompasses some very talented people from across China.

No one can deny that these have made the CPC’s governance effective, efficient and highly responsive to people’s needs.

If a political party becomes self-assertive and disconnected from the masses, it risks being abandoned by the people. This is an iron law of historical development, and has no exception in any era.

The CPC is able to navigate the choppy waters of uncertainty, develop new theories and formulate blueprints because it remains on high alert to new challenges and realities, and adapts to changes in line with the times.

In the face of evolving changes, the CPC’s approach is pragmatic and realistic. The much-anticipated third plenary session will unveil more details of a new round of reforms in the “deep-water” areas that aim to fix the hard-nut problems arising from decades of development.

The CPC has not only led reforms in economy, environmental protection and many other fields, but also carried out constant self-improvement. In view of the major risks and tests facing the Party and the prominent problems within the Party, the CPC has waged a sweeping war on corruption. It unswervingly promotes comprehensive and strict governance of the Party to keep its blood clean and healthy.

The CPC’s people-centered philosophy can be traced back to the country’s traditional culture. The Party’s inherent genetic code includes fine traditional Chinese culture, from which the notion of putting people’s interests above all else originates. China’s path to the pursuit of peaceful development under the leadership of the CPC is also inseparable from traditional Chinese culture.

The Chinese people do not have the gene of expansive aggression and oppose the zero-sum game mentality. With respect to equality and mutual benefit in international relations, China is committed to being a builder of world peace, a contributor to global development, and a defender of the international order. It stands ready to work with other countries to build a community with a shared future for mankind.

China needs a peaceful international environment on its road to prosperity. Without peace, neither China nor the world can develop smoothly. Without development, there can be no lasting peace for China and the world.

China unswervingly follows the path of peaceful development and hopes that all countries in the world will do so too. China will neither pursue its own development at the expense of other countries’ interests, nor will it give up its legitimate rights and interests. No country should expect China to compromise on its core interests.

There has never been a textbook or a ready-made answer to China’s own problems. The Party’s path to success in its century-long struggle was blazed by the Chinese people under the leadership of the Party. China’s problems must be addressed by the Chinese people in light of China’s basic national conditions.

The values featuring “peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy and freedom” put forward by China echo the common values of mankind. China’s efforts to promote the common values of mankind reflect the broad mind of the Chinese Communists and have been widely recognized by the international community through a range of initiatives, such as the Belt and Road Initiative.

From the narrow angle of one’s own country, the world is small and crowded, and there is fierce competition all the time. From the perspective of a shared destiny, the world is big enough for everyone and there are opportunities for cooperation everywhere.

Today’s world faces many common challenges, such as climate change, sluggish economy, rising unilateralism and protectionism and regional conflicts. No country can escape from these issues or solve them single-handedly. The only way out for mankind is to work together.

As it celebrates its 103rd birthday, the CPC is leading the Chinese nation toward the Second Centenary Goal of building China into a great modern socialist country. It will lead the Chinese people to national rejuvenation while seeking common development with the world.  ■