Daily Times

In the span of the 68 years following the Chinese Communist Revolution, China has been transformed into a prosperous nation. China is uninterruptedly committed to its socialist ideology — the strong basis of it’s revolution. Peace and prosperity exist side by side in modern China. Now the world’s largest socialist democracy has entered into a new era of prosperity and development. This is just a struggle since October 1949. China will attain more miracles to further transform the lives of over 1.3 billion people. Chinese socialist democracy should be admired at several levels.

The Pakistani media needs to be careful in disseminating news analyses on China and mustn’t engage in disinformation through distorted facts. Fabricated remarks and rumours should be avoided. China must be studied with an honest perspective. Personal wishes should be put aside when analysing Chinese society and economy. Such practices will only invite criticism from China and are generally counter-productive.

China has always fixed its goals and follows them in the long-term. Pakistan is great friend of China. Over the years, China has emerged as a model for developing countries and Pakistan is keen to learn from the Chinese experience of development.

Prior to 1949, China faced a stark literacy rate of only 15 to 25 percent. Today, the literacy rate of China is 96.4 percent

Having said so, there is need to put the proceedings and decisions made at National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CPC) in the right perspective that was held on 18-24 October in Beijing. The Congress elected its seven-member Standing Committee of the Politburo to make crucial joint decisions during the remaining half-term. The CPC entrusted confidence in President Xi Jinping after he was elected in 2013. His ideals are now enshrined in the constitution of the CPC — the world’s largest party of 90 million people across the whole country. In this sense, Chinese socialist mass level democracy is collective rather than individualistic.

Chinese socialist democracy is deep-rooted within the rural masses. The participatory system gave new dynamics to elevate poor rural masses in villages. The new system has been functioning successfully during the past 68 years addressing abject poverty and alleviated over 700 million people to a satisfactory level. This is the biggest achievement of Chinese leaders — from Chairman Mao to President Xi Jinping. No Western democracy can boast of having performed so well at poverty alleviation.

Prior to 1949, China faced a stark literacy rate of only 15 to 25 percent. Today, the literacy rate of China is 96.4 percent.

There is no room for corruption in the fast changing China. Rules are strict. Over 1.4 million of offenders have been awarded punishment under President Xi’s anti-graft crusade. The Politburo stands clean of corruption and provides better services to the people where all are responsible and accountable. The new head of China’s top anti-graft body vowed to seize a sweeping victory in the fight against corruption as China has started to spread the pilot programme of the national supervision system nationwide. This shows the utmost importance CPC gave to the anti-corruption campaign, which will never end. Those offenders who flew overseas will be brought back. Corruption is the greatest threat to the very existence of the CPC itself.

When development takes place, cost of living becomes expensive in major towns but not all over the country. China follows a balanced regional policy of urbanisation and addresses poverty at the gross-root level.

Over 90 percent people in China own a house, which is almost equal to Singapore and highest among all socialist and capitalist countries. This is the promise made by Chairman Mao and fulfilled by coming leaders. This is the peak of the Chinese socialism. The per capita income has increased to US$ 8000 in 2016, which is another indicator of addressing income and poverty alleviation.

Chinese economy is solid and it has not created an artificial boom.

Over 1.3 billion people just cannot be levelled as creating artificial boom. Similarly, China has been leading the global GDP. China’s growth strategy contributed around 30 of world’s GDP in recent years.

China is a true Socialist follower and it has not deviated from the revolutionary zeal. Its Socialism is drawn with Chinese historical and cultural characteristics and that would continue in the coming era. It is proved that the Chinese Communist revolution is sustainable and would continue to transform the Chinese people in changing circumstances and with technological advancement. More Communist spirit in enforced at the National Congress and China has entered into a new era of prosperity and revolutionary zeal. A more consolidated nation is on the rise.

The writer is Director of the China-Pakistan Study Centre at the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad. He writes on East Asian affairs

Published in Daily Times, November 6^th 2017.