Steering China, Benefiting the World: A Centennial Party’s Governance
July 1 this year marks the 105th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC). At the grand ceremony celebrating its 105th birthday held in Beijing, General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee Xi Jinping delivered an important speech, which comprehensively reviewed and summarized the glorious journey and great accomplishments made over the years by the CPC in uniting and leading the Chinese people of all ethnic groups, profoundly revealed the fine qualities of the party and the crucial secrets behind its continuous and remarkable successes, and called on all CPC members to press ahead with stronger confidence and continued efforts to create new achievements worthy of the times and the people.
From 1921 to 2026, over a century of trials and endeavors, the CPC has grown from just over 50 members at its founding to more than 100 million today, leading a nation of 1.4 billion people and becoming the world’s largest ruling party. Having traversed a magnificent 105-year course, the CPC has remained true to its original aspiration and mission, upheld a people-centered approach, taken concrete actions to rejuvenate the nation, and kept improving itself. It has led the Chinese people in scoring outstanding socioeconomic gains while contributing significantly to world peace and development. Facts have shown that a socialist China under the leadership of the CPC is widely recognized as a builder of world peace, a contributor to global development, and a defender of the international order.
Pursuing Happiness for the People
Over the past 105 years, the CPC has firmly stood on the side of the people. It led the people to found a New China where they are masters, putting an end, once and for all, to the humiliating history of old China as a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society. In the new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics, the CPC, adhering to a people-centered development philosophy, has built the world’s largest education, social security and health care systems, achieved a historic leap in the popularization of education, steadily enhanced people’s sense of gain, happiness and security, and made new progress in bringing prosperity to all. “This country is its people; the people are the country.” This sentence serves as the logical starting point for understanding CPC members, and also an important inspiration that the CPC brings to the world.
Striving for Rejuvenation of the Chinese Nation
For 105 years, the CPC has taken the historical initiative to build a strong country and a rejuvenated nation. In the great course of revolution, construction, reform, and the new era, the party, rallying and leading the people, has successfully opened up and adhered to the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics. It has accomplished, in a matter of decades, industrialization that took developed countries hundreds of years, and has brought about the two miracles of rapid economic development and sustained social stability. Today, China is not only the world’s second-largest economy, but also the world’s largest manufacturer, largest trader in goods, second-largest consumer market, and the country with the largest foreign exchange reserves. The broad road blazed by the Chinese people under the CPC’s leadership fosters a new form of human civilization and opens up a new path for humanity to achieve modernization.
Seeking Progress for All Humanity
Over the past 105 years, the CPC has borne the whole world in mind. It is a political party seeking not only its people’s happiness, but also human progress. Its century-long journey has been one of self-development and one for shared benefits for the world. From putting forward the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, to enshrining the path of peaceful development in the Constitution and the CPC Constitution; from advancing to build a new type of international relations and a community with a shared future for humanity, to advocating humanity’s common values; from working with all parties to promote high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, to actively participating in the reform of the global governance system, China has always stood on the right side of history and on the side of the progress of human civilization, contributing China’s wisdom, solutions and strength to addressing major challenges facing humanity.
Championing Common Good for the World
General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that as profound changes unseen in a century are gathering pace, the world has entered a new period of turbulence and transformation, and humanity once again stands at a crossroads about its future direction. Faced with changes sweeping the world, our times and history, China will continue to hold high the banner of peace, development, cooperation and mutual benefit, advocate humanity’s common values, promote the development of a new type of international relations, work to implement the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, the Global Civilization Initiative and the Global Governance Initiative, and join hands with all countries to build a community with a shared future for humanity and create a better future for all.
