Rod P. Kapunan
One immortal portion of President Xi Jinping’s speech on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of China’s Communist Party was his oft-repeated promise to quote: “… we remain committed to promoting peace, development, cooperation and mutual benefit, to an independent foreign policy of peace, and to the path of peaceful development. We will work to build a new type of international relations and a human community with a shared future, promote high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative through joint efforts, and use of China’s new achievements in development to provide the world with new opportunities.”
This lofty idealism wishes to impart to the world that China’s role is not to impose but for humanity to observe the conduct of what is right and what is wrong. Hence as a nation, Xi said, “As a nation, we have a strong sense of pride and confidence. We have never bullied, oppressed or subjugated the people of any other country, and we never will. By the same token, we will never allow any foreign force to bully, oppress or subjugate us. Anyone who will attempt to do so will find themselves on a collision course with a great wall of steel forged by over 1.4 billion Chinese people.”
Analyzing what he said, it seems equivalent to China’s repudiation, saying that history will never be repeated in China. President Xi stated this in relation to that dark chapter in history where the Chinese people were oppressed, bullied, humiliated and made to sign unequal treaties by foreign powers. The Party is not guided by a blind doctrine but tasked in knowing and understanding the past so will people understand the rise and fall of empires.
To quote, “We must uphold and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics. We must follow our own path, it being the bedrock that underpins all the theories and practices of our party. More than that, it is the historical conclusion our Party has drawn from its struggles over the past century. Socialism with Chinese characteristics is a fundamental achievement of the Party and the people, forged through innumerable hardships and great sacrifices, and it is the right path for us to achieve national rejuvenation. As we upheld and develop socialism with Chinse characteristics and driven coordinated progress in material, political, cultural-ethnical, social and ecological terms, we have pioneered a new and uniquely Chinese path to modernization, and created a new model for human advancement.”
Philosophically, directing the path to where the Party is heading, the Party is not only dialectical but most dynamic in responding to every problem that confronts it. The CCP cannot remain static which reason why it took the initiative to innovative and come out with a concept of calling its path to socialism one with Chinese characteristics. As a dynamic Party, it refuses to be fettered in ideological dogmatism that hounded parties of other countries. It is dialectical because the Party continually evolves. Maybe that innovativeness was itself the hallmark of being revolutionary, for it dares to introduce new ideas that today bare the fruit of success.
Closely related to this is the habit of the West to lecture China on what is right. President Xi said, “China will not accept sanctimonious preaching from those who feel they have the right to lecture us.” China stands as equal to the US, and it needs nobody to lecture it on how it should go about doing its business in dealing with other nations. That portion of the President’s speech has reference to the meeting between China’s Communist Party foreign affairs chief Yang Jiechi and Foreign Minister Wang Yi with US State Department secretary Anthony Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan in Anchorage, Alaska.
The Chinese delegate bluntly said that the issues raised are internal to China. Yang said, to quote: “What China and the international community follow or uphold is the United Nations-centered international system and the international order underpinned by international law, not what is advocated by a small number of countries of the so-called rules-based international order.” x x x the United States does not have the qualification to say that it wants to speak to China from a position of strength. The U.S. side was not even qualified to say such things even 20 years or 30 years back, because this is not the way to deal with the Chinese people. If the United States wants to deal properly with the Chinese side, then let’s follow the necessary protocols and do things the right way.” This incident was noted no less than by President Xi Jinping.
This underscores why the Party continues to have the vigor and vitality in its dealings with other counties.