An Inspiring Statement

‍

The fourth volume of Xi Jinping: The Governance of China contains a comprehensive record of the impressive practices of the Communist Party of China (CPC) with Xi Jinping at its core in responding to the changes and challenges unseen in a century, and rallying and leading the whole Party and the Chinese people towards the goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects.  

This volume is designed not only to help officials and the public to better understand and apply Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, but also to keep the international community abreast of the latest developments in President Xi’s thoughts, provide them with a better understanding of how the Chinese people have succeeded under the CPC leadership and how they will continue to succeed in the future, and explain the development path that China has chosen.  

The book has in fact provided an invaluable window for the rest of the world to understand the Chinese society and its role in global development and transformation. It is particularly important for developing countries who wish to lift their populations out of poverty, achieve sustainable development and advance national development that is people-centred, inclusive, just, equitable and global in vision.

In this book, you can find many new visions, new ideas and new strategies put forward by President Xi about China’s reform, development and stability, Party building, state and military governance as well as domestic and foreign affairs.

Reading the book, I was particularly impressed by, among others, six overriding key chapters and concepts, namely Overall CPC Leadership, The People First, Whole-Process People’s Democracy, A Global Community of Shared Future, High-Quality Development, and lastly Global Governance and Multilateralism.

The book shows how these constructive initiatives have been translated into action, gained immense support, brought prosperity and stability, and created tangible benefits for people across the world.

CPC leadership  

The book effectively illustrates President Xi’s dynamic guidance that has led the Party and the people to respond to changes and open new prospects, while making a penetrating analysis and acute assessment of major theoretical and practical issues concerning the development of the Party. The unified leadership of the Party with Xi at its core has the creative ability for ongoing self-reform and is capable of turning blueprints into concrete actions.

Under President Xi’s guidance, China has made all-around progress in improving the institutions, standards, and procedures of socialist democracy, and advanced socialist consultative democracy by way of extensive participation.

He has strongly advocated for unity between the leadership by the Party, the running of the country by the people, and law-based governance to ensure that China escapes the historical cycle of rise and fall.

The people first

President Xi always puts the people first and is committed to a people-centred development philosophy. China’s development is for the people, reliant on the people, and the fruits are shared by the people. President Xi’s people-first philosophy and commitment that no one should be left behind on the journey towards “building a moderately prosperous society” has seen the country take incredible strides in the battle against poverty and the promotion of high-quality development.

Throughout his career, President Xi has championed people’s democracy, regularly stating that democracy is a value shared by all humanity and an ideal that the CPC and the Chinese people have always held. The book demonstrates how President Xi effectively spearheaded efforts to pursue whole-process people’s democracy, a key concept put forward by President Xi himself to advance China’s political system after seeing the shortfalls of Western democracy.

Under his guidance, China has thus made all-around progress in improving the institutions, standards, and procedures of socialist democracy, and has advanced socialist consultative democracy.

High-quality development

President Xi’s new paradigm refers to modern, innovative, coordinated, green, open, and shared high-quality development as China’s strategic choice as it enters its next stage of development and responds to changes in the domestic and external environment.

While domestic demand is a strategic focus, China is increasingly opening up wider to the outside world and would continue to pursue high-quality development for itself and others, in initiatives such as the Belt and Road Initiative.

In President Xi’s view, high-quality development can meet people’s ever-growing desire for a better life. It means a change from merely seeking growth to seeking better growth and seeking quality over quantity. It aims to achieve greater efficiency, equity, sustainability and security. Obsolete production capacity and technology will gradually be phased out while green emerging industries and renewable resource technology will be developed. This will lead to a new pattern of innovation-driven, green development that fosters a harmonious relationship between the humanity and nature.

‍

A community of shared future  

It was 11 years ago when President Xi first proposed the concept of building a community of shared future for mankind. Since then, the concept has evolved into a vision with global significance, and has been recognised by more and more countries and international organisations.  

Adopted by the CPC, it represents China’s strategic vision of the world in a new era and of a fair and equitable global order built on the spirit of openness, inclusiveness, fairness and mutual respect. The book shows that the past decade has seen steady progress in implementing the vision. From bilateral to multilateral and from regional to global dimensions, ground-breaking results have been achieved on every front.

The book reflects China’s unwavering commitment to global governance and multilateralism. China emphasises the importance of international institutions and frameworks, advocating collaborative approaches to global challenges like climate change, trade and security, rather than unilateral actions. China actively promotes reforms in global governance structures to better reflect the interests and voices of developing countries, pushing for a more equitable international order.

The vision responds to the common yearning of people in countries around the world for peace, development and cooperation, and identifies the fundamental path to solve global issues. Under the guidance of the vision, China has proposed and promoted the implementation of highly constructive initiatives including the Belt and Road Initiative, Global Development Initiative, Global Security Initiative and Global Civilisation Initiative.  

In summary, this authoritative book can be described as an important document that systemically outlines the core components of the thinking behind President Xi’s vision and how it has been translated into action. The book throughout also elaborates on the implementation of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and Xi Jinping Thought on Diplomacy, which will help people in all sectors and the world to gain a fuller understanding of the far-reaching significance of the vision and get to know the ideals underpinning China’s major-country diplomacy.  

The author is Senior Research Fellow and Honorary Professor of Institute of African Studies, Zhejiang Normal University

‍