CPC to Celebrate Centennial, 'Show Confidence Despite Rising Western Hostility'

'Poor handling of COVID-19, failed governance' add to West's anxiety in front of CPC

By Yang Sheng, Cao Siqi and Wan Lin

Mar 23, 2021 11:43 PM

CPC Photo:VCG

The Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee announced on Tuesday, exactly 100 days ahead of the Party's 100th founding anniversary on July 1, that a grand ceremony and a series of celebration would be held to mark the historic milestone, even though stigmatizations and hostilities against the CPC and the country under its leadership have increased recently in some Western countries.

Since its founding 100 years ago on July 1, 1921, the CPC has never surrendered to foreign political pressures or military invasions, even when it was a small party with very limited power. Now, when it has become the biggest political party in the world with more than 90 million members and leads a country with the largest population and the second-largest economy, there is no chance for the West to bully it into submission, Chinese experts said.

Chinese analysts said that CPC's great confidence comes from its performances in social governance, economic development, poverty alleviation, safeguarding of sovereignty, fighting against COVID-19 and its struggle with the West, especially the US, to protect China's interests in recent decades. The CPC has won trust and support from the majority of Chinese people, which is why the CPC and the Chinese people can ignore pointless complaints and groundless accusations from outside world and focus on the celebration of the centennial. 

At a press conference held on Tuesday in Beijing on the preparations for the anniversary, senior Party officials unveiled key activities that will be held to mark the CPC's 100th birthday. 

President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, will deliver a speech at the grand ceremony and award the "July 1 Medal" to members who have made extraordinary contributions to the Party. 

Other outstanding Party members, Party affairs workers, community-level Party organizations and senior Party members who have been members for 50 years will also be awarded. 

Party history education will be conducted among CPC members. Large-scale exhibitions will be held to display the glorious course, great achievements and valuable experience of the CPC over the past 100 years. Although no mass military parade will take place this year, the People's Liberation Army will establish and open to the public key military venues such as the naval museum and the PLA Hong Kong Garrison exhibition center, according to the information released at the press conference.

Great confidence

China's performance under the CPC leadership, much better than in many Western developed countries in past few years in terms of epidemic prevention and control as well as economic development, makes the Western anti-China or anti-Communist forces more and more worried, unconfident and embarrassed, analysts said. 

This is why they are more hostile toward the CPC and China, as they stigmatize China over the COVID-19, hype "genocide" rumors about Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, sanction Chinese officials with baseless accusations, complain that China led by the CPC is more aggressive, analysts noted. They said this is a phenomenon of low confidence and a zero-sum mentality in the West.

The leadership of the CPC is a pillar of strength and the key to China's success in addressing all major international and domestic challenges, including the COVID-19, said Li Haidong, a professor at the Institute of International Relations at China Foreign Affairs University. 

Li noted the grand ceremony to be held in celebration of the centennial is a powerful response to some Western countries' long-term slander and smears against the CPC and shows the confidence and faith that the CPC and Chinese people have in facing these attacks.   Li believes the celebration is a good opportunity for the world to know more about the real side of China and the CPC. 

"We don't need to care too much about those groundless and vicious complaints or accusations. We have no responsibility to wake them up and let them objectively learn what is really taking place in China," Zhang Weiwei, a professor and director of the China Institute of Fudan University in Shanghai, told the Global Times on Tuesday. "If they refuse to wake up, we can just leave them in the dark, and let them live with their cooked-up stories about China, [there is] no need to waste our time to convince them."

Zhang said that Western political parties and the CPC are not alike, because all Western parties, whether left or right, liberal or conservative, represent only a specific group of people or a specific class in their country or society. The CPC represents the fundamental interests of the great majority of the Chinese people, which means it will and must act and plan from a much higher and wider perspective and be able to see a bigger picture.

Source of legitimacy 

A new study conducted by the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation under the Harvard Kennedy School in July 2020 found that since the start of the survey in 2003, Chinese citizen satisfaction with government has increased virtually across the board. 

From the impact of broad national policies to the conduct of local town officials, Chinese citizens rate the government as more capable and effective than ever before, the study shows. Interestingly, more marginalized groups in poorer, inland regions are actually comparatively more likely to report increases in satisfaction. 

Meanwhile, the survey revealed that citizen perceptions of governmental performance respond most to real, measurable changes in individuals' material well-being. It also reinforces narratives of the CPC's resilience with the data pointing to specific areas in which citizen satisfaction could decline in today's era of slowing economic growth and continued environmental degradation.

Since 2003, the Chinese central government had received a strong level of satisfaction, with 86.1 percent expressing approval, said the survey, adding that this high level of satisfaction increased even further by 2016, reaching 93.1 percent.

Observers said hilariously that for those Western politicians who criticized China with excuses of democracy and human rights, none could get such a high rate in their own countries, and they should feel embarrassed.  

CPC's key strengths

There are always criticisms and accusations from outside world and it is important to verify what exactly they are, said experts. Some are from the CPC's enemies and rivals who aim to interrupt and stigmatize the Party, some from third parties who do not learn the facts, some from honest friends when the CPC really makes some mistakes. The most recent accusations largely come from its rivals.   

But it is not just criticism, as the US and other hostile forces worldwide are making joint efforts to make trouble. Lu Keli, an associate professor at the school of Marxism studies at the Renmin University of China, said that the CPC has seen much worse situations many times in the past 100 years, and it has the experience to handle this kind of threat. The current situation is no big deal, which is another reason why the CPC will celebrate its 100th birthday with great confidence, Lu remarked. 

To overcome external challenges, the CPC has always been confident, Lu said. "Before the civil war with the KMT, the stigmatization against the CPC was even more serious but the CPC invited a US military delegation to Yan'an, the then capital of the CPC-controlled territory, which largely changed the US' impression over the CPC and won the sympathy of the US to mediate CPC's conflict with the KMT," Lu said.

When the CPC really makes some mistakes, it also has an outstanding capability of self-correction, and the CPC can tell the difference between hostile stigmatization and constructive criticism. It always seeks a solution based on the reality of China, and will not blindly follow or attach all hopes on a path provide by foreigners.  

The reason why the CPC can play a mainstay role in the face of a complex international situation lies in its long-followed path of fighting for independence and growth. This is the theme of China's development in the past century, as well as its strong ability to learn from others and translate it into its own, Yang Xuedong, a professor of political science at Tsinghua University, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

The CPC has defeated its enemies or overcome challenges one by one, from Japanese invaders to the KMT government, from external enemies to internal threats, and now it is still governing a country with 1.4 billion people and 56 ethnic groups with high satisfaction. There is no chance for the West to split the CPC from the Chinese people and stop China's march under the leadership of the CPC, experts said.