Xi proposes Global Civilization Initiative, stressing inclusiveness

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and Chinese president, attends the CPC in Dialogue with World Political Parties High-Level Meeting via video link and delivers a keynote address in Beijing, capital of China, March 15, 2023.(Photo: Xinhua)

Just two days after the closing of the annual two sessions, the Communist Party of China (CPC) held a dialogue with other political parties from across the world on Wednesday via video link, with the event, under the theme of "Path towards Modernization: The Responsibility of Political Parties," gathering leaders of political parties and political organizations from many countries.

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee and Chinese president, attended the opening ceremony of the CPC in Dialogue with World Political Parties High-Level Meeting in Beijing and delivered a keynote address. Xi proposed the Global Civilization Initiative (GCI) during his speech.

Xi stressed that tolerance, coexistence, exchanges and mutual learning among different civilizations play an irreplaceable role in advancing humanity's modernization process and making the garden of world civilization flourish, as the future of all countries is closely connected nowadays.

The ultimate goal of modernization is to realize people's free and comprehensive development, Xi said on Wednesday.

He stressed that political parties should focus on people's aspirations for a better life and further progress of civilization, and strive to achieve material abundance, political integrity, cultural-ethical enrichment, social stability and pleasant living environments so that modernization will better address people's concerns and meet their diversified needs.

Chinese analysts said that conducting diplomacy with foreign political parties is complementary to diplomacy with foreign states, and it is an important part of China's overall foreign affairs. Conducting dialogues with other countries' political parties and organizations shows the CPC's confidence in opening-up, communication and exchanges with the world, and expresses the Party's sincerity to let all political groups worldwide better understand the CPC's ideology and determination in promoting world peace and global development.

Song Wei, a professor at the school of international relations and diplomacy at Beijing Foreign Studies University, told the Global Times on Wednesday that compared with the summit of the CPC and World Political Parties Summit held in 2021, major changes have taken place in China, as well as in the world.

China has achieved world-recognized achievements in combating the COVID-19 epidemic, and has successively proposed the Global Development Initiative (GDI) and the Global Security Initiative (GSI) in the field of global governance. Especially after the 20th National Congress of the CPC, the international community has a newer, more accurate and more positive understanding of the Chinese path to modernization. China has always been an important supporter of multilateralism while the US is promoting unilateralism, and China's status in the field of global governance has also improved, Song noted.

Song believes that the GCI, which is closely related to the GDI and the GSI, discusses how to explore a correct development path from the perspective of a political model, and how to share governance experiences when interacting with other countries, especially developing countries.

Although China has made a series of achievements in governance modernization, it will never impose its own development model on others through political and other means, Song stressed.

CPC's world popularity

The CPC is committed to strengthening exchanges and cooperation with other political parties to pursue the just cause together, said Xi in his speech.

"The CPC is ready to deepen interactions with political parties and organizations in other countries to expand the convergence of ideas and interests," Xi said.

He calls for leveraging the strength of a new type of party-to-party relations for building a new type of international relations and expanding global partnerships by fostering stronger partners with world political parties.

Li Haidong, a professor at the Institute of International Relations at the China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times on Wednesday that "after the two sessions this year, it's important for the CPC to improve understanding of its intentions based on the current uncertain situation of the world, as this shows the Party's sincerity in wanting to work with all political parties worldwide to deal with global challenges. As the ruling party of China, the CPC is ready to take its responsibility and play a greater role in the international arena."

Xi called for advocating the common values of humanity in his speech. "Peace, development, equity, justice, democracy and freedom are the common aspirations of all peoples," said Xi.

A crucial reason why a dialogue like this can be held successfully despite stigmatization against the CPC from politicians and media of some Western countries, especially the US, is that many political parties and political organizations worldwide understand, support and welcome the political ideas and diplomatic concepts of the CPC, and are willing to respond to the initiatives proposed by China, Li said.

In his speech, Xi called for jointly advocating robust international people-to-people exchanges and cooperation.

Xi said countries need to explore the building of a global network for inter-civilization dialogue and cooperation, enrich the contents of exchanges and expand avenues of cooperation to promote mutual understanding and friendship among people of all countries, and jointly advance the progress of human civilizations.

Song Luzheng, a research fellow of political studies at the China Institute of Fudan University, told the Global Times on Wednesday that some Western media groundlessly claim that after the two sessions, "reform and opening-up had ended in China," but the CPC's dialogue with political parties worldwide once again proves that China will be steadfast in opening to the world and will be more confident to participate and contribute to global governance.

Modernization in different ways

Xi said at his speech that modernization is not "an exclusive patent" of a small handful of countries, nor is it a single answer question.

Modernization cannot be realized by a cookie cutter approach or simple "copy and paste," Xi noted. For any country to achieve modernization, it needs not only follow the general laws governing the process, but more importantly consider its own national conditions and unique features, Xi remarked.

China wants to share its experience in achieving modernization with other political parties, especially with those from developing countries which want to achieve modernization not "Westernization" and preserve their traditions, cultures and autonomies in this process, Song Luzheng noted. "The CPC is presenting the world with an encouraging example that it is possible for all nations to seek their own modernization in their own way," the expert said.

Experts said the theme of the meeting highlights that to achieve and improve modernization is the responsibility of political parties around the globe, but while the CPC makes great efforts to realize Chinese modernization, some Western political parties or governments create obstacles for other countries to modernize. They often make irresponsible statements, spread rumors and even vicious stigmatizations to interfere in other countries' internal affairs.

Xi said the frontrunners should sincerely support other countries in their development. For any country to achieve modernization, it should pursue common development through solidarity and cooperation and follow the principles of joint contribution, shared benefits and win-win outcomes, Xi said.

"One will not be seen in a more favorable light after blowing out others' lamps; nor will they go further by blocking others' paths," said Xi.

Experts said the US is a typical example of "blocking others' paths and blowing out others' lamps," as Washington has launched all-out containment against China's development, as well as imposed long-arm jurisdiction and unilateral sanctions against many countries worldwide, and also forcing its allies to follow ruthless and unwise actions that bring no good to anyone.

Some Western political parties, claiming their governance as model of "democracy" and "freedom," put almost all their efforts in struggling for power with each other and worsening the political atmosphere of their own countries. They create chaos in internal governance and fail to deliver effective change for their people, analysts said.

When some Western politicians and media try to stigmatize the CPC and lecture other countries about modernization or democracy, they would be better off looking at their own performance and approval ratings, and take care of their own business rather than focusing on how to contain and stigmatize others, experts noted.