What you should know about 'Chinese characteristics'

In this world of ours, the only governing party capable of focusing on the country’s overall interests and long-term development goals with successive plans is the Communist Party of China.

Leadership by the CPC is the most fundamental character and the greatest advantage of socialism with Chinese characteristics. As governing party for all these years, the CPC has maintained the stability and sustainability of state governance with an eye on the whole picture and coordinated efforts of all parties and sectors of society. Western-style democracy, characterized by multiple parties taking turns to govern, and the separation of the executive, legislative and judicial powers, is not the only model of democracy, as Western democracies would have people believe; nor, for that matter, is it universally applicable. National conditions differ from country to country and deserve intuitive governance.

The Chinese nation will follow the path it has chosen, which features one governing party in cooperation with multiple parties through democratic consultation. It suits China’s national condition and real needs of fast development. China invented its own governance model that has worked well

The Chinese nation will follow the path it has chosen, which features one governing party in cooperation with multiple parties through democratic consultation. It suits China’s national condition and real needs of fast development. China invented its own governance model that has worked well, which qualifies as a significant contribution to the political civilization of humankind.

The decision the Fourth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee has just made is a collection of 13 outstanding advantages of our country’s social system and governance system. Its uniqueness is clear as day, which consists of advantages such as a nationwide development strategy that allows prioritized projects to succeed with limited resources; public ownership (of production materials) as the mainstay of national economic development, with other forms of ownership playing their parts and benefiting from it; upholding a common ideal, aspirations, and a common value set that help unite all citizens; and following a people-centric path toward prosperity for all, to name just a few. The decision aims to capitalize on those advantages through top-level design and improved governance efficiency to realize the Chinese Dream.

Very few, if any, countries have thrived by duplicating another country’s governance model. The CPC understood this quite early on and has therefore emphasized facts and pragmatism in decision-making. Under Mao Zedong’s leadership, the CPC did not blindly copy the Soviet Communist Party’s revolution that sprung in cities where workers abounded, but went with Mao’s “rural areas surrounding cities” strategy, which helped it seize the governing power of the country. The decision, from the goal of system-building to execution planning, exudes Chinese characteristics because every detail is closely linked to the actual condition.

China stands on its own feet. We do learn from others’ successes, but we have to turn them into our own strength. We will never abandon our own advantages for the sake of learning from others. Instead, we will improve upon our own advantages and create more moving forward. The decision has proved once again China will never go back to its closed and rigid self of the past, nor deviate from its chosen path, just to please some foreign powers.

The author is a veteran current affairs commentator.