Marking 99 years of China's Communist Party

This month marks the 99th anniversary of the Communist Party of China, celebrated officially all over China in true spirit. The Communist Party of China, commonly known as the CPC, is the founding and ruling political party of the People's Republic of China, with its membership up to 92 million. It was founded on July 23, 1921, in the Shanghai French Concession, under the great leadership of Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Chen Duxiu, and Li Dazhao.

President Xi Jinping, who also is secretary-general of the CPC and chairman of the military commission, presided over a meeting of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee on June 29 to review two sets of regulations on Party-building in the military and the election of primary-level Party organizations.

The meeting stressed resolutely upholding the absolute leadership of the CPC over the military and focusing on enhancing combat capabilities, and called for efforts to ensure the effective implementation of the regulations. The meeting also emphasized the strict enforcement of the rules on the Party's electoral system, urging efforts to improve intraparty elections and safeguard Party members' rights endowed by the Party Constitution. He has encouraged CPC members to build firm ideals and convictions and strive to fulfill the Party's original aspirations and mission.

The significant achievement of the CPC was to unite the Chinese people on one platform. Chinese society was scattered and divided into various groups and interest-based factions before liberation. Society was divided into class systems, and the gap between the elite and the common man was huge. However, the CPC united the whole nation on equal footing with equal rights, a classless society. It took almost three decades under Chairman Mao to rectify the community, remove the evils and bad habits, and create political awareness among the masses.

Then economic reforms were launched under the great leader Deng Xiaoping in the late 1970s, which transformed China into an economic power, and today China is the second-largest economy in the world, just behind the US. His primary task was to fight against poverty and he succeeded in eradicating it to a considerable extent; roughly 800 million people were lifted above the poverty line.This significant achievement is the only example of such in the modern history of the world; no other country was ever able to eliminate poverty to such an extent. The CPC plans to reduce poverty absolutely in 2020. It is believed that the CPC has strong will, rich experience, and sufficient resources to achieve this goal and produce a moderately prosperous society all over China.

During the outbreak of COVID-19, the CPC leadership made the right decisions, enacted the right policies and did strict implementation, which resulted in China's victory against the virus. The CPC leadership decided that human lives are their priority, and saving their lives was the goal. The government pooled resources from all over the country and mobilized teams, experts and the PLA to the epicenter of the outbreak. Although the implementation of a strict lockdown and comprehensive isolation has caused significant economic loss, the CPC cared more about human life than economic loss. It is believed that the financial loss can be compensated by hard work and the right policies, but the loss of human life is irreversible and irrecoverable.

China was the first country to become a victim of the outbreak, but due to the right approach by the CPC and hard work among the public, it became the first country to defeat COVID-19. Now China is a global leader in fighting against the pandemic and helping many countries in this regard.

The CPC has changed the fate of the Chinese people and has improved their standard of life. Today, Chinese people enjoy great purchasing power, as well as outstanding public transport, infrastructure, housing, healthcare and public security.

A political system or political party is considered a good one if it keeps the common man happy and satisfied. The CPC cared for the people and considered the welfare of the common man. It is hoped that the CPC will deliver more and meet the expectations of the general public. I wish the CPC all success in the future.

Professor Zamir Ahmed Awan is a Sinologist (ex-diplomat), editor, analyst, and non-resident fellow at the Center for China and Globalization, National University of Sciences and Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan. 

The opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not necessarily represent the views of China Daily and China Daily website.