Lessons for development

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Communist Party of China.

Over the 100 years since its founding, the CPC has developed a culture of its own. Guided by Marxism, and with the spirit of indigenous innovation, it has been able to integrate Marxist theories with the teachings found in Chinese culture and civilization.

The CPC is a party with its own culture, strategic knowledge and long-term development plans which focus on the people's well-being, along with practical policies that benefit society at large.

The CPC upholds the ideals of self-discipline and social commitment with its people-first policymaking. The Party has been constantly improving its character and the quality of its members, exercising guidance over all its members by means of its principles, rules, disciplines and duties.

Under the leadership of the CPC, the Chinese people through resilience, hard work, and with great courage and insight have been in control of their own destiny. And in 2020, China lifted all its people in the country out of poverty, achieving a feat never before seen in history.

The way the CPC has been dealing with the reform and opening-up, both politically and economically, has demonstrated how it is able to steer the country's development at a pace where the ultimate result is a win-win solution. The Chinese people take harmony, a principle firmly embedded in the Chinese culture, as an essential component of daily affairs and interpersonal relationships.

In 2013, China became the world's leading global trader, and it is now the major source of imports and main destination for the exports of many countries. The Belt and Road Initiative is an opportunity for China to share its prosperity with the world. I like the remark that President Xi Jinping made on the 40th anniversary of the launch of reform and opening-up, when he said that we must go back to the basics and continue to read Marx, Engels, Lenin, and Mao Zedong to enable us to be on the same page, and to enable us to push in the same direction for a shared future.

To build a community with a shared future for mankind, one of the challenges is to dispel the view that modernization means Westernization, and for China to protect and defend its sovereignty, territorial integrity and peacefully promote its national interests. China's development path has shown how to integrate market forces into socialism.

Under the guidance of the CPC, China has opened up to the world and is sharing its prosperity, experience, expertise and technological know-how to assist other nations to achieve a shared future for mankind. As a signatory to the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation and the Belt and Road Initiative, Namibia shall further benefit from its diplomatic relations and cooperation with China.

Africa can draw many lessons from China on how to alleviate poverty, learning from China's success in lifting all its people out of poverty, an achievement representing 70 percent of the global poverty reduction effort and making it the first developing country to realize the UN Sustainable Development Goals for poverty reduction.

The bilateral relationship between Namibia and China is a strategic partnership based on mutual benefit and a natural development of the good diplomatic relations between the two countries since Namibia's independence in 1990.

My travels in this great nation have acquainted me with the level of development in different Chinese cities and provinces. Also worth mentioning is the central government's focus on improving people's livelihoods and the protection of intangible and tangible cultural heritages and rites.

The new era of cooperation China has initiated with the Belt and Road Initiative is commendable and admirable. The CPC also offers lessons on commitment to the people's cause, how to be ideologically clear, and has also taught about the importance of reconciliation.

May the People's Republic of China under the guidance of the strong leadership of the CPC with the patriotic spirit the Chinese people have shown over the past 100 years, continue to work toward realizing the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation.

The author is member of the Central Committee of the Southwest African People's Organization and ambassador of the Republic of Namibia to China. The author contributed this article to China Watch, a think tank powered by China Daily. The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily. This article is provided by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.