Adham Sayed

The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), held between October 16 and 22, 2022, maybe the most important so far, as its outcomes have an impact not only on China but also on the rest of the world, opening a new chapter in CPC’s struggle to build a modern socialist country in all respects. This event was accompanied by exceptional international circumstances that the world has not seen in a hundred years, where the global system dominated by the United States of America is incapable of resolving its perpetual crisis. Thus, the current capitalist crisis has evolved into a structural one, which cannot be addressed within the framework of the rule of capitalism’s logic that caused it in the first place. This situation is what puts humanity on the path to a new, inevitably socialist world order. Therefore, the Congress’ decisions, with their integration of what China needs and what the world needs, are regarded as a Chinese response to the challenges of the era.

A CENTURY OF ACHIEVEMENTS DRIVEN BY MODERNIZATION AND INNOVATION

The start of the path toward building a modern socialist country implies that China’s plans will include more modernization, more innovation, and greater openness to the rest of the world, particularly the developing and least developed countries. All of this will have a significant impact on global development while also providing important opportunities for developing countries.

China’s ancient and modern histories are rich in achievements and innovations that have made substantial contributions to humanity. Therefore, modernization and innovation are not new to China but are at the heart of the Chinese mindset. China has always pursued peaceful development and has never sought to exploit other countries for its own gain. As a result, following this path of self-reliance and struggle will inevitably lead to innovation.

China’s march towards modernization is a collection of innovations. One of the most significant innovations is the system on which this country is currently based, socialism with Chinese characteristics. Instead of taking development plans secondhand and being doomed to fail, the Chinese knew that the secret might well be in investing in the country’s qualities. They knew that socialism would be the only solution to all their problems, and it is what allowed them to open the door to development, modernization, and innovation broadly.

Over the past ten years, China has been able to move forward in many areas and regain the economic and political position that got taken from it after the opium war: the gross domestic product rose from $8.5 trillion in 2012 to about $17.7 trillion in 2021 (GDP PPP is 27.3 trillion dollars), China’s GDP represents 18.5 percent of the global economy, just as it was on the eve of the Opium War (1820 AD). Great importance has also been given to emerging industries, such as the digital economy, as well as to high-tech industries and advanced technology, and many innovationdriven development strategies have been implemented. The tremendous development at the level of the medical industries may be one of the most prominent achievements in the past years, as, during the Corona pandemic period, China was able, at a record speed, to produce anti-COVID-19 vaccines, which contributed to accelerating mankind’s efforts to control the epidemic, as China exported more than 2 billion doses to the countries of the world as of May 2022.

Furthermore, China has been able to eradicate terrorism that was threatening the lives of people in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region over the last ten years, as no terrorist operation has been recorded since 2016, providing a new model from which to learn in the fight against terrorism. The results show that, despite raising the slogan "fighting terrorism," the American model never attempted to do so. America, contrary to its claims, uses terrorism (in many cases, according to statements made by U.S. officials) to wage wars.

The Chinese model is essentially a socialist model, it prioritizes human interests and addresses the causes of problems rather than their results. Terrorism and extremism are symptoms, not the disease itself. The Chinese treatment was based on addressing two main aspects: ignorance and poverty. In other words, more work is required to develop education and provide job opportunities and economic development.

China could halt the wave of terrorism and terrorist operations without having to destroy Xinjiang’s cities. Matter of fact, the region has experienced years of continuous economic and population growth. Unlike Afghanistan, which was destroyed and occupied for twenty years under the pretense of fighting the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, the Taliban returned even before the U.S. military left, and when the U.S. President was asked about the disastrous economic reality in Afghanistan, he said that his country did not go there to develop Afghanistan. The same thing happened and continues to happen in Syria, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Yemen, and other countries.

Therefore, in less than 70 years, China was able to reclaim the world’s economic leadership without aggression or occupation of any other country. Through development, and policies based on socialism with Chinese characteristics, China is now one of the world’s leading innovators, and despite repression and sanctions, it is delivering results that astound everyone. According to the Global Innovation Index, China ranked 12th among the top 15 most innovative countries in the world in 2021 and first among middle-income countries. China is a forerunner in patent innovation and has long topped the list of countries with the most patents.

A WORLD AT A CROSSROADS

The Congress took place in unprecedented international circumstances on all levels — economic, political, and military. The global system, which is sick of American hegemony based on the triad of war, sanctions, and monopoly, is currently facing a crisis not seen since the ones that occurred in the first half of the last century, resulting in the first and second world wars and eventually major changes in the international balance of power.

So, not only in China but also globally, the task of transitioning to socialism is the mission of our era. Hence, this Congress is historically significant. It places China at the forefront of human history’s locomotive, and it places it in the face of enormous responsibilities that will determine humanity’s future. This explains China’s multiple initiatives launched over the last ten years, particularly theCommunity with a Shared Future for Mankind, the Belt and Road Initiative, the Global Development Initiative, and the Global Security Initiative, all of which saw the need to unite humanity in difficult times. Therefore, all attempts to reestablish American hegemony over the world will fail when confronted with the "pole of the peoples", led by China, especially when they are armed with a global alternative that presents socialism based on the characteristics of each country and nation as a solution to all of humanity’s problems.

Based on the foregoing, U.S. aggression toward China is expected to increase in the coming years. The U.S. approach to international relations is designed to suppress any country that tries to rise and develop, let alone if that country offers an alternative to the global system of exploitation led by the U.S.. From this vantage point, the United States classification of China as "the greatest threat to its national security" can be interpreted as "the greatest threat to American hegemony and aggression." Furthermore, based on this analysis, the United States’ extortion, sanctions, tension, and slander against China, aimed at undermining its global role and suppressing its development process, can be explained as a clear simulation of what colonial powers practiced against China during the nineteenth century (the Opium War). However, in a decisive response to these practices, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, Xi Jinping, stated repeatedly that “The Chinese people will never allow any external force to harass, oppress, and enslave them, and whoever tries will fail miserably in front of the iron wall that the Chinese, numbering over 1.4 billion people, built with their bodies.”

The decisions of the Congress came in the form of adopting a set of important decisions related to protecting China’s national security and developing the Chinese People’s Liberation Army to transform it into a world-class army by the 100th anniversary of its founding (2027). The Congress also emphasized that China will remain committed to its foreign policy goal of maintaining world peace and promoting shared development, work to advance the creation of a community with a shared future for mankind, and pursue an independent foreign policy of peace. This position is translated in foreign relations by defending peace and proposing a different development model which will increase U.S. aggression toward China. Plus, the U.S. will continue to try to drag China into confrontation (Taiwan as an example) and insert itself in every international dispute (Ukraine as an example), all to stifle its potential development and subjugate it. And because these U.S. practices are expected to persist, it is necessary to emphasize some of the key principles, particularly the refusal to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries. Despite U.S. efforts, the vast majority of the world’s countries support the “one China” principle and oppose Taiwan’s independence, as well as the “one country, two systems” principle that governs Hong Kong and Macau.

Chinese peacekeeping troops carry out a charity clinic in the southern village on the border of Lebanon.

The features of the new world order are taking shape, and China is a key player in leading this transformation process, as well as the only party with a comprehensive proposal for an alternative world order. As previously stated, Chinese initiatives are the primary pillars upon which the new world order can be built. This will directly impact all peoples around the world, particularly the Arab people, who have been subjected to domination, wars, and exploitation for more than a century by both old colonialism (Western Europe) and new colonialism (the United States). The Arab people, like other peoples seeking liberation and progress, desire a world based on cooperation, mutual respect, and shared profit. Cooperation in scientific, economic, technological, health, sports, cultural, and media fields broadens young people’s horizons and provides them with opportunities for creativity, work, and development.

China emphasized, in both previous and current congresses, that it does not seek hegemony or exploitation of other nations but rather offers cooperative initiatives based on mutual benefit. These initiatives, when combined with the Communist Party of China’s main goal of building a modern socialist country, are regarded as a Chinese response to the requirements of the era, through which China offers the world an alternative to the world system based on oppression, dominance, and exploitation. This is the cooperative foundation upon which we must build the new world based on mutual profit. This is what all oppressed peoples of the world aspire to.