Achievements abound under leadership of the Party

Aerial photo taken on Oct 21, 2020 shows trucks queuing up in front of a starch factory to deliver potatoes in Malian township of Xiji county, Guyuan, Northwest China's Ningxia Hui autonomous region. [Photo/Xinhua]

China, a nation with a history of more than 5,000 years of civilization, has evolved to become the world's second-largest economy and, since the outbreak of COVID-19, a revered "physician" of the global community.

The country has also managed to accomplish the "Chinese miracle "of economic development in just over 70 years, and has further extended a hand of shared prosperity to countries keen on speeding up development while maintaining their independence. These achievements, among others, have been realized under the leadership of the Communist Party of China.

However, as the global community continues to comprehend the genesis of China's success－especially that of going from being one of the poorest nations to being the first country to have eradicated absolute poverty, by lifting over 850 million people out of extreme penury－the question is, how did China under the leadership of the CPC manage to achieve this level of success?

Reflecting on both the history and the present state of affairs in China, one can firmly link China's success to the various reforms that the CPC has undertaken since its First National Congress, held in Shanghai on July 23, 1921, and the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949. The founders of the CPC, whose majority at the time of inception comprised farmers and few people in the working class, grappled with various ideas on how to make the Party a national entity, and one with a common ideology that would help the Chinese succeed in their great anti-imperialist and anti-feudal struggle.

With a strong and determined leadership, the CPC underwent a transformational period that included reforms of the economic, political, cultural, social, ecological civilization and Party-building systems.

These reforms were grounded in socialism with Chinese characteristics as the guiding path to achieving economic development, and for improving the living standards of its people through a community of shared prosperity.

Having attained the path of success within its borders with a population of 1.4 billion, the CPC leadership began to set its eyes on the global community. Its current position as a leading manufacturing country and the second-largest economy is rightfully earned through diligence, hard work and strong leadership from the CPC.

President Xi Jinping, who is also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, has successfully steered China on the path of peaceful development, a community with a shared future for mankind and shared benefits. Globally, China has been seeking development with its doors open, actively conducting trade, economic and cultural exchanges.

According to a September 2019 white paper titled "China and the World in the New Era", China, through the CPC, has contributed solutions to world peace and development. In the 1950s, China, India and Myanmar jointly proposed the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence－mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, mutual nonaggression, noninterference in each other's internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful coexistence".

These principles have become basic norms for international relations and fundamental ideologies of international law. China has safeguarded the interests of developing countries, playing an important role in building a fair and equitable international political and economic order.

At the start of the 21st century, the CPC took a keen interest in the African continent as an economic and trade partner. Sino-African engagement is being steered through the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, with a focus on the eight areas of collaboration proposed by President Xi (industrial promotion, facility connectivity, trade facilitation, green development, capacity building, health diplomacy, people-to-people exchanges, and peace and security), and the Belt and Road Initiative, which focuses on policy consultation, infrastructure connectivity, trade promotion, financial cooperation and people-to-people exchanges.

Both the BRI and FOCAC have tremendously propelled Africa's development and growth and brought a new dawn to the "rising continent".

As the CPC's centenary celebrations continue, the Party, through the principle of shared prosperity, can continue to partner with the continent of Africa in pushing for innovations through advancing artificial intelligence, 5G technology and green development, in order to spur large-scale industrial promotion. The skills transferred, combined with the availability of raw materials, will emancipate Africa's people and create microeconomic revolutions across the continent's various countries to boost their GDPs.

As the CPC plans to fully modernize China's system and its capacity for governance by 2049, African countries need to draw some lessons about having a stable, visionary political party that outlives the individual. This is because most of the political parties in Africa are momentary vehicles used to attain political power, and not institutions that will guide a country's development agenda.

The author is executive director of the China-Africa Center at the Kenya-based Africa Policy Institute. The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.