As the Communist Party of China (CPC) celebrates the 100th anniversary of its founding, how the Party manages relations with the rest of the world has become a main focus of attention.

Since its inception, the CPC has been a progressive party with an international vision. During the revolutionary years, it won the support and sympathy from many other countries. Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, the CPC’s international relations have become part of China’s diplomacy, contributing to the country’s development as well as reform and opening up.

Global ties

In early 1949 when victory for the CPC-led revolution was in sight, Mao Zedong and other leaders met with Anastas Mikoyan, member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, in Xibaipo, Hebei Province, which hosted the headquarters of the CPC at the time. In the summer of that year, a CPC delegation paid a secret visit to the Soviet Union to discuss the establishment of embassies and the future bilateral relations. These were important steps taken by the CPC to prepare itself for its new role as China’s ruling party.

The International Department of the CPC Central Committee was established in 1951, aiming to expand and deepen its international exchanges. Within the framework of the CPC’s inter-party relations, social organizations like trade unions and women’s federations were also active in forging external contacts.

In the late 1960s, the CPC’s foreign exchanges, like the overall diplomacy of the country, encountered setbacks. There was no substantial change in the fundamental idea that the Party’s international relations must serve state-to-state relations.

In the late 1970s, the CPC began to establish relationships with nationalist parties in Africa, all the while working with left-wing parties in Western nations.

Based on the principles of independence, equality, mutual respect and non-interference in each other’s internal affairs, China developed inter-party relations with the political parties of various countries ready to connect with the CPC.

The CPC’s international relations were no longer ideology-driven, but aimed to meet the needs of China’s reform, opening-up and modernization drive.

The China Association for International Understanding and the Chinese People’s Association for Peace and Disarmament were founded in 1981 and 1985, respectively, with the goal of carrying out foreign exchanges in a flexible manner and further expanding the CPC’s ties with other parts of the world. The CPC’s relations with the ruling parties of socialist countries, too, were subjected to adjustments. In the late 1980s, after many ups and downs, a new pattern of the CPC’s international relations took shape.

However, the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the drastic changes in Eastern European countries had a heavy impact on global politics. On the one hand, communist parties were no longer the ruling parties in those countries. On the other hand, exchanges between political parties gained momentum worldwide.

Against this backdrop, the CPC made great efforts to open up new channels of communication, in keeping with the changes in China’s foreign policy after the end of the Cold War.

The Party’s international exchange programs today serve not only as a bridge for political leaders and public figures from other countries to gain an authentic picture of China and deepen relations with the country, but also as a channel for the Party to fully understand the world and accurately present its policies and visions to other countries.

A key role

In recent years, the CPC has been trying to develop a new type of inter-party exchange and cooperation to promote state-to-state relations and improve international governance.

At the 19th National Congress of the CPC in 2017, President Xi Jinping, also General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, said that the Party would strengthen its exchanges and cooperation with the political parties and organizations of other countries. The CPC has since explored more diverse ways of conducting international exchanges to help advance China’s diplomacy.

During the CPC in Dialogue With World Political Parties High-Level Meeting, following the 19th CPC National Congress, President Xi said the CPC strives for both the wellbeing of the Chinese people and the progress of humanity on the whole. Furthermore, China does not want to “import” any political models, nor does it want to “export” the Chinese model. Instead, the CPC’s purpose is to contribute to lasting global peace and tranquility, promote development for all, and encourage mutual enrichment among civilizations.

“We stay committed to engaging in dialogue, exchanges and cooperation with the people and political parties of other countries and supporting cultural and people-to-people exchanges between countries,” President Xi added.

The main features of the CPC’s international relations today are as follows: exchanging knowledge on governance, promoting equal and mutually beneficial cooperation, boosting state-to-state relations, and improving global governance.

This framework has become an important factor in guiding the sound development of international relations and boosting the creation of a community with a shared future for humanity.

The world is increasingly aware that China’s development as a forward-thinking nation in the 21st century is rooted in the strong leadership of the CPC. Therefore, to fully understand this contemporary phenomenon, one must understand the philosophy of the Party.

Since 2020, COVID-19 has been leaving a path of worldwide destruction. The CPC, in communicating with foreign countries, has been sharing with the world its viewpoints on governance, and more specifically its own experiences in battling the coronavirus outbreak and accomplishments in realizing the eradication of absolute poverty. This can spur on a new impetus for peaceful development and win-win cooperation for a suffering international community fighting against COVID-19 and politically unstable factors such as hegemonism and unilateralism.

Yu Hongjun is a former vice minister of the International Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.