The plenum was convened in a year of significance, which marked the 100th anniversary of the CPC’s founding. The plenum considered and adopted the resolution on the major achievements and historical experience of the party over the past century, which takes stock of the major achievements and historical experiences in the CPC's century-long endeavours. I would like to take this opportunity to present the key points and highlights of this historical resolution to our Botswana friends from all walks of life.
First, the resolution emphasises the defining role of the leadership core. Since the 18th CPC national congress in 2012, the CPC central committee with Xi Jinping at the core, has kept in mind the overarching strategic context of the Chinese nation's great rejuvenation and major changes unseen in a century in the world, prompting historic achievements and historic shifts in the cause of the party and the country, including realising the goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, which captured the attention of the world.
This demonstrates that for a country and a political party, the leadership core is of vital importance. The party has established comrade Xi Jinping’s core position on the party central committee and in the party as a whole, and defined the guiding role of Xi Jinping Thought on socialism with Chinese characteristics for a New Era, which reflects the common will of the party, the armed forces, and Chinese people of all ethnic groups, and is of decisive significance for advancing the cause of the party and the country in the new era and for driving forward the historic process of national rejuvenation.
Second, the resolution summarises the historical experiences of CPC's century-long endeavours. The CPC is a Marxist ruling party that attaches great importance to and is also good at reviewing historical experience. At every important historical moment and critical juncture, the CPC must review history, sum up experience, and draw wisdom and strength to move forward. The resolution draws lessons from CPC’s century-long experience into 10 points: upholding the party’s leadership, putting people first, advancing theoretical innovation, staying independent, following the Chinese path, maintaining a global vision, breaking new ground, standing up for ourselves, promoting the united front, and remaining committed to self-reform. The experience is a precious spiritual asset of the party and is set to serve as guidelines for the CPC in steering the future of China.
Third, the resolution characterises the whole-process people’s democracy. Developing whole-process people's democracy is a major proposition that general secretary Xi Jinping put forward based on the development of democracy in China. Encapsulating this into the resolution is of great significance. China's whole-process people's democracy is a complete institutional chain. With diverse, smooth, and orderly democratic channels, it effectively guarantees that all the Chinese people can engage in the management of state, economic, cultural, and social affairs through various ways and in various forms following the law. Democracy is a shared value of all human beings and a critical philosophy that the CPC and the Chinese people have unswervingly upheld. The CPC is eager to learn from the achievements of other cultures and welcome helpful suggestions and constructive criticism, while opposing the practice of measuring the diverse political systems with a single yardstick.
The sixth plenary session of the 19th CPC central committee and the resolutions it adopts are of important significance to the world. The CPC is a political party that seeks happiness for the Chinese people and fights for the advancement of all humanity. The CPC has led the people in pioneering a uniquely Chinese path to modernisation, creating a new model for human advancement, and expanding the channels for developing countries to achieve modernisation. In the coming year, the CPC will hold its 20th national congress while the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) will celebrate its 60th anniversary. The CPC is willing to further strengthen exchanges and mutual learning of experience in governance with the BDP, so as to promote the construction of political system based on the national conditions of one’s own country, create a better life for the people with the people-centred approach, and jointly shoulder the historic responsibility to ensure the people’s well-being and pursue further progress of humankind.
WANG XUEFENG*
Chinese Ambassador to Botswana
