New
Communist Party leader Andy Brooks took part in a seminar on the role
of the Communist Party of China and the world today at the Chinese
embassy in London in August. This is his contribution to the
discussion.
We
meet at a time of sharpening contradictions — and the primary
contradiction in the world today is between United States imperialism
and the rest of the world it seeks to dominate..
Generations
of Chinese communists struggled against dogmatism and sectarianism to build
a people’s democracy in their own way, to serve the needs of the
working people of China
and throughout the wider world we live in – a world torn apart by
war and stricken by poverty
and disease. While the American imperialists incite conflict and
sectarian division People’s
China has taken the lead in helping to build the economies of the
Global South while
working for peace and harmony throughout the world,
We too must struggle for peace and nuclear disarmament – as well as
the abolition of other
weapons of mass destruction.
Imperialism fans the flames of war in Ukraine and the Middle East,
blocks the return of
Taiwan to its Chinese homeland and prolongs the unhappy partition of
many countries including
Cyprus, Ireland, Kashmir and Korea. China’s perspective, on the
other hand, is based
on the concept of ‘one country, two systems’ and the principle
that ‘a nuclear war cannot
be won and must never be fought’. But the most aggressive sections
of the American ruling
class now at the helm in Washington clearly believe in “one world,
one system” and that
nuclear war is, under certain circumstances, entirely winnable.
The Chinese revolution that established the people’s government in
1949 has transformed the country that was then the poorest in the
world. Since then China has risen from being a weak semi-feudal,
semi-colonial country to become a force for peace in the global arena
with the second largest economy in the world.
People’s China, the fifth permanent member of the United Nations
Security Council, is the only veto-power actively supporting
proposals for multilateral nuclear disarmament. Pledging never to be
the first to use nuclear weapons in any conflict, China stands for
the complete prohibition and total destruction of all atomic weapons.
China, backed by many other countries, has repeatedly challenged the
West to implement the entire non-proliferation treaty, signed in
1968, that not only called a halt to nuclear proliferation but also
committed the signatories to work towards universal nuclear
disarmament.
The struggle to abolish nuclear weapons is crucial for the survival
of humanity. But central to averting a Third World War is the need to
eliminate the causes of war. And that is why communists have always
understood that the struggles for peace and socialism are indivisible.
The
Chinese communists are striving to achieve lasting world peace, so
that all countries
can enjoy a peaceful and stable external environment and their people
can live a happy
life with their rights fully guaranteed to build a world that is free
from fear and enjoys universal security.
This
is, of course, a quantum jump from the post-war Soviet policies of
“peaceful co-existence” and “detente” that failed to end the
Cold War and probably accelerated the collapse
of the USSR. Peaceful co-existence mistakenly believed that the
capitalists could be economically
beaten at their own game while detente was, in essence, a futile
Soviet attempt at
achieving nuclear parity with the Americans to divide the world into
Soviet and American
spheres of influence.
Sadly
the United Nations has been marginalised by the imperialists who only
pay lip service
to UN institutions when it suits their purposes. When it doesn’t
the world forum is ignored
and discarded.
So
though the United Nations remains a prime focus China has taken the
initiative in setting
up other platforms for economic and diplomatic co-operation including
BRICS, the Belt & Road Initiative and the Shanghai Co-operation
Council.
China
has become a beacon of hope for all the peoples of the world
struggling to build their
own independent economies without imperialist interference. While
Anglo-American and
Franco-German imperialism use their military and economic might to
impose their neo-colonial rule throughout the Global South the
Chinese people can, and do, provide the countries
of Africa, Asia and Latin America with an alternative source of high
technology and
economic assistance without the odious strings attached that always
go with deals with the
West.
China
puts people first. China has become a pivot for peace in a world torn
apart by imperialist
greed and aggression. China is strong but it threatens no one. China
respects the sovereignty
and territorial integrity of all countries. It stays true to the
principle of equality of all
countries big or small, strong or weak, and rich or poor, and it
respects the development paths
and social systems independently chosen by all the world’s peoples.
The people’s government
is dedicated to promoting a human community with a shared future.
China
stands ready to work with all countries and peoples who love peace
and aspire to
happiness to address all kinds of traditional and non-traditional
security challenges, protect the
peace and tranquility of the planet, and jointly create a better
future for humanity, so that the
torch of peace will be passed on from generation to generation and
shine across the world.
Earlier
this year the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, launched the “global
security initiative”
that lays out core concepts and principles regarding global peace and
security.
The
first is to eliminate conflict through the establishment of a
balanced, effective, and
sustainable security framework under which countries respect the
legitimate security concerns
of each other and promote political solutions to cope with hotspot
issues.
The
second is the promotion of economic development in the Global South.
The
third is respect for diversity. It is the right of every country to
choose its own political
system and development path.
Finally
all international disputes should be resolved through dialogue not unilateralism
and hegemonic acts. The UN can play a positive role in international
affairs if the
voice and representation of countries throughout the Global South is
expanded in the world
forum.
This
is what we should all be working for. Hopefully we will live to see
it happen in the
years to come.
