by Muhammad Mehdi

 

 

July 1, 2021 marks the centenary of the Communist Party of China. The first Congress of CPC was held on July 1, 1921, and since then there is a history of which the Chinese are rightly proud. When Communists inducted the revolution in the soil of China in 1949, China was not recognized by most countries of the world. 

 

When China faced serious problems on the foreign front, Chinese leadership adopted a method to lift its country out of this situation. Apart from the Foreign Office of China, the Communist leadership set up a separate International Department of the Communist Party in 1951, which reports directly to the Central Committee, the highest body of the Communist Party.

 

Its purpose was to establish strong ties with the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, where a similar department was operating, but it was not until the late 1950s that ideological differences began to emerge between these two nations. At that time of differences between former USSR and China, the idea that the Communist Party should establish ties with communist parties in different countries other than the Soviet Union was gaining ground in China so that these political parties could play their role in establishing diplomatic relations of their countries with China.

 

When Chinese leaders in 1978 realized the need for innovation in economic strategy, the party's international department backed the situation, and they sought to establish contacts with communist parties in other countries, as well as non-communist ones. Given China's current achievements, there is no doubt that the International Department has played an exceptionally active role. 

 

David, author of Contemporary China, said in 2007 that no government or ruling party in the world has as much relations with other political parties in other countries as the Communist Party has. According to a research from the German Development Institute and the University of Amsterdam, from 2002 to 2017, 3,658 Communist Party delegations met with delegations or individuals from political parties in other countries. They discussed different international issues under the theory of "party-to-party exchange of views".

 

In order to further strengthen the International Department, Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, convened a conference in 2017 to which about 300 different political delegations were invited. 

 

Addressing the conference, Xi said, “the Party would setup communications with overseas political groups and enable 15000 of their members to visit China for inter party exchanges in the coming five years. The party wanted to engage other political parties to take more active role in tackling world problems, and not to export the “China Model". 

 

In these few sentences, Xi highlighted the need for relations with other political parties of the world community, but also the importance of the International Department.

 

All this is very important for Pakistani political parties that they should continue to discuss various issues with other political parties in the world. They should have people in charge of their own research on world affairs.