Inspiring Wisdom

12 October 2022

Cape Town - Five officials and scholars shared their viewpoints about the book Xi Jinping: The Governance of China volume IV, at a seminar themed The Glorious Decade, held in Cape Town, South Africa, on October 11.

The latest volume of the book published by Foreign Languages Press in multiple languages contains a compilation of 109 speeches and writings of Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is also General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, from February 3, 2020, to May 10, 2022, along with 45 photographs taken since January 2020. It is divided into 21 sections by topic.

According to the publisher, Xi has provided in the book answers to questions concerning the present and future of China and its people, and the wider world. It will keep the international community abreast of the latest developments in Xi’s thoughts, and explain the development path that China has chosen and theory of governance.

Rooted in experience

In his keynote speech, Cedric Thomas Frolick, South African National Assembly House Chairperson: Committees, extended his congratulations to the upcoming 20th CPC National Congress, saying that the world is watching the congress, because a stably growing China is providing constant development opportunities to the whole world.

READ ALSO: Xi Jinping's governance of China a paradigm for South Africa

Frolick said that people-first governing approach is an important part of the fourth volume of the book. He summarised the implementation of the approach into 4C’s, namely, the CPC leadership, common development and common prosperity, community of shared future and combating corruption.

The CPC was established at the right time and has achieved a tremendous transformation in China – the country has stood up, grown rich, and become strong, and now embraces the brilliant prospects of rejuvenation, he said.

Since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012, the CPC has gained deeper and more comprehensive understanding of common prosperity by aligning the strategy of common prosperity with construction of socialist modernization, people’s longing for a better life and people’s development in an all-round way, the chairperson noted.

READ ALSO: Modest Prosperity

Frolick said that a global community of shared future is a great concept reflecting the Chinese wisdom that can lead the world to a new stage, adding that China upholds the banner of peace, development and cooperation, aiming to promote the new type of international relations featuring mutual respect, justice and fairness, and win-win cooperation.

Lastly, he emphasized the importance of combating corruption, which Xi said is the worst of the factors that most seriously undermine the foundations of the Party’s governance. “Not only in China, it may be true for any country fighting corruption that it’s a battle that can win people’s confidence,” he said.

Anwar Adams, President of the Democratic Independent Party, said that the book reflects what the world needs and individuals and communities desire from a government. In particular, he highlighted the notion of putting the people first proposed in the book, and believed it is how China has eradicated absolute poverty and contained the COVID-19 pandemic.

He also echoed with the notions in the book about bridging the differences among countries and treating each other equally, which he believed is essential for world peace. “You don't see China going around the world opening up military bases. They bring development, they bring their ideas, they bring the feeling of humanity,” he said.

Chinese wisdom

“The remarkable work of President Xi Jinping is laying the foundation of the future of a new world. When we look at his teachings, we see knowledge that is embedded in the way the world is moving,” said Gregory September, Professor at Damelin College, South Africa.

He said President Xi’s book shows that it is important to stand united and together to deal with the current crises and make a better day for everyone, securing common prosperity not just for the nation but for the world; not just for the Party and its agenda, as the West wants to perceive and criticize, but for the collective.

He highlighted President Xi’s views on adhering to the Party leadership. “The greatest problems in the world where we have democracy is chaos. We forgot about following the leader. We forgot that no project can be run without a project leader,” he said.

Qingxiu Bu, Chair of Global Law and Policy Program at the University of Sussex, UK, said in his speech that the norms proposed by China, such as the community of shared future for mankind, new developmental concept of win-win cooperation, and new Global Security Initiative that goes beyond zero-sum mindset, shows that China is becoming a norm leader. “Against universalism, the norms interpret and justify theories of multilateralism and globalisation. Such initiatives also reflect an alternative concept of international order,” he said.

In her speech, Iris Wu, Co-Director of the Confucius Institute at the University of the Western Cape, summarised the achievements of China’s education, which is a key focus of the CPC and well-reflected in the book.

She said China has contributed its wisdom and solutions in education to the world as it promotes educational reforms to tackle challenges such as how to get poor students out of poverty with education, block the intergenerational transmission of poverty, and improve the innovation capabilities of colleges and universities to lay the foundation of innovation-driven development.

She also said that education has become an important means to deepen international exchanges and cooperation and promote people-to-people bonds. She noted that with the improvement of China's education, studying in China has become increasingly popular among young people around the world. According to her, every year, nearly 400,000 foreign students study in colleges and universities, scientific research institutes and other teaching institutions in China. “Education has become a bridge for China to enter the world stage,” she said.

The seminar was hosted by the Centre for Europe and Africa of China International Communications Group, based in Beijing, and jointly organized by CHINAFRICA Media and Publishing Ltd., Global Max Media Group and Independent Media based in South Africa.