"Life First" shows essence of CPC governance philosophy: Russian scholar

Photo taken on June 21, 2018 shows a view of the Lujiazui area in Shanghai, east China. (Xinhua/Fang Zhe)

The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) has attracted widespread attention from all walks of life in Russia. According to Alexander Lomanov, deputy director of the Institute of World Economy and International Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences and a renowned China observer, China has spared no effort to save the lives of its people, demonstrating the essence of the CPC in “serving the public good and exercising governance for the people”.

Lomanov said that General Secretary Xi Jinping is both a Marxist and a staunch advocate of China’s excellent traditional culture who has repeatedly called for the combination of basic principles of Marxism with China’s reality as well as its traditional culture. The CPC is a Party that cherishes the country’s own history and does not copy foreign “recipes” by rote, but builds its own social sciences, its own ideology and its own worldview.

Lomanov noted that in the past few years, the United States and the West have exerted tremendous pressure on China on the political, economic, and technological fronts. In the face of the complex and severe international environment, the Chinese Communists have insisted unwaveringly on socialism with Chinese characteristics. Today’s China is not a country where the West can get its way by exerting pressure like in the ancient past. Facing external risks and containment measures, China is committed to making breakthroughs in cutting-edge technologies through self-reliance and independent development.

Lomanov stressed that China has always attached importance to the fight against COVID-19 and has achieved remarkable victory in containing the pandemic. As is well known, in the US over 1 million people have died with COVID, while the death toll in China is below 6,000. Given potential gaps in the medical system, China could lose 3-5 million people due to COVID if it were to live with the virus like the US and Europe. The CPC puts its people and their lives in the first place, and protects people’s health at all costs, demonstrating the Party’s sincere commitment to the people and its people-centered approach.

Talking about China’s economy, Lomanov believes that as early as 2014, China stated that its economy had entered a “new normal”. Since then, Chinese leaders have been calling for a shift from rapid, extensive growth to high-quality and intensive development. Today, the size of the Chinese economy is approaching that of the US.

According to Lomanov, “common prosperity” takes a central place in the governance philosophy of the CPC as the report Xi delivered to the 20th Party Congress reaffirmed that the Chinese path to modernization is characterized by common prosperity. China has eradicated extreme poverty, creating a miracle in the history of human progress. But the CPC is not complacent; it is taking the victory as a new starting point. Closing the gap between rich and poor is no easy task, and China is motivating its citizens to work hard while encouraging entrepreneurs to shoulder up their social responsibility as well.

The report of the 20th CPC National Congress stated that China has always adhered to the foreign policy of maintaining world peace and promoting shared development; and is committed to building a community of shared future for mankind, which, according to Lomanov, is the core concept of Xi Jinping Thought on Diplomacy that embodies China’s thinking of interdependence, shared interest, sustainable development, and global governance. China will continue taking an important place in the future world, he said.