The CCP emerged against all odds as the ruling party of China. It was an unlikely story. The CCP was  founded in 1921 in Shanghai’s French concession, then under colonial rule. Following over two decades of civil war and invasion, it became China’s ruling party in 1949. At the time, China was an economic basket case and a ruinous shadow of its former imperial glory. It is now a breadbasket, growing at astonishing rates since its economic liberalisation in the late 1970s. However, despite China’s open embrace of market reforms, its political ideology has meant that truly coming to terms with the achievements and failings of the CCP is challenging. I would argue that the CCP should be praised for developing China, but also challenged for ongoing human rights issues.  

In history, nothing is binary. There are contradictions and impossible questions

During the Cultural Revolution of 1966-69, hundreds of thousands of people were killed and chaos ensued. Yet, the CCP restored order to China after a century of foreign invasions, humiliating treaties and civil wars. 

Whilst the early policies of the CCP were economically disastrous, its later policies led to China developing at a pace second only to that of Japan in the 19th century. Whilst China may not meet western requirements of democratic governance and freedom, it has freed most (perhaps all) of its population from the depredations and misery of absolute poverty. 

Though China has shown aggression towards some of its neighbours, many of the disputes have long histories. Its dispute with India is no exception, predating the modern Chinese and Indian states.  

How should one approach such contentious topics? There is only one solution.

We must accept that there are contradictions, and these contradictions exist simultaneously as two opposing truths

. This is because the CCP, like other institutions, has clearly built prosperity but calamities have accompanied this. The CCP’s triumphs and failings are equally real. A failure to accept this is a failure to understand the truth and learn history’s lessons.   

China is rightly celebrating the incredible economic progress that has been made. For most of history, China has been the world’s wealthiest and technologically advanced state. Yet, during the 18th century the nation began to fall behind nascent western powers and from the 19th century, it was forced to concede land and accept the influx of opium into the nation. Such egregious humiliations lasted for a century and foreign powers should feel shame for the devastation they wrought upon China.  

Due to such wars and civil wars, China was left technologically backward and most of its population were peasants. When modern China was founded its GDP was similar to that of India but it is now about five times the size. The nation also has world beating infrastructure, including trains that travel at 385 mph as well as 5G and a high tech sector, ranging from electric vehicles to supercomputers. 

Deng Xiaoping famously declared that “poverty is not socialism, to be rich is glorious” and he invoked an ancient proverb, that if a cat catches mice, it is a good cat, no matter whether it’s white or black. Of course, he was referring to the embrace of open market economic reforms that would allow China to become the “workshop of the world” and the economic superpower it is today. I believe this to be the CCP’s greatest achievement as the party abandoned failing modernisation projects and propelled China into the future.  

The installation of the Special Economic Zones allowed the Chinese government to monitor the best companies in a free market space and then support them. In this way, infant industries such as Huawei emerged to become international giants and cities such as Shenzhen became vanguards of technological progress. I believe that such policies were ingenious, and they optimised China’s advantages of a large workforce and a symbiotic relationship between China and America emerged. China was the supplier and America was the demand for goods. 

The CCP has restored China to its ancient place at the top of the global economy. The CCP evaded the failings of the Bolsheviks and its mandate is based on its economic record. This is obvious from China’s fast economic growth and its export of sophisticated technology.  

This has come at a cost. There is currently fear and agitation about China’s ever growing power. China has steadily accumulated US debt so that it can continue exporting in great volume and it bought most of the US treasuries after 2008 to mitigate the economic crash. It then spent massively on its own infrastructure, preventing further declines in global output. Through these actions, China saved the American and global economy in recent decades from a major slump. 

In the process, China also gained major economic leverage over the USA. In my view, this leverage is not dangerous as it intertwines the Chinese and American economies, making hostility mutually damaging.   

On the other hand, China’s neighbours are concerned for their security and the west is fearful of China’s colossal Belt and Road Initiative infrastructure project. The G7 is currently working on an alternative. Several border disputes remain unresolved and there are serious concerns about human rights. Such concerns regarding rights are legitimate but the outflow of Chinese infrastructure is motivated by economic, not imperial, intentions. In my judgement, this is to be praised as other nations are helped in their own development.    

The CCP’s anniversary and our reflection upon its history should acknowledge the achievements, failings and challenges of the Chinese state. My reflection is that the CCP should be lauded for their success in economic development but the Maoist era should be condemned for its assault on Chinese culture.

 China’s success in development led Merkel to comment that it is an argument against western democracy. Western theory associates economic growth with western democracy. Yet, none of the four Asian tiger economies were democratic until around the 1990s. It is hypocritical to criticise China for developing without democracy when most developed Asian states did. Combatting deprivation is more pressing than democracy.   

Unfortunately, relations between China and the world have worsened. Many nations are concerned about Chinese intentions, yet China has shown that it is willing to pay to combat instability in the global economy and international order. 

The history of the CCP is a coin with two sides. We must try hard to see that both sides exist equally

.  It is true that China, ideologically, does not match western powers. It is also true that there are perturbing border disputes, militarisation and human rights issues concerning China. However, this must be balanced against the improvement to people’s livelihoods in China, its advances in education and the CCP’s commitment to economic development. It is crucial to acknowledge this balance, for no government is perfect and history is complicated. A balanced view of the CCP is necessary in order for future cooperation and to fully understand one of the world’s most successful political organisations. Just as one would not judge British governance on imperial crimes, one cannot judge the CCP only on its misgivings.  

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