Every party that governs for a long time eventually faces the same quiet question: not how it will overcome its rivals, but how it will keep faith with itself. It is a question familiar to any liberation movement that has carried the weight of governing long after the struggle. Many people, in China and abroad, have asked a similar question of the Communist Party of China: how does a party of more than 100 million members, leading a nation of over 1.4 billion people, remain energetic and renewed rather than settling into complacency? Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Chinese President, has offered an answer built around six defining strengths.
The first is a commitment to truth and direction. Rather than borrowing any foreign blueprint wholesale, the Party has worked to consistently integrated the basic tenets of Marxism with China’s specific realities and with China’s fine traditional culture, constantly testing new thinking against new practice and shaping a path suited to its own conditions.
The second is staying rooted among the people. The Party has taken the pursuit of a better life for ordinary citizens as its central purpose, drawing its strength from their trust. The scale of this commitment is striking: nearly 99 million rural residents were lifted out of poverty, enabling China to achieve the poverty reduction target of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development ten years ahead of schedule. What does that mean? It means that, on average, nearly one million people escaped poverty every month and embarked on a new life, year after year.
The third strength is a sense of historic mission paired with strategic patience. Generation after generation has pursued the same long-term vision—realizing the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation. Through the Five-Year Plans, the Party has translated strategic vision into concrete actions, ensuring continuity and effectiveness in national development. This steadiness has helped build one of the world’s most complete industrial systems, with new ground still being broken in fields like clean energy, the digital economy, and artificial intelligence.
The fourth is embracing the trend of the times and always staying at the forefront of development. Development is the defining theme of our era, and innovation is the driving force behind progress. China has remained committed to pursuing high-quality development, implementing the innovation-driven development strategy, and fostering new quality productive forces. From the establishment of Special Economic Zones, to joining the World Trade Organization, to the Belt and Road Initiative, the Party has repeatedly chosen to adapt early rather than late.
The fifth strength is demonstrating the courage and ability to struggle and always maintaining confidence in victory. This is a quality etched deeply into the Party’s history. From the Long March of the Red Army from 1934 to 1936, on average, one soldier laid down his life every 300 meters. During China’s poverty alleviation campaign from 2012 to 2020, more than 1,800 officials sacrificed their lives to eliminate extreme poverty. It is a spirit summed up simply: that no ideal worth pursuing is abandoned merely because the road is hard.
The sixth and final strength is strengthening the Party and always remaining full of vitality. President Xi Jingping said that to forge iron, one must first be strong himself. Since 2012, the Party has introduced reforms such as the Eight Decisions to curb formalism, bureaucracy, hedonism, and extravagance, and has launched nationwide anti-corruption campaigns.These efforts reflect a deliberate and ongoing commitment to self-reform rather than a one-off campaign.
There is, of course, no single template for how a political party should govern or renew itself — each nation must find its own way, shaped by its own history and its own people. But certain instincts do seem to recur among parties that endure: placing people’s wellbeing first, staying open to reform, and being honest enough to correct one’s own mistakes. These are not uniquely Chinese values; they are values South Africans, too, have long placed at the heart of their own political life.
It is in that spirit that the Communist Party of China has expressed its wish to deepen exchanges with political parties across the world, grounded in mutual respect and a willingness to learn from one another. Different histories, different paths, but perhaps a shared understanding: that the true measure of any party’s strength lies not in how long it holds power, but in how faithfully it keeps working for the people who placed their trust in it.
* Ren Faqiang is the Chinese Consul General in Cape Town.
** The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of IOL.
