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Nation
Print Edition> Nation
UPDATED: July 1, 2011 NO. 27 JULY 7, 2011
External Relations of the CPC
The Communist Party of China interacts with political parties and organizations worldwide
By KONG GENHONG
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INTER-PARTY EXCHANGES: Hu Jintao, General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee and Chinese President, meets with George Papandreou, Prime Minister of Greece and President of the Socialist International, in Beijing on May 15, 2009 (LI XUEREN)

The inter-party exchange and cooperation activities of the Communist Party of China (CPC) are primarily conducted by its Central Committee. At its 12th National Congress in September 1982, the CPC established the four principles for its relations with foreign political parties, namely, "independence, complete equality, mutual respect and non-interference in each other's internal affairs."

In response to dramatic changes at the turn of the 21st century, the CPC made the policy of developing, on the basis of the above-mentioned four principles, new types of inter-Party relations of exchanges and cooperation with all political parties of various countries that are ready to have contacts with it.

Sound staff

In the 28 years between the birth of the CPC in 1921 and the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, Party leaders, such as Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai and Liu Shaoqi, actively promoted the CPC's external contacts and exchanges, focusing on advocating the CPC's guiding principles and policies and expanding the influence of the CPC in China.

During the early years of the People's Republic, the Party's external relations work played an important role in getting socialist China to swiftly win international recognition and in creating a favorable international environment for the development of New China. Till the late 1950s, the CPC had established different forms of exchanges and contact with more than 80 Communist parties and workers' parties throughout the world.

Since the late 1950s, the development of the CPC's external relations had experienced setbacks because of a 10-year-long debate between the CPC and the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the "cultural revolution" (1966-76) in China.

The Third Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee convened in 1978 marked a turning point in the history of the CPC since 1949. The Party's external relations work has since entered a new era of adjustment, expansion, development and reform.

Expanding further

In March and December 2010, the first and second high-level dialogue between main political parties in China and the United States was respectively held in Beijing and Washington, D.C., symbolizing the beginning of regular contacts between the CPC and the two major parties in the United States. The dialogues opened a new area in Sino-U.S. relations and a new chapter in their party-to-party exchanges. They built a new platform to promote mutual understanding and strategic mutual trust between parties and political figures in China and the United States, and to push ahead sound and stable relations of the two countries. The dialogues also opened an important new channel for China and the United States to make joint efforts to build a positive, cooperative and comprehensive relationship for the 21st century.

Since the initiation of China's reform and opening-up policy, the CPC has continuously expanded its contacts with foreign political parties and organizations. Currently, it has maintained different forms of exchanges and cooperation with more than 600 political parties and political organizations in more than 160 countries and regions.

Now, the CPC and foreign political parties engage in various forms of institutionalized exchanges. Dialogues have been launched between the CPC and political parties in such countries and regions as Viet Nam, Japan, Russia, India, the UK, the United States and the EU. The CPC has also signed agreements on party-to-party exchanges with political parties in the UK, Germany and France.

While its exchanges with ruling parties in other socialist countries are deepening in an all-round way, the CPC has strengthened its relations with political parties in neighboring countries, expanded its contacts with political parties in other developing countries and increased interaction with political parties in developed countries.

Multilateral inter-party exchanges have become more active. The CPC has continuously enhanced exchanges with international and regional party organizations such as the Socialist International, the Christian Democrats International, major party groups in the European Parliament, the Party of European Socialists, the European People's Party and the Permanent Conference of Latin American and Caribbean Political Parties.

Being more pragmatic

The CPC has constantly expanded, developed, deepened and improved its relations with foreign political parties in light of international and domestic situations. It exchanges opinions with foreign political parties on bilateral, multilateral, regional and international issues and hot issues of mutual concern. They share experiences in managing state affairs with each other, which helps the CPC improve its governing capacity. The exchanges between the CPC and foreign political parties also pay close attention to boosting bilateral and multilateral economic cooperation.

The CPC has hosted various joint seminars with foreign political parties and political organizations, on such topics as governance, economic development patterns, financial crisis management, environmental protection, social security, and other issues concerning the people's livelihoods.

On May 16-18, the second China-Europe High-level Political Party Forum was hosted by the CPC in Beijing and Tianjin. The forum focused on national development strategies of China and European countries.

European participants in the forum included 31 party leaders from 19 European countries, the leaders of a regional political party of Europe and five party groups in the European Parliament.

The forum has injected new vigor into the China-EU comprehensive strategic partnership, brought China-Europe party-to-party exchanges to a new level and created a new channel for pragmatic cooperation between China and the EU.

The author is deputy director of the China Center for Contemporary World Studies



 
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