China is a big country with a history of more than 5,000 years of civilization, and has been at the forefront of the world for a long time in history. Since the Opium War of 1840 with Britain, China has fallen into a dangerous situation of poverty and weakness, internal turmoil and external troubles, and even to the point of subjugation and extinction. After the Communist Party of China was founded in 1921, it led the Chinese people through arduous struggles, and the Chinese nation achieved a great leap from standing up, getting rich, and become strong.

I would like to tell the legend of the Communist Party of China transforming from a revolutionary party to a ruling party with development and governance.

First, Let us look at China’s epic of struggle for a century.

100 years ago, China was still in a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society. Over the past 100 years, the Communist Party of China has led the Chinese people to completely change the tragic fate of being enslaved and bullied, and embarked on a broad avenue towards a great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

The first point is to uphold socialism with Chinese characteristics. After the founding of the CPC, it united and led the people through 28 years of bloody battles. In 1949, the People's Republic of China was founded, realizing the great transformation from feudal autocracy for thousands of years to people's democracy. Since then, the CPC has led the people to complete the socialist revolution, established the basic socialist system, and promoted the construction of socialism, achieving the great U-turn of the Chinese nation from decline to strength by reversing its own destiny. Since 1978, the great revolution of “reform and opening up” has been carried out, and socialism with Chinese characteristics has been successfully created. China took great strides to catch up with the times. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC in 2012, under the leadership of the Party Central Committee with Xi Jinping at its core, China has achieved a series of new historical achievements in development. And socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era.

Whether the shoes fit or not, whoever wears them knows. It is the people of a country that are in the best position to judge the path of development they have chosen for themselves. The Communist Party of China has always been the leader and backbone of the Chinese people and the Chinese nation. The most essential feature of socialism with Chinese characteristics is the leadership of the CPC, which is also the greatest advantage of the socialist system with Chinese characteristics. As a ruling party in the most populous country, the CPC has the courage to revolutionize itself, adhere to the rule of law, conduct comprehensive anti-corruption campaigns, and promote the modernization of the national governance system and governance capabilities. It is the conclusion of history that only socialism can save China, and only by upholding and improving socialism with Chinese characteristics can the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation be realized. It is also the future direction for China.

The second point is to uphold the common prosperity for all people. More than 2,000 years ago, in the ancient "Book of Songs", it is sang that "people are working hard, and they are asking for a well-off life". This is the origin of the term "well-off society" we are often talking about today. A well-off society in all respects has carried the millennium dream of the Chinese nation to be prosperous and live and work in peace and satisfaction. Since its early days, the CPC has taken the improvement of people's livelihood as its own responsibility. After the CPC came to power in 1949, the Chinese people enjoyed unprecedented dignity and rights. It is no less than a miracle in the human history. In 2020, China has achieved the poverty reduction goal of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development 10 years ahead of schedule. The per capita GDP has exceeded US$10,000. And over 400 million people have entered the middle-income group. Starting from starvation and insufficient clothing, to a well-off society in all respects, great historical achievements have been made.

With fast economic and social development, the Chinese people are now at the forefront of the times in high spirits. China has 998 million Internet users. Rural and urban areas have enjoyed the same internet speed. China’s digital network is on top of the world in terms of scale, quality and applications. China has also built national social security system and education system covering the world's largest population. More than 1.3 billion Chinese people are covered by the basic medical insurance. With a single social security card at hand, you can apply for more than 100 services such as employment and medical reimbursement. In the face of difficult challenges such as fighting the epidemic, fighting poverty, managing technological development, and environmental governance, the Communist Party of China adheres to the values of “people first” and “life first”, and protects the health and dignity of everyone.

The third point is to stick to peaceful development by working hard. At the early days of New China, it was a devastating mess after over 100 years of war and chaos. However, under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, the Chinese people completely ended the humiliating diplomacy of the old China and abolished the privileges of foreign powers and unequal treaties in China. Breaking the blockade and isolation policy of the Western countries, upholding self-reliance and diligence, China has developed into the world's second largest economy, the largest trading country in goods and the destination for the largest foreign capital inflow. It is the only country in the world that has all the industrial categories in the United Nations Industrial Classification, with more than 220 industrial products ranks first in the world in terms of output. Last week, Chinese astronauts entered the Tianhe core module of the space station for the first time. "Tianwen-1" has started Mars exploration. And "Haidou-1" All-depth Deep Sea Autonomous Submersible completed a sea trial reaching 10,907-meter deep.

China unswervingly follows the path of peaceful development, pursues a mutually beneficial strategy of opening, and stands on its own feet among the nations of the world. China’s development relies on the can-do spirit of "800 million shirts for one Boeing passenger airplane". Generations of Chinese people have been constantly struggling, reducing more than 70% of global poverty, and contributing 30% to world economic growth for more than 10 consecutive years. With the sense of responsibility of "carrying our own burdens", China uses 9% of the world’s arable land to feed nearly 20% of the world’s population. China develops itself not through forced selling and buying, or plundering other countries. China has not followed the old path of imperialism and colonialism, or simply copy the development model of Western countries. With the spirit of "crossing the river by feeling the stones", China has charted its own course of development and blazed a unique path for 1.4 billion Chinese to accelerate their modernization.

Secondly, let us look at China's contribution to the protection of our home planet from the perspective of responsibility.

It is the solemn commitment of the Communist Party of China and the Chinese people to make new and greater contributions to humankind. China upholds the concept of community with shared future for mankind and actively makes Chinese contributions to the care of our home planet.

First, China upholds the mutual learning between civilizations and has always been a builder of world peace. From the first days of the New China, China established its independent foreign policy of peace. Over the past 70 years, China has not provoked a single war or conflict, nor invaded a single square inch of foreign land. China has been dedicated to resolving territorial and maritime delimitation disputes through negotiation and consultation. China is the second largest contributor to regular budgets of the UN, the second largest budget contributor to UN peacekeeping operations and the largest contributor of peacekeepers among the five permanent members of the Security Council.

More than 2,100 years ago, the Chinese opened the Silk Road to promote civilizational exchanges between the East and the West on an equal footing, and in 101 A.D., a Macedonian caravan arrived in Luoyang, the then capital of China, leaving a wonderful record of friendly exchanges between China and Europe. More than 600 years ago, Zheng He, the famous Chinese navigator of the Ming Dynasty, led the world's most powerful fleet to the West and sowed the seeds of peace and friendship. The Communist Party of China and the Chinese people are well aware of the value of peace, and do not “import” foreign models, nor “export” the Chinese model, and will never ask other countries to replicate China’s practices. China will never claim hegemony, expand or seek spheres of influence, and will not engage in an arms race.

Second, China will always be a contributor to global development through win-win cooperation. Since its founding, the Chinese Communist Party has the world peace and development in mind. As the first country to put its signature on the UN Charter, China has never walked away from international obligations, never asked others to pick sides. In 2001, China joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) and began to participate more extensively and deeply in international economic and trade exchanges and cooperation. China has been making friends in the international community, having established diplomatic relations with 180 countries, and various partnerships with over 110 countries.

China has proposed to build a community of shared future for mankind and the Belt and Road Initiative, which have won extensive recognition and positive response from the international community. China is fostering a new development paradigm with domestic circulation as the mainstay and domestic and international circulations reinforcing each other, bringing more opportunities for all countries to share the benefits of China's high-quality economic development. China has signed over 200 Belt and Road cooperation documents with over 170 countries and international organizations, and has directly invested more than 110 billion USD in partner countries. According to a World Bank research, the initiative will help 7.6 million people out of extreme poverty and 32 million out of moderate poverty.

Third, China upholds equity and justice, and has always been the defender of international order. China is a strong backer of equity and justice for mankind, adheres to the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, never interferes in the internal affairs of other countries, and never allows other countries to interfere in China's internal affairs. It is committed to upholding the UN-centered international system, the international order built upon international law, and the multilateral trading system with the WTO at its core. Adhering to the rule of law, China has joined almost all inter-governmental organizations and over 500 international treaties.

China insists on opposing abusing the small and weak, while advocates dialogue instead of conflict, consultation instead of coercion, and win-win cooperation instead of zero-sum game. Faced with the COVID-19 epidemic, China has actively cooperated with WHO and other countries in combating the epidemic, provided emergency anti-epidemic supplies to more than 160 countries and international organizations, donated vaccines to more than 80 countries and three international organizations, exported vaccines to more than 50 countries, and cooperated with more than 10 countries in vaccine research and development. China is committed to the global ecological development and strives to implement the 2030 target for Intended Nationally Determined Contributions to combating climate change, and will strive to peak carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060.

Third, Let us look at China’s wisdom of building a better world from the “Two Centenary Goals”.

Embarking on a new journey toward the goal of fully building a modern socialist country, the first stage is to basically realize socialist modernization by 2035. In the second stage from 2035 to the middle of the 21st century, we will work hard and develop China into a great modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious, and beautiful. This means we will write a better and more beautiful chapter of our time.

The first point is to uphold multilateralism, and create a shared future. We should strengthen our confidence in the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics, respect the right of people of all countries to choose their own development path, and join hands with all countries in promoting the building of a community with a shared future for mankind. As the biggest developing country in the world, China’s GDP per capita still ranks more than 60. China still put its top priority on concentrating efforts to seek self-development, promoting shared prosperity for everyone and let people live a better life. Countries should uphold and observe multilateralism, keep the moral standards and comply with international norms, let different development paths converge on success, let the fruits of development be shared by people of all countries.

The second point is to pursue open and innovative development, create a connected future. We should strengthen our confidence in the theory of socialism with Chinese characteristics, firmly oppose forming small cliques and bloc politics with ideology as the yardstick. China remain committed to the new development philosophy of innovative, coordinated, green, open and shared development, seize the historical opportunity of a new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation, promote a green recovery of the world economy in the post-COVID era. China has promoted trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, deepened regional economic integration, enhanced supply, industrial, data and human resources chains, and promoted infrastructure connectivity, with a view to building an open world economy.

The third point is to stand together and join hands to create a peaceful and harmonious future. We should strengthen our confidence in the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics, safeguard China’s sovereignty, security, and development interests, promote the new form of international relations with win-win cooperation as the core. China follows the principle of achieving shared growth through discussion and collaboration in engaging in global governance, rejects dominance by just one or several countries. China follows a new path of state-to-state relations featuring dialogue instead of confrontation and partnership instead of alliance. China respects the value and dignity of everyone's life, strengthen international cooperation in fighting Covid-19 and vaccine research and development, and build a global community of health for all. China will work together to build a global ecological civilization, and build a community of life for man and nature.

The fourth point is to adhere to equality to create a future of mutual respect and mutual learning. We should strengthen our confidence in the culture of socialism with Chinese characteristics, strengthen cultural exchanges between the East and the West, seek common ground while narrowing differences. China stands for the equality of all countries, big or small, strong or weak, rich or poor, does not fall into the trap of "clash of civilizations", boost cross-cultural exchanges characterized by harmony within diversity, inclusiveness, and mutual learning, uphold the values of peace, development, equity, justice, democracy and freedom shared by all of us. The world is diverse in nature, and we should turn this diversity into a constant source of inspiration driving human advancement. This will ensure that human civilizations remain colorful and diversified.

July 1, 2021 is the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China. As the largest ruling party in the world, the CPC is dedicated to the long-term cause of the Chinese nation, and will lead the Chinese people to work tirelessly for the peace and development of mankind. From the new starting point of the centenary of the founding of the CPC, to the centenary of the People's Republic of China, our original aspiration and mission are consistent, that is to seek happiness for the Chinese people and rejuvenation for the Chinese nation. By the 100th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China on October 1, 2049, China will become a modern and powerful socialist country, and write a newer and more beautiful legend in the history of human development. Furthermore, China is willing to work with the people of all other countries to build a community with a shared future for mankind.