The Embassy of the People’s Republic of China on August 14 launched the Swahili version of the widely acclaimed President Xi Jinping’s book titled The Governance of China – “Utawala Wa China” at the University of Nairobi.
The book on the history and government of China was published in partnership between the Chinese Embassy in Kenya, the Foreign Language Press and the Kenya Literature Bureau (KLB). The ceremony was led by Chinese Minister of Tourism and Culture Hu Heping and his Kenyan counterpart Peninah Malonza. The journey towards publishing of this book started in 2017 and KLB is the only sole co-publisher in the entire African continent.
“I am glad to learn that friends in many countries, including Kenya, are very keen to know more about the experiences of China’s development, and the governance philosophy and practices of the Chinese leadership. That is why I strongly recommend this important book, Xi Jinping: The Governance of China, as it keeps the international community abreast of the Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and offers an insight to the world on the Communist Party of China and China itself. I would like to take this opportunity to share with you my own understanding of this book,” said Heping.
President Xi Jinping’s ideas on governance have been documented in detail in the collection of his speeches and writings published in the four-volume “Governance of China”. The four-volume collection of speeches and writings articulates Xi Jinping Thoughts, Xi’s political philosophy in relation to large-scale political issues related to China, including economics, domestic politics, international relations, infrastructure, technology, environment, peaceful coexistence, and the military.
China’s people-centred approach has united the citizens across the country’s socioeconomic spectrum. Moreover, China has followed its own path and designed a system suited to its own national conditions rather than following foreign systems that are alien to its beliefs. China’s whole process democracy has been a boon to the country’s unprecedented socioeconomic transformation
Marxism is the sole guiding ideology, the very soul of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the banner under which it strives. Essentially, the strength of the party and the strength of socialism with Chinese characteristics stem from the fact that Marxism works. The Party’s struggle history is a process of continuously adapting Marxism to the Chinese context and exploring creative and innovative ideas.
This philosophy has now developed greatly and has helped China make unprecedented progress. It is one of the pillars of creating a modern socialist country that has the full trappings of a modern, thriving and free market – without capitalism. During the 20th National Congress in October 2022, the CPC presented its plan to build an all-round modern socialist country within the coming decade.
While modernization efforts have resulted in massive economic development in various spheres, Chinese citizens have also enjoyed transformation in their lives. In 2020, for instance, China became the first country in the world to eradicate extreme poverty. The country has drastically improved incomes in rural areas through agricultural modernisation programmes and initiatives.
President Xi has throughout his presidency and even previous leadership roles espoused the values of peace, harmony and amity, among others. China is among the top contributors of both finance and peacekeeping soldiers to the UN. China is also an ardent believer in multilateralism and multipolarity. These twin concepts depict a world that has changed from unilateralism to one that has decentralized centers of power. In this way, countries, rich or poor, will respect each other since each has something to offer.
President Xi Jinping proposed the Global Development Initiative (GDI) at the General Debate of the 76th session of the UN General Assembly in September 2021. The GDI is an important public good China provides to the international community in the new era, and an important practice of the vision of a community with a shared future for mankind in global development.
On the (GDI), China will take action in six areas to promote global development. These include supporting the development priority agenda, optimizing the cultivation of development projects, breaking the bottleneck of development financing, expanding development cooperation methods, strengthening tripartite development cooperation, and supporting youth to lead development.
The Global Security Initiative (GSI) extends its thinking beyond traditional militarization aimed at protecting national security to address overarching global challenges as mentioned by UN Secretary-General António Guterres – the climate crisis to the multiplication of conflicts, the governance of weapons of mass destruction particularly nuclear power, health emergencies like the COVID-19 pandemic, and the global refugee protection regime.
President Xi Jinping mooted the idea of the Global Civilization Initiative (GCI) in March while giving a keynote speech at the CPC in Dialogue with World Political Parties High-level Meeting. The main planks of the GCI include jointly advocating respect for the diversity of civilizations; jointly advocating for the common values of humanity such as peace, development, equity, justice, democracy and freedom; jointly advocating the importance of inheritance and innovation of civilizations; and jointly advocating for robust international people-to-people exchanges and cooperation.
To survive the current challenges and leave a healthy future for progeny, we must realize that we are a global community with a shared future. Countries that attempt to isolate themselves through protectionism and unilateralism in order to have power over others are bound to suffer from the backlash from the rest of the international community.
