XI JINPING, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and Chinese president, said yesterday it is the CPC’s unswerving goal to run China’s house well, ensure a happy life for over 1.4 billion Chinese people, and promote peace and development for all mankind.

Xi made the remarks while delivering a keynote speech at the CPC and World Political Parties Summit via video link in Beijing.

The summit was attended by more than 500 leaders of political parties and organizations from more than 160 countries, as well as over 10,000 party representatives.

With the theme of “For the People’s Wellbeing: The Responsibility of Political Parties,” the summit was an important multilateral diplomatic event held at a time when the CPC is marking the 100th anniversary of its founding.

More than 130 foreign envoys in China attended the summit offline in Beijing, the main venue.

The event also had five  subvenues — Shanghai, Yan’an in Shaanxi Province, Shenzhen in Guangdong Province, Ningde in Fujian Province, and Anji in Zhejiang Province.

In the speech, Xi called on political parties around the globe to always be builders of world peace, advocates for global development, and guardians of the international order.

He said human society has once again found itself at a historic crossroads.

It is about hostile confrontation or mutual respect, seclusiveness and decoupling or openness and cooperation, zero-sum game or win-win results, Xi said.

“The choice is in our hands and the responsibility falls on our shoulders,” he added.

He called on world political parties to shoulder their historic responsibility to pursue the people’s wellbeing and the progress of mankind, and to embrace an idea of global community with a shared future.

Xi said great times call for grand architecture, and grand architecture calls for great vision.

“Viewed from the perspective of ‘my own country first,’ the world is a cramped and crowded place perpetuated in fierce competition,” Xi said. “Viewed from the perspective of ‘a global community with a shared future,’ the world is a vast and broad place full of cooperation opportunities.”

He said all countries and nations are equally entitled to development opportunities and rights to development.

Xi also called for upholding and promoting the common values of humanity. “We need to champion the common values of humanity, foster broad-minded tolerance toward the understanding of values by different civilizations, and respect the explorations of different peoples to turn values into reality,” he said.

He called on political parties worldwide to jointly oppose the practice of seeking technology blockade and divide as well as decoupling.

Any political manipulation for the purpose of sabotaging the development of other countries and undercutting the livelihood of other peoples will receive little support and prove to be futile, he said.

He said the judgment on whether a country is democratic or not should be made by their people, not by the handful of others.

There are different pathways toward wellbeing, and people of all countries are entitled to choose their own development paths and institutional models, Xi stressed.

Democracy is the right of all peoples rather than an exclusive privilege of the few, Xi noted, adding that there are multiple ways and means to realize democracy instead of a single stereotype.

He called on political parties worldwide to oppose the practice of politicizing the COVID-19 pandemic or attaching a geographical label to the virus.

In responding to terrorism and other common enemies of mankind, Xi highlighted the pursuit of security and stability through cooperation so as to tighten the security fences together.

He also called for joint efforts in building a green homeland and mitigating climate change which poses severe challenges to human existence and development.

Xi said China will never seek hegemony, expansion, or sphere of influence and will always be a member of the developing world.

He called for concerted efforts to oppose the practice of unilateralism disguised as multilateralism.

“We should stand opposed to the practice of unilateralism disguised as multilateralism and say no to hegemony and power politics,” Xi said.

Xi said the CPC is willing to contribute more Chinese solutions and Chinese strength to the poverty reduction process worldwide.

China will spare no effort to support international cooperation against COVID-19, he said, adding that the country will make extremely arduous efforts in delivering its promise of achieving carbon peak.

He said international rules should be based on universally recognized norms rather than rules of the few.

Cooperation among countries should aim at serving all mankind instead of seeking hegemony by way of group politics, Xi said.

He said all efforts of individual countries to independently explore the path to modernization in light of their specific national conditions are worthy of respect.

There doesn’t exist a fixed model for the path to modernization, and the path that suits a country will serve it well, said Xi.

“Cutting one’s feet to fit the shoes will lead nowhere,” he said.

(Xinhua)