WHAT MAKES CHINA DIFFERENT?

July 1， 2021 marks the centenary of the Communist Party of China （CPC）. Under its leadership， China has achieved remarkable progress. What makes China different from other socialist countries？ And how should China respond to its current challenges from the U.S. and the West？ On June 30， Beijing Review reporter Wen Qing had an exclusive interview with Kishore Mahbubani， a senior Singaporean diplomat and author of Has China Won？， to share his insights on the CPC and China. This is an edited version of the interview：

Beijing Review： In many of your interviews， you spoke highly of Chinas development in recent years. Which aspects in your opinion are most impressive when it comes to Chinas development？ Kishore Mahbubani： I think the most impressive thing achieved by the Chinese Government is that it lifted 800 million people out of poverty. Thats the largest poverty reduction exercise ever in human history. And I speak about that with some conviction because I myself experienced poverty when I was a child. I know how damaging poverty can be. Your life is miserable. If you can rescue people from poverty， thats the noblest thing you can do. And clearly， rescuing 800 million people is an enormous achievement on the part of the Chinese Government.

What makes it even more remarkable is that China has the fastest growing middle class in the world. Chinas middle class is about 200-300 million people， larger than that of the United States. Its clearly a tremendous achievement to have accomplished， especially in 40 years.

What role do you think the CPC has played in achieving this progress？

Since 1949 when the Peoples Republic of China was founded， the CPC， the ruling party of China， has led China to achieve tangible progress. If China didnt have a very strong central government， these achievements wouldnt have happened.

But what is interesting is how the CPC has changed and adapted to different times and different challenges in its history. Clearly， in the first phase its focus was making sure there was political unity in the country. And then after Deng Xiaoping took over， the focus was on modernization and reform to ensure that the economy grew and developed.

It was very unusual for a communist party to introduce so many market reforms， and to let the market decide how resources should be allocated. The Soviet Union collapsed because they couldnt achieve that. It wasnt possible for the Soviet Union to grow its economy in the way that China has been able to. The flexibility and adaptability of the Party is the real strength.