Dr. Upendra Gautam

Emperors ruled China for several thousands of years. Saints and scholars advised them. The empires held divinity in high esteem. For vast majority of Chinese people, instability and insecurity caused by natural, social or feudal phenomena or failure to safeguard the people were also a sign of preparedness of heavens to withdraw the mandate granted to an emperor to rule. As the result, the imperial dynasty was destined to change. Later heavy addition to the list was “the most devastating impact of colonialism on 19th and early 20th century China” (Mohammad Shakil Wahed, Cambridge Journal of China Studies, Vol. 11, No. 2).
Establishment of the Communist Party of China (CPC) was a Chinese response to eliminate the devastating colonial impact. As such, significant policy decisions in the annals of CPC have mostly been directed towards the protection and wellbeing of the largest number of people.
The 1st National Congress establishing CPC was held in two venues between July 23 and August 2 in 1921. The Congress began in a Shikumen building of the French Concession area of Shanghai. The Congress was prorogued on 30 July due to police harassment. Succeeding congress was convened on a rented tourist boat in nearby South Lake in Jiaxing. Since the establishment of CPC on the historic date of 23 July, 1921 and the declaration of the Founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) from the Tiananmen Square in Beijing on 1st of October 1949, the principle of caring for protection and wellbeing of people has continued guiding priorities of China’s governance system. PRC formally celebrates the anniversary of the establishment of CPC on 1st of July.

Clear message
Founding of PRC gave a clear message to the world that a country cannot deliver safety and happiness to people if it is not liberated first from the colonial chain and feudal influence. For PRC, inherently equitable land reform and emancipation of women from extreme exploitation were the early basic harvests. Reform and modernisation continue to lead the PRC to i) market-orientation within a progressive regulatory environment, ii) one country, two systems of governance, and iii) freedom from absolute poverty. Preemptive defensive modernisation and digitisation of People’s Liberation Army (PLA), innovations and development in artificial intelligence, space travel and exploration, advanced communication and transportation technology, trade and commercial outreach, diversification and scaling up of trade regionalisation mechanism are key features of China’s internal and international development interface.
The CPC has successfully faced challenges during years of hot, cold and cyber wars. Successive CPC generation of leadership with vision, courage and pragmatism has kept on transforming, adapting and managing revolutionary waves with scientific long-term policy insights and industrial innovations. The CPC is on course to rejuvenate civilisational longevity symbolised by Xian, Shaanxi. Silk Road historically starts from this eastern province of China. Under President Xi Jinping’s vision of “Chinese Dream” and Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Silk Road has been evolving into a broadway-interconnecting the land-civilisation with maritime culture. The broadway intends to harvest international public goods of wellbeing and connectivity.
China has managed inter-state relations fairly and well. Ping-Pong was hailed as a symbol of soft-smart channel of public diplomacy to restore one of the most important international ties even in a super-powered confrontational ecology. Futuristic concern of China at the present juncture understandably centres on celebrating centennial anniversary of CPC in ways that are a trailblazer for forging long-term friendly ties with people all over the world. This is indeed a legitimate and genuine concern as confrontational ecology floats up.
Resilience approaching sources of non-traditional security now including global pandemic and calmness addressing adversity in international relations ask China for greater adaptability and preemptive insurance. For these features to develop duly, I see it relevant to offer four suggestions: i. academic and cultural exchange entities should be primary means to promote the features mentioned. This can happen better in a non-state diversely localised and institutionally autonomous environment. ii. sense of cooperation is an attitude, and should not be affected by an altitude. It needs to be nursed and protected as pandas. Students like water have no colour. They provide long-term foundation for forging everlasting inter-generational friendly ties.
Chinese educational institutions too need a non-state enabling environment. iii. China needs new friends and novel ways of communication for quality engagements. At times, vested entrepreneurial and diplomatic interest is a pain in the neck. All oldies are not perennially gold. President Xi Jinping has stressed expanding “circle of friends” embracing new ways of communication. iv. we know Chinese civilisation is rich in making penetrative narratives and crafting of stories that distill human heart and mind. New China stories too need to be as poetic and awesome as the rainbow over the Mt. Wuthai. A core common theme of ‘China’s up scaling of its civilisational products’ will sure be there in all stories. Cooperation is the bond sustaining China’s scale through “double circulation,” a recently internalised in-and-out linkage between China’s larger imports and much bigger international cooperation.

Anchorage
Nepal upholds PRC as a stable anchorage for its independent development aspirations. President Xi has elevated China-Nepal relations to a “strategic partnership of cooperation”. Both Nepal and China wish upcoming generations are able to craft a mechanism for everlasting friendship. They wish they could jointly celebrate PRC’s 100th anniversary year of founding in 2049. Nepal enjoys intimate ties with the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) of China since ancient times. Talking about these ties, Premier Zhou En-lai once remarked that in-depth research was needed to fully understand and appreciate our ties at both inter-state and kinship levels. Nepali scholars, architects, princess and tradesmen have indeed paved ways for multidimensional ties.
Speaking of Tibet, Nepal was more engaged with it in marriage, trade, temples, administrative and diplomatic discourses than any South Asian parts. More Nepalis were in Lhasa than anywhere in the world. Nepal-Tibet trade ranked high. Nepali people were happy when a sky-train reached Lhasa in July 2006, they are happier when fully China-built all-electrified eco-friendly Fuxing 435-km line linked Lhasa with Nyingchi in plus three-hours, opening up parts of southeastern Tibet. Both events would happen in 85th and 100th anniversary of CPC establishment. Railways give Tibet critical forward linkages. The Tibetan region and its economic backbone Sichuan under the South Silk Road alignment offer the advantage of Trans-Himalayan gateway for Nepal into China and for China into greater South-Eastern Asia.
To move ahead with these prospects, the first phase of Nepal-China economic corridor with secure border and credible green development projects in connectivity, energy, industry, agriculture, cultural and rural tourism need to be prioritised for BRI investment and assistance. The 100th anniversary year of the establishment of CPC is the occasion to move on with reinvigorated sense of cooperation towards this direction.

(Dr. Upendra Gautam is secretary general of China Study Centre Nepal)