There is so much to learn from China

In his latest thought-provoking book, Xi Jinping Thought – Through South African Eyes, renowned scholar on the People’s Republic of China affairs, Dr Paul Tembe, describes the Chinese president as a visionary – drawing lessons from the world’s second-largest economy.

While Tembe has made it clear the Chinese success story – something Xi has encapsulated as “Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era” – is not a prescription for SA and other African countries, there are certainly lessons to be drawn from China.

Having covered China from political, economic, social and cultural perspectives, Tembe’s book has been hailed as the first in comparative studies between China, SA and the African continent, sharing successes in the Chinese governance model.

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If Xi’s steadfast leadership and governance model has uplifted almost 100 million Chinese out of poverty, there must certainly be something right in his approach to strategy, which has earned him a historic third term during the recent 20th national congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

As University of Johannesburg international affairs professor David Monyae puts it, Xi “has renewed the CPC and stabilised the country”. He maintains: “This was done by instituting clear policies that steered the economy in the right direction. It has improved the country’s standing in the global arena. Xi’s re-election will bring continuity and stability to China.

“It will further strengthen the country’s ability to fulfil national liberation aspirations of unifying the country with Macao, Hong Kong and Taiwan. It will make China achieve its strategic objectives for being a successful and prosperous country by the 2049 national centenary. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, general secretary Xi Jinping has been leading the CPC and the Chinese people to respond to major changes and usher in new chapters.”

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In looking at Xi’s leadership, Chinese embassy chargé d’affaires Li Zhigang, says: “He has been committed to the idea of freeing minds and innovation, based on what has worked in the past and he put forward many major ideas – perspectives that reflected our times and offered strong guidance to our work.

“That is how the Xi Jinping ‘Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era’, formed. This important thought provides fundamental guidelines for realising the Chinese dream of national rejuvenation. It is also an important window that informs and inspires friends worldwide about China.”

During his address to the CPC congress, Xi pointed out what the party and the government achieved in 10 years.

“Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era” has become Xi’s ideology. Some of his major achievements have include doubling China’s gross domestic product – from 54 trillion yuan (about R135 trillion) to 114 trillion yuan. Vowing to “offend a few thousand rather than fail 1.4 billion”, Xi praised his government’s anticorruption campaign which saw government bigwigs being prosecuted for graft.

Like him or hate him, Xi has committed his government to the rejuvenation of the Chinese economy, poverty eradication, preserving the environment, fighting corruption, establishing a relatively prosperous society, expanding cooperation with other nations and making China a self-reliant nation through science and technological innovations.

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I’ve always maintained the Chinese model of socialism can only thrive in a country with a high work ethic, huge industrialisation to provide jobs and a fast-growing economy. It becomes difficult to socialise the means of production – currently in the hands of a few, very rich individuals in SA – if there’s no high level of development and commitment to shared resources.