Editor’s Note:?On the publication ceremony of the book SHARED IDEALS – THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF CHINA AND ITS CHERISHED FRIENDS FROM AROUND THE WORLD held in Beijing in July,?Mushahid Hussain Sayed, Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee in the Pakistani Senate, talked about his understanding of the Centennial CPC in his speech via video link. The excerpts of his speech are as follows.

What are your views on the CPC?

Ni hao to friends in China, and greetings from Pakistan.

It is my pleasure and privilege to be participating in the launch ceremony of “Shared Ideals” [with] the Communist Party of China and its cherished friends all over the world.

I think it is a great occasion which we are commemorating. Not just in China, but among China’s friends who are spread far out all over the world to celebrate 100 years of the establishment of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

The CPC has created new records in building a better tomorrow for one fifth of humanity, which resides in the People’s Republic of China, and is also a source of inspiration to others who want to have a new and better future.

The CPC has been very important in reshaping China in the transformation of China from a poor dependent, less developed country, to a country that is now not under any form of domination, which is moderately prosperous, and which has liberated China and the Chinese people from the yolk of feudalism, from the yolk of foreign domination.

Could you tell us about some of your experiences in China?

I have had a long-standing relationship with China and I have seen China’s development with my own eyes for last almost-half a century.

Through my various visits to China, starting [in] September 1970, I have been fortunate to see the China of Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou Enlai, the China Deng Xiaoping, and China today of President Xi Jinping.

How China built-up a society which has provided the basic needs and the basic rights for its people. And how China is today, cooperating with the international community, with its friends, to share its prosperity and progress.

I feel that the Belt and Road Initiative of President Xi Jinping, is the way forward, because it is based on connectivity among cultures, countries and continents.

I still remember my first visit to China when I was a teenager studying in college. and I remember when I landed on the PIA flight from Pakistan in Shanghai.

From Shanghai we travelled to Beijing and the flight attendant said “we begin the flight with a quotation from Chairman Mao”. I still remember the quotation. The quotation was, “Be resolute, fear no sacrifice, and surmount every difficulty to win victory.” It was a very inspirational quote.

In your view, what are the reasons behind China’s developmental trends?

I now see how China has progressed and people ask me, “What is the secret of the success of China and the Communist Party?”

I link it with a few factors. Number one: The Quality of leadership and its vision for people-centered development. That has been very important.

The second aspect has been, the ability to learn from others, and have a course correction. Or, as the great leader Deng Xiaoping used to say, “Seek truth from facts.”

And the third action which has been very important, is that all through this period, especially after Reform and Opening Up, China has always had a peaceful foreign policy.

China has not invaded any country, has not conquered any country, and has not been aggressing against any country, and that is extremely important.

When we come to this current epoch under President Xi Jinping, we can see how China is making a difference as a leader in climate change, as a leader in providing vaccines for the greater public good.

In this age of the pandemic, [China] has been a source of help to millions of people all over the world whose lives have been saved. I think that it extremely important.

In the current context, we feel that way forward, as the CPC rightly says, through the Belt and Road Initiative is connectivity, cooperation, and working together to tackle pressing issues facing humanity. These are collective problems which require a cooperative response.

We reject any notions of a zero-sum game mindset, of demonization, of politicization of the pandemic, and, of a new Cold War. Asia and the world cannot revert to a difficult and dangerous past, where there were cleavages and confrontations. What the world needs is cooperation and connectivity.

We give congratulations to the Communist Party of China for having this success story. It’s not just lifting 800 million people out of poverty in such a short span, its also presenting a new model, a new choice, for developing countries, that the way forward is “people-centered development” as the vision has been put forward by the Communist Party of China.

Long live the Communist Party of China.

Long live Pakistan-China friendship.