Needless to say, China becomes an inseparable part of the world. Wherever you go China is there.
by Nalin Aponso
The People’s Republic of China has completed seven decades of its spectacularly outstanding journey. The harvests of hardships, the people in China have gone through are now contributing towards the betterment of humanity. It is a journey of genuine commitments and farsighted vision with a decisive plan.
China is advocating a peaceful society with enriched humanity. As the president of Sri Lanka China Journalists’ Forum and on behalf of the executive committee as well as all members we would like to express our best wishes for this remarkable journey of China at this monumental occasion of the seventieth anniversary of founding of the Peoples’ Republic of China.
This article was originally printed in several newspapers in Sri Lanka today, 01 October 2019. Click on each newspaper’s name to read the article. Ceylon Today, – Daily FT, – Daily News, – Daily Mirror, – The Island.
China’s journey is a journey of succeeded. It is a remarkable journey we all have positive impact to learn, adapt, and share. Despite bias media reports by some adverse parties, no one could say that the journey China moved forward was a failure or harmful to civilization. As an ancient Chinese saying goes, “The key to running a country is to make its people better-off.”
China never sheds blood and conquers any nation to spread their political hegemony and armed power. Unlike some nations which did nothing but harm to many countries by naming their mission as “establishing democracy and helping personal liberty”, China has taken an opposite position without rhetoric. This makes China win the hearts and minds of billions of people around the globe.
It is time to recall what makes China successful and how China winning over the people not only in China but around the globe by elevating livelihood condition of each community. China’s journey since 1949 has two major periods of governing. First, from 1949 to 1978 and second from 1978 to present. During the first period, China was able to lay a strong foundation on the nation and the people.
In one of his speeches by Chairman Mao Zedong in 1956 he has laid the core notions of the governing. “We must never adopt an arrogant attitude of great-power chauvinism and become conceited because of the victory of our revolution and certain achievements in our construction. Every nation, big or small, has its strong and weak points,” Mao said. It was Mao who coined one country two systems, a strategic governing concept which later inspired to establish the special administrative regions such as Hong Kong and Macao.
“In the fight for complete liberation, the oppressed people rely first of all on their struggle and then, and only then, on international assistance. The people who have triumphed in their revolution should help those still struggling for liberation. This is our internationalist duty,” he said in 1963 while addressing the group of African representatives visited him. Mao’s ideology demonstrated the strong foundation that the People’s Republic of China laid in 1949.
Once it has been established the strong foundation, the second period under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping has begun. This period, many experts argued the period of “reform and opening-up policy.”
While advocating the new economic policies once Deng says, “We mustn’t fear to adopt the advanced management methods applied in capitalist countries. The very essence of socialism is the liberation and development of productive systems. Socialism and market economy are not incompatible. We should be concerned about right-wing deviations, but most of all, we must be concerned about left-wing deviations.” This is where China started its greater journey by supporting other nations who were desperately waiting for a true friend.
Today, under the leadership of President Xi Jinping, China is moving forward and contributing greater than ever before. President Xi in his first term has tried his best to eradicate the bad germs in the system by launching a war against corruption.
It is widely believed his mission against corruption was one of the most successful actions. President Xi from the beginning understood that corruption leads to the collapse of the governing system and downfall of the state. Without eliminating this vicious habit of certain people, no country shall move forward. “To further promote anti-corruption efforts, we need to insist on the successful experiences gained through the Party’s long-term anti-corruption practice. We need to actively draw on effective practices conducted by foreign countries around the world, and our valuable heritage,” President Xi said in 2013.
Meanwhile, outlining the achievements during the last few years of Xi administration, he says, “At home, we have encountered profound changes as China has entered a new norm in economic development. We have upheld the underlying principle of pursuing progress while ensuring stability, risen to the challenges, pioneered and pushed ahead, and made historic achievements in reform by opening up and socialist modernization.”
Needless to say, China becomes an inseparable part of the world. Wherever you go China is there.
Today, we, as a pioneering forum working towards greater diplomacy with journalistic taste, our forum, is proud of our strong friendship with fellow journalists in China especially all members of All-China Journalists Association (ACJA). Recently, the ACJA along with over thirty-five journalist organizations around the globe has established a new initiative to expand the constructive discussion about Belt and Road Initiative, the Belt and Road Journalists Network (BRJN).
We believe this newly emerged initiative, the BRJN, will shed the light throughout the world deceived by fake news and manipulative opinions. The BRJN is a pathfinder for people across the globe to understand China better.
China needs truth-tellers than ever in the past. We have witnessed during the protest in Hong Kong, some of the western media manipulating fact and attempting to deceive the international community. It is indeed sad to see that same nature of reports goes on public domain over Sri Lanka China relationship. Therefore, journalists focus on facts is a need of the moment.
Sri Lanka is one of the oldest friends of China. We have thousands of year-long history. Our roots are strong and standing tall. China’s famous monk Faxian (Fah-HIan) visited Sri Lanka to learn Buddhism in the 5th century and a navigator of Chinese Ming Dynasty, Admiral Zheng He successively arrived in Sri Lanka for three times in the 15th century, and these are two landmark events in the history of exchanges between the two countries. That was Chinese travellers who shaped the history of South Asia.
One of earlier records pointed, “It is not a little surprising that we should have to acknowledge the fact that the voyages of two Chinese travellers, undertaken in the fifth and seventh century of our era, have done more to elucidate the history and geography of Buddhism in India than all that has hitherto been found in the Sanskrit and Pali books of India and the neighbouring countries.” (Life of Gaud[t]ama – p. 291, by Right Bev. P. Bigandet, Vicar-Apostolic of Ava and Pegu. 1868.)
As the Ambassador of China to Sri Lanka, Cheng Xueyuan, recently penned, our friendship between Sri Lanka and China have been “tested by times of difficulty and emerged even stronger.” In January 1950, Sri Lanka acknowledged the new China.
“On December 1952, before we established diplomatic relations, the leaders of our two countries broke through the heavy blockade of imperialism and decided with far-sighted political courage to sign the Rubber-Rice Pact. It has built a solid foundation for the long-standing friendship between China and Sri Lanka and has become the most direct and powerful proof that the relations can stand the test of difficulties,” he wrote in one of his opinions published recently.
Later during the armed insurrections in South as well as North of Sri Lanka, China was with Sri Lanka and its people to overcome the bloodiest nightmare we have ever experienced. Despite bias media reports and comments by many interested parties, it must be emphasis here, China as a genuine friend has helped us to protect our nation and our national interests. It is undoubted; we need China than China needs us as it is extremely difficult to find a true friendship in the game of global political power.
Let’s celebrate this momentum milestone of the People’s Republic of China. Let’s pay and pray our highest gratitude to all those led this most successful journey of human civilization and those who sacrificed for the betterment of humanity in last seven decades.
Long live, China. Long live Sri Lanka – China Friendship.
(The writer is the President of Sri Lanka China Journalists Forum.)
