Communist Party mouthpiece touts ‘influence’ of China’s governance model

People’s Daily says other nations are looking to the country to learn from its success, calling its rise ‘unstoppable’ and decline of the West ‘irreversible’

Commentary gives glimpse of what will be in a resolution expected to be adopted at a major meeting in November, according to observers

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A People’s Daily commentary claims the world “has begun to look at China differently”. Photo: AFP

Published: 9:08pm, 27 Sep 2021Updated: 9:50pm, 27 Sep 2021

Nations around the world are looking to China to learn from its success, according to the Communist Party’s flagship mouthpiece People’s Daily.

It called the country’s rise “unstoppable” and the decline of the West “irreversible” in a lengthy front-page commentary on Monday that observers said gave a glimpse of what will be in a party resolution expected to be adopted at a major meeting in November.

“The world is experiencing changes unprecedented in a century. A salient feature of these changes is the irreversible trend of the rise of the East and the decline of the West,” the commentary said.

“The international community has begun to look at China differently. Its focus has shifted from just taking note of China’s success to the political reasons, the secrets of China’s systemic changes … and to learning why the Chinese Communist Party has succeeded,” it said. “In short, [we] can say that the influence of China’s governance [model] has grown bigger and bigger.”

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The 6,500-word commentary – under the byline Xuan Yan, or “declaration”, reserved for the party’s most important political messages – was published just ahead of National Day on Friday and less than two months before the Central Committee holds its sixth plenum.

It set out how it said the party had overcome obstacles in building China into a major world economic power, alleviating poverty and restoring the nation’s pride after suffering humiliation since the first opium war (1839-42).