Strengthening CPC as leading role for China dream

With more than 80 million members, the Chinese Communist Party is the biggest in the world. More importantly, it is a party with strong discipline and a leadership style of democratic centralism.

China has been able to emerge from 100 years of humiliation at the hands of Western imperialism to become a robust political and economic power in the world largely due to the strong leadership of the Party. The country has been able to accomplish what it has because the Party provided national cohesion.

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party also president of the country, has reiterated his political platform with four comprehensive strategies. The core is to manage the party strongly. In the past few decades, the Chinese Communist Party, in its efforts to promote economic development and growth, overlooked the health of the party and its members.

As a result, many high, even key, officials were involved in corrupt practices and many causing loss to the people ended up in prison. The people hate graft and corrupt officials because they know from history that corruption can destroy a nation and a state more than anything else. President Xi and his leadership team has been fighting graft with an iron fist for the past three years and have sent many officials to prison because they realized the seriousness of the issue.

But sending tainted officials to prison is only one measure of fighting corruption. The government has been fighting graft in the past three decades with harsh measures, including executing some provincial governor-level officials

The Chinese Communist Party can also turn to its successful tradition in fighting corruption in its history. The old practice of weekly sessions of self-criticism and criticism among its members proved successful in preventing corruption among members. The party as a whole should do everything within its power to educate and help members from falling into corrupt practices.

More importantly, the Communist Party should keep promoting its fundamental values of serving the people whole-heartedly. The party should practice its old slogan of hardship first and enjoyment last.

In the West, government attains political legitimacy through elections, which allow the rich and powerful to be elected through a contest of spending money. The Chinese Communist Party attained its political legitimacy by working hard for the people without selfish consideration.

The first generation of CPC leaders devoted their lives to the independence of the State. Nowadays, Chinese Communist Party leaders are making efforts to discipline the ruling party to play the leading role to fulfill the China dream.

Han Dongping is Professor of History and Political Science at Warren Wilson College, North Carolina, United States.