Recently, Chinese people unveiled a series of commemorative activities to mark the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China. On Saturday, Luo Huining, director of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, delivered a keynote speech at a forum in Hong Kong under the theme of the CPC and “one country, two systems”. Luo’s speech is enlightening in helping Hong Kong people gain a more comprehensive understanding of the significance of the CPC in national development as well as in Hong Kong’s development under the “one country, two systems” framework. 

From 1921 to 2021, China, under the leadership of the CPC, has achieved a remarkable transformation from a historical set of reduced circumstances into a nation with a flourishing economy. 

The CPC has delivered satisfactory results in socioeconomic development as measured by various key global performance indexes. Guangming Daily put it this way: “The marching-through in the last century is a crystallization of blood, sweat, tears, courage, wisdom, strength. … The turning point opens up new opportunities, the struggle to march on in the next hundred years. ... We will continue to push forward the cause of revolution, construction, reform and rehabilitation ... to gradually realize the goal of developing an even more prosperous Chinese nation.” 

If I had to choose one song to encapsulate the commitment and achievement of the CPC in laying a rock-solid foundation for the rise of China, Without the Communist Party, There Would Be No New China undoubtedly would be the one, which best describes what China, led by the CPC, has achieved over the past 100 years — recuperating from poverty and despair. China has become a world leader on many fronts.

China’s rapid rise as a new power has increasingly earned recognition worldwide. The Democracy Perception Index, conducted by Dalia Research, is the world’s largest research project in this area. The DPI 2020 Report made a comparison of public opinion during the COVID-19 pandemic around the world, compiling data from nationally representative interviews with 124,000 respondents from 53 countries, conducted in mid-2020. The report concluded with a succinct observation, saying: “Nearly all countries say that China’s response to the COVID-19 is better than the US’s.” This is a textbook example of efficient governance for a nation; “output legitimacy” speaks volumes. 

Since the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2019, most parts of the world have struggled to contain the virus. China, on the other hand, has brought down its daily new cases to a single-digit level. Economic activities have mostly resumed and its 1.4 billion population has returned to normal daily routines. While the global GDP declined by 4.2 percent in 2020 amid a global recession, China’s GDP grew by 2.3 percent with noticeable robustness as manifested in outbound investment and international consumption indexes. It is expected that China’s economic growth will accelerate to 8.7 percent in 2021. This incredible achievement is largely attributable to the strong leadership of the CPC, which has effectively mobilized the entire nation to fight the virus and put it under effective control. 

The strong leadership of the CPC has also been seen in the central authorities’ bold action in helping to restore peace and order and improve governance in Hong Kong after it was plagued by months of unprecedented anti-government riots in 2019. The central authorities’ decision to plug the loopholes in Hong Kong’s electoral system and the enactment of the National Security Law for Hong Kong are clear indications of strong leadership that embody the readiness, determination and capability of the Party in ensuring stability and prosperity in the special administrative region. These reforms have in effect eliminated the major institutional deficiencies that undermined the full and faithful implementation of “one country, two systems” in Hong Kong.

Luo’s remarks at Saturday’s forum have drawn considerable public attention, and rightly so. Never had any other central government official so candidly expounded on, at such great length, the relation between the CPC leadership and the HKSAR. 

With Luo’s enlightening explanation, Hong Kong people must have had a clearer vision of China’s CPC-led political system and constitutional order, which emphasizes the CPC’s leadership in national development, as described by the sentence “The defining feature of socialism with Chinese characteristics is the leadership of the Communist Party of China” in the nation’s Constitution (Article 1).

Only with a correct and comprehensive understanding of the country’s political system, its constitutional order and that of Hong Kong as a special administrative region can “one country, two systems” be smoothly and faithfully implemented in the special administrative region, which will add to the advancement of Hong Kong in future. Everyone in Hong Kong should thrive to stand oneself in good stead when discharging the responsibility of actualizing this underpinning principle as well as a “high degree of autonomy” and “patriots administering Hong Kong” for the well-being of Hong Kong people as well as their compatriots on the mainland.

The author is a barrister and a part-time researcher of Shenzhen University Hong Kong and the Macao Basic Law Research Center.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.