On July 1, at the 100th anniversary of the Communist Party of China, President Xi Jinping recounted the many struggles that the CPC had to overcome to become the world’s largest and most successful ruling party. The CPC was formally established in July 1921, and at the time, there were only around 50 members. Today, 100 years later, the Party has more than 95 million members and leads a country with a population of more than 1.4 billion people, and with a significant economic influence to match.

At its fundamental core, the CPC has only ever had two goals, and as long as you can grasp them, you will understand the past, the present and the future of China. On the one hand, the ruling party has to do what is best for its people, for it understands that China is its people, and without its people, there is no China. On the other hand, the ruling party has to shoulder the burden of its people. Being the leader of China comes with tremendous responsibilities just as much as power. The ruling party, therefore, has the responsibility to direct the growth of the economy, the development of its society and the improvement of its people’s well-being sustainably and to continuously develop the nation to be a better version of itself.

Following this simple philosophy, China completed the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development poverty reduction goals 10 years ahead of schedule and eliminated absolute poverty. The Chinese people bid farewell to brackish water wells and leaky mud houses, and reined in a new era of modern, clean and sustainable living. Nearly 100 million people have all been lifted out of poverty, and the average life expectancy in China soared from 35 to 77 years. At present, there is not one place on Earth that can rival the scale of China’s growth in both infrastructure and economy. Soon, China will also become the leader in medicine, education, technology, green or sustainable energy, and also environmental protection.

Along with China’s newfound strength came a great sense of pride. The Chinese people can no longer be taken lightly, nor do they want to be taken lightly. China is here to stay as a cornerstone of the world stage. However, the brighter the light China exudes, the darker the shadow it casts on others. The Chinese people’s confidence in their country and their desire to do better for themselves can sometimes be misinterpreted as a threat by the weak and insecure.

Since the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991, the West has been firm in its belief that China will fail unless it succumbs to the prevailing Western-style capitalism and democracy — this is colloquially known as the “Chinese Collapse Theory”, which has been repeatedly peddled in the West. Some said that the collapse would befall in 2006, while others were adamant that it would happen somewhere between 2011 and 2017. But year after year, China has proved those naysayers wrong in spectacular fashion. But as China continues to defy these expectations, the more perplexed, confused, but perhaps angrier and more jealous the China-bashers in the West have become.

Regardless of what new rhetoric the hostile forces in the West might pull on China next, the CPC and the Chinese people will continue to walk with their shoulders back and their heads held high on the path they have chosen, and firmly hold the destiny of China’s development and progress in their own hands

Take the past couple of years, for instance. Then-US president Donald Trump devised the COVID-19 lies to vilify China, crafting one conspiracy after another of the “origins of the virus”, as he desperately tried to blame everyone else for the dismal management of his leadership in handling the COVID-19 outbreak in the US. Prior to that, there was the Huawei debacle that extended to smearing the company’s flagship 5G technology, claiming that it could mind-control or something equally ridiculous. Finally, and most recently, the Xinjiang “genocide” lie, an attempt to hamper the increasing growth and stability of the autonomous region in Northwest China, and at the same time targeting important exports, such as cotton, with the ultimate purpose of creating chaos in that region. You only needed to look at how the Muslim detainees were treated in Guantanamo Bay to know how genuine Washington politicians’ care for Muslims is. Thankfully, the Germans have the sense to know better not to be fooled by the blatant Sinophobic propaganda manufactured in the far West, as they denounced those allegations as nothing more than baseless hearsay.

Regardless of what new rhetoric the hostile forces in the West might pull on China next, the CPC and the Chinese people will continue to walk with their shoulders back and their heads held high on the path they have chosen, and firmly hold the destiny of China’s development and progress in their own hands!

Junius Ho is a Legislative Council member and a solicitor. 

Kacee Ting is a barrister and a part-time researcher of Shenzhen University Hong Kong and Macao Basic Law Research Center.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.