Foreign Perspective

Party official explains international stance

By Zhao Lei (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-08-17 07:47

BEIJING - The International Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee (IDCPC), which has traditionally kept a low profile and once had a reputation for shielding itself from the outside world under a cloak of mystery, continually explores ways of becoming more transparent, a senior Party diplomat said.

"A lot of foreign media as well as ordinary people have held a curious, possibly even biased, view of the CPC's inter-party diplomacy and the activities of my department," Li Jun, spokesman of the IDCPC, told China Daily in an exclusive interview.

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Some foreign journalists with knowledge of Chinese characters once asked Li if he had a military background, because they found the Chinese character Jun (which means army in Chinese) in his name.

"I explained that I have no such background and no connection with the People's Liberation Army, as they assumed," he said.

While this incident was telling, it reflected a certain lack of knowledge of Chinese society and its culture, Li said.

"My job requires me to shoulder heavy responsibilities. I must introduce the CPC's external policies and its theory of governance to the outside world objectively and comprehensively in a manner that can be easily understood by people in other countries."

Along with its efforts to communicate on an international level, the IDCPC also makes efforts to publicize its duties and achievements to people in the country.

A handful of senior Party members once called the department and questioned why the CPC had conducted exchanges with members of capitalist political parties.

"We responded by patiently explaining the Party's external policies and the necessities of maintaining communication with foreign political organizations," Li said, pledging that the department would endeavor to further increase its transparency to people on the mainland.

The CPC maintains close contact with its communist counterparts in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), the Republic of Cuba, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the Lao People's Democratic Republic, Li said.

"While they are all communist parties and have many common ideological and political denominators, each of the four countries faces different situations, which requires diverse communication on our part," Li said.

"Like our Party, our counterparts in Vietnam and Laos have also been undertaking economic reform, so our exchanges primarily focus on how we, as parties, can effectively promote economic development."

Commenting on the CPC's relations with the DPRK's ruling Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), Li said that the WPK has closely watched the CPC's efforts to promote economic development and that the two parties often exchange views on the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula.

"We also found the Communist Party of Cuba's accomplishment praiseworthy for its creation of an uncorrupted government, so the CPC has also been inspired by its useful exchanges with this party," he said.

Responding to a rhetorically sensitive question on how the CPC views its historical support of its communist counterparts in Southeast Asia and nationalist revolutionaries in Africa in their armed struggles against their oppressors, Li said: "The CPC provided some assistance to the righteous cause of national liberation against colonialism in Africa and received respect and support from the local people in return.

"In most cases, the CPC has contributed to the progress of mankind," he said.

"However, it is an imperfect world," he continued. "After the 'cultural revolution' (1966-76), the CPC gradually adjusted its external policies to improve communication by following the four principles of inter-party relations: independence, complete equality, mutual respect and noninterference in each other's internal affairs."

Gao Zugui, director of the institute of world political studies under the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said: "The CPC is fulfilling its commitment to advance with the times and to pursue transparency in the Party's international activities, which will lead to better reciprocal relations between China and other countries."

Gao also applauded the CPC's courage to reflect and comment on sensitive episodes in the Party's history, particularly in regard to Li's remarks on supporting foreign communists and nationalists.

"The CPC has made great strides in reviewing its history. The fact that it has not evaded looking at imperfections in its performance shows that it has becoming increasingly confident as a ruling party," he added.