Expert: CPC's governance style key to its own growth

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The Communist Party of China (CPC) has spearheaded the country's development as a major power and the world's second-largest economy. During an interview with CGTN, one expert said that even though the Party is navigating some difficult days, it will emerge stronger. He said the lessons it has learned can provide great insight to other countries as well.

Yu Wenli, deputy director at the School of Marxism Studies of Peking University and a leading expert on the CPC, also cautioned that unprecedented growth can be accompanied by unprecedented worries.

Yu Wenli. /Peking University file photo

"Whenever a new power rises in the world order, existing superpowers will try to contain and hold it down. The trade friction with the US these days manifests this. We call it the Thucydides' Trap," Yu said.

Besides external challenges, Yu cited a "middle-income trap" where growth stagnates, and a "Tacitus Trap" where a government's credibility is under attack, as major challenges the Party faces today.

But Yu also said the CPC already has its own way of dealing with challenges, so things are in good hands.

"For both external and internal issues, CPC has a governance style that champions incremental, progressive solutions. It champions a way of moderation which allows both trial and error, as well as continuity."

He said this governance style as well as CPC's "people-centered approach" is the key to understanding China's feats.

Since its foundation, the CPC has helped nearly one-fifth of the world's population to better lives. It's done well in economic growth, social stability and poverty alleviation. These are also things other ruling parties are watching out for.

The CPC also shared its growth lessons with other political parties. A session on the growth tactics from four decades of opening-up and reform was held at the end of May in Shenzhen, a pilot zone for reform whose GDP has grown some 10,000 times since its launch.

"CPC has always made it clear that all should work for economic development, that's always the focus," Yu said. "At the same time, every step is taken with the people's interest in mind."

He said these CPC tactics are the tested and true way of making growth constant in a volatile world.