Experts call for more complete understanding of China

China's peaceful rise, its contribution to the Global South, and its vision of a shared future for humanity deserve to be better understood and promoted in the West, experts and activists said at the third annual Socialist China Conference in London on the weekend.

Organized by the Friends of Socialist China platform, the gathering brought together speakers from left-wing and anti-war groups in the United Kingdom and Europe, as well as representatives from embassies and academia.

Experts attending the event recalled the journey of Chinese modernization and agreed that, no matter how far China develops, the nation will continue to provide the world with development opportunities, safeguard world peace, and contribute to improving global governance.

Acknowledging the difficulties in telling the true story of China in the West, they highlighted the importance of perseverance, calling for persistent and unremitting efforts in that regard.

Carlos Martinez, co-founder of the Friends of Socialist China, said: "China is blazing a trail of modernization from outside the framework of imperialism, and China's progress is proof that socialism with Chinese characteristics is an entirely viable and highly successful model."

The conference featured three panels. During a discussion on artificial intelligence and technology, speakers compared China's approach to AI, which they said puts people at the center and promotes industrial development and open-source collaboration, with that of the United States, which they described as more closed and aimed at advancing US interests and dominance.

During the panel discussion on a multipolar world, scholars and activists from Latin America and Africa argued that China's foreign policy and infrastructure projects bring long-term benefits to their regions. They also praised China's global initiatives for emphasizing sovereign equality and multilateralism, in contrast to the rising trend of unilateralism in the US and protectionism in the West.

Resisting a new Cold War was the focus of the third panel discussion, where anti-war campaigners warned about the expansion of military alliances, including AUKUS and NATO, and stressed the need to move beyond ideological differences and to oppose imperialists' military expansion and their drive toward war.

The book China's Foreign Policy and the Making of a Multipolar World: Changes Unseen in a Century, which was edited by Keith Bennett and Carlos Martinez, co-founders of Friends of Socialist China, was also launched at the conference.

Bennett spoke about public opinion and noted that, with the US and Israel involved in conflicts in Iran and Gaza, a new generation of people has become involved in anti-war politics.

"We hope our book can reach them in explaining the theoretical underpinnings of Chinese foreign policy. We have aimed to highlight continuity amidst change and development," he said.

More than 120 people attended the conference, which was supported by the Morning Star, the Communist Party of Britain, the Workers Party of Britain, the Communist Party of Ireland, Caribbean Labour Solidarity, No Cold War Britain, the International Manifesto Group, the Black Liberation Alliance and others.