Liu Mingming and Liu Qi: The Chinese Path in the Eyes of Foreign Left-wing Scholars

Recently, how to perceive the "Chinese path" has become a hot topic of concern in international academic circles. On the one hand, arguments questioning and attacking the Chinese path are heard incessantly; on the other hand, as China’s comprehensive national strength and international status rise, there are many voices of praise within international discourse and research regarding the Chinese path. Based on substantive observations of the Chinese path, an increasing number of foreign left-wing scholars are breaking through the ideological shackles that previously confined them. They are viewing the achievements of socialism with Chinese characteristics more objectively and fairly, recognizing the contemporary value of the Chinese path, and placing their hopes in it.

Reasons for the Success of the Chinese Path

There was once a view in international circles that China was far from the core zone of the world socialist movement, yet its socialist path managed to persevere and achieve success even after the Drastic Changes in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe ^[1]. This has piqued the curiosity of foreign scholars and triggered deep reflection.

First, the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC) is the key to the success of the Chinese path. Party leadership is the most fundamental feature of socialism with Chinese characteristics and its greatest advantage. Related experts in Russia believe the CPC is the linchpin for the success of socialism with Chinese characteristics. The CPC unites progressive social forces to the greatest extent possible, playing the role of a wise coordinator, manager, and vanguard. Regarding guiding ideology, the CPC has been consistent; there is an inherent continuity across the guiding ideologies of various periods, thereby ensuring policy continuity.

Second, China adopted the correct path of socialist reform. Some scholars believe that China’s reform contains seven major measures and characteristics, including: concentrating energy on exploration and innovation; actively responding to the needs of the masses; refraining from mechanically copying the experiences of other countries; promoting incremental and orderly reform; not destroying state-owned enterprises; not abandoning macro-control; and developing an economy where multiple forms of ownership coexist. Sebastian Heilmann, a German expert on China, also believes that China did not take a precipitous route during its transition, but persisted in "piloting before promotion"—that is, validating formulated policies in small local areas before promoting them nationwide. This incremental reform is superior to "shock therapy."

Third, the Chinese path has made outstanding contributions to maintaining world peace and has won for itself an international environment and space for development. Some foreign scholars point out that to dispel the doubts of other countries, China constantly emphasizes to the outside world that it "will never develop itself at the expense of the interests of other countries." The two centenary goals ^[2] aim to create a strong and prosperous China that coexists peacefully with other external nations. Other scholars point out that the Chinese government and leaders have long been committed to a policy of peaceful development, which is deeply rooted in lasting Chinese needs and values, long-term trends of international interdependence, and growing global challenges. Many Western powers in human history embarked on a path of hegemony after growing strong, leading to their decline. However, the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics is a path of peaceful development; it does not engage in external expansion but is a solid force for maintaining world peace. Therefore, it can evade the fate that "a strong country must seek hegemony, and a hegemonic country must decline."

Exploration into the Nature of the Chinese Path

As the world's most populous major country, the Chinese path undoubtedly attracts particular attention. Due to cultural differences and divergences in the understanding of Marxism, the foreign left holds various views and engages in endless debates regarding the positioning of the Chinese path.

According to the perspective of historical materialism, the key indicator for evaluating the nature of a country’s social system is the relations of ownership. Samir Amin, the Egyptian economist and Marxist thinker, argued that Chinese land remains state property and is not allowed to be bought and sold freely, which is an important reason why China is not a capitalist country. He further argued that if China followed the capitalist road, it could not reach the level of development found in Europe, America, or Japan, because the developed Western countries at the so-called "center" of world development would never allow peripheral countries to challenge their status. Therefore, China’s way out lies in socialism and in firmly following its own socialist path.

Other related scholars believe that China’s socialist market economy is built upon a strong public sector that occupies a strategic position in the economy. The advantages of China's public-owned enterprises are reflected in: possessing economies of scale, not one-sidedly pursuing profit maximization, partially allowing employees to participate in management, and responding more rapidly to the state’s macro-control. Michael Schweickart's analysis points out that from an economic perspective, capitalism refers to a market economy where individuals privately own a large amount of the means of production and wage labor occupies a dominant position. If China’s society is measured by this standard, it is clearly not capitalist, as nearly half of the population still lives in the countryside. More importantly, although the individual economy has grown rapidly over the past few decades, state-owned enterprises still dominate core industries including banking, insurance, petroleum, telecommunications, engineering and construction, steel manufacturing, electricity, railways, and shipping, which is conducive to the long-term stable development of the Chinese economy.

The World Significance and Value of the Chinese Path

Fukuyama regarded so-called Western liberal democracy as the "end of history," but the great achievements of the Chinese path demonstrate that another path is possible.

First, the practice of the Chinese path has enriched the forms of modernization for world development and possesses important reference value for the exploration of development paths in countries under the rule of global capitalism. British scholar Martin Jacques once boldly predicted: "China will provide an alternative to the Western model, including a completely different political tradition, a post-colonial development path for developing countries, a highly sophisticated statecraft, and the Confucian tradition." Other scholars understand socialism with Chinese characteristics as a social movement alternative to capitalism and a development scheme alternative to capitalist modernity—that is, "socialism with Chinese characteristics possesses not only local significance but even more so world-historical significance." The development of the Chinese path provides the "outline" and "sketch" of a new society, as well as a referenceable social system and governance model. From the perspective of practical performance, in the process of the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, the great advantages and superiority of the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics were fully demonstrated, powerfully refuting the so-called "end of history" thesis.

Second, the Chinese path is a powerful engine for global economic development. Some scholars believe that China’s socialist market economy has become the most active organic part of the current world system. From the perspective of the global economic development landscape, the global economic center has gradually shifted toward East Asia and subsequently toward China. Meanwhile, some scholars believe that while the American-style free-market economy is being shrouded in dark clouds, the prospects for the Chinese path are even brighter. As some have argued: "The sustained growth of the Chinese economy is not an accidental or unexplainable phenomenon, but benefits more from its meticulous economic and social planning, which is where the essence of socialism lies."

The Chinese Path Represents the Hope of Socialism

In the eyes of some foreign scholars, based on the decayed logic that "a strong country must seek hegemony," China’s development is a threat. However, in the eyes of insightful people abroad, China’s development path represents the hope of the world and the opportunity for the future development of human society; they hope other countries can pay attention to or even emulate China to achieve their own development.

Specifically, some scholars believe that China harbors great hope; it is rapidly becoming the most dynamic economy in the world, and its new model of more socialized economic development shows that the government can be a powerful progressive force for reform. In China, large banks and energy companies remain subordinate to the public sector, which helps resist the anti-social greed associated with Wall Street and prevents the domestic economy from following in the footsteps of Western countries. In the eyes of neoliberals, government intervention is a shackle on further economic development, but in the eyes of insightful people, government intervention in national economic development can effectively curb the reckless behavior of capitalist free capital, and China has precisely exerted this advantage. The miracle of the Chinese economy shows that public investment under a government-led system can bring about rapid socio-economic development and allow the masses to live prosperous lives. In the view of some scholars: China must persist in following a development path with its own characteristics; public ownership of key sectors and appropriate government intervention can evade risks and accelerate economic development—these are the features and advantages of the Chinese path. Some scholars have even stated directly: "So far, the Chinese path has provided a good reference for us to better understand the crisis of Western society and the decline of capitalism, and it also helps us correct the mistakes made over the past 20 years."

Friendly personages abroad truly hope that the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics continues, thereby setting a model and example for other countries. Some scholars have said with great expectation: "The victory of socialism in China (if it can be consolidated) will mean that socialism is the best and most tangible hope for humanity in the 21st century." Although the Soviet Union was the benchmark of 20th-century socialism, in the eyes of many, the future of socialism concluded along with the lowering of the red flag from the Kremlin. However, the Chinese path preserves hope for socialism. Russian scholars believe that "against the backdrop of the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the skepticism toward the experience of building socialism, the emergence and development of the theory of socialism with Chinese characteristics provided a new alternative path for social development, representing a new socialist phenomenon in a world of economic globalization and post-industrial development." Now, China has become a model for other socialist countries to learn from and reference. Some foreign scholars point out that countries such as Vietnam and Laos have successively emulated China’s socialist development path and have performed outstandingly in poverty alleviation and economic development speed.

In short, the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics is a vivid contemporary manifestation of the theory of scientific socialism, representing a new direction for the development of socialism.