The International Communist Movement Department Holds Exchange Meeting for Studying "Xi Jinping: The Governance of China" (Volume IV)
On September 29, 2022, the Department of the International Communist Movement organized a seminar to study and exchange views on the fourth volume of Xi Jinping: The Governance of China. The meeting was chaired by Professor Pan Jine, Director of the Department of the International Communist Movement. Scholars from the Research Office of Contemporary Capitalism, including Professor Liu Haixia, Professor Tan Xiaojun, and Associate Professor Li Kaixuan, delivered successive presentations. Participating scholars from the department engaged in a heated and harmonious discussion, yielding significant insights.
Professor Liu Haixia focused her presentation on General Secretary Xi Jinping’s speeches: "Building a Powerful Public Health System," "Expanding New Horizons for Social Development Through Joint Contribution, Co-governance, and Shared Benefits," and "Promoting the High-quality and Sustainable Development of China's Social Security Undertakings." She shared her analysis and perspectives on the achievements and existing challenges in China’s public health system and social security sector. In the historical process of achieving the "Two Centenary Goals" [1], the development of health and hygiene has always occupied a foundational position, closely aligning with the overall national strategy and playing a vital supporting role. The struggle against the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated that China’s systems for public health services, medical services, medical security, drug supply, and major epidemic prevention and emergency management are, on the whole, effective.
Drawing on the collective research findings of the Research Office of Contemporary Capitalism—The COVID-19 Pandemic: A Prism into the Defects of Neoliberalism—Professor Liu pointed out that the public health systems of many Western countries pushed toward collapse under the impact of the pandemic. This was primarily because neoliberalism, as the mainstream ideology of international monopoly capitalism, has long implemented the principles of "small government" and "large markets." By exalting the supremacy of profit and supporting financial capital in the exploitation of the working class, it caused the West’s ineffective epidemic response, the decline of public health systems, the intensification of inequality, and crises of government governance. At present, China’s social structure is undergoing profound changes; the internet has deeply altered human interaction, social concepts, social psychology, and social behavior. This places higher demands on perfecting a social security system that is comprehensive and sustainable, strengthening the public health and disease control systems, and promoting long-term balanced population development.
Professor Tan Xiaojun noted that the COVID-19 pandemic since 2020 served as a comprehensive and thorough test of public health system construction in countries worldwide. The sharp contrast over the past three years between "governance in China" and "chaos in the West" [2] proves once again that China’s public health system construction has made significant progress. Japan is a developed capitalist country, yet it consistently failed to effectively control the epidemic, having experienced seven waves of infection. General Secretary Xi Jinping discussed eight specific issues regarding China’s public health system, which are highly instructive for further improving the efficiency of the national system and responding to major epidemics. Of particular note are the assertions that "a treatment system led by the government, guided by public welfare, and centered on public hospitals is an important guarantee for responding to major epidemics" and the need to "leverage the role of Traditional Chinese Medicine in the prevention and treatment of major infectious diseases." Consequently, Professor Tan pointed out that the key to our Party’s ability to lead China toward continuous success lies in its capacity to summarize experiences objectively, dialectically, and by seeking truth from facts—affirming achievements, correcting errors, and promptly rectifying deficiencies.
Associate Professor Li Kaixuan, referencing the speech "Promoting the High-quality and Sustainable Development of China's Social Security Undertakings," provided a concise introduction to the construction achievements and challenges facing China’s social security sector and analyzed the content, major institutional types, and reform trends of Western European social security systems. Social security is a fundamental institutional guarantee for protecting and improving people’s livelihoods, maintaining social fairness, and enhancing the people’s well-being. It is a vital institutional arrangement for promoting economic and social development and ensuring the masses share in the fruits of reform and development. It functions as a safety net for livelihoods, a regulator of income distribution, and a shock absorber for economic operations—it is a major issue for the governance and stability of the state. China has basically completed a fully functional social security system with social insurance as the mainstay, supplemented by social assistance, social welfare, and special care for veterans and their families. Basic medical insurance covers 1.36 billion people and basic pension insurance covers nearly 1 billion people, making it the largest social security system in the world.
While fully affirming these achievements, one must also recognize that as the principal contradiction [3] in Chinese society evolves and as urbanization, population aging, and the diversification of employment accelerate, deficiencies remain in the system. As General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out, over the next five to fifteen years, our country must increase redistribution efforts, strengthen mutual aid functions, and incorporate more people into the social security system.
On this basis, Associate Professor Li Kaixuan provided a concise analysis of the Western European social security system, which mainly includes medical, industrial injury, pension, and unemployment insurance. With the intensification of population aging, some countries have begun establishing long-term care insurance. So-called "welfare capitalism" in Western Europe is generally divided into the conservative-corporatist model, the liberal model, and the social-democratic model based on performance differences. Since the late 1990s, the European Union has adopted the concept of "social investment," driving a convergence of various "welfare state" models toward the "competition state."
Participating scholars engaged in a lively discussion centered on the three presentations, covering the improvement of China’s social security system under the "changes unseen in a century" [4], the "immiseration" [5] of capitalist society, and the development levels of social security in Latin American countries. Professor Pan Jine, Director of the Department of the International Communist Movement, fully affirmed the reports, noting that the three speakers presented from the perspectives of fundamental theory, domestic developments, and international systems, providing vivid, rich, and highly illuminating content.