On 23 July, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) celebrated the 105th anniversary of its foundation in Shanghai in 1921. It is the oldest party to have ruled continuously since 1949, alongside its counterparts in North Korea, Cuba, Vietnam, and Laos. Led today by Xi Jinping, the third head of state in the last 33 years, the Chinese Communists reaffirmed the nature of their political system at the 2017 Party Congress. Titled 'Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era,' it outlined the central guidelines and challenges facing the country amid an uncertain regional and global environment resulting from geopolitical instability and the rapid development of artificial intelligence.

China can today be defined as a rapidly developing socialist country where the CCP directs key areas of domestic policy, the economy, defense, science, and foreign policy through its one-party political system. Beijing has begun to play an increasingly significant role in United Nations agencies by making its presence felt through its statements, rather than by intervening directly in armed conflicts. China is the second-largest financial contributor to the United Nations, providing 20% of the budget behind the United States at 22%.

'Socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era' is rooted in the cultural and historical aspects of a society that was closed off from the outside world in past centuries — a society that experienced both greatness and defeat, as well as invasion and humiliation at the hands of the worst of European and Japanese colonialism, leaving deep scars on Chinese society. The long march that began with Mao Zedong's revolutionary triumph in 1949—and the start of his dictatorship—must also be considered, as well as the economic mistakes and great hardships of the Cultural Revolution, to understand how the country has evolved.

China has learned from all this, developing a distinctive model of growth; the ‘new era’ is probably related to China’s growing global role and the increasingly imminent strategic objective of reintegrating Taiwan while ensuring its security remains a top priority. This also includes its vision of a rules-based international order and cooperation among states; its relations with major powers—without neglecting medium-sized and regional powers; and the establishment of alliances, as well as opening up and promoting trade.

The CCP has around 100 million members, just over a third of whom are women. The CCP centrally governs the country through the executive branch and the National People’s Congress, which comprises 3,000 deputies and acts as the legislative body. The market regulates the economy, enabling the country to realize its full potential and facilitating its leap into modernity under the formula:

Party + Market

where education and technological innovation have been key to improving productivity and maintaining high rates of economic growth. This has transformed China into a progressive society, in which the CCP formulates plans spanning 50 years or more, leveraging the planning and stability afforded by a one-party system.

While China had a rural population of 63.8% according to World Bank indicators in the year 2000, by last year that figure had fallen to 33%. The growth of cities, coupled with job creation, has made it possible to replace the more than 500 million bicycles in existence at the end of the last century with more than 350 million cars today. Likewise, the construction of large-scale housing serves as a powerful indicator of the shift from a semi-feudal society at the time of the revolution’s triumph to a society that has now crossed all thresholds and is challenging the hegemony of US conglomerates in the field of artificial intelligence.

Territorial and systemic security is based on defense, nuclear power, and high-caliber armed forces to confront threats and maintain China's claim to Taiwan, which it considers inalienable. Last year, China invested 1.7% of its GDP in defense, nearly half of the 3.2% spent by the United States.

With an area of 9.5 million square kilometers and a population of 1.4 billion, the People’s Republic of China is the second-strongest economy on the planet. In 2025, its GDP reached $19.5 trillion, and its nominal per capita income was almost $14,000. According to World Bank figures, between 2000 and 2025, its economy grew at an average annual rate of 8.1%. Depending on the indicators used, poverty in China is low. Notably, in 1992—the year Deng Xiaoping introduced the socialist market economy—750 million people were living in poverty. Using the international threshold of $3 per day to measure extreme poverty, such poverty does not currently exist in China. Using a higher threshold of $8.30 per day, however, would put 15.2% of the population below the poverty line in 2024.

The World Bank's latest income distribution measurement, the Gini index, conducted in 2022, characterizes China's income distribution as moderate, with a score of 35.7 on a scale of 1 to 100. The World Bank notes that the broad middle class now accounts for nearly 60% of the population—that is, around 800 million people—with an average annual income of between $16,500 and $41,000 for a family of three.

In 1970, President Salvador Allende of Chile declared that the Chilean revolution would have 'the flavor of empanadas and red wine' to indicate that it would not follow any existing socialist models. Similarly, Xi Jinping has indicated that China will continue along its own path, characterized by the leadership of a party that does not seek to Westernize the country but rather to maintain goal-oriented planning using market mechanisms, advancing towards development in accordance with its history, culture, and traditions. In other words, 'socialism with a taste of wontons'—a traditional dish eaten throughout China for millennia.

This path has provided a better way of life for millions, but there is no room for a multiparty political system or the freedom of the press as known in open societies. This is the classic dictatorship of the proletariat with its own form of party reproduction, which is entirely alien to the democratic tradition deeply rooted in the Western world, born of Greece and Rome, and which is entirely unknown in China's history of mandarins and feudal lords. This history is strongly marked by the centralization and hierarchy of Confucian principles. Democracy is not on the CCP’s horizon, and its significance in the social imagination is unclear. Maintaining the unity of a country of 1.4 billion people with diverse regional traditions, ethnic groups, languages, and religions is no easy task.

The West seeks to confront China on issues of democracy and human rights. Clearly, these are different political systems, with vastly distinct levels of individual freedom and access to information. The development of artificial intelligence enables ever greater control over people, providing security but simultaneously generating mistrust regarding privacy due to the discretion with which political authorities can use it.

The top leadership insists that the economic and social development it seeks for its people will be gradual and tailored to China’s history and development. This 'new era' has seen an uncompromising focus placed on fighting corruption among both public and private figures. Since Xi Jinping took office in 2012, 6.2 million disciplinary sanctions have been imposed, although there are no official figures on judicial convictions. Nevertheless, members of the Politburo, ministers and senior public and private sector officials have been brought down; high-ranking military officers have been sentenced to death or life imprisonment, with their assets being confiscated.

The 'new era' appears to derive its legitimacy from rooting out deeply entrenched corrupt practices, raising the standard of living for its people, strengthening its defense capabilities and improving income distribution. Today, China is competing with the United States for global hegemony, particularly in the race to develop artificial intelligence, which we are currently witnessing alongside the reshaping of the international order. The Chinese government cannot remain passive for much longer and will have to take a firm stance, particularly regarding issues that affect its security or that of the Asia-Pacific region.

The Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, which were proclaimed by China in 1954, have guided its foreign policy. Beijing has never instigated coups in other countries, started wars, or undermined the sovereignty of other nations or their right to self-determination. It has never sought to export its socialist model nor undermined other countries in an attempt to impose it. China's main tool has been the use of soft power, as demonstrated by geopolitical initiatives such as the Belt and Road Initiative, launched in 2013 to improve trade and logistics connectivity. This has been achieved through large-scale investment in strategic infrastructure, bringing China closer to hubs in Africa, Europe, and the Middle East.

This investment totals nearly $1.4 trillion and comprises both construction projects and direct investments. China has continued to rely on soft power, opening its first Confucius Institute in South Korea in 2004. It now operates 510 such institutes in 164 countries across all continents, promoting the teaching of the Chinese language and culture. While the United States maintains between 750 and 800 military bases worldwide, China has only one in Djibouti and a few port facilities for its fleet in other countries.

The United States and other Western countries are concerned about China. They question the lack of democracy, freedom of the press, multiparty politics, and competitive elections. While justified, their concern primarily stems from China’s economic, scientific, space, and military development. The United States senses a contest for hegemony closing in, even though the two countries are still very different in terms of economic size.

There are many variables to consider, and it seems unlikely that China will catch up with the United States within the next 10 years. We also do not know how Chinese society will evolve with regard to its political system, but history has shown us that they are in no hurry to achieve their goals. They reclaimed Hong Kong and Macau through patience and subtle, high-level diplomacy.

Today, large segments of China's population are better educated, more internationally oriented, and increasingly urbanized—a population that may seek greater political participation. The great challenge for the CCP is to maintain its legitimacy while leading a country of 1.4 billion people, and to do so, it must ensure continued improvement in the distribution of wealth, continue to combat corruption, and keep advancing in the scientific and technological development that will define the future.