
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is planning to hold a World Political Parties Dialogue from November 30 to December 3 in Beijing. It is the first time for the CCP to hold such a high-level meeting with various parties worldwide, signalling the CCP’s ambition to have a louder voice in the international sphere.

On November 24, the International Liaison Department of the CCP held a press briefing on the upcoming meeting. The International Liaison Department is one of five departments directly under the CCP Central Committee. (The other four are the Propaganda Department, the United Front Work Department, the Organization Department, and the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.) The International Liaison Department, whose major mission is to cultivate relations with communist and non-communist parties worldwide, used to play a relatively low-profile role in the past. The upcoming meeting has allowed the Department take center stage.

Guo Yezhou, vice minister of the department, said that the theme of the meeting is “Working Together Towards A Community with A Shared Future for Humanity and A Better World: Responsibilities of Political Parties.”

As The Diplomat reported earlier, “ to build a community of shared future for mankind” is Chinese President Xi Jinping’s signature concept for China’s foreign policy. That specific slogan has been repeatedly employed by Chinese authorities at various international events.

Xi, who also holds the position of general secretary of the CCP Central Committee, will deliver a keynote speech at the meeting’s opening ceremony.

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Guo explained the reasons for the CCP to hold such a meeting: to “comprehensively introduce the spirit of the 19th Party Congress, deeply expound on Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and systematically introduce the CCP’s proposition on building a community with a shared future for mankind.”

“The CCP is open and inclusive,” Guo added. “The CCP not only introduces its experience and methods to the world, but learns from the world.”

Guo emphasized that the meeting has “meaning in the CCP’s history” as well as “ground-breaking significance in the history of world political parties.”


Although few foreign media outlets have reported about the upcoming meeting, Guo revealed that more than 200 political parties and leaders of political organizations from over 120 countries worldwide have signed up for the meeting so far.

The International Liaison Department hasn’t disclosed the list of specific attendees yet. Based on available information, Myanmar State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi seems to be the most famous figure who will attend the meeting. Suu Kyi aims to take the opportunity to strengthen bilateral relations between Myanmar and China, according to Xinhua.

In October, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi elaborated on the CCP’s ultimate goal to take its message abroad. He said:

To make new and greater contributions for mankind is our Party’s abiding mission, which highlights Chinese Communists’ historical consciousness, international vision and care for the world… This is an important distinction between the CPC and political parties of other countries, as well as an international image the CPC has fostered… the construction of a new type of international relations… is not only the historical duty that China, as a big socialist country, should undertake for the development of human society, but also the historical mission that the Chinese Communists should advance for the progress of human political civilization.

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Wang made it clear that the CCP aims to set an example to the world, proving that its unique model, different from that of those traditional Western powers, can lead humankind, too.

The upcoming high-level meeting will become one of the significant steps for the CCP to present its unique model to the world. And the other hidden agenda for the CCP is to demonstrate its success through this meeting to its own domestic audience.