The International Conference on Practicing True Multilateralism and Improving Global Governance System was called by the Xi Jinping Thought on Diplomacy Studies Centre and China Institute of International Studies (CIIS), and was held in Beijing on 11 November 2024.

The conference was held on the occasion of the release of the Report on the True Multilateralism: Conceptual Development, Core Essence and China’s Practice and International Conference on Practicing True Multilateralism and Improving Global Governance System.

Participants in the Conference included diplomatic representatives to China, representatives from international organizations and relevant experts from China and abroad, including the Ambassador of Chile to China; the Head of the Arab States’ China representative office; the Deputy Secretary General, Shanghai Cooperation Organisation; the Chairman of the Economic, Social and Cultural Council of Cambodia; the China-Arab Research Center on Reform and Development, Shanghai International Studies University, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

The conference was opened by Chen Bo, Secretary General, Xi Jinping Thought on Diplomacy Studies Centre and President, China Institute of International Studies (CIIS), who delivered a briefing on the report, and was also addressed by Miao Deyu, Assistant Minister, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China.

Keith Bennett was a panelist on the session on True Multilateralism and Reform of Global Governance System, and delivered his speech on behalf of the Xi Jinping Thought Study Group of the Institute for Independence Studies.

All friends and supporters of the Institute are warmly encouraged to study this significant speech, which concludes that “it is the Global South, with China in the forefront, that is the key driver towards true multilateralism and the reform of global governance. The  programmatic basis for this key challenge facing humanity at present is at the heart of Xi Jinping Thought on Diplomacy.”

Full text of the speech.

Sovereignty, independence and new international relations – key demands of our times

Speech to the Seminar on the occasion of the 76th Anniversary of the Foundation of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea organized by the European Regional Society for the Study of the Juche Idea, the International Institute of the Juche Idea and the Korean Association of Social Scientists, and hosted by Bulgarian friends of Korea. Sofia, 9 September 2024.

Full text of the speech.

Some main points in the speech:

In the course of this speech, Keith Bennett presents a wide-ranging review of the progress of history in our times, showing that it fully confirms the profound analysis of our era made by Comrade Kim Il Sung.

The speech notes that countries such as Korea, China, Vietnam, Laos, Cuba and Venezuela have made the revolution and embarked on a socialist road imbued with their own national characteristics and sentiments. These countries also stand in the vanguard of the elaboration of a new type of international relations which has socialism at the core.

The speech addresses the current stage of the world peoples’ struggles for Sovereignty, independence and new international relations, noting that the Non-Aligned Movement and the Group of 77 Plus China, ASEAN in south east Asia, the League of Arab States, the African Union, the Caribbean Community, CELAC, UNASUR and ALBA in Latin America, and many others, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the BRICS cooperation mechanism, now expanded to BRICS Plus, with nine members at present and around 40 other countries having expressed varying degrees of interest in joining, have China and Russia at their heart, and all these regional or global bodies enable the people of the world to engage in dialogue and address the key issues facing humanity, without the meddling and interference of US-led imperialism.

The speech addresses the events surrounding the Russian Federation’s Special Military Operation to demilitarize and denazify the puppet regime in Ukraine, noting that, very nearly unanimously, the countries of the Global South, having learned bitter lessons from imperialism’s wars of aggression in the former Yugoslavia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya, Lebanon, Yemen, Somalia and elsewhere over recent decades, rejected and refused the anti-Russian policy of sanctions. Indeed, Russia’s standing in the Global South has reached and even surpassed the prestige it enjoyed in the days of the Soviet Union.

The speech notes the increasing isolation of the United States resulting from its blatant hypocrisy and double standards regarding the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people, as seen in repeated votes in the United Nations, as well as in the recent recognition of the State of Palestine by such countries as Spain, Norway, Ireland and Slovenia.

The speech cites the standpoint of President Kim Il Sung calling on all those opposed to imperialism to unite; those who are less firm or vacillate in the struggle should be induced to become more positive in their standpoint, so that all anti-imperialist forces, whatever the level of their determination, can be united in the strongest possible anti-US united front. This remains, concludes the speech, a key, and completely correct, guideline for the struggle for sovereignty, independence and new international relations today, shining a light illuminating the path that humanity must follow towards a free and independent new world.

Text of the Speech.

A delegation of the Academy of Marxism of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, led by its President, Professor Xin Xiangyang, visited London on 29 August to September 2024. In the course of this visit, a meeting was held between the delegation and the Secretary of the Institute’s Xi Jinping Study Group, Hugh Goodacre. The meeting was arranged and facilitated by the delegation’s organiser, Dr Li Zixu.

In the course of this meeting, Professor Xin stressed the need for  Xi Jinping Thought to be studied in a systematic manner, focusing on its fundamental underlying principles. For President Xi’s writings comprise around 20 million words of published material, and cover an extremely wide range of issues, including economics, diplomacy and cultural affairs, to name just a few. Without this initial focus on the fundamental principles underlying these writings, it will be difficult to move on to address the wide-ranging theoretical, practical and empirical aspects of his thought. Undertaking this task is therefore a pivotal issue, on which Chinese and international scholars can work together in the interest of furthering mutual understanding.

In the course of his talk, Professor Xin drew attention to the fact that the past month had the 120th anniversary of the birth of Deng Xiaoping on 22 August 1904, and that the study of Deng Xiaoping Thought is likewise fundamental in addressing the theoretical and practical issues faced by the building of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics.

In response, Hugh Goodacre warmly thanked Professor Xin and his delegation for devoting some of their valuable time in the course of the busy schedule of their short visit for this discussion of the Institute and its  Xi Jinping Thought Study Group.

He explained that the Institute for Independence Studies, whose Patron is Keith Bennett, exists to promote research and study of ideologies of social and national emancipation and their application to conditions within imperialist society. It holds that it is the socialist countries which constitute the collective leadership of the international working class and progressive movements of the world, and Xi Jinping Thought is, in terms of scale and impact on global affairs, the most influential ideology emanating from within those countries today.

He further explained that the Study Group’s work aims to establish three interlinked points:

First, Xi Jinping Thought, the guiding ideology of socialism with Chinese characteristics, epitomises the outstanding features of socialism in the world today.

Secondly, Xi Jinping Thought is deeply grounded in the scientific socialist tradition, standing in direct continuity with the work of its founders, and is indeed the Marxism of today.

Thirdly, Xi Jinping Thought provides the basis for substantial steps forward in our work in this country to forge a socialist ideology and political line on the basis of which to build a socialist movement in this, the oldest imperialist country.

Further contributions to the discussion were made by other members of the visiting delegation:

Professor Yu Bin, an internationally-published author and researcher at the Academy of Marxism, called for joint study to further channel method and fundamental principles of Marx’s Capital into discussion of the theoretical and practical issues confronted by Marxists today.

Professor Wang Xuedong, an Associate Researcher at the Academy of Marxism, strongly urged continuing contact and exchange of information on specific currents of scholarship where cooperation could be developed between scholars in our two countries.

In the light of all these discussions, the meeting discussed plans for further collaboration between the Academy and the Institute’s Study Group in the coming period.

*   *   *   *   * 

Other events took place in the course of the delegation’s visit.

On Saturday 30 August, meetings and discussions took place with historians of Marxist thought based at universities in England. The emphasis was on the life and activities of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.

On Sunday 31 August, a Seminar took place, convened by the International Manifesto Group and Friends of Socialist China. It was hosted at the London School of Economics by Professor Radhika Desai, and chaired by Keith Bennett. A keynote address was delivered by Delegation leader Professor Xin Xiang, in which he issued a powerful call for urgent work to be undertaken on the theoretical front to address the wide-ranging practical issues of the day, as illustrated by the Communiqué of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China adopted on 18 July 2024. The Institute aims to produce a report on this important Seminar, in consultation with its organisers and participants.

PAGE IN PREPARATION

Text of Keith Bennett’s speech

Photos: 

Explore our photo galleries: General photos of the event and the location Participants in the celebration

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Celebrating Keith Bennett’s birthday has grown from being a small gathering of comrades and friends into becoming a major date on the anti-imperialist and progressive calendar.

Since the beginning of his political activities over half a century ago, Keith has steadily become increasingly recognised and respected for the practical steps he has been taking to build links between progressive forces in this country and the international forces for progress headed by the socialist and independent-minded countries.

This year’s holding of the event in the newly-opened Palestine House signalised the fact that solidarity with Palestine is at the centre of the tasks of progressive people in this country, all the more urgent at this particular time when the hundreds of thousands who, month after month, have been marching in solidarity with Palestine constitute a foremost element of our line of defence against the increasing threat of racism and fascism in this country.

Concluding his speech welcoming his guests, Keith quoted the words of Che Guevara: “If you tremble with indignation at every injustice then you are a comrade of mine.” The event did indeed unite every one of his 80 guests in this spirit of comradeship and determination to face the challenges that lie ahead.

Text of Keith Bennett’s speech