“We believe that socialism is superior to capitalism. This superiority should be demonstrated in that socialism provides more favourable conditions for expanding the productive forces than capitalism does.” These words by Deng Xiaoping were quoted by Keith Bennett in his address to a Round Table organised by China’s Embassy in London to brief China’s friends on the outcome of China’s annual representative and consultative “Two Sessions”.

Speaking on behalf of Friends of Socialist China, Keith Bennett addressed a symposium hosted by the Chinese Embassy in London on 19n March 2026 for Ambassador Zheng Zeguang to brief on the recently concluded annual ‘Two Sessions’ – of the National People’s Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) – held in Beijing, which he had attended as a CPPCC member, and to exchange views in this regard with British friends from various walks of life.

In his contribution to the symposium, Keith Bennett quoted a statement on the webiste of the British Prime Minister’s website which declares: “Economic growth is the number one mission of the government. Growth will fund our public services, enable investment in our hospitals and schools, and, most importantly, raise living standards for everyone.”

He went on to compare the comparative achievements on Britain and China in this respect as follows:

“What we can see from the calm and measured confidence represented by China’s Two Sessions on the one hand, and our flailing and stumbling from one crisis to another on the other hand, is the veracity and farsightedness of these two observations by Deng Xiaoping, the first from November 1979 and the second from June 1984.

“We believe that socialism is superior to capitalism. This superiority should be demonstrated in that socialism provides more favourable conditions for expanding the productive forces than capitalism does.”

“The fundamental task for the socialist stage is to develop the productive forces. The superiority of the socialist system is demonstrated, in the final analysis, by faster and greater development of those forces than under the capitalist system.”

The full text of Keith Bennett’s contribution is available here.

For a full report on the Seminar issued by the Embassy is also available on the website of Friends of Socialist China here.