China's development blends Marxism with national reality, tradition: scholars

The effective integration of Marxism with China's national conditions and traditional culture provides a framework for the country's unique development path, according to Chinese and Russian scholars.

Over a century and a half ago, Karl Marx envisioned a development path through his theory of historical materialism that countries like China would follow. Although Marx never visited China, his vision has profoundly influenced China's social evolution and still closely aligned with the country's reality today. Xin Xiangyang, president and Party deputy secretary of the Academy of Marxism of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), highlighted the foresight of the great philosopher concerning China's future path. He also emphasized the adaptation of Marx's theories to China's socio-political context and the process of its localization, which has played a crucial role in shaping the country's social development.

"Marx envisioned the development of Chinese society and its continuous progress. After Marxism was introduced to China, we did not reject it as some other regions did. In 1939, Mao Zedong stated that our national condition was a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society. We Chinese have spent a hundred years to understand this statement with the help of Marxism. The Communist Party of China has integrated the fundamental principles of Marxism with China's actual conditions and traditional culture, achieving the socialist future that Marx predicted for China's social development," said Xin.

A.V. Lomanov, a professor at the Russian Academy of Sciences, said that China has successfully integrated Marxism with its traditional culture, something the Soviet Union failed to achieve. "The Soviet Union and China both implemented the 'first combination' by adapting the basic principles of Marxism with the specific conditions of their countries. However, China has pioneered the 'second combination' (by integrating the basic principles of Marxism with its traditional culture). One weakness of the Soviet Union was the absence of this 'second combination'," said the Russian scholar.

In Xin's view, both Marxism and traditional Chinese ideals share common values, emphasizing collective well-being, social equality, and the goal of a harmonious society.

"We Chinese have the ideals of 'Great Harmony' and 'the world is for all'. For thousands of years, the Chinese have striven for 'Great Harmony', which does has a lot in common with the communism envisaged by Marx," said Xin.

China's development blends Marxism with national reality, tradition: scholars

China's development blends Marxism with national reality, tradition: scholars

China's development blends Marxism with national reality, tradition: scholars

China's development blends Marxism with national reality, tradition: scholars

Iran's UN ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani on Tuesday urged the UN secretary-general and the Security Council to condemn the United States for inciting violence and threatening to use force against his country.

In a letter addressed to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Somali UN ambassador Abukar Dahir Osman, who serves as the rotating president of the Security Council for January, Iravani accused U.S. President Donald Trump of openly inciting violence in Iran, citing Trump's post on social media platform Truth Social.

"This reckless statement explicitly encourages political destabilization, incites and invites violence, and threatens the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and national security of the Islamic Republic of Iran," Iravani said in the letter.

He also called on the UN secretary-general and the Security Council "to fulfill their Charter-based responsibilities by unequivocally condemning all forms of incitement to violence, threats to use force, and interference" in Iran's internal affairs by the United States.

Iran is also urging all UN member states to refrain from provocative and irresponsible statements or actions that violate the UN Charter, including the principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of Iran, the letter said.

In a social media post on Tuesday, Iran's mission to the UN accused the U.S. of trying to stage "regime change" in the country, using sanctions, threats, engineered unrest and chaos to manufacture a pretext for military intervention.

With U.S. officials repeatedly threatening to intervene, Chief Commander of the Iranian Army Amir Hatami has stressed that the Iranian armed forces are in a state of full readiness, warning that any miscalculation by "enemies" would trigger a decisive response.

Iran's Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh has also said that the country will respond forcefully to any attack and "defend the country with full force and until the last drop of blood."

The United States virtual embassy in Iran on Tuesday urged U.S. citizens to leave the country.

According to media reports on Wednesday, the U.S. is withdrawing some of its personnel from its military bases in the Middle East as a precaution amid heightened regional tensions.

Qatar has also confirmed that personnel are departing U.S. bases there over "regional tensions."

Meanwhile, media reports quoted anonymous sources saying that Iran has warned neighboring countries hosting U.S. forces that U.S. military bases could be targeted if the U.S. intervenes in the ongoing unrests.

Iran calls on UN chief, Security Council to condemn U.S. for inciting violence