The Communist Party of China's long-term governance rests on its commitment to putting people first, strong institutional discipline, and a remarkable capacity for self-renewal, American political scientist Josef Gregory Mahoney told South on June 30, ahead of the Party's 105th anniversary.
Mahoney, a professor of politics and international relations at East China Normal University, said China's CPC-led development has also broadened the global conversation on modernization by offering developing countries an alternative way to think about nation-building, development, and international cooperation.
He identified a series of milestones as among the CPC's most significant achievements in leading China's national rejuvenation, including restoring national sovereignty and security, lifting over 800 million people out of poverty, eradicating extreme poverty, and transforming China into an upper-middle-income country while continuing to advance modernization.
Discipline, restraint, and the capacity to adapt
Asked what has sustained the CPC's nearly 77 years in power, Mahoney highlighted several enduring characteristics that have defined the Party since its founding in 1921: putting people first, remaining committed to principles, strengthening discipline, and adapting continuously to changing circumstances.
He argued that discipline has evolved alongside the Party itself. "As a Marxist party, it is always built on a certain model of discipline, but through time, it had to learn new models of discipline in order to discipline itself."
According to Mahoney, institutional reforms in the new era, including stronger anti-corruption mechanisms and sustained improvements in Party building, show how the CPC has strengthened its governing capacity through self-discipline.
He also emphasized what he called the Party's "exercise of restraint." "As China has become a powerful nation, it has restrained itself from acting as other powerful nations have done. It has been disciplined in its international relations," he said.
For Mahoney, adaptability is another defining feature of the CPC.
He said the Party has repeatedly demonstrated an ability to reform itself, respond to new domestic and international realities, and evolve alongside China's changing development needs without abandoning its long-term goals.
Chinese modernization and its significance for the Global South
Mahoney said Chinese modernization represents a distinct development path shaped by China's own history and national conditions.
Among its defining characteristics, he highlighted modernization on an unprecedented scale, long-term national planning combined with market competition, gradual policy experimentation, strategic industrial policy, and sustained infrastructure investment.
Unlike the historical experience of many Western countries, he said, China's modernization has not relied on imperial expansion, colonial extraction, or overseas conquest.
Instead, Mahoney said China has helped shape concepts such as pursuing win-win cooperation and building a community with a shared future for humanity, while placing growing emphasis on green transformation and sustainable growth.
For countries across the Global South, Mahoney believes the most important lesson is not to copy China's path, but to recognize that modernization can take different forms.
"You don't have to stay stuck in failed development paradigms or emulate bad paradigms. You can move forward in different ways," he said.
He said China's experience has given many developing countries greater confidence that modernization does not require following a Western template and that development strategies should be rooted in each country's own history, culture, and priorities.
China's role in international relations and global governance
Mahoney rejected the view that China seeks to overturn the existing international order, arguing instead that it supports reform within the framework of multilateralism and the United Nations.
"China is not challenging the international order, but resisting international disorder," he noted.
He said China has increasingly promoted global governance based on extensive consultation, joint contribution, and shared benefits, while emphasizing respect for national sovereignty and mutually beneficial cooperation.
Mahoney pointed to initiatives such as the Belt and Road Initiative, the Global Development Initiative (GDI), and the Global Security Initiative as examples of what he described as an action-oriented approach to providing global public goods, particularly in infrastructure, poverty reduction, and peacekeeping.
Taking the GDI as an example, China has expanded its Global Development and South-South Cooperation Fund to 4 billion US dollars, according to the China International Development Cooperation Agency. The initiative has mobilized more than 23 billion US dollars to support development across the Global South and launched more than 1,800 cooperation projects.
Unlike what he sees as the practice of attaching political conditions to development assistance, Mahoney argued that China's approach places greater emphasis on helping countries build the material foundations for development while addressing shared challenges such as climate change and public health through multilateral cooperation, with the aim of delivering benefits to the broader international community.
"There's not going to be a precondition, such as value requirements imposed by the G7 countries. Instead, China's approach is to move forward in a reasonable and productive way, and positive things will follow," he said.
Reporter & author | Liu Xiaodi
Video editor | Pan Jiajun
Video script | Liu Xiaodi
Cameraman | Liu Xiaodi
Cover designer | Lai Meiya (feature), Pan Jiajun (video)
Fu Rong (intern) also contributed to the story.
