The CPC stands for the Communist Party of China, no doubt.  

But I would like to argue that these three letters have different meanings across China's history since the party's establishment in 1921.  

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC). Though I am not a member of this party, my exposure to it for the first 30 years inside China and my observations of it for the second 30 years outside China convince me that like no other around the world, this party is one of constant evolution and adaptation, growth and enhancement.  

It started as a boat party of seven members when it had its first meeting in secrecy in a rugged boat on a lake in the City of Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province, China, in 1921. Today, it boasts more than 90 million members, more than 10000 folds' increase of its membership size during the past 100 years with more than an annual average increase of 100 folds.  

From the party's founding up until the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1, 1949, it was known as a party of revolution. It had busted the so-called "three mountains of exploitation and oppression"-imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucratic capitalism for Chinese people.  
From 1949 up until 1979, it was a party of construction (Communist Party of Construction, also CPC for short) in that it had successfully led the Chinese people in the nation-wide construction of modern infrastructure projects such as roads and railways, reservoirs and rice fields as well as factories of heavy industry for civic use and modern defense infrastructure such as nuclear weapons.  

As a middle school and high school student myself in the early 1970s, I personally participated in the construction of one of the local roads in my hometown in Southern Shaanxi as an after-school assignment.

From 1979 till 2013, the Party first acted as an anxious and cautious champion for reform and opening with two steps forward and one step backward, and then acted as an astute visionary and a bold action taker in the U.S.-led globalization. China's smooth entry into WTO, the successful hosting of the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008 and the World Expo in Shanghai in 2010 were celebrations of both China's achievements of reform and opening and signs of worldwide recognitions.  

For a while, however, the Party was plagued by corruption. With the central government's decisive measures since 2013, it has turned into a party of conscience. With Xi's steering of its wheel, the Party has been becoming a party of both Chinese people and Chinese civilization.
The 14th Five-Year Plan with a Prospect for 2035 drafted and proposed by the Party and ratified by both the National People's Congress (NPC) of China and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) at the lianghui or "the two sessions" in March 2021 aims for basic modernization across China with a shared goal of achieving commonwealth for all.

In the meantime, As Chinese Party of Civilization, CPC has been the chief architect of the so-called "millennium project"-China's Belt & Road Initiative (BRI) and includes the construction of the community mankind with a shared future as its main vision for the world in the Party's Platform.

With more than 170 countries and international organizations from around the world participating in BRI with a focus on infrastructure building as a main task partially financially supported by Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), BRI has not only become the new envy in the global development regime, it is spawning similar initiatives such as U.S. President Biden's plan of three trillion dollars' worth of infrastructure renewal and construction just for the U.S. domestic market only.

All these explain why the Communist Party of China deserves to be called the Chinese Party of Civilization, leading a progressive trend of human flourishing. The Party neither deserves an overthrow as suggested by U.S. China hawks such as former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo nor deserves a tightened encirclement by the U.S.-led geopolitical alliance or the global alliance of democracy weaved by U.S. President Biden.
Given what it has accomplished, what it is doing now, and what it plans to do in the future, CPC, is not only a party of Chinese people, but also a party of mankind representing the future of civilization itself. Let us not become jealous of it, demonize, and encircle it, with an attempt to crash it. Instead, let it continue to do good for both China and the world as usual despite its past missteps. What we should do instead is to support the Party so long as it works FOR humanity, NOT AWAY or AGAINST humanity.

Jia Wenshan is a professor at the School of Communication at Chapman University, California. Distinguished Professor and Ph.D.Advisor, Shandong University; Dean of the Global Engagement Academy, Shandong University (Weihai).

Source: CGTN, June 11, 2021.