Of all the misunderstandings about China, those regarding the Communist Party of China, the CPC, come at the top of the list.

For the world to understand the CPC, the heart of the matter is to explain why China’s one-party leadership system, under current national conditions, is optimum for China. There are two questions here. The first assesses the effectiveness of China’s one-party system in an absolute sense of benefits versus costs (analyzing the trade-offs), and the second evaluates China’s one-party system in a relative sense by comparing it, hypothetically, to how a multiple-party system might work in China. Although some believe that a multi-party competitive system would make China more stable, such a forecast seems wishful thinking disconnected from Chinese realities.

Many foreigners do not understand the CPC—particularly its historic transformation from a ’revolutionary party’ seeking power to a ‘ruling party’ exercising power—and unless foreigners understand the CPC they cannot fully understand China.

Stress the CPC practice of experimentation and testing of new policies. Send the message that the CPC appreciates that it does not have all the answers, but it tries out new policies on a limited basis in real-world, test-bed operations, and only when policies work on a small scale are they implemented on a large scale. I always say that China's astounding economic success is the contemporary CPC's second most important accomplishment. The first is opening-up people's spirits—‘the emancipation of the mind’. If one looks at almost every aspect of real life, Chinese people today have more personal freedom than at any other time in their long history. Moreover, China’s vast population is finally free from widespread famine, pestilence, homelessness, illiteracy, political mass movements, and the social scourges of other eras.

But times change and new questions arise. How to involve citizens more in the process of governance and oversight of government, like through social media and public polling? The CPC is always discussing and innovating new policies—and always testing them first.

Explain the “learning-minded” ethos of the CPC. Many foreigners assume that a party that is based on a political philosophy formulated in the19th Century is not modern. Show that the CPC is a "learning-minded party”, which encourages its members to expand their knowledge in all fields, including economics, science and culture. The CPC Politburo's Group Study Session topics are good examples: information technology, e-commerce, agriculture, finance, environment, law, global trade, religion, international relations, and leadership building. The Central Party School's curriculum also exemplifies the CPC’s commitment to continuous learning and what a learning-minded party means in practice. By stressing its learning-minded strengths, the CPC exemplifies a contemporary ruling party.

The CPC claims a historic mission. In a thousand years, when the long annals of political systems are compiled, China today may well be a case study of what happens when a country with a political system led by one party seeks to construct a prosperous, democratic society.

I applaud the CPC for taking the initiative to publish Understanding the CPC. If the world does not understand the CPC, the CPC is right to take responsibility to reach out to the world. That’s what this series of books is all about: CPC philosophies and policies, organization and governance, vision and challenges.

Foreigners may disagree with the CPC, argue with the CPC, but all who think they know China, all who need to know China, must understand the CPC.

Robert Lawrence Kuhn is an international corporate strategist and political/economics commentator. He spoke at the book launch of “Xi Jinping: The Governance of China”; he is the author of How China's Leaders Think and a biography of former president Jiang Zemin. His CCTV News show, executive produced by Adam Zhu, is Closer To China with R.L.Kuhn.

A Chinese edition of this article appears on People’s Daily, 理解中国共产党才能真正理解中国（国际论坛）.