Deng Xiaoping will go down in history as the revolutionary realist who revitalised China and opened it up to the international community. Today is the centenary of his birth.

He had a sharp, independent mind that did not fear to express opinions based on fact rather than ideology, even at risk of disfavour and physical danger. When after "three ups and three downs" in his career, he gained power over a rigid and self-enclosed communist system, he embarked on the path of a "socialism imbued with Chinese characteristics".

He moved his country towards industrialisation and a "socialist market economy". He enunciated the principle of "one country, two systems", which led to the peaceful reunification of Hong Kong and Macao with China. His foreign policy led to his country playing a leading "role in maintaining regional and global peace", as the President of Bangladesh described it.

A mind of his own

Deng started his revolutionary career when he was a student in France. He joined the "Chinese Socialist Youth League in Europe" and in 1926 he proceeded to Moscow, where a fellow student and friend of his was the eldest son of Chiang Kai-shek.

After six years abroad, he returned to China as a staunch revolutionary imbued with Marxism-Leninism. In March 1927 the party assigned him to work at the Sun-Yat-sen Military and Political Academy, where he served as chief of the Political Section and Secretary of the Communist Party Organisation. When the Communist Party had to go underground, he changed his name from Deng Xixian to Deng Xiaoping.

In 1956 Deng was appointed General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party. His report to the party's national congress caused a stir because it stressed "the danger of the party divorcing itself from reality and from the mass line and practice of democratic centralism". He urged more "collective leadership to prevent individuals from acting arbitrarily and making decisions on important issues alone".

Deng fell out of favour with Chairman Mao Zedong and the party leadership, who accused him of capitalist tendencies. His whole family was disgraced. His eldest son, Deng Pufang, a university student, was so mistreated physically that permanent injuries confined him to a wheelchair.

Deng himself was dismissed from all his posts and reduced to the status of an ordinary labourer. With the support of Zhou Enlai however, Deng was reinstated, despite the efforts of the 'Gang of Four' to hinder him. He set about clearing the mess left by "the Cultural Revolution". He urged stability, unity and the development of the national economy. He stated, "We must be determined and daring". Mao did not approve of Deng's "right deviation of reversing correct verdicts" and once again Deng was dismissed from his posts.

Internal reform and external opening

1976 marked a turning point in Chinese history. Both Zhou Enlai and Mao Zedong died that year. Deng Xiaoping emerged as the country's new leader. He stressed that people should emancipate their minds and seek truth based on facts. The party was to shift its focus from class struggle to socialist modernisation and build a socialism with Chinese characteristics. An open policy should be adopted that would invigorate the economy.

Subsequently, Deng proposed that initially, 14 coastal cities be opened to the outside world. China was then to expand its economic co-operation with foreign countries, absorb their capital and introduce their advanced technologies and managerial skills, so as to accelerate the development of its own economy.

The private sector was to be developed properly as a supplement to the socialist sector, which would remain dominant in China's economy. He also urged that some regions and some people be allowed to become prosperous first, through hard work, so that others would follow their example. If all these policies were applied, he believed, the whole economy would make rapid progress, eventually enabling all the Chinese people to prosper.

Since China set out on the road mapped out by Deng, its successes in foreign policy match those in its domestic policy. The principles of "opening up" and of "one country, two systems" led to China's peaceful reunification with Hong Kong and Macao and may ultimately lead to the resolution of the Taiwan issue.

Deng Xiaoping was a man of broad vision, thinking in terms of world issues. He devoted much energy over the years to foreign relations. He visited many foreign countries and had meetings with many foreign guests, always with a view to securing a peaceful international environment for China's socialist modernization. He was personally responsible for formulating China's independent foreign police, which in essence consists of standing firmly on the side of the people of the Third World countries, opposing hegemonism and trying to preserve world peace.

Deng held that peace and development are the two overriding issues in the world today. He believed that the danger of war still exists but that the forces that can deter war are growing. China, he was convinced, can make an important contribution both to world peace and to steady economic development.

Sir Richard Evans, British ambassador to the People's Republic of China during the crucial period when Hong Kong's return was negotiated, wrote a book entitled Deng Xiaoping and the Making of Modern China, in which he shows the human side as well as the greatness of the statesman. He recalls that when Queen Elizabeth II visited China in October 1986, she wanted to meet Deng who was 82 at the time. He invited the Queen to the State Guest House. He went downstairs to greet Her Majesty personally in the traditional Siheyuan courtyard.

As he shook hands with the Queen, Deng laughed and said: "Thank you for coming from afar to visit a Chinese old man". Evans, who was invited with his wife to lunch together with Deng, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, acknowledged that he was "greatly touched".

In his book Evans stresses the great achievements due to the ideas of economic reform and the opening to the outside world launched by Deng in 1978. As a result China has established good relations with many states, including the United States, Japan and countries in Africa and Asia. Australian Prime Minister John Howard has acclaimed Deng as "the chief Architect of China's reform, opening and modernisation" from which the entire world has benefited.

Mr Howard stated: "Those historic reforms have enabled the Chinese people to realise greater prosperity and the benefits of modern living. The greater openness that Deng Xiaoping's policies encouraged has paved the way for the close trade and economic relationships China now shares with the international community".

Deng Xiaoping died in 1997 but his principles are still being followed as guidelines by the present leaders of China, seeking to create further prosperity at home and promote peaceful solutions to the world's problems.