Basic Elderly Care System Guidelines - Xi Thought Study Campaign - Zhong Yin on Cultivating Political Ability - Understanding the Community of Shared Future for Mankind - G7 Summit - India-China Ties
Here are the key reports and articles that I found noteworthy from the People's Daily's edition on Monday, May 22, 2023.
Page 1: At the top are two reports of messages sent by Xi Jinping. First, Xi sent a congratulatory letter to Rehabilitation International’s centennial celebration on Sunday. This was on China’s 33rd national day of assisting disabled persons. Xi said that “in the process of Chinese-style modernization, China will further improve its social security system and service systems catering to the disabled.”
Second, Xi sent a letter congratulating Wesley W. Simina on his assuming office as the president of the Federated States of Micronesia. Xi said that he “attaches great importance to the development of bilateral ties”. He also talked about the need to work together “to support each other on issues concerning their core interests, deepen exchanges and cooperation in various fields, and push for continuous development of the China-FSM comprehensive strategic partnership.”
Next, there’s an article telling us how cadres have been engaged in studying the two volumes of the selected works of Xi Jinping, which are the “authoritative textbooks” for the Xi Thought education campaign that is underway. These books were published in late April, and back then, the statement on their publication had called this a “major event in the political life of the Party and the country”. It also said that the two volumes consist of 146 items from important works by Xi from November 2012 to October 2022, including speeches, instructions and directives, some of which have been made public for the first time.
Today’s article tells us that the decision to publish these volumes was taken in May 2022. The first section of the article basically discusses how the materials in the two volumes are comprehensive, reflect the creation and development of Xi’s thought and can help readers better learn to master the Party's innovative theory systematically and as a whole.
The section also informs that this is the first time that works of General Secretary Xi Jinping have been published under the aegis of the Party Literature Editing Committee under the CPC Central Committee. 经过近一年的精心编辑，《习近平著作选读》于2023年4月3日正式出版发行。这是第一次以中共中央文献编辑委员会名义编辑出版的习近平总书记重要著作. It also says that studying Xi’s thought is “a major political task” and doing so will ensure that everyone “deeply understands the decisive significance of the Two Establishments, strengthens the four consciousnesses and four self-confidences and achieves the Two Safeguards. In addition, everyone should maintain a high degree of alignment with the Party Central Committee in terms of thought, politics and actions.
The next couple of sections talk about different activities. For instance, on April 26, a micro-lecture was held at a high school affiliated with Tianjin University. Zhang Yu, vice dean of Tianjin University's School of Marxism, addressed the attendees. At PKU, meanwhile, there have been exhibitions and symposiums. Later the piece quotes some cadres from different areas talking about what they’ve learned from reading the texts and how they are learning to apply the learning. For instance, Li Chunhua, an official from Shenyang, talks about how it is important to “grasp the main content” of Xi’s thought but also “master the world outlook and methodology.”
The piece informs that cadres have used the learning campaign to “forge their souls and constantly consolidate their ideological foundations.” 政治上的坚定源于理论上的清醒，广大党员干部群众以学铸魂，不断夯实思想根基.
Next, the full guidelines for facilitating the building of the basic elderly care system have been published in the paper today. The document defines the basic elderly care system as covering services that are “provided by the state directly or through parties supported by the state to relevant subjects.” The services included are material assistance, nursing, and caregiving services, among others. 基本养老服务是指由国家直接提供或者通过一定方式支持相关主体向老年人提供的，旨在实现老有所养、老有所依必需的基础性、普惠性、兜底性服务，包括物质帮助、照护服务、关爱服务等内容.
The five key tasks listed in the document are:
Forming and implementing a list of elderly care services: Under this, provincial governments are required to establish and publish specific implementation plans and lists of basic elderly care services in their regions. This must be based on the national list. The target for establishing a “basically sounds” system is 2025.
Establishing an active response mechanism for providing accurate services: Briefly, this entails assessing the situation and capabilities of the elderly and creating a unified national evaluation standard. It also entails identifying who is in need of what services, promoting cross-department data sharing and ensuring accurate delivery of services.
Enhancing the mechanism that ensures sound elderly care services: Under this, the document says: “Promote the establishment of a long-term care and security system that links related insurance, welfare and assistance” 推动建立相关保险、福利、救助相衔接的长期照护保障制度; “local governments at all levels should establish a funding guarantee mechanism for basic elderly care services, and the central government should coordinate existing funding channels to give support”地方各级政府应当建立基本养老服务经费保障机制，中央财政统筹现有资金渠道给予支持; “implement preferential policies to support the development of elderly care services” 落实发展养老服务优惠扶持政策; and “encourage and guide enterprises, social organisations, individuals and other social forces to provide support and help for basic elderly care services through donations, the establishment of charitable funds and voluntary services.”鼓励和引导企业、社会组织、个人等社会力量依法通过捐赠、设立慈善基金、志愿服务等方式，为基本养老服务提供支持和帮助.
Improving service capacity: Under this, there are a whole host of things that local governments must do, such as planning for service requirements and construction of elderly care service facilities. It says that “all newly-built urban areas and residential areas” shall have elderly care service facilities. Likewise spaces and communities that have undergone redevelopment must also include such facilities. It also talks about prioritising support for families of service members and martyrs, and those who are extremely poor. 现役军人家属和烈士、因公牺牲军人、病故军人的遗属，符合规定条件申请入住公办养老机构的，同等条件下优先安排。保障特困人员供养服务机构有效运转. Also, by 2025, every county must have a county-level support service institution that provides professional care for the disabled poor. 到2025年确保每个县（市、区、旗）至少有1所以失能特困人员专业照护为主的县级特困人员供养服务机构.
Making elderly care services more accessible
Finally, there’s a Zhong Yin commentary, which calls on cadres to cultivate strong “political ability”.
The author calls on cadres to persist in studying and implementing Xi’s thought, firmly establish political ideals, correctly grasp political direction, stand firm in terms of political stance, strictly abide by political discipline, strengthen political training, accumulate political experience, ensure that their political abilities match their job responsibilities, truly become politically savvy, and always be loyal to the Party, share the worries for the Party, do their duty for the Party, and dedicate themselves to the Party.” 广大党员干部要坚持不懈学懂弄通做实习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想，牢固树立政治理想，正确把握政治方向，坚定站稳政治立场，严格遵守政治纪律，加强政治历练，积累政治经验，使自己的政治能力同担任的工作职责相匹配，真正成为政治上的明白人，永远对党忠诚、为党分忧、为党尽责、为党奉献.
Then author puts forth three points that one needs to focus on in order to improve political ability
First, be good at thinking about problems, making decisions, and doing things from the standpoint of the Party and the people and the overall situation of the work of the Party and the country. 提升政治能力，就要善于从党和人民的立场、党和国家工作大局出发想问题、作决策、办事情.
“Always bear in mind major issues concerning the future and destiny of the Party and the country and the fundamental interests of the people, take safeguarding the authority and centralised and unified leadership of the CPC Central Committee as the most fundamental political discipline and rules, integrate the work of regions and departments into the overall cause of the Party and the country, and bear in mind 国之大者, always think and act while keeping in mind the overall context so as to ensure that the decisions and arrangements of the CPC Central Committee are effectively implemented.” 要时刻把事关党和国家前途命运、事关人民根本利益的大事放在心上，把维护党中央权威和集中统一领导作为最根本的政治纪律和政治规矩，把地区和部门工作融入党和国家事业大局，牢记“国之大者”，一切在大局下思考、一切在大局下行动，真正让党中央决策部署落地见效.
Second, be good at grasping the regularity of things from the complicated issues, discovering the trend of things from the incipient issues, and recognizing the inevitability of things from the incidental/occasional issues. 提升政治能力，就要善于从繁杂问题中把握事物的规律性、从苗头问题中发现事物的趋势性、从偶然问题中认识事物的必然性.
Third, be good at managing complex situations, pooling social forces and guarding against political risks. 提升政治能力，就要善于驾驭复杂局面、凝聚社会力量、防范政治风险.
Page 6: This page is dedicated to the outcomes of the investigation into the collapse of a “self-built residential structure” on April 29, 2022, in Changsha. The incident had led to 54 deaths and 9 injuries. 62 officials have been held responsible.
Page 9: There are three articles from academics discussing the concept of a community of shared future for mankind. There is no real new argument or analysis in these unfortunately.
But I found this bit in the first piece by Gao Zugui, who is the dean of the International Strategic Studies Institute at the Central Party School, useful to outline the components of the concept of a community of shared future for mankind.
The concept embodies five elements, Gao writes:
insist on dialogue and consultation to build a world of lasting peace
insist on co-construction and shared benefits to build a universally secure world
insist on win-win cooperation and build a world of common prosperity
insist on exchanges and mutual learning to build an open and inclusive world
insist on green and low-carbon development and build a clean and beautiful world
这一理念以“五个世界”为总体布局，即坚持对话协商，建设一个持久和平的世界；坚持共建共享，建设一个普遍安全的世界；坚持合作共赢，建设一个共同繁荣的世界；坚持交流互鉴，建设一个开放包容的世界；坚持绿色低碳，建设一个清洁美丽的世界.
Then he discusses the different policy initiatives to achieve this.
BRI takes interconnection as its focus, promotes policy communication, infrastructure connectivity, unimpeded trade, financial integration, and people-to-people linkages between countries and regions, and opens up a path of common, win-win, and shared development. “一带一路”以互联互通为着力点，推进共建国家和地区政策沟通、设施联通、贸易畅通、资金融通、民心相通，开辟共同发展、共赢发展、共享发展之路.
GDI calls for prioritising development and building a global partnership for development featuring unity, equality, balance and inclusiveness. 全球发展倡议主张坚持发展优先，构建团结、平等、均衡、普惠的全球发展伙伴关系.
GSI calls on all countries to uphold the concept of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security; promote the building of an indivisible global security community; and find a new security path, featuring dialogue rather than confrontation, partnership rather than alliance, and win-win cooperation rather than zero-sum contestation. 全球安全倡议主张各国坚持共同、综合、合作、可持续的安全观，推动构建不可分割的全球安全共同体，走出一条对话而不对抗、结伴而不结盟、共赢而非零和的新型安全之路.
GCI advocates tolerance and coexistence among different civilizations, exchanges and mutual learning, and strives to create a new situation of humanities exchanges, cultural intermingling and people-to-people exchanges. 全球文明倡议倡导不同文明包容共存、交流互鉴，努力开创世界各国人文交流、文化交融、民心相通新局面.
Next, Gao explains the concept from a values perspective.
“The common values of mankind - peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy and freedom - are the common pursuit of people of all countries. We should be highly responsible for the future and destiny of mankind, advocate the common values of mankind, understand the value connotation of different civilizations with a broad mind, and refrain from imposing our own values and models on others and engaging in ideological confrontation. This provides ideological support for countries to transcend differences in values and ideologies and realise exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations, and provides value guidance for building a community with a shared future for mankind.” 和平、发展、公平、正义、民主、自由的全人类共同价值，是各国人民的共同追求。我们要本着对人类前途命运高度负责的态度，做全人类共同价值的倡导者，以宽广胸怀理解不同文明对价值内涵的认识，不将自己的价值观和模式强加于人，不搞意识形态对抗。这为世界各国在价值观和意识形态领域超越差异分歧、实现文明交流互鉴提供了思想支撑，为构建人类命运共同体提供了价值引领。
He further adds that “the concept is based on Marxist ideas on world history and the worldview nurtured by the excellent Chinese traditional culture.” It “unifies the future destiny of the Chinese nation with the future development of human society, and unifies the realisation of national rejuvenation and the promotion of human progress into the great practice of the new era. This concept, which provides a new paradigm for the coexistence of different civilizations, a new vision for global governance, a new concept for international interactions, and new plans for coping with common challenges, is an innovation that transcends of the traditional views on power, interests, development, governance, and order in international relations.” 构建人类命运共同体理念，把马克思主义关于世界历史的思想与中华优秀传统文化所孕育的宇宙观和天下观结合起来，把中华民族的前途命运与人类社会的未来发展统一起来，把实现民族复兴和推动人类进步统一到新时代的伟大实践中。这一理念，为不同文明相处提供新范式，为全球治理提供新思路，为国际交往提供新观念，为应对共同挑战提供新方案，是对传统国际关系权力观、利益观、发展观、治理观、秩序观的创新和超越.
One other key part of the explanation about the practical implications of this concept in Gao’s view is “advocating true multilateralism, opposing unilateralism and protectionism, firmly safeguarding the international system with the United Nations at the core, the international order based on international law, and the basic norms of international relations based on the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, and support for expanding the representation and voice of developing countries in international affairs.” 倡导真正的多边主义，反对单边主义和保护主义，坚定维护以联合国为核心的国际体系、以国际法为基础的国际秩序、以联合国宪章宗旨和原则为基础的国际关系基本准则，支持扩大发展中国家在国际事务中的代表性和话语权.
Other Stories:
The China-related portion in the G7’s communique
“51. We stand together as G7 partners on the following elements, which underpin our respective relations with China:
We stand prepared to build constructive and stable relations with China, recognizing the importance of engaging candidly with and expressing our concerns directly to China. We act in our national interest. It is necessary to cooperate with China, given its role in the international community and the size of its economy, on global challenges as well as areas of common interest.
We call on China to engage with us, including in international fora, on areas such as the climate and biodiversity crisis and the conservation of natural resources in the framework of the Paris and Kunming-Montreal Agreements, addressing vulnerable countries’ debt sustainability and financing needs, global health and macroeconomic stability.
Our policy approaches are not designed to harm China nor do we seek to thwart China’s economic progress and development. A growing China that plays by international rules would be of global interest. We are not decoupling or turning inwards. At the same time, we recognize that economic resilience requires de-risking and diversifying. We will take steps, individually and collectively, to invest in our own economic vibrancy. We will reduce excessive dependencies in our critical supply chains.
With a view to enabling sustainable economic relations with China, and strengthening the international trading system, we will push for a level playing field for our workers and companies. We will seek to address the challenges posed by China’s non-market policies and practices, which distort the global economy. We will counter malign practices, such as illegitimate technology transfer or data disclosure. We will foster resilience to economic coercion. We also recognize the necessity of protecting certain advanced technologies that could be used to threaten our national security without unduly limiting trade and investment.
We remain seriously concerned about the situation in the East and South China Seas. We strongly oppose any unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force or coercion.
We reaffirm the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait as indispensable to security and prosperity in the international community. There is no change in the basic positions of the G7 members on Taiwan, including stated one China policies. We call for a peaceful resolution of cross-Strait issues.
We will keep voicing our concerns about the human rights situation in China, including in Tibet and Xinjiang where forced labor is of major concern to us. We call on China to honor its commitments under the Sino-British Joint Declaration and the Basic Law, which enshrine rights, freedoms and a high degree of autonomy for Hong Kong.
We call on China to act in accordance with its obligations under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and the Vienna Convention on Consular relations, and not to conduct interference activities aimed at undermining the security and safety of our communities, the integrity of our democratic institutions and our economic prosperity.
We call on China to press Russia to stop its military aggression, and immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw its troops from Ukraine. We encourage China to support a comprehensive, just and lasting peace based on territorial integrity and the principles and purposes of the UN Charter, including through its direct dialogue with Ukraine.
52. There is no legal basis for China’s expansive maritime claims in the South China Sea, and we oppose China’s militarization activities in the region. We emphasize the universal and unified character of the UNCLOS and reaffirm UNCLOS’s important role in setting out the legal framework that governs all activities in the oceans and the seas. We reiterate that the award rendered by the Arbitral Tribunal on July 12, 2016, is a significant milestone, which is legally binding upon the parties to those proceedings, and a useful basis for peacefully resolving disputes between the parties.”
In response, China’s MoFA said that the G7 “is hindering international peace, undermining regional stability and curbing other countries’ development.” It added that the G7 has used issues to “smear and attack China and brazenly interfere in China’s internal affairs.” After this, there is a comment on each issue, i.e., Taiwan, economic coercion, nuclear weapons, etc. But this last bit is what’s worth noting.
“Let me make it clear that gone are the days when a handful of Western countries can just willfully meddle in other countries’ internal affairs and manipulate global affairs. We urge G7 members to catch up with the trend of the times, focus on addressing the various issues they have at home, stop ganging up to form exclusive blocs, stop containing and bludgeoning other countries, stop creating and stoking bloc confrontation and get back to the right path of dialogue and cooperation.”
A couple of other stories on India-China ties that I’d like to share are:
First, one of the G20 meetings taking place in India is being held in Srinagar, Kashmir. This is the Tourism Working Group meeting. China has opposed the holding of the meeting in Srinagar, while Turkey and Saudi Arabia have not registered for the event. On Friday, China’s MoFA said “China firmly opposes holding G20 meetings in any form in 'disputed' areas and will not attend such meetings.”
Second, do check out this interview of Indian PM Modi by Nikkei Asian Review prior to the G7 meeting. Some interesting takeaways for Indian foreign policy and ties with China:
“The G-7 countries hope to pull India closer to their side, as they look to cement what they often describe as the rules-based international order. But India has long defied easy geopolitical categorization. It is a member of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or Quad, with the U.S., Japan and Australia. India's foreign secretary said Thursday that the quartet -- which had been scheduled to convene in Sydney next week before U.S. President Joe Biden said he was cutting his Asia trip short -- is working to arrange its own summit in Hiroshima. Next month, Modi is due to travel to the U.S. which he called a "vital strategic partner." But India is also a member of the China and Russia-led Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). Modi stressed that New Delhi has never wedded itself to security alliances. "Instead, we engage with a wide range of friends and like-minded partners around the world based on our national interests." The Quad countries' collective focus is on "fostering a free, open, prosperous and inclusive Indo-Pacific region," he said. On the other hand, the SCO plays a significant role in India's engagement with the "important" Central Asian region. "Participating in these two groups is not contradictory or mutually exclusive for India." "As a member of the Global South, our interest in any plurilateral setting is to serve as a bridge between diverse voices and contribute to a constructive and positive agenda," Modi said.”
"India is fully prepared and committed to protect its sovereignty and dignity," Modi said amid the lingering Himalayan border standoff with China, while stressing New Delhi's respect for sovereignty, rule of law and peaceful resolution of disputes. The tensions have strained bilateral ties, especially since a 2020 clash that left 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers dead -- the first deadly battle between the nuclear-armed neighbors in decades. "Peace and tranquility in the border areas are essential for normal bilateral ties with China," Modi said. "The future development of India-China relationship can only be based on mutual respect, mutual sensitivity and mutual interests," Modi said, noting that "normalizing" the ties would benefit the wider region and the world.”
Finally, sticking to India-China ties, The Telegraph reports that “the Chinese army has demanded the creation of a 15-20km buffer zone inside India-claimed lines on the strategic Depsang Plains as a precondition for disengagement, refusing India’s offer of a 3-4km demilitarised strip.” The report quotes an unidentified ITBP official as the source. The official added: “The Chinese army is already entrenched 18km inside India-claimed lines and now wants a buffer zone of another 15-20km. It’s apparent that they are working aggressively to establish a revised status quo along the Line of Actual Control in the region.”
The report further explains: “The Depsang Plains remain the only friction point where no disengagement has taken place since the Chinese transgressed India-claimed lines in eastern Ladakh in May 2020. Demilitarised “buffer zones” have so far been established on the Galwan Valley (3km wide), Pangong Lake (10km), Gogra (3.5km) and Hot Springs (4km) as part of the disengagement process, defence ministry sources said.