Biden-Xi Call - Financial Support for SMEs - Uzbekistan-China Discuss Law-Enforcement Cooperation
Here are the key reports and articles that I found noteworthy from the People's Daily’s edition on Wednesday, April 03, 2024.
Page 1: The top story on the page today is about the phone call between Xi Jinping and President Biden. The Chinese readout says that the two had a “candid and in-depth exchange of views”.
“President Xi Jinping noted that his San Francisco meeting with President Biden last November opened a future-oriented San Francisco vision. Over the past months, their officials have acted on the presidential understandings in earnest. The China-U.S. relationship is beginning to stabilize, and this is welcomed by both societies and the international community. On the other hand, the negative factors of the relationship have also been growing, and this requires attention from both sides. President Xi Jinping stressed that the issue of strategic perception is always fundamental to the China-U.S. relationship, just like the first button of a shirt that must be put right. Two big countries like China and the United States should not cut off their ties or turn their back on each other, still less slide into conflict or confrontation. The two countries should respect each other, coexist in peace and pursue win-win cooperation. The relationship should continue moving forward in a stable, sound and sustainable way, rather than going backward.”
“President Xi Jinping underlined three overarching principles that should guide China-U.S. relations in 2024. First, peace must be valued. The two sides should put a floor of no conflict and no confrontation under the relationship, and keep reinforcing the positive outlook of the relationship. Second, stability must be prioritized. The two sides should refrain from setting the relationship back, provoking incident or crossing the line, so as to maintain the overall stability of the relationship. Third, credibility must be upheld. The two sides should honor their commitments to each other with action, and turn the San Francisco vision into reality. They need to strengthen dialogue in a mutually respectful way, manage differences prudently, advance cooperation in the spirit of mutual benefit, and step up coordination on international affairs in a responsible way.”
“President Xi Jinping stressed that the Taiwan question is the first red line that must not be crossed in China-U.S. relations. In the face of ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist activities and external encouragement and support for them, China is not going to sit on its hands. He urged the U.S. side to translate President Biden’s commitment of not supporting ‘Taiwan independence’ into concrete actions. The U.S. side has adopted a string of measures to suppress China’s trade and technology development, and is adding more and more Chinese entities to its sanctions lists. This is not ‘de-risking’, but creating risks. If the U.S. side is willing to seek mutually beneficial cooperation and share in China’s development dividends, it will always find China’s door open; but if it is adamant on containing China’s hi-tech development and depriving China of its legitimate right to development, China is not going to sit back and watch.”
The readout says that Xi also stated China’s position on Hong Kong-related issues, human rights, the South China Sea, and other issues.
(Comment: I think the structuring of this is really useful. It outlines Beijing’s concerns quite categorically. At the heart of it is US perception of China as a geopolitical challenger, followed by Taiwan, as the most immediate, and then trade and technology. The call also seems to suggest that for the time being, Beijing is invested in maintaining stability that the current dialogue mechanisms are engendering. That said, in doing so, Xi does seem to be accepting that technology restrictions are going to be par for the course, whether he likes it or not. I presume the effort is to delay some of these restrictions, while also limiting their scope and finding workarounds. Also, worth noting in the US NSC background call is the progress made in the military-to-military dialogue, and the curious case of “risky and coercive” intercepts by Chinese fighter jets, which seem to have stopped since the San Francisco meeting. One would assume that these are concessions by Beijing, since they were brought up by Blinken, Sullivan and Biden. It is unclear what Washington has offered in return, if anything at all. Finally, I presume that the “negative forces” that Xi is referring to are primarily related to US domestic politics, and that situation is unlikely to change for the better as the year progresses.)
The Chinese readout adds: “President Biden reiterated that the United States does not seek a new Cold War, its objective is not to change China’s system, its alliances are not targeted against China, the U.S. does not support ‘Taiwan independence’, and the U.S. does not seek conflict with China. The U.S. follows the one-China policy. It is in the interest of the world for China to succeed.”
It also says that Secretary of State Blinken and Treasury Secretary Yellen (April 4-9) will be visiting China soon. Interestingly, Ukraine and the Korean Peninsula get mentioned in the readout, but not the Middle East.
The US readout says that the two had a “candid and constructive discussion”. They “reviewed and encouraged progress on key issues discussed at the Woodside Summit, including counternarcotics cooperation, ongoing military-to-military communication, talks to address AI-related risks, and continuing efforts on climate change and people-to-people exchanges.”
“President Biden emphasized the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and the rule of law and freedom of navigation in the South China Sea. He raised concerns over the PRC’s support for Russia’s defense industrial base and its impact on European and transatlantic security, and he emphasized the United States’ enduring commitment to the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. President Biden also raised continued concerns about the PRC’s unfair trade policies and non-market economic practices, which harm American workers and families. The President emphasized that the United States will continue to take necessary actions to prevent advanced U.S. technologies from being used to undermine our national security, without unduly limiting trade and investment. The two leaders welcomed ongoing efforts to maintain open channels of communication and responsibly manage the relationship through high-level diplomacy and working-level consultations in the weeks and months ahead, including during upcoming visits by Secretary Yellen and Secretary Blinken.”
It’s also worth going through the NSC’s background briefing before the call.
Some related stories:
US Asks South Korea to Toughen Up Export Controls on China Chips
China opposes US abuse of national security as chip export restrictions extended
US to impose visa restrictions on Hong Kong officials over rights concerns
Next, there’s a story on the appointment of new ambassadors:
Cao Zhongming was appointed ambassador to Singapore, replacing Sun Haiyan
Ji Ping was appointed ambassador to Madagascar, replacing Guo Xiaomei. Zhang
Bin was appointed ambassador to Angola, replacing Gong Tao
Xu Xueyuan was appointed ambassador to Panama, replacing Wei Qiang
Moving on, there’s a report on Li Qiang meeting with Indonesian president-elect Prabowo Subianto. Xinhua reports:
“Prabowo's decision to visit China as his first country after being elected once again demonstrates the profound friendship between China and Indonesia, Li said. He said China is ready to work with Indonesia to maintain high-level strategic mutual trust, deepen all-round mutually beneficial cooperation, and push for deeper and more concrete progress in building a community with a shared future to achieve more win-win outcomes and bring more benefits to the two peoples. Li said China is willing to maintain the good momentum of high-level exchanges with Indonesia, make good use of dialogue mechanisms at all levels, and strengthen policy communication and coordination. He said the two sides should further enhance the synergy between the Belt and Road Initiative and Indonesia's development strategies, accelerate the construction of key projects, deepen cooperation in traditional fields such as agriculture, forestry and fishing, expand cooperation in high-tech and emerging industries, and strengthen exchanges and cooperation in areas related to people's livelihood.”
“China is ready to strengthen communication and cooperation with Indonesia in multilateral fields such as the United Nations and the East Asia cooperation mechanism, jointly safeguard the interests of developing countries, defend international fairness and justice, promote the development of the global governance system in a more just and equitable direction, and make positive contributions to regional and global prosperity and stability, Li said.”
The rest of the piece has Prabowo “hailing China's great achievements” and saying that “the new government is willing to learn from China's experience.”
Next, there’s a report on the Implementation Plan for Coordinating the Construction of Financing Credit Service Platform to Improve the Financing Convenience Level for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises. The document says that the plan:
“improves the data infrastructure system, intensifies efforts to coordinate the construction of financing credit service platforms, enhances the mechanism for collecting and sharing credit information, further advances the credit and loan mechanism and promotes financial institutions to provide high-quality financial services to enterprises, especially small, medium and micro enterprises.” 《实施方案》以习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想为指导,全面贯彻落实党的二十大精神,健全数据基础制度,加大融资信用服务平台建设统筹力度,健全信用信息归集共享机制,深入推进“信易贷”工作,推动金融机构为企业特别是中小微企业提供高质量金融服务.
The report adds that the implementation proposes the following when it comes to improving coordination:
Clarify the channels for the collection and sharing of credit information. “Strengthen the ‘central hub’ function of the National Credit Information Sharing Platform for the collection and sharing of credit information. Improve the nationwide integrated financing credit service platform network, serving as the ‘singular channel’ for providing public credit information services to financial institutions in a centralized manner. 一是明确信用信息归集共享渠道。强化全国信用信息共享平台的信用信息归集共享“总枢纽”功能。健全全国一体化融资信用服务平台网络,作为向金融机构集中提供公共信用信息服务的“唯一出口”.
Strengthen the integration and unified management of local platforms. Integrate local financing credit service platforms with duplicate functions or inefficient operations; in principle, only one provincial platform will be retained in a province, and no more than one platform will be established by cities and counties. 二是加强地方平台整合和统一管理。对功能重复或运行低效的地方融资信用服务平台进行整合,原则上一个省份只保留一个省级平台,市县设立的平台不超过一个.
Strengthen guidance on the construction of local platforms. Unify the standards for local financing credit service platforms to connect to the national integrated platform network and promote the standardized and healthy development of local platforms. 三是加强对地方平台建设的指导。统一地方融资信用服务平台接入全国一体化平台网络的标准,促进地方平台规范健康发展。
The next part of the report says that the information collection and sharing mechanism must be optimized. In this regard, it calls to:
Clarify the scope of credit information collection and sharing. Incorporate information about a company’s main personnel, various qualifications, import and export information, etc. into the credit information collection and sharing list. Give full play to the role of local financing credit service platforms and increase the collection and sharing of credit information outside the list in accordance with laws and regulations. 一是明确信用信息归集共享范围。将企业主要人员信息、各类资质信息、进出口信息等纳入信用信息归集共享清单。充分发挥地方融资信用服务平台作用,依法依规加大清单外信用信息归集共享力度.
Improve the quality and efficiency of credit information sharing. For credit information that has been centrally managed by relevant national departments, it is necessary to increase the intensity of ‘total-to-total’ sharing. Strengthen collaborative management of data quality to ensure data authenticity, accuracy, and completeness. 二是提升信用信息共享质效。对已在国家有关部门实现集中管理的信用信息,要加大“总对总”共享力度。加强数据质量协同治理,确保数据真实、准确、完整.
The final bit is about development and utilization of credit data. It calls to:
improve information inquiry services
carry out joint modeling applications, via the establishment of a joint laboratory for credit information collection and processing
develop new credit financing products
expand and improve platform service functions
develop the credit service market
Page 2: There’s a report on Vice Premier Zhang Guoqing’s visit to Tianjin, where he called for efforts to deepen SoE reform and vigorously promote the development of ‘little giant’ firms.
He called on SOEs to “always focus on serving the country’s strategic needs, improve scientific and technological innovation mechanisms, strengthen technical capacity building, strive to become stronger, better and bigger in their main businesses, actively develop emerging industries and cultivate future industries, and continuously optimize the layout and structure of state-owned capital and improve the efficiency of state-owned capital allocation.” 他强调,国资央企要始终聚焦服务国家战略需要,完善科技创新机制,强化技术能力建设,着力做强做优做大主业,积极发展新兴产业、培育未来产业,不断优化国有资本布局结构、提升国有资本配置效率.
He further called on the need to “closely focus on stimulating the vitality of enterprise development, adhere to the combination of authorization and supervision, and the unity of loosening controls and effective management…it is necessary to enhance various risk control capabilities, improve the penetrating power of supervision of state-owned central enterprises, and strictly guard against various risks. It is necessary to deepen practical cooperation with local governments, strengthen docking and linkage in the industrial chain, innovation chain, supply chain and other aspects, and better serve the implementation of major regional strategies such as the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.” 要紧紧围绕激发企业发展活力,坚持授权与监管相结合、放活与管好相统一,深化分类精准考核评价,建立更加规范高效的激励约束机制。要提升各类风险管控能力,提升国资央企监管穿透力,严防各类风险。要深化与地方务实合作,在产业链、创新链、供应链等方面加强对接联动,更好服务京津冀协同发展等区域重大战略实施.
Zhang also visited the Tianjin Aisida Aerospace Technology Co. Ltd. He called little giants “a new force in promoting new industrialization and developing new quality productive forces.” He added that it is necessary to “guide small and medium-sized enterprises to focus on niche areas, deepen their expertise, refine their skills, excel in specialties, and strive for innovation, accelerating breakthroughs in key core technologies and continuously enhancing their core competitiveness. It is necessary to implement inclusive ‘cloud-based, data-driven intelligence’ services, develop a range of digital products, services, and solutions that meet the needs of small and medium-sized enterprises with high cost-effectiveness, and support enterprises in their digital transformation. It is necessary to innovate products for small and medium-sized enterprises, strengthen pilot verification services, increase promotion and application efforts, and promote iterative upgrades of innovative products. It is necessary to support small and medium-sized enterprises to actively participate in the construction of the supply chain of large enterprises, encourage large enterprises to open innovative resources and application scenarios to small and medium-sized enterprises, and promote the joint development and win-win cooperation of large and medium-sized enterprises.” 要引导中小企业聚焦细分领域,在专上深耕、在精上打磨、在特上见长、在新上发力,加快突破关键核心技术,不断提高核心竞争力。要推行普惠性“上云用数赋智”服务,打造一批符合中小企业需求、高性价比的数字化产品、服务和解决方案,支持企业开展数字化转型。要面向中小企业创新产品,加强中试验证服务,加大推广应用力度,促进创新产品迭代升级。要支持中小企业积极参与大型企业供应链建设,鼓励大型企业向中小企业开放创新资源和应用场景,促进大中小企业携手发展、合作共赢.
Page 3: Two reports to note. First, Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun met with the President-elect and Defense Minister of Indonesia Prabowo Subianto. Dong said that:
“The Chinese military is willing to consolidate strategic mutual trust with the Indonesian military, deepen joint exercises and training, strengthen personnel exchanges, and push the practical cooperation between the two militaries to a new level.”
Second, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev met with visiting Chinese Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong in Tashkent. Xinhua reports:
“Wang said China is willing to follow the important consensus of the leaders of both countries; apply the principles of mutual assistance, common development, universal security and everlasting friendship to relations; implement the Global Security Initiative; and comprehensively deepen pragmatic cooperation in the field of law enforcement and security with Uzbekistan. China is willing to enhance cooperation to combat the ‘three forces’ of terrorism, separatism and extremism, as well as transnational crimes. China also aims to strengthen law enforcement capacity to build a solid security barrier for common development, which will make more contributions to developing an all-weather, comprehensive strategic partnership for a new era and promoting a China-Uzbekistan community with a shared future, said Wang. President Mirziyoyev asked Wang to convey his sincere greetings and best wishes to President Xi. He affirmed Uzbekistan's firm support for China's position on issues of core interest and the willingness to jointly maintain security and stability of both countries, as well as in the region. During his visit, Wang also met with Uzbekistan's Secretary of the National Security Council Viktor Makhmudov and Minister of Internal Affairs Pulat Bobojonov, and signed cooperation documents.”
Page 11: I’m not breaking this down, but there are excerpts from the experiences of members of “democratic parties, non-party individuals, intellectuals outside the Party, and members of the new social strata” when it comes to studying Xi’s thought. Clearly, they were all thoroughly moved and motivated by the ideas contained within the thought.
And that’s about it for the paper today. Another day and no mention of the spat with the Philippines in the South China Sea.
Outside of the paper, do note this continuing friction between India and China on Arunachal Pradesh: India rejects China's renaming of 30 places in Himalayan border state