China-Central Asian States Summit - Politburo Study Session on Carbon Peak & Neutrality - Anti-Corruption Campaign
I took a break from work by and large today, but there was some stuff that caught my attention so I thought I’d at least look at the key stories and let the rest be. Here are the big stories from Wednesday, January 26th’s, edition of the People’s Daily, and some other reports that I found noteworthy.
First, let me do a quick breakdown of the China-Central Asian States summit meeting. I’ll begin with Xi Jinping’s speech, which was published in the paper yesterday (English version). Xi said that over the past 30 years,
“we have completely resolved boundary issues left from history, turning the over 3,300 kilometers of shared borders into a bond of friendship, mutual trust and cooperation. We have established strategic partnerships, deepening political trust and mutually beneficial cooperation, blazing a new trail of good-neighborly friendship and win-win cooperation…
“Two-way trade and investment have grown over a hundred times. Several big projects of strategic importance have been successfully completed, including the China-Central Asia natural gas pipeline, the China-Kazakhstan crude oil pipeline, the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan highway, and the China-Tajikistan expressway. The China-Europe Railway Express which runs through Central Asia has seen rapid growth.
Following the “new thinking of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security, we have combined efforts to fight the three forces of terrorism, separatism and extremism, transnational organized crime and drug trafficking and to resolutely reject external interference or attempts to instigate color revolutions.”
He talked about there being 58 pairs of sister cities, and cited this: “‘I am a foreigner, but I am not an outsider’. These words of Ismail Daurov, a young Kazakh helping with the local COVID-19 response in Shaanxi province, have touched the hearts of many in China.”
As defenders of multilateralism, we have rendered mutual support on issues concerning each other's core interests, and spoken up for each other at critical moments. We have thus safeguarded our legitimate rights and strategic interests, promoted greater democracy in international relations, and steered the international order toward greater justice and equity.
He said that the four principles of “mutual respect, good-neighborly friendship, solidarity in trying times, and mutual benefit” were the “political guarantee” for the “steady and sustained” growth of ties.
Xi then said that however times change, China “will always remain a good neighbor, a good partner, a good friend, and a good brother” for Central Asian states. And then he put forward 5 proposals:
“China will continue to act on the principle of amity, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness, and work with Central Asian countries to step up high-level exchanges and strategic communication…We firmly oppose attempts by external forces to foment color revolutions in Central Asia, firmly oppose interference in other countries' internal affairs under the pretext of human rights, and firmly oppose any force that tries to disrupt the tranquil life of the people of our six countries.” Speaking about events in Kazakhstan, he backed President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and added that “China has firmly supported Kazakhstan in its effort to maintain stability and stop violence, and will continue to support and help Kazakhstan to the best of our ability.”
Second, Xi proposed a bilateral trade goal of $70 billion by 2030, a dialogue mechanism on e-commerce cooperation, and holding a forum on industrial and investment cooperation. He also spoke of speeding up the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway project, and developing more transport corridors. He spoke about the need for the steady operation of oil and gas pipelines, and to speed up the construction of Line D of the China-Central Asia Gas Pipeline. He also spoke about the need to strengthen cooperation in artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing and other high-tech sectors.
Third, he talked about strengthening the “regional security net,” which covers combating terrorist, extremist and separatist forces, deepening cooperation in areas such as border management and control, combating terrorist use of the Internet. He also promised 50 million more doses of vaccines to Central Asian countries in 2022, and the establishment of a China-Central Asia health industry alliance.
On Afghanistan, he talked about shared interests and said that “We encourage and support Afghanistan to make a clean break with terrorism and hope it will live in amity with neighboring countries.”
On people-to-people engagement, Xi proposed “to hold a China-Central Asia people-to-people friendship forum, and will strive to bring the number of sister cities with the five countries to 100 pairs in the next five to ten years.” He also said that “China will provide 1,200 government scholarships to the five Central Asian countries, with priority on opening Confucius Institutes and Confucius Classrooms.”
Fifth, he said that “in the next three years, the Chinese government will provide a grant assistance of US$500 million to Central Asian countries in support of livelihood programs, and offer 5,000 seminar and workshop opportunities to help Central Asian countries train professionals in health, poverty reduction for agricultural development, connectivity, information technology and other fields and strengthen the driving force for self-generated development.”
There was also a joint statement issued after the summit meeting. I could not locate the English version, so see this below as my unofficial translation from the document published in PD on Wednesday.
It says that all parties recognise that ties have entered a new era. It talks about how the six parties want to build “a strategic partnership with rich connotations, fruitful results and lasting friendship on the basis of taking into account each other’s interests to build a China-Central Asia community with a shared future.” MoFA’s Zhao Lijian offered a good summary of the political cooperation aspect of the statement
He said that: “All sides will continue to resolutely support others’ choice of development paths and governance models, oppose any form of double standards and interference in others’ internal affairs under any pretexts, and support further strengthening the ‘China plus Central Asia’ cooperation mechanism.”
In the joint statement, there’s also this bit about democracy: “All parties stressed that democracy is the common pursuit and value of mankind. Whether a country is democratic or not can only be judged by its own people. Every country has the absolute right to independently choose its path and model of development governance.”
On security cooperation, the joint statement says talks about cooperation on the “the three forces of terrorism, separatism and extremism” but it also adds this: “All parties agree that it is of great significance to safeguard national security and constitutional system, and resolutely oppose the destruction of legitimate political power and instigation of ‘colour revolution’. All parties decided to strengthen global biosafety governance, promote international cooperation and improve international biosafety standards. All parties support Kazakhstan's initiative to establish a network of United Nations regional centers for disease control and biosecurity, as well as the proposal to establish a specialised International Agency for Biological Safety, under the UN framework.
The statement pledges support for the Central Asian Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone treaty, and the need to “work together to cope with the new threats and challenges in global information security, support the construction of a peaceful, open, secure, cooperative and orderly cyberspace within the framework of the Global Data Security Initiative, and crack down on various forms of cyber crimes.”
On Afghanistan, it says that “all parties agreed on the importance of establishing an inclusive government in Afghanistan with the participation of representatives of all ethnic groups, religions and political forces in Afghan society.”
The statement, of course, talks about BRI, pandemic cooperation, focusing on China’s role, and says that in the fight against the pandemic, it is important to “uphold the scientific spirit, uphold scientific traceability and resolutely oppose the politicisation of the pandemic.”
Finally, on international cooperation, the statement talks about the importance of the “primacy of norms of international law” and “stressed adherence to the purposes and principles of the UN Charter.” It also states the desire to “make the international order and global governance system more just and equitable.” It adds: “We will firmly safeguard the multilateral trading system with the World Trade Organization as its core and enhance the voice of developing countries in the formulation of international economic and trade rules.”
Next, there was a Politburo study session on Monday. This too was covered in PD on Wednesday. This focused on the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality work. Interestingly, there were no outside experts invited. Instead, Politburo members Liu He, Li Qiang, Li Hongzhong and Hu Chunhua spoke at the meeting.
Quick take: Energy and emissions isn’t really my area of work, but I think the fact that we had four administrators rather than experts speak at the meeting points to the fact that this session wasn’t really about the technical aspects of pollution, emissions and resource capacities, etc. Rather, this was about policy design, implementation, and bureaucratic interpretation, given the experience of late last year. I also think that it’s important not to see this as a fundamental policy reversal in favour of coal and fossil fuels. Remember, pollution is also a significant political issue, which Xi has repeatedly emphasised as a priority. So I think the long-term objectives remain, but there’s a realisation that the road to getting there is not going to be smooth at all, and making an aggressive shift can not only have economic but also political costs. To me, this meeting seems like an effort in figuring out lessons from the winter chaos in order to adapt and balance the goals of emissions reduction with meeting energy needs, and figuring out how best to structure bureaucratic incentives. Of course, in the short-term, there is likely to be some easing of the approach towards fossil fuels. Xi specifically talked about “regulating the growth of coal consumption in a strict and reasonable manner.”
Xinhua English has a detailed report on Xi’s comments. It says:
“Stressing the country’s green pursuit is no easy job, Xi said strategic thinking must be improved as people should bear in mind the big picture throughout the whole process of delivering the carbon peaking and neutrality goals. The relations between development and emission reduction must be properly handled, Xi said. Cutting emissions is not aimed at curbing productivity or no emissions at all, Xi said, stressing that the economic development and green transition should be mutually reinforcing. While bringing down carbon emissions, efforts should be made to safeguard energy security, industrial and supply chain security, and food security, as well as ensure people's normal daily lives, Xi said. Xi stressed national and regional policy coordination and said the ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach should not be adopted. Both goals in the long run and short-term targets should be taken into account, Xi said, stressing efforts to get the right tempo and strength in carbon cut. He also urged the alignment of a capable government and an effective market.”
It further adds:
“Coordination should be strengthened to take concerted moves in reducing carbon emissions, cutting pollution, expanding green efforts and promoting growth, Xi said. On advancing energy revolution, Xi noted that the gradual exit of traditional energy sources should be based on the safe and reliable substitution of new energy sources. China should resolutely control fossil fuel consumption, especially regulating the growth of coal consumption in a strict and reasonable manner, Xi said. China should consolidate the foundation for domestic energy production, ensure coal supply security, and keep steady growth of crude oil and natural gas output, according to Xi. It is necessary to accelerate the development of new energy sources such as wind, solar, biomass and hydrogen energy that have scale and benefits, coordinate hydropower development and ecological protection, and actively develop nuclear power in a safe and orderly manner, according to Xi.”
In the PD report, Xi also talks about the need to “strengthen the Party’s leadership over the ‘double carbon’ work, strengthen overall coordination, strictly supervise and assess, and promote the formation of synergy. It is necessary to implement the responsibility of the Party and government…incorporate the relevant indicators of ‘double carbon’ work into the comprehensive evaluation system of regional economic and social development, increase the assessment weight and strengthen the constraint of indicators.” 要加强党对“双碳”工作的领导，加强统筹协调，严格监督考核，推动形成工作合力。要实行党政同责，压实各方责任，将“双碳”工作相关指标纳入各地区经济社会发展综合评价体系，增加考核权重，加强指标约束.
In the meantime, do check this out from Bloomberg: China's Carbon Market May Get Stricter Under a New Proposal
Finally, a couple of interesting stories that I read today.
First, the former Party Secretary of Hangzhou has been taken down. The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) said that following an investigation, it has found Zhou Jiangyong of having colluded with the capital and supported the disorderly expansion of capital. Zhou is also accused of having “lost his ideals and beliefs” and deviating from the ‘two safeguards’. He is also accused of violating the rules by interfering in the market economy and engaging in corrupt activities with family members. One of the episodes of the CCTV series on the anti-corruption campaign had covered Zhou’s case.
Second, Xie Jilai, a former vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the Hebei Provincial People’s Congress, is being investigated for suspected serious violations of Party discipline and law.
Third, do read this from WSJ: China’s ‘Common Prosperity’ to Squeeze Cash-Strapped Local Governments
Fourth, this story below:
Finally, this little bit from Germany:
