COVID Situation - CBIRC Briefing - Amb. Lu Kang on China-Indonesia Ties - Article on Core Aspects of China's Ethnic Work - Ning Jizhe on Xi's Economic Thought
Here are the stories and pieces that I found noteworthy in the Friday, July 22, 2022, edition of the People’s Daily.
Page 1: Today’s front page is rather uninteresting. At the top of the page is a report about science and technology innovation in China’s colleges and universities. The report informs that:
The funds allocated for research and experimental development in colleges and universities increased from 76.87 billion yuan in 2012 to 159.2 billion yuan in 2021 – cumulative total allocated funds over 10 years exceeded one trillion yuan.
The full-time equivalent of research and experimental development personnel engaged in scientific and technological activities across colleges and universities increased from 209,000 in 2012 to 334,000 in 2021.
Over the past 10 years, the Ministry of Education has cultivated 25 cutting-edge science centres and 38 national-level collaborative innovation centres, and there are more than 1,500 platforms, such as key laboratories of the Ministry of Education, engineering research centres and collaborative innovation centres jointly built by provinces and ministries.
The number of patents granted in colleges and universities increased from 69,000 in 2012 to 308,000 in 2021.
Xinhua English’s report also states that “Chinese colleges and universities have taken the lead in building over 60 percent of the key academic national laboratories and more than 30 percent of the national engineering technology research centres over the past decade.”
Next, there’s a report (English report) about Xi’s letter to the World Youth Development Forum, which began in Beijing on Thursday. A report on the forum opening is on Page 3.
Page 2: There’s a report on the press briefing by the State Council’s joint prevention and control mechanism. NHC’s Mi Feng said that clusters of outbreaks had been reported in many places recently. He informed that the central leadership had “sent working groups to relevant provinces to guide local governments to control the epidemic in the shortest time and at the lowest cost.” He Qinghua, from the disease control department of the NHC, said that the epidemic had affected 78 cities in 21 provincial-level regions in the past week. He added that the overall, resurgences in different localities have been brought under effective control in a short period of time, and the impact of the epidemic is limited. With the rebound in COVID-19 infections around the world, coupled with the increasing flow of people during the summer vacation, the risk of local outbreaks will increase, resulting in a complex epidemic prevention and control situation.
Dong Xiaoping, chief virologist at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said that that the BA.4 and BA.5 strains are more transmissible than other subvariants of Omicron, but their pathogenicity－meaning the virus’ ability to attack human bodies－currently shows no major difference from other strains. With BA.4 and BA.5 variants having become dominant in some regions and triggered fresh infection spikes in parts of Europe and America, he said the incidence and mortality rates of the disease will likely rise, citing results of epidemiological models. ‘However, there is no evidence to show that non-pharmaceutical interventions (such as mask wearing and keeping social distance) will no longer work,’ he said. ‘In other words, China's current virus containment measures remain effective’.”
Dong added that “Experts at home and abroad believe that the current COVID-19 vaccination is still effective. Vaccination, especially booster shots, for the elderly and those with underlying conditions remains the most effective preventive measure.” “国内外专家认为，现行的新冠疫苗接种仍然有效。老年人、有基础病的人群接种疫苗，特别是接种加强针，仍然是最有效的预防措施。”董小平说.
The total number of people who have received vaccinations in China is 1.298 billion; the total number of people who have received the whole course of vaccination is 1.264 billion (89.7% of the total population). The number of people over 60 years old who have been vaccinated is at 236.169 million (89.45% of total elderly population), and the number of people in this age group who have completed the whole course of vaccination is 223.11 million (84.5% of the total population).
Another report from the press conference that I found says that the officials said that there is no need to carry out nucleic acid testing for everyone in a district where the source of a COVID-19 outbreak and the chain of transmission are both clear and no community transmission is detected as judged by epidemiological survey.
“People in risk areas or having time and space overlap with the positive cases should undergo screenings. Nucleic acid testing for all is necessary in those districts with an unclear chain of transmission, with quite a few risk areas and risk groups of people, or where people are in frequently mobility so that the outbreak tends to further spread, said Wang Liping, a researcher at the infectious disease prevention and control department of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Different PCR testing strategies within a district in a provincial capital, a city with a population of at least 10 million, or a regular city or village are made clear in the country’s ninth edition of the National Health Commission's guideline for COVID-19 Diagnosis and Treatment.”
Next, there’s a report based on the press conference by the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission. Some key data points from the article:
In the first half of the year, manufacturing loans increased by 3.3 trillion yuan, an increase of 1.6 trillion yuan year-on-year, of which high-tech manufacturing loans increased by 28.9% year-on-year. The green credit balance of 21 major banks was 18.6 trillion yuan.
At the end of the second quarter, the balance of non-performing loans of commercial banks was 2.95 trillion yuan, an increase of 106.9 billion yuan from the beginning of the year, and the non-performing loan ratio was 1.67%, down 0.06 percentage points from the beginning of the year.
In the first half of the year, the disposal of non-performing assets was 1.41 trillion yuan, an increase of 219.7 billion yuan year-on-year.
Entrusted loans and trust loans fell by 380.6 billion yuan in the first half of this year…The CBIRC will “continue to strictly prevent the rebound of shadow credit banking, forbid multi-layer nested investment, idle capital transfer and shifting from real to virtual, bring all financial activities under supervision, and unify supervision standards of similar institutions and products.” Data show that the scale of China’s quasi-credit shadow banking has dropped by more than 25 trillion yuan from its historical peak, and the momentum of savage expansion has been curbed. 银保监会持续压降高风险影子银行业务，上半年委托贷款和信托贷款合计减少3806亿元...银保监会将继续严防类信贷影子银行反弹回潮，严禁多层嵌套投资、资金空转、脱实向虚等，把所有金融活动纳入监管，统一同类机构和产品监管标准...数据显示，我国类信贷影子银行规模较历史峰值大幅压降超过25万亿元，野蛮扩张势头已经得到遏制.
By the end of June, interbank wealth management in China declined from over 6 trillion yuan at its peak to around 10 billion yuan, said Liu Zhongrui, deputy director-general of the CBIRC's statistics, IT & risk surveillance department
Small and medium-sized banks have total assets of 96 trillion yuan, accounting for about 29 percent of the banking sector’s total. Small and medium-sized banks’ loans to agriculture, rural areas and farmers and loans to small and micro enterprises account for 39% and 46% of the lending, respectively. 其中，中小银行的“三农”贷款和小微企业贷款分别占到银行业的39%和46%。
Small and medium-sized banks have handled non-performing loans worth 594.5 billion yuan (about $87.8 billion) in the first half of this year, up 118.4 billion yuan over the same period last year. In terms of capital replenishment, in H1, with the State Council’s approval, a quota of 103 billion yuan has been allocated to Liaoning, Gansu, Henan and other places. At the same time, small and medium-sized banks have been instructed to supplement their capital through marketisation. 多渠道补充资本。上半年，经国务院批准，已经向辽宁、甘肃、河南等地分配了1030亿元额度，同时指导中小银行借助市场化补充资本。
By the end of May 2022, foreign banks had set up 41 foreign-funded corporate banks, 116 foreign bank branches and 134 representative offices in China. Overseas insurance institutions had set up 67 foreign-funded insurance institutions and 80 representative offices in China.
This chunk on the property sector from Global Times report on the presser is important:
“In June, real estate loans increased by 200.3 billion yuan, and the overall operation of real estate credit was stable, according to the CBIRC. The regulator will work with the People's Bank of China, the central bank, to lower the floor of interest rates on first-time home loans by 20 basis points and guide banks to speed up mortgage loan approval, which has reached the fastest pace since 2019, CBIRC said. ‘We will optimize housing finance services. More than 90 percent of mortgages are for buyers of first homes,’ Liu Zhongrui, head of the Statistical Information and Risk Monitoring Department of the CBIRC, said on Thursday. Qi also noted that the CBIRC will adhere to the principle that ‘houses are for living, not for speculation’, implement differentiated housing credit policies for each city, and prudently defuse risks in the real estate sector. ‘The CBIRC attached great importance to the guarantee of house deliveries. We have stepped up coordination with relevant departments to support local governments in their efforts to ensure housing deliveries, people's wellbeing and stability,’ said Liu. Liu noted that the regulator will encourage banks to actively study the plan to solve the funding gap, do a good job in providing credit, and assist in promoting the quick resumption of construction and early delivery of housing. Guaranteeing the delivery of housing is a top priority, which will be the work focus of local governments in the second half of the year, a Guangzhou-based veteran industry observer surnamed Zhao told the Global Times on Thursday. ‘The core of house delivery is to guarantee the interests of homebuyers. Banks could roll over mortgage loans until the projects are completed or construction actually resumes, which may be what financial regulators are trying to say,’ Zhao said. Tian Yun, a Beijing-based veteran macroeconomic analyst, told the Global Times that the improvement of the real estate industry is important for the recovery of investment and consumption, which will be the driving forces of economic growth in the second half of the year. Tian said that the deterioration in the housing industry in the second quarter "must be reversed as soon as possible" so that property developers will not pass on bad debts to buyers because of unfinished, stalled housing projects.”
Finally, speaking on the tensions related to the banking scandals in Henan and Anhui, the report says:
“Four rural banks in Henan and one in Anhui were recently in the spotlight, with depositors finding that they could not withdraw their expired savings, starting from April 18 this year. An initial police probe on June 18 indicated a scam was behind the case. The CBIRC noted that the local financial regulators in Henan and Anhui will start the second round of advance payments for depositors, who have reported difficulty in withdrawing money from local village banks, from July 25. The clients in this second round of advance payments will be customers initially with combined deposits in the related banks of no more than 100,000 yuan (14,788) apiece, according to announcements by the Henan Office and Anhui Office of the CBIRC on Thursday. The first round of the returned funds targeted those with deposits totaling 50,000 yuan or less in a single bank, starting from July 15. In terms of the proportion of depositors with assets under 100,000 yuan out of all bank clients, Qi Xiang, spokesperson and director of Regulation Department of the CBIRC, said on Thursday at the press conference that in order to ensure the authenticity of information, the two provinces have set up a new customer information registration system, and are doing customer registration work.”
Finally, a report with Sun Chunlan’s comments on the development of high-quality education. One data point in this is that China's newly-added labour force has an average education period of 13.8 years. 我国新增劳动力平均受教育年限达13.8年，教育为现代化建设提供了有力的人才支撑。
Page 3: A couple of reports to note. First, a report informing that Indonesian President Joko Widodo will be visiting China next week. MoFA has confirmed that Widodo will meet with Xi and Li Keqiang. Xinhua added that “Widodo will have face-to-face talks with Chinese leaders about the G20 Summit and discuss how to meet the current prominent global challenges, thus demonstrating the solidarity and coordination among major developing countries, injecting more positive energy into the post-pandemic development of the world economy, and contributing more to global equity and justice.”
Also on the page is an article by Lu Kang, the Chinese Ambassador to Indonesia. In terms of practical cooperation, he says that:
“China and Indonesia have set a benchmark for pragmatic cooperation between countries. The development strategies of the two countries have been deeply integrated, and the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway and other landmark projects of the Belt and Road Initiative have continued to make significant progress. As of now, more than 91% of the civil works of the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed rail line have been completed, and all 13 tunnels have been connected. Key projects such as ‘Regional Comprehensive Economic Corridor’ and ‘Two Countries, Two Parks’ provide acceleration for Indonesia’s development and cooperation between the two countries. The economic and trade cooperation between the two countries has been improved and upgraded. In 2021, the bilateral trade volume will exceed the $100 billion mark for the first time. China has been Indonesia’s largest trading partner for 9 consecutive years and Indonesia’s largest export destination for 6 consecutive years. China is also Indonesia’s main source of investment. The two countries have turned challenges into opportunities and worked together to create new highlights of anti-epidemic cooperation, which has truly benefited the two countries and the two peoples, and demonstrated the resilience of China-Indonesia relations.” 中印尼打造了国与国之间务实合作的标杆。两国发展战略深度对接，雅万高铁等共建“一带一路”标志性项目不断取得重大进展。截至目前，雅万高铁全线土建工程完成量超过91%，13座隧道已全部贯通。“区域综合经济走廊”“两国双园”等重点项目为印尼发展和两国合作提供加速度。两国经贸合作提质升级，2021年双边贸易额首次突破千亿美元大关，中国连续9年成为印尼最大贸易伙伴，连续6年成为印尼最大的产品出口目的地国，中国还是印尼主要投资来源国。两国化挑战为机遇，合力打造抗疫合作新亮点，真正造福了两国和两国人民，体现了中印尼关系的韧性.
He later adds:
China and Indonesia are the backbone/mainstay/nucleus (中坚力量) of unity and cooperation among large developing countries. China and Indonesia have joined hands to oppose imperialism and hegemonism. On the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence put forward by China, the Bandung Conference established 10 principles to promote world peace and cooperation. The Bandung spirit of unity, friendship and cooperation still has great vitality today. As important developing countries and important members of the international community, China and Indonesia share broad common interests and have maintained close communication and coordination in regional and international affairs. China hosted the BRICS Summit this year and Indonesia will host the G20 Summit later in the year; they are two protagonists of the ‘Asian Moment’ in global governance. 中印尼是发展中大国团结协作的中坚力量。中印尼曾携手反对帝国主义、霸权主义，在中方提出的和平共处五项原则基础上，万隆会议形成了促进世界和平与合作的十项原则，团结、友谊、合作的万隆精神时至今日仍然具有强大生命力。中印尼作为重要的发展中国家和国际社会重要成员，具有广泛共同利益，在地区和国际事务中保持着密切沟通协调。中国和印尼今年分别主办金砖国家领导人会晤和二十国集团领导人峰会，是全球治理“亚洲时刻”的两个主角.
Second, a report (English report) informing us that German chemical giant BASF SE has greenlighted the construction of the planned Verbund site in the city of Zhanjiang. The report adds that this is the first wholly foreign-funded project in China’s heavy chemical industry. BASF will invest up to 10 billion euros (about 10.2 billion U.S. dollars) by 2030 to build the new Verbund site, the company’s statement said.
Third, there’s a report on the 11th China-Africa Think Tank Forum. Nearly 200 people, including government officials from China and Africa, diplomatic envoys of some African countries in China, experts and scholars, and media personalities, attended the meeting.
Page 4: There’s a report on the propaganda department doing a press briefing on Chinese youth going back to the countryside/grassroots and building their dreams. The report comprises the stories of a few college graduates who have gone back and succeeded.
Second, a report on United Front chief You Quan’s visit to Liaoning. In Shenyang city, he discussed the development of private enterprises and the assistance provided by the United Front Work Department to help enterprises; he also visited places of religious activities to investigate and promote the achievements in the practice of the sinicization of religion. Later at a symposium, he talked about “preventing and resolving potential risks” ahead of the 20th Party Congress. The report adds that he:
“stressed that United Front Work departments at all levels should function from the perspective of safeguarding the security of the Party’s rule, fully understand the utmost significance of preventing and defusing hidden risks in the United Front domain, further enhance their sense of hardship, foresight and initiative in their work, and strengthen their assessment and ability to prevent of all kinds of hidden risks with a sense of responsibility…persist in making prudent and steady progress, make plans before moving, pay attention to strategies and methods, implement the requirements of risk prevention from details to reality, firmly defend the Two Establishments and resolutely achieve the Two Safeguards.” 尤权强调，各级统战部门要站在维护党的执政安全的高度，充分认识防范化解统战领域风险隐患的极端重要性，进一步增强忧患意识和工作的预见性、主动性，以“时时放心不下”的责任感，加强对各类风险隐患的研判和防范，为党委和政府站好岗放好哨。要坚持守土有责、守土负责、守土尽责，坚持慎重稳进、谋定后动，讲究策略方法，从细从实落实好防风险工作各项要求，坚定捍卫“两个确立”、坚决做到“两个维护”.
Third, there’s an article bylined 周珊珊. The author basically talks about Xi’s recent visit to Xinjiang. The author says that:
“China is a unified multi-ethnic country, and ethnic work is related to the overall situation. The Party will unswervingly follow the correct path of solving ethnic problems with Chinese characteristics, insist on building the awareness of the Chinese nation as a community as the main line of the Party's ethnic work, and promote the common unity, struggle, prosperity and development of all ethnic groups. The Party has creatively combined Marxist ethnic theory with the specific realities of China's ethnic issues, and established an ethnic theory and ethnic policy with ethnic equality, ethnic unity, regional ethnic autonomy and common prosperity and development of all ethnic groups as the main contents. All ethnic groups have achieved true equality, unity and progress under the socialist system…Only by adhering to the correct path of solving ethnic problems with Chinese characteristics, constantly enriching and developing the Party’s ethnic theory in the new era, and comprehensively implementing the Party’s ethnic policy can we better safeguard ethnic unity, social stability and national unity.” 我国是统一的多民族国家，民族工作关乎大局。党坚定不移走中国特色解决民族问题的正确道路，坚持把铸牢中华民族共同体意识作为党的民族工作主线，促进各民族共同团结奋斗、共同繁荣发展。党创造性地把马克思主义民族理论同中国民族问题具体实际相结合，确立了以民族平等、民族团结、民族区域自治、各民族共同繁荣发展为主要内容的民族理论和民族政策，各民族在社会主义制度下实现了真正意义上的平等团结进步...坚持走中国特色解决民族问题的正确道路，不断丰富和发展新时代党的民族理论，全面贯彻落实党的民族政策，才能更好维护民族团结、社会稳定、国家统一.
The article adds:
“Cultivating a community consciousness of the Chinese nation is an inevitable requirement to safeguard the fundamental interests of all ethnic groups. We must firmly grasp the main line of building the consciousness of the Chinese nation as a community, deepen the education of national unity and progress, and guide the people of all ethnic groups to firmly establish the community concept of sharing weal and woe, sharing life and death, and sharing destiny, and gradually realise all-round integration in spatial, cultural, economic, social and psychological aspects, constantly consolidate the ideological foundation of the Chinese nation as a community, and promote all ethnic groups to stick together like pomegranate seeds in the big family of the Chinese nation.” 铸牢中华民族共同体意识是维护各民族根本利益的必然要求。必须紧紧抓住铸牢中华民族共同体意识这条主线，深化民族团结进步教育，引导各族群众牢固树立休戚与共、荣辱与共、生死与共、命运与共的共同体理念，逐步实现在空间、文化、经济、社会、心理等方面的全方位嵌入，不断巩固中华民族共同体思想基础，促进各民族在中华民族大家庭中像石榴籽一样紧紧抱在一起.
“Cultural identity is the deepest level of identity. Only by correcting the historical and cultural cognition, establishing the correct views of the country, history, nationality, culture and religion, enhancing the recognition of the great motherland, the Chinese nation, Chinese culture, the Communist Party of China, and socialism with Chinese characteristics and forging the Chinese heart and soul, can we build the common spiritual home of the Chinese nation. Building the great motherland together, creating a better life together, realising, safeguarding and developing the fundamental interests of all ethnic groups together will surely make the Chinese nation community unbreakable.” 文化认同是最深层次的认同。端正历史文化认知，树立正确的国家观、历史观、民族观、文化观、宗教观，增进对伟大祖国、中华民族、中华文化、中国共产党、中国特色社会主义的认同，铸牢中国心、中华魂，才能构筑中华民族共有精神家园。共同建设伟大祖国，共同创造美好生活，实现好、维护好、发展好各民族根本利益，一定能让中华民族共同体牢不可破.
Page 12: There’s a piece by Ning Jizhe on Xi’s economic thought. He begins with praise for Xi.
“Since the 18th Party Congress, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core has accurately judged the new historical orientation of China’s development, scientifically grasped the historical conditions facing the country’s development, and continuously promoted the sinicization of Marxist political economy in guiding and promoting economic and social development, establishing Xi Jinping Economic Thought and writing a new chapter in contemporary Marxism…” 党的十八大以来，以习近平同志为核心的党中央准确判断我国发展新的历史方位，科学把握发展面对的历史条件，在指导推动经济社会发展工作中，不断推进马克思主义政治经济学中国化时代化，形成了习近平经济思想，谱写出当代马克思主义的崭新篇章，奏响了21世纪马克思主义的时代凯歌.
He calls Xi Jinping Economic Thought “the theoretical crystallisation of the practice of socialist economic development in the new era” and as having made “important and original contributions to the enrichment and development of Marxist political economy.” He says that Xi’s economic thought has “not only deepens the Party’s understanding of the law of economic development, especially the law of socialist economic development, and improved the Party’s ability to develop and control the socialist market economy, but also endowed Marxism with a new connotation of the times, opened up a new realm of Marxist political economy in contemporary China, and realised a new leap in the sinicization of Marxist political economy. At the same time, it has also provided a new theory for different countries around the world to develop their economies and improve people’s livelihood, and contributed new wisdom to solving human development problems.” 不仅深化了我们党对经济发展规律特别是社会主义经济建设规律的认识，提高了我们发展和驾驭社会主义市场经济的能力，而且赋予马克思主义以新的时代内涵，开拓了当代中国马克思主义政治经济学的新境界，实现了马克思主义政治经济学中国化时代化新的飞跃。同时，也为世界不同国家发展经济、改善民生提供了新的理论，为解决人类发展问题贡献了新的智慧.
In the second section, he talks about the importance of graphing the two persistences, i.e., persisting with the Party’s overall leadership of economic work and persisting with the people-centred development philosophy. In the latter context, he mentions common prosperity too.
He then talks about the three news and one high, i.e., the new stage of development, the new development concept and the new development pattern, and high-quality development, which is critical to the three news.
Entering a new stage of development is the historical orientation of China’s economic development, and the fundamental basis for the Party to define its phased, central tasks and formulate its line, principles and policies;
Adhering to the new development concept is the guiding principle of China's economic development and the strategic guideline for China to enter a new development stage and construct a new development pattern.
Constructing a new development pattern is the path choice for China's economic development; it is the inevitable choice to adapt to the requirements of China's new development stage and shape new advantages in international cooperation and competition.
进入新发展阶段，是我国经济发展的历史方位，是我们党明确阶段性中心任务、制定路线方针政策的根本依据；坚持新发展理念，是我国经济发展的指导原则，是我国进入新发展阶段、构建新发展格局的战略指引；构建新发展格局，是我国经济发展的路径选择，是适应我国发展新阶段要求、塑造国际合作和竞争新优势的必然选择；
In the final section, he provides five action points:
adhere to the general tone of seeking progress while maintaining stability; in this, he says that it is necessary to “actively introduce policies conducive to economic stability, boost confidence and mobilise the enthusiasm of all sectors.”
adhere to the system concept
adhere to the combination of goal orientation and problem orientation
insist on concentrating on running your own affairs well; in this, he says that it is important to deal with the uncertainty of the international environment with stable domestic economic development.
adhere to implementation with the spirit of nailing nails; this is basically an argument for actually acting and doing things in order to shape effective positive outcomes.
Finally, he calls on cadres to “earnestly study and deeply comprehend Xi Jinping Economic Thought, fully grasp its core essence, spiritual essence, rich connotation, and practical requirements, make greater efforts to learn, understand and put it into practice, and consciously be firm believers and faithful practitioners of Xi Jinping Economic Thought…”