Governing HK, Overall National Security, Ideology & Rule of Law
Below are the stories that I found noteworthy from the People’s Daily’s January 27, 2021, edition.
Page 1: Let’s begin with reports about Xi Jinping’s conversations with the chief executive’s of Hong Kong and Macao. It’s funny that the headline says that “Xi Jinping listens to Carrie Lam’s work report” but the story basically talks about what Xi said. Only the last line mentions what Lam said. Anyway, Xinhua English’s report has all the details that the PD report carries. Xi spoke about the “fourth wave” of COVID-19 outbreak in Hong Kong. He added that “certain success has been achieved in maintaining order, fighting the virus, addressing people's difficulties and reviving the economy” over the past year.
Here’s more: “On major issues such as national security, you have taken a firm stand and assumed responsibilities, demonstrating your love of and deep sense of responsibility to the motherland and Hong Kong...The central authorities fully acknowledge your performance and the performance of the HKSAR government in fulfilling duties...Xi said that Hong Kong can only maintain its long-term stability and security by ensuring ‘patriots governing Hong Kong’.”
Finally, he also sent “regards” to HK officials “who were unreasonably sanctioned by the United States.”
Next, it was Xi’s chat with Macao’s chief executive He Yicheng. He praised (PD report) the work in containing the pandemic, given Macao’s had no new cases in over 300 days, and spoke about deeper integration of the region in the PRC’s overall development strategy.
Li Keqiang then had the opportunity to speak to both Carrie Lam and He Yicheng about their work. PD covers this too. There are no details about the conversation, apart from Li also offering a pat on the back.
Also on the page, is a short report about Xi sending a congratulatory message to Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa on his re-election as president of Portugal.
Next, Li Zhanshu, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, spoke to Pakistan’s National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser. PD reports that Li telling Qaiser that the two countries should build CPEC “into a demonstration project for high-quality development of the Belt and Road.” He also wants the two sides to maintain “close multilateral cooperation, jointly uphold the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, defend multilateralism and the basic norms of international relations, maintain international fairness and justice…” Li also spoke about the necessity to “amend or issue legal documents that are conducive to the development of bilateral relations” in order to provide legal protection to cooperation. What the PD report does not mention, however, is that both sides have asked their parliaments to take necessary steps for constitution of the joint parliamentary committee to oversee CPEC.
Here’s also what Qaiser told Li. This is from Dawn, and didn’t get mentioned in People’s Daily. “He said Pakistan valued Chinese support on international and regional forums. He said Kashmir being the bleeding wound on the map of the world needed international attention for mitigation of miseries of Kashmiri people and fulfilment of international commitment. He said China’s equivocal support on the Kashmir issue was valued by the people and the government of Pakistan.”
Finally, a commentary based on Xi Jinping’s Davos speech, which basically hits the same talking points about the focus on the UN and saying no to cold, hot, trade and tech wars, etc.
Page 2: Just one story to highlight. With the Spring Festival holidays starting soon, the State Council Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism on the pandemic held a press conference, basically asking people not to travel unless necessary and talking about testing, response of local governments and eliminating possible clusters.
Page 3: More pieces on Xi Jinping’s Davos speech. First, a report about foreigners praising the speech. Second, a commentary based on the speech.
Page 4: First, Liu He assessed the transport preparations in Beijing ahead of the Spring Festival rush. He described this as “an important political task” and a matter of “people’s livelihood.”
Second, the National Organization Ministers Meeting was held in Beijing on the 27th, with Chen Xi leading the meeting. He spoke about the need for “political excellence.” And then highlighted the need to “further optimize the work of cadre training and selection, highlight the centralized renewal of the local leadership team, ensure that cadres are assigned their positions based on talents; implement a more active, more open, and more effective talent policy to fully stimulate talent innovation. It is necessary to strictly strengthen the self-construction of organizational departments, improve political judgment, political understanding, and political execution, and establish a good image of loyalty, cleanness and responsibility.”
Finally, a commentary on discipline — of course, there’s a huge gap between the image and reality. But this is useful to note given that there is so much debate about the irrelevance of ideology for CCP. The truth is that ideology matters and has increasingly mattered more under Xi. Here are some excerpts. “To take the lead in ruling with integrity and take the lead in opposing privileges. This is of great guidance for the majority of party members and cadres to consciously resist the erosion of various corrupt ideas and maintain the political nature of the Communists.”
“To combat corruption and build a clean politics, it is necessary to rely on both ex post facto discipline, external constraints, but also need to rely on prior guidance, to strengthen self-awareness. Integrity and self-discipline awareness to strengthen the problem of ambiguity in the ideological understanding is resolved…Faith in Marxism, faith in socialism with Chinese characteristics and communism, and loyalty to the party and the people are the fundamentals of the Communist Party to withstand the storm and strengthen the foundation to forge the soul.”
Page 9: Two pieces on the Theory page today to note. First, a piece that talks about the political work in the armed forces. So there’s a lot of reference to sticking to Xi Jinping’s guidance and Xi’s thought and so on. Here’s more:
“We must let the broad masses of officers and soldiers memorize our army’s glorious history, heroic figures, and great spirit, so that loyalty to the party is rooted in the minds of officers and soldiers and transformed into conscious action. The dam of thought must be built every day, and the ‘calcium’ of the spirit must be supplemented every day. It is necessary to persist in accumulating and subtle, educating and guiding officers and soldiers to integrate lofty ideals into their daily work and life, and take every step of their lives.”
There’s also this, which is interesting. China’s last war dates back to the conflict with Vietnam in 1979. And there’s been much written about the PLA’s “peace disease.” So this is noteworthy as part of political work: “To enhance the modernity and appeal of the ideological and political education of the army, it is necessary to continuously inspire the fighting spirit of ‘one is not afraid of hardship and the other is not afraid of death’ among the officers and soldiers.”
Second, a piece on the Chinese system and the utility of the rule of law to ensure that it further strengthens this system. It draws a lot on recent official documents, reiterating the key goals. But two bits I thought are useful. First, here’s a decent summary of what the Chinese governance system comprises:
“the leadership of the Communist Party of China is the most essential feature of socialism with Chinese characteristics. The basic leadership system under the leadership of the Communist Party of China; the people’s congress system is the fundamental political system of our country, and the democratic centralism of the people’s congress system shall be established as the political system; the basic system of adhering to the guiding position of Marxism in the ideological field and establishing the national guiding ideology system. The basic political system constituted by the multi-party cooperation and political consultation system, the ethnic regional autonomy system, and the grassroots mass autonomy system led by the Communist Party of China; public ownership is the main body, multiple ownership economies develop together...the coexistence, the socialist market economic system, etc. constitute the basic socialist economic system; the absolute leadership system of the Chinese Communist Party over the people’s army; and other important systems in various aspects. These systems are formed through long-term struggle and practical exploration under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party of China. They are great creations in the history of human system civilization. They must be persistent, fully implemented, and continuously developed for a long time.”
Second the proposed philosophical approach to rule of law: “Generally speaking, the rule of law should be a summary of experience, a reflection of the law, the consensus of society, and with the development of the country and society to keep pace with the times, improve the development of such a rule of law, the ‘long-term’ security role will play better; otherwise, its role will play less well. The socialist rule of law is a rule of law that adapts to the development and progress of the country and society, and will play an important and lasting role in the historical process of building a modern socialist country and achieving the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.”
Page 11: Ma Zhenchao, professor at the National Security College of the People's Public Security University of China, writes about the concept of “overall national security.” Ma writes that “the country's development strategy and the country's security strategy together constitute the country’s grand strategy.” He then identifies a few key points that underscore this overall national security concept:
“coordinate development and security...integrate security development into all fields and the entire process of national development; to integrate national security into all aspects of the party and the state’s work.”
“Create a stable and safe external environment for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.” This requires China to be a “a contributor to global development, and a defender of international order.” At the same time, he wants to “establish a common, comprehensive, cooperative, and sustainable new security concept.”
Page 17: Here’s what we have on the international page:
