How Did the Third Plenum Decision Come to Be? - Li Stresses New Quality Productive Forces & Intelligent Manufacturing - USCBC Delegation Visits China - Hamas-Fatah Deal - Second Thomas Shoal Deal
Here are the key reports and articles that I found noteworthy from the People's Daily’s edition on Tuesday, July 23, 2024.
Page 1: There is a long piece today discussing how the Third Plenum resolution came to be. If you’ve read what I have covered in the newsletter in the past few days, you already have a lot of this information. But there is more. For instance, the drafting team comprised around 70 individuals.
“In December 2023, a meeting was held to deploy and research key topics for the plenary session. During this meeting, 55 relevant central departments and units were assigned to research 38 key topics, resulting in 78 research reports. Simultaneously, 16 research groups were formed to conduct investigations across various provinces, regions, cities, the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, and relevant central departments and units. Starting in late December 2023, the relevant leaders of the Party and the State, as well as key provincial and ministerial-level leaders, were engaged to gather their opinions on the topics related to the plenary session. These consultations were conducted through one-on-one interviews, and individual interview records were created for each person. General Secretary Xi Jinping reviewed the opinions of Party and State leaders, as well as the interview reports of key provincial and ministerial-level leaders, one by one. He also made annotations on important opinions and suggestions.” 2023年12月，召开全会重点课题调研部署会议，安排55家中央有关部门和单位就38个重点课题进行调研，此后形成78份调研报告；同时，组成16个调研组，赴各省区市、新疆生产建设兵团和中央有关部门、单位调研。2023年12月下旬起，就全会议题上门听取党和国家有关领导同志以及省部级主要领导同志的意见，一对一单独访谈，并形成一人一稿的访谈记录. 习近平总书记对党和国家领导同志意见及省部级主要负责同志访谈报告逐一审看，对重要意见建议还作了批注.
In General Secretary Xi Jinping’s view, the plenary session Decision ‘should be a document that can play an overall and leading role in further comprehensively deepening reform. It must highlight the key points and focus on strategic and major reform measures crucial to Chinese-style modernization’. ‘General reform measures, developmental measures, and reform measures that the central government has deployed and is implementing will not be included; the aim is to strive to ensure that the draft Decision reflects a higher degree of reform and has a stronger reform flavour. 在习近平总书记心中，全会决定“应该是一个能够对进一步全面深化改革起到全局性、引领性作用的文件，必须更加突出重点，把重心放在事关中国式现代化具有战略性的重大改革举措上”。“一般性改革举措不写、发展性举措不写、中央已经部署正在实施的改革举措不写，力争让决定稿的改革成色更足、改革味更浓.”
Based on Xi’s views and all the opinions gathered, “a reform measures ledger and list were compiled, thereby providing a solid theoretical and practical basis for drafting the decision.” It adds that the team then incorporated “major reform measures most needed for the development of the Party and the country, most anticipated by the people, most urgent for promoting economic and social development, and most feasible under current conditions. In accordance with General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important instructions on conducting thorough research and demonstration of significant reform measures, 53 departments and units were entrusted to organise demonstrations on 21 reform measures. The measures were then screened and selected based on the demonstration results.” 从习近平总书记重要讲话、相关重要文件、各地区各部门各单位反馈意见建议、专题调研报告、访谈材料、课题研究报告等材料中，系统梳理有关领域的重要改革举措，汇总形成改革举措台账和清单，为决定稿的起草提供坚实的理论和实践依据。披沙拣金，选其要者。经反复比选、研究论证，在突出战略性、前瞻性的同时，注重改革举措的针对性、可操作性，将党和国家事业发展最需要、人民群众最期盼、对推进经济社会发展最紧迫、现实条件最具备的重大改革举措纳入文件。根据习近平总书记关于做好重要改革举措研究论证的重要指示要求，先后就21项改革举措，委托53家部门和单位组织论证，并根据论证结果甄别遴选—
On May 7, the draft was circulated for gathering people’s opinions. On May 20, Xi presided over a symposium with non-party personages to listen to their opinions and suggestions. A few days later, General Secretary Xi Jinping hosted a symposium for enterprises and experts in Jinan, Shandong, and listened to everyone’s opinions and suggestions on deepening the reform of the power system, developing venture capital, using technology to transform and upgrade traditional industries, and optimising the business environment of foreign-funded enterprises. Over seven months, the document was revised and polished 38 times. In the end, a total of 221 revisions were made.
On July 15, the document was placed before the plenum. “The 199 members of the Central Committee, 165 alternate members of the Central Committee, and comrades attending the meeting were divided into 10 groups to exchange and discuss in depth and put forward opinions and suggestions. After full discussion, the comrades present put forward 205 revisions. Based on these opinions and suggestions, the document drafting group put forward revision suggestions for the discussion draft.” 出席全会的199名中央委员、165名候补中央委员，还有列席会议的同志，分成10个组，深入交流讨论、提出意见建议。经过充分讨论，与会同志共提出修改意见205条。文件起草组根据这些意见建议，对讨论稿提出修改建议.
On the evening of July 17, General Secretary Xi Jinping presided over a meeting of the Politburo Standing Committee to hear reports on the discussions from each group of the plenary session and the revision suggestions from the document drafting group. He then made 25 amendments to the draft decision. The revised draft was submitted again on the morning of July 18 to the plenary session groups for feedback, after which two more amendments were made, resulting in the draft of the ‘Decision’. 7月17日晚，习近平总书记主持召开中央政治局常委会会议，听取全会各组讨论情况汇报和文件起草组修改建议，对决定稿作出25处修改。形成的修改稿于18日上午再次提交全会分组征求意见，之后又作出2处修改，形成《决定》草案.
Next, there’s a front page commentary on the plenum decision. It says:
“We must deeply realize that a high-level socialist market economic system is an important guarantee for Chinese-style modernization. Only by properly handling the core issue of the relationship between the government and the market, and doing both ‘letting it go to live’ and ‘maintaining control/keeping in check’, can we better stimulate the endogenous motivation and innovation vitality of the whole society; high-quality development is the primary task of building a socialist modern country in an all-round way. Only by leading reform with the new development concept, based on the new development stage, deepening supply-side structural reform, and improving the incentive and constraint mechanism for promoting high-quality development can we create new momentum and new advantages for development; Scientific macro-control and effective management of the government are intrinsic requirements for leveraging the advantages of the socialist market economy system. Only by improving the macro-control system, and advancing key reforms in areas such as fiscal and financial sectors in a coordinated manner, can we enhance the consistency of macroeconomic policy orientations. Urban-rural integrated development is an inevitable requirement of Chinese-style modernization. Only by coordinating new industrialization, new urbanisation, and comprehensive rural revitalization, and comprehensively improving the integration of urban and rural planning, construction, and governance, can we promote equal exchanges and two-way flows of production factors between the cities and the countryside, thereby fostering common prosperity and development of urban and rural areas. Openness is a distinctive feature of Chinese-style modernization. Only by adhering to the basic national policy of opening up, promoting reform through opening up, and building a higher-level open economic system, can we continuously expand the development space for Chinese-style modernization.” 必须深刻认识到，高水平社会主义市场经济体制是中国式现代化的重要保障，只有处理好政府和市场关系这个核心问题，既“放得活”又“管得住”，才能更好激发全社会内生动力和创新活力；高质量发展是全面建设社会主义现代化国家的首要任务，只有以新发展理念引领改革，立足新发展阶段，深化供给侧结构性改革，完善推动高质量发展激励约束机制，才能塑造发展新动能新优势；科学的宏观调控、有效的政府治理是发挥社会主义市场经济体制优势的内在要求，只有完善宏观调控制度体系，统筹推进财税、金融等重点领域改革，才能增强宏观政策取向一致性；城乡融合发展是中国式现代化的必然要求，只有统筹新型工业化、新型城镇化和乡村全面振兴，全面提高城乡规划、建设、治理融合水平，促进城乡要素平等交换、双向流动，才能促进城乡共同繁荣发展；开放是中国式现代化的鲜明标识，只有坚持对外开放基本国策，坚持以开放促改革，建设更高水平开放型经济新体制，才能不断拓展中国式现代化的发展空间.
The article also stresses the importance of education, science and technology, and talents.
Next, there’s a report on Li Qiang’s visit to Tianjin. He visited the Tiankai Higher Education Innovation Park. Li engaged with scientific researchers, technology financial institutions and start-up company leaders to understand the creation of a science and technology innovation service ecosystem and the transformation of research and development results.
Li Qiang said that cultivating new growth engines and developing new quality productive forces are key to reform and innovation. It is necessary to focus on promoting the integrated development of scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation, coordinate the reform of the education, science and technology talent system and mechanism, and create more effective and attractive scientific and technological innovation platforms. In terms of policies, funding, and scientific research resources, further support for technology-based small and medium-sized enterprises and incentives for researchers should be strengthened to promote the conversion and application of more scientific and technological achievements, thus accelerating the development of new quality productive forces. 李强说，培育增长新引擎、发展新质生产力，关键在于改革创新。要着眼于推动科技创新和产业创新融合发展，统筹推进教育科技人才体制机制一体改革，打造更有效、更具吸引力的科创平台.在政策、资金、科研资源等方面，进一步加强对科技型中小企业的支持和对科研人员的激励，促进更多科技成果转化应用，加快发展新质生产力.
Xinhua English does well to summarise the next bit:
“When inspecting an elevator manufacturer and a financial leasing company in the Tianjin Binhai New Area, Li said that good use should be made of favourable policies such as the country’s large-scale equipment upgrade program, and that enterprises should receive vigorous support in promoting innovation and application in the field of artificial intelligence. He also highlighted the importance of financial tools, including financial leasing, in serving the real economy and facilitating industrial transformation and upgrading.”
One key bit from the PD report in this regard is also: Li called for taking “intelligent manufacturing as the main direction”.
Li also listened to the report on the Binhai New Area’s work on deepening reform and opening up and promoting high-quality development. be brave in exploration and dare to take the lead, and stimulate vitality more effectively by deepening reform. This especially requires innovating systems and mechanisms in areas such as pilot free trade zone reform, financial innovation and development, new urbanisation, and high-level opening-up, to break through bottlenecks and constraints. He also said that the area should amplify its port and shipping advantages, stimulate the enormous potential of industrial upgrading, and strengthen its cooperation on policies and projects with neighboring Beijing and Hebei Province to play a greater role in promoting the coordinated development of the region.
Also on the page is a report (English report) on Wang Huning’s remarks at a CPPCC National Committee symposium held to analyze the economic situation in the first half of the year. Wang called on everyone to study and implement the guiding principles from the Third Plenum. He also highlighted the importance of thinking and acting in line with the CPC Central Committee's decisions and plans to further deepen reform comprehensively and advance Chinese modernization.
He “called on political advisors to continue their research on economic structural reform and high-quality development and provide targeted, pragmatic and effective advice. The CPPCC should implement the central authorities' decisions and arrangements on economic work, work to stabilize expectations and build consensus, and help achieve China's full-year economic and social development goals.”
The report adds that CPPCC NC members spoke at the meeting. Their suggestions covered areas like:
deepening the reform of the market-based allocation of factors
promoting the deep integration of technological innovation and industrial innovation
advancing the development of artificial intelligence
leveraging the innovation advantages of state-owned and central enterprises
promoting the high-quality development of the private economy
expanding domestic demand
stabilizing taxes and prices
promoting high-quality development of finance and trade
全国政协委员和专家苗圩、马建堂、易纲、吴富林、黄群慧、刘永好、林洁、孙永才、王一鸣、施一公等发言，围绕深化要素市场化配置改革、促进科技创新与产业创新深度融合、推动人工智能发展、发挥国资央企创新优势、推动民营经济高质量发展、扩大内需、稳定税收和物价、促进金融和贸易高质量发展等问题协商建言.
Finally, there’s a report on Zhao Leji’s meeting with Banri Kaieda, vice speaker of Japan's House of Representatives. Xinhua reports:
Zhao said that “the maintenance and development of friendly and cooperative China-Japan relations conform to the fundamental interests of the two peoples and are conducive to regional and global peace, stability and prosperity. China is ready to work with Japan to implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, continuously enhance political mutual trust, and abide by the principles of and consensus in the four political documents between China and Japan, he said. China is also ready to deepen exchanges and cooperation with Japan in various fields, properly manage and handle sensitive issues, foster positive public opinion and social atmosphere, and push the sound and steady development of bilateral relations forward on the right track, Zhao said. The NPC of China is willing to maintain friendly exchanges with the Japanese Parliament and strengthen exchanges at all legislature levels, and it welcomes Japanese lawmakers to visit and learn about a true China, he added.”
Page 2: There’s a report informing that Li Qiang has signed a decree of the State Council to unveil a set of rules for implementing the country's Law on Guarding State Secrets, which will take effect on September 1. Xinhua reports that the regulations, consisting of six chapters and 74 articles, aim to ensure the implementation of the newly revised Law on Guarding State Secrets in February. The full text of the regulations is available on pages 14 and 15.
Xinhua adds:
The regulations outline further efforts to refine the leadership and management mechanisms related to state-secret protection and to specify the responsibility of relevant parties in a more nuanced fashion. The document also urges efforts to manage the delineation of classified items and the protection of state secrets in an improved manner, and to enhance the supervision of relevant work. According to the regulations, commendations and rewards will be granted to organizations and individuals who have ensured the safety of state secrets in case of emergency or have promptly reported on the activities of leaking or illegally acquiring state secrets, among other meritorious acts. Internet operators should abide by confidentiality laws and protocols, establish a series of mechanisms to expose and handle violations, and devise emergency plans for state-secret leakage, according to the regulations. The regulations also urge strict checks and management of personnel engaged in confidential work and specify different state-secret leakage scenarios in public institutions where responsible personnel will be held accountable and punished due to their violation of relevant statutes.”
Next, there’s a report on Wang Yi’s meeting with Maldivian FM Moosa Zameer. Xinhua says:
Wang said that “China and the Maldives have continuously given each other mutual respect and support since the two sides established diplomatic ties 52 years ago. China-Maldives relations have been a good example of equality and win-win cooperation between countries of different sizes. Noting the two heads of state have agreed to China-Maldives relations to a comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership early this year and jointly build a community with a shared future for China and the Maldives, Wang said China is ready to work with the Maldives to actively implement the important consensus reached by the leaders, deepen political mutual trust, promote friendly exchanges at all levels, and strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields. Moosa Zameer said the Maldives believes that China’s further comprehensive deepening of reform will bring more benefits to the world. He noted that the Maldives firmly adheres to the one-China principle and is willing to continue to actively participate in the Belt and Road Initiative, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation in economy, trade, finance, tourism, culture and other fields”.
Wang also met with a delegation led by Raj Subramaniam, board chair of the U.S.-China Business Council (USCBC) in Beijing. Xinhua says:
Wang told them that “you are the first delegation from the U.S. business community to visit China after the plenum. You can feel the new atmosphere of China's further deepening reform in an all-round way from the first time…He expressed the hope that the U.S. business community will continue to work hand in hand with China to not only achieve greater development for itself but also make new contributions to the development of China-U.S. relations and the friendship between the two peoples. Wang said it is hoped that the USCBC and its member companies will make full use of their connections and influence to present an accurate, multi-dimensional and comprehensive picture of China, and make more objective, positive and rational voices to promote a correct understanding of China in the United States, stop the repression of China's economy, trade and technology, and effectively resolve the obstacles that hinder people-to-people and cultural exchanges to promote the steady and sound development of China-U.S. relations.”
“The U.S. delegation said that the plenum is expected to stimulate a new round of economic reform, further opening up in China, and attract more sustainable foreign investment. They said the U.S. business community is confident in continuing to deepen its cooperation with China and looks forward to further deepening bilateral cooperation in fields such as economy, trade, investment, green development, health, education and people-to-people exchanges. The U.S. business community is committed to building a strong, balanced U.S.-China relationship, they said, noting that the USCBC is willing to actively exert its influence and role and act as a stabilizing force for developing U.S.-China relations.”
Also, there’s a brief report informing that Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba will visit China from July 23 to 26.
Finally, do note that co-chairman of the German Left Party Martin Schirdewan has been visiting China.
There’s nothing in the paper on the agreement and friction with the Philippines, and there is nothing today on the reported Hamas-Fatah deal signed in China.
On the former, SCMP reports:
“Beijing urged Manila to keep its word on Monday as the two countries disputed key elements of a deal over resupply missions to a South China Sea shoal within hours of it being struck. ‘We hope that the Philippine side will honour its commitments, work with the Chinese side and jointly manage the situation at sea,’ Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said. The Philippines said late on Sunday that it had reached an agreement with China on resupply missions to Second Thomas Shoal, a disputed reef controlled by Manila. The statement did not refer to any conditions. The Philippines grounded the ageing BRP Sierra Madre on the shoal in 1999 and has stationed troops there to assert its claims over the area. Beijing confirmed early on Monday that a deal had been struck, adding that it was subject to three conditions: that the Sierra Madre be towed away, prior notification and ‘on-site verification’ be given, and no construction materials be included in the supplies. ‘If the Philippines were to send large amount of construction materials to the warship and attempt to build fixed facilities or permanent outpost, China will absolutely not accept it and will resolutely stop it in accordance with the law and regulations to uphold China’s sovereignty,’ the ministry said.”
“Philippine foreign ministry spokeswoman Teresita Daza said the principles and approaches laid out in the agreement were reached through consultations ‘that paved the way for a convergence of ideas without compromising national positions’. ‘The [Chinese] spokesperson’s statement therefore regarding prior notification and on-site confirmation is inaccurate,’ Daza said. In Beijing, Mao said the ‘provisional arrangement on humanitarian resupply of living necessities’ with the Philippines had demonstrated ‘the goodwill of China’. Observers said the dispute between the rival claimants remained deep and there was no sign that either would back down. But the deal could be seen as an effort to manage the maritime crisis. ‘China’s positions have not changed, and the deal could be seen as a continuation of previous verbal deals such as ‘gentlemen’s agreements, that have now been put in words’,” said Ding Duo, deputy director of the Institute of Maritime Law and Policy at National Institute for South China Sea Studies.”
On the latter, WaPo reports:
“Senior representatives of Palestinian political factions Fatah and Hamas on Tuesday signed a joint statement aiming at ending divisions and building Palestinian unity to conclude three days of meetings in Beijing. The agreement signed by 14 Palestinian factions was hailed by Chinese state media as a breakthrough and a sign of China’s emerging role as a mediator in faraway conflicts. China did not immediately release the text of what they called the “Beijing declaration” or the full list of Palestinian leaders who took part in negotiations hosted by Wang Yi, the Chinese foreign minister. In a speech after talks had ended, Wang called the meeting a “historic moment for the cause of Palestine’s liberation.” “The standout highlight is consensus around establishing an interim national reconciliation government to manage Gaza after the war,” Wang said. He restated China’s support for a “comprehensive, lasing and sustainable cease-fire” and for the convening of a large “international peace conference” to work toward a two-state solution.”