Li @ EAS - Common Prosperity: There are no Free Lunches - 'Supreme Leaders' Guide PRC-DPRK Ties - Zhong Sheng Commentary Against Taiwan's IO Engagement - Wang Yi Wants Neighbours to Work with Taliban
My apologies for skipping yesterday’s edition. Had a lengthy morning meeting, which kept me occupied. There were a couple of commentary pieces from yesterday, which I’ll try and cover in an edition tomorrow, if I can.
Anyway, here are the stories and pieces from the October 29, 2021, edition of the People’s Daily that I found noteworthy.
Page 1: Let’s begin with Li Keqiang attending the 16th East Asia Summit. The full speech is published on Page 2, with the English version available here. Li said:
East Asia must pursue parallel progress in fighting the pandemic and recovering the economy, and inject continued impetus into global development.
He talked about the EAS being a “strategic forum” and it must “pursue political and security cooperation and economic and social progress in a balanced way.”
He spoke about cooperating on COVID-19-related concerns
He said: “We need to uphold free and fair trade, strengthen the capacity for supplying commodities, key spare parts and other important goods, ensure unimpeded international logistics and oppose all forms of trade protectionism.”
Li backed RCEP and talked about China’s CPTPP application, and talked about the need to “synergize” post-COVID development strategies.
“East Asia needs to play an active part in the green and low-carbon transition process and promote green recovery of the regional economy in the post-COVID era. We need to follow the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, fully and effectively implement the Paris Agreement and support COP26 to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in achieving positive outcomes.”
“Historical experience shows that an ASEAN-centered, open and inclusive regional cooperation architecture meets the needs of the realities, and the ASEAN Way of consensus building, non-interference in internal affairs and accommodating each other’s comfort levels is consistent with East Asian traditions.”
On the South China Sea, he said:
“Peace and stability in the South China Sea concerns China’s vital interests. Thanks to the joint efforts of China and ASEAN countries, the situation in the South China Sea has maintained overall stability and there has never been a problem with the freedom of navigation and overflight...China has all along worked with ASEAN countries to properly handle the South China Sea issue on the basis of mutual respect in accordance with international law including UNCLOS and in light of the regional realities.” He added: “we are actively advancing consultations on a code of conduct (COC) and have agreed to reach early conclusion of an effective, substantive COC consistent with international law including UNCLOS.” And in saying so, he said that he hopes “countries from outside the region (will) respect the efforts of regional countries for peace and stability in the South China Sea, refrain from any actions that may aggravate tensions and expand disagreements.”
Next, we have a commentary talking about the spirit of Nanniwan. This refers to 1941, when a unit of the Eighth Route Army responding “to the call of the Party Central Committee, holding a gun in one hand and a pickaxe in the other, and rushing to Nanniwan, more than 40 kilometers southeast of Yan’an, to reclaim wasteland and turn the barren Gobi into fertile land.” If you are so spiritually inclined, here are some spirits that the State Council’s website has explained.
Next, we have a report which provides the latest data from the China Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Promotion Alliance. China has 2.223 million EV charging units as of September, up 56.8 percent year on year. The report adds that China added 237,000 public charging piles in the first nine months, bringing the number to 1.044 million by the end of September, up 72.3 percent from a year earlier.
Finally, we have a short report about the State Council releasing a plan for the protection and application of intellectual property rights. The plan talks about making significant improvements in its IPR management capability by 2025. The plan has four goals:
the protection of intellectual property rights to a new level
the use of intellectual property rights to achieve new results
ensuring new levels of intellectual property services
making new breakthroughs in international cooperation on intellectual property rights
Page 2: A couple of stories to note on the page. First, Yang Jiechi met with Ri Ryong Nam, ambassador of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to China.
Xinhua English reports that Yang said that bilateral ties had “entered a new period in recent years.” He added that China is willing to work with the DPRK to implement the important consensus of the top leaders of the two parties and the two countries, maintain high-level interaction, strengthen strategic coordination, enhance pragmatic cooperation, promote the continuous development of bilateral relations, and make contributions to regional peace and stability.”
I like how in PD, Ri Ryong Nam talks about moving ahead by implementing the will of the two supreme leaders “最高领导.”
Second, we have a report (Xinhua English) about the NPC Foreign Affairs Committee reacting to Taiwan’s Joseph Wu’s visit to the Czech Republic. The statement says that “the Czech Senate’s invitation to the Taiwan official is a serious violation of the one-China principle and gross interference in China's internal affairs. ‘The NPC of China firmly opposes this’.”
The statement adds that this decision “violated the political commitments made by the Czech side to China and severely damaged the political foundation of China-Czech relations, said the statement. “Those who engage in political manipulation on the Taiwan question will end up swallowing the bitter fruit themselves...We urge relevant Czech institutions and individuals to abide by the one-China principle, stop interfering in China’s internal affairs, and take concrete actions to safeguard China-Czech relations.”
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also issued a similar comment.
While on the Taiwan issue, we also have a report about MoFA’s comments about Tsai Ing-wen’s interview to CNN.
Wang Wenbin said that:
“the one-China principle is the political foundation of China-US relations. On the Taiwan question, the US should abide by the one-China principle and the stipulations of the three China-US joint communiqués, rather than something unilaterally concocted by itself. We firmly oppose official and military ties in any form between the US and the Taiwan region, and oppose the US interference in China's internal affairs. The US vessels have repeatedly flexed its muscles to make provocations and stir up troubles in the Taiwan Strait in recent times, sending gravely wrong signals to the ‘Taiwan independence’ forces and threatening cross-Strait peace and stability. The international community is clear-eyed about who is engaging in ‘coercion’ on the Taiwan question...The DPP authorities’ acts of seeking ‘Taiwan independence’ can not change the iron-clad fact that Taiwan is a part of China, neither will it shake the international community's universal and firm commitment to the one-China principle.”
Also we have a Zhong Sheng commentary on the Taiwan issue. This is sort of a response to Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s comments about Taiwan’s participation in the UN system.
Blinken had said that:
“Taiwan’s exclusion undermines the important work of the UN and its related bodies, all of which stand to benefit greatly from its contributions. We need to harness the contributions of all stakeholders toward solving our shared challenges. That is why we encourage all UN Member States to join us in supporting Taiwan’s robust, meaningful participation throughout the UN system and in the international community, consistent with our ‘one China’ policy, which is guided by the Taiwan Relations Act, the three Joint Communiques, and the Six Assurances.”
The commentary says that comments from US politicians have “seriously violated the One-China principle and the provisions of the three Joint Communiques, violated its own commitments and violated basic norms governing international relations. They have sent a serious wrong signal to the ‘Taiwan independence’ forces and pushed China-UU relations in the direction of confrontation.” 美方言行严重违反一个中国原则和中美三个联合公报规定，违背自身所作承诺，违反国际关系基本准则，是向“台独”势力发出严重错误信号，是将中美关系往对抗方向推.
The piece says that participation in international institutions has been a key part of the DPP’s agenda and by backing this, the US is sending the wrong signal. “The Taiwan region’s participation in the activities of international organizations must be handled in accordance with the one-China principle. Resolution 2758 of the General Assembly has thoroughly solved the issue of China’s representation in the United Nations politically, legally and procedurally. The United Nations system, specialized agencies and the United Nations Secretariat should abide by the one-China principle and General Assembly resolution 2758 in all matters concerning Taiwan.” 台湾地区参与国际组织活动必须按照一个中国原则处理。联大第2758号决议已经从政治上、法律上和程序上彻底解决了中国在联合国的代表权问题。联合国系统、各专门机构和联合国秘书处任何涉及台湾的事务，均应遵循一个中国原则和联大第2758号决议.
The piece then says that:
“The Taiwan question bears on China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and concerns China’s core interests. It is the most important and sensitive issue in China-US relations. The one-China principle is the political foundation of China-US relations. The US is clear about China’s firm position on the Taiwan issue and has repeatedly made commitments on this issue. In the three China-US joint communiques, the US side explicitly recognized the Government of the People’s Republic of China as the sole legal government of China. In this context, it clarified that the people of the United States will maintain cultural, commercial and other unofficial relations with the people of Taiwan. The US government has repeatedly reiterated its position that it does not support Taiwan’s accession to any international organization in which only a sovereign state can participate. Recently, US officials have also made it clear that the US has no intention of changing the one-China policy and the status quo across the Taiwan Strait. However, in reality, the US has been making troubles on the Taiwan issue, from strengthening official contacts and military ties with Taiwan to encouraging some countries to stir up trouble on the Taiwan issue, to hyping up the so-called ‘Taiwan's participation in the United Nations system’. All these actions clearly violate its commitments. China has made a firm and necessary response to the wrong words and deeds of the US side.” -- 台湾问题事关中国主权和领土完整，涉及中国核心利益，是中美关系中最重要最敏感的问题。一个中国原则是中美关系的政治基础。美方对中方在台湾问题上的坚定立场是清楚的，也一再在该问题上作出承诺。在中美三个联合公报中，美方明确承认中华人民共和国政府是中国的唯一合法政府；在此范围内，美国人民将同台湾人民保持文化、商务和其他非官方关系。美国政府曾一再重申“不支持台湾加入任何必须由主权国家才能参加的国际组织”立场。近来，美方官员也明确表示，美方无意改变一个中国政策和台海现状。然而，在现实中，美方却不断在台湾问题上制造事端，从加强美台官方往来和军事勾连到怂恿个别国家在台湾问题上滋事，再到频频炒作所谓“台湾参与联合国系统”等问题，美方的种种做法明显违背自身所作承诺。对于美方的错误言行，中方都已经作出坚决必要回应.
After this, there is a warning to the US administration to rectify its policies with regard to Taiwan.
Next, we have a report (detailed English report) on Wang Yi attending the Second Meeting of Foreign Ministers of The Neighboring Countries of Afghanistan. Xinhua English has a detailed report. Wang said that “all neighboring countries of Afghanistan should, on the basis of respecting Afghanistan's sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity and sticking to the Afghan-led, Afghan-owned’ principle, step up coordination and cooperation on Afghanistan-related issues, in order to end chaos and restore stability in the country, prevent security problem spillovers, and help the country embark on a path toward good governance.”
He then outline four proposals:
“All parties should attach importance to the opportunity that the Afghan interim government is adaptable and shapeable, and get in touch and talks with it in a rational and pragmatic way to increase mutual trust and exert positive influence...The neighboring countries should encourage Afghanistan to take a broad-based and inclusive political stance… It is natural for neighbors to have some differences, but neither stand-off nor confrontation provides a sustainable solution, Wang said, noting that the right way is to be forward-looking, accommodate each other's reasonable concerns, and seek co-existence in peace.”
He wants the “United States and other Western countries to take up their primary responsibility in helping Afghanistan emerge from hardship to vitality, especially at present lift unilateral sanctions on Afghanistan for its state assets to be used to meet people’s urgent needs as soon as possible. The World Health Organization also needs to step up coordination and provide more vaccines, medical supplies and protective gears for Afghanistan to control the spread of COVID-19 at an early date…”
All parties should not only encourage the new Afghan authority to make a clean break with terrorist forces, but also to support it in independently, resolutely and effectively combating all extremist and terrorist organizations, including Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM)...” He also wants more “bilateral and multilateral counter-terrorism dialogues” involving Afghanistan too.
Neighboring countries should take coordinated and robust actions to steadily increase economic and trade exchanges with Afghanistan, explore infrastructure connectivity, and help Afghanistan take part in the cooperation of jointly building the Belt and Road. He also urged that the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund should consider how to resume financing support for Afghanistan.
Finally, we have a short report on China submitting two documents on its nationally determined contributions (NDCs) and long-term emission control strategies to the secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The documents, Reuters reports, inform that “China aims to see its carbon dioxide emissions peak before 2030 and to become carbon neutral before 2060.” In addition, China has “formalised a commitment to raising the share of non-fossil fuels in its primary energy consumption to 25% by 2030, higher than a previous pledge of 20%, and increasing wind and solar power capacity to more than 1,200 gigawatts.” Meanwhile, CNN reports that Nick Mabey, CEO of E3G, a European climate think tank, said China’s new plan was “disappointing and a missed opportunity.”
Page 4: Two pieces to note. First, propaganda chief Huang Kunming attended the National Rule of Law Publicity and Education Work Conference. He emphasised the importance of implementing Xi Thought on Rule of Law and carrying out publicity accordingly.
Second, we have the fifth and final commentary in the common prosperity series. It tells us that “Common prosperity will not come automatically, and a better life will not fall from the sky, but will be realized through the hard work of hundreds of millions of people. On the road to common prosperity, struggle is the bright background, and only by working together and making unremitting efforts can common prosperity be realized. In essence, common prosperity depends on common struggle.” 共同富裕不会自动到来，美好生活也不会从天而降，而是要在亿万人民的苦干实干中实现。在通往共同富裕的道路上，奋斗是亮丽的底色，也惟有共同奋斗、不懈奋斗才能实现共同富裕。一言以蔽之，共同富裕要靠共同奋斗.
Now if after that too, one had any misperceptions about common prosperity implying greater welfare, then this should cover it:
“The new era is an era of strugglers, and everyone is a witness, pioneer and builder of the new era...the best dreams in the world can only be realized through honest labor. There is no ‘free lunch,’ and no pie will fall in the sky. The most important and reliable support for realizing a better life is their own hard work. The realization of common prosperity is by no means the elimination of individual struggle, but puts forward higher requirements for individual struggle, will also provide better conditions and environment for individual struggle. We should unblock the pathways for upward mobility, create opportunities for more people to become rich, form a development environment in which everyone participates, create more inclusive and fair conditions for people to improve their education level and enhance their development ability, upgrade the human capital and professional skills of the whole society, improve their employment and entrepreneurship, and enhance their ability to become rich, so that everyone has the opportunity to shine in life and realize their dreams…” 新时代是奋斗者的时代，每一个人都是新时代的见证者、开创者、建设者。对个人而言，应该认识到，人世间的美好梦想，只有通过诚实劳动才能实现，世界上从来就没有“免费的午餐”，天上也不会掉馅饼，实现美好生活最重要、最可靠的支撑是自己的奋斗。实现共同富裕绝不是不要个人奋斗，而是对个人奋斗提出了更高的要求，也会为个人奋斗提供更好的条件和环境。我们要畅通向上流动通道，给更多人创造致富机会，形成人人参与的发展环境，为人民提高受教育程度、增强发展能力创造更加普惠公平的条件，提升全社会人力资本和专业技能，提高就业创业能力，增强致富本领，让每个人都拥有人生出彩、梦想成真的机会.
Other Stories:
Page 10: The entire page is dedicated to excerpts from a recent meeting on sharing experiences and best practices related to the national civilised city campaign. Or rather to give full play to the exemplary role of advanced models of civilized cities. Jilin City was awarded the National Civilized City in 2020. The four highlights of Jilin’s presentation were addressing livelihood issues, improving grassroots governance and cadres’ responsibility, incorporating core socialist values and finally addressing environmental, infrastructure and supervision-related issues. On the core socialist values bit, it’s good to get a glimpse at the activities that are highlighted:
These include: awards for moral role models, under the broad theme love your family, love your city, build civilization together. Also, setting up of national historical and cultural cities, folk dance events and dramas, etc, press and publicity work and setting up a hotline to listen to problems, feedback and address issues.
Page 12: We have a report about nine provinces, including Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan, Guangxi, Hainan, Sichuan, Guizhou and Yunnan, signing an agreement on ‘inter-provincial cooperation’. They will study and launch cooperation across the first batch of 150 high-frequency issues. These include medical insurance, social security, household administration, marriage-related issues, etc.
Page 12: We have a report about the Jilin Provincial discipline inspection commission and women’s federation jointly carried out a two-week-long activity of warning education for family members of senior cadres. This focussed on the “key minority.” The key point emphasised here is that there is nothing better than to leave good thoughts and good morals for your children and grandchildren.