Politburo Meeting on Economic Work - 20th Party Congress Election - Xi Jinping Economic Thought - He Lifeng on Economic Policy - Adhere to Xi Jinping Thought on Diplomacy
Here are the stories and pieces from the December 07, 2021, edition of the People’s Daily that I found noteworthy.
Page 1: The lead story is about the Politburo meeting on Monday to discuss economic and discipline inspection/anti-corruption work in 2022. Xinhua English report on this. From my point of view, the one big takeaway from the reporting after the meeting is that there is absolutely no mention of common prosperity.
“The meeting called for economic work to be carried out in a solid manner under the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era”...economic work must “fully, accurately and comprehensively implement the new development concept, accelerate the construction of new development pattern, comprehensively deepen reform and opening up, adhere to innovation-driven development and promote high-quality development. Adhere to the supply-side structural reform as the main line, coordinate epidemic prevention and control and economic and social development, coordinate development and security, continue to do a good job of ‘six stability’ and ‘six guarantees’, continuously improve people's livelihood, focus on stabilizing the macro-economic environment, keep the economic operation within a reasonable range, keep the overall social stability, and prepare for the 20th Party Congress.” -- 会议要求，做好明年经济工作，要以习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想为指导，全面贯彻落实党的十九大和十九届二中、三中、四中、五中、六中全会精神，弘扬伟大建党精神，坚持稳中求进工作总基调，完整、准确、全面贯彻新发展理念，加快构建新发展格局，全面深化改革开放，坚持创新驱动发展，推动高质量发展，坚持以供给侧结构性改革为主线，统筹疫情防控和经济社会发展，统筹发展和安全，继续做好“六稳”、“六保”工作，持续改善民生，着力稳定宏观经济大盘，保持经济运行在合理区间，保持社会大局稳定，迎接党的二十大胜利召开.
I am summarising the economy-related text in two parts.
First, the story says that the broad direction of economic work for the work next year is to “prioritize stability while pursuing progress.” Quick thought: I presume this implies that we will not see major regulatory upheavals like we did in 2021. Also, an indication to intervene to support the property market, perhaps?
On real estate, the statement said that “efforts should be made to advance the construction of affordable housing, support the commercial housing market to better cater to the reasonable demand of home buyers, and boost the healthy development and the virtuous cycle of the real estate sector.”
Second, the meeting talked about:
the solid implementation of the domestic demand expansion strategy
improving core competitiveness of the manufacturing industry and enhancing the resilience of the supply chain
make breakthroughs in core technology bottlenecks
strengthen the leading role of enterprises in innovation, and achieve a virtuous cycle of science and technology, industry, and finance
make breakthroughs in core technology bottlenecks
fully implement the employment-first policy and promote the new birth policy
effectively advance major regional strategies and the strategy for coordinated development between regions
On anti-corruption work, the statement says that “self-revolution” must continue; discipline work must focus on “improving Party conduct, upholding integrity and combating corruption.” It also talks about building a team of “high-quality” cadres for supervision, while “strengthening their ideological tempering.” The CCDI and NSC reported their work in 2021 to the PBSC prior to the Politburo meeting. The 6th plenary of the 19th CCDI will be held from Jan. 18-20.
The other leading piece on the page is about Xi Jinping addressing non-CPC personages to solicit their comments and suggestions on economic work. This took place on December 2 apparently. Xinhua English’s language here is something to note:
“Xi demanded efforts to put into practice the spirit of the sixth plenary session of the 19th CPC Central Committee, relive the history and role of multi-party cooperation, carry forward glorious traditions, and stay true to the original cooperation aspirations. He urged efforts to actively perform their duties, strengthen self-construction, lead non-CPC personages to translate the spirit of the sixth plenary session of the 19th CPC Central Committee into political consensus, and work for comprehensively building a modern socialist country.”
More comments from Xi:
“As the internal and external economic situations remain complex, China will continue to uphold the underlying principle of pursuing progress while ensuring stability, implement the new development philosophy completely, accurately and comprehensively, and accelerate the establishment of the new development paradigm, Xi said. Efforts would be made to advance reform and opening-up across the board, promote high-quality development, coordinate the control of COVID-19 with economic and social development, and place equal emphasis on development and security. Endeavours would also be made to improve people’s well-being and maintain social stability as preparations are being made for the 20th National Congress of the CPC, Xi said. Xi urged the non-CPC personages to focus on the country’s weak links in science and technology and conduct research on key issues, including carbon peaking and neutrality and the digital economy, to offer their comments and suggestions and promote policy implementation.”
The PD story says that Xi expressed three hopes from the attendees:
The hope that everyone will thoroughly study and understand the 6th Plenum spirit and always maintain a high degree of consistency with the CPC Central Committee...一是希望大家深入学习领会中共十九届六中全会精神，始终同中共中央保持高度一致，紧密联系工作实际，把学习成果运用到参政履职实践中去.
The hope that everyone can unify their thinking and understanding around the scientific judgment of the Central Committee about the domestic and international economic situation and focus their work on the decision-making and deployment of the Central Committee…二是希望大家把思想认识统一到中共中央关于国内国际经济形势的科学判断上来，把工作重点聚焦到中共中央决策部署上来...
The hope that everyone can grasp the ideological trends of the members and people they contact in time and carry out targeted policy interpretation and ideological guidance. 三是希望大家及时把握广大成员和所联系群众的思想动态，主动开展针对性政策解读和思想引导工作.
Next, a report (English report) about Li Keqiang hosting the 1+6 meeting.
Li noted that the world economy has maintained the momentum of recovery on the whole. However, the impetus of recovery has somewhat diminished, and destabilizing factors and uncertainties have increased.
He emphasised the “security and stability of the industrial and supply chains” and wants “major economies to strengthen coordination on macro policies.”
He said that “it is imperative to firmly uphold the WTO-centered multilateral trading system and promote trade and investment liberalization and facilitation.”
He said that “since the beginning of this year, in the face of the complicated and severe external environment and the new downward pressure of the domestic economy, China has made overall plans for epidemic prevention and control and economic and social development, continued to do a good job of ‘six stabilities’ and ‘six guarantees’, especially for ensuring employment and people’s livelihood, and strengthened macro-policy adjustment across cycles, so that the economy has maintained a good development momentum, and the main macro-indicators are generally in a reasonable range. We are capable of meeting the main targets and tasks for this year and ensuring steady and sustained economic growth.” -- 李克强指出，今年以来，面对复杂严峻的外部环境和国内经济新的下行压力，中国统筹疫情防控和经济社会发展，持续做好“六稳”“六保”特别是保就业保民生保市场主体，加强宏观政策跨周期调节，经济保持较好发展态势，主要宏观指标总体处于合理区间。我们有能力完成全年主要目标任务，实现经济行稳致远.
He also said: “Over the past 20 years since China's accession to the WTO, we have earnestly fulfilled our commitments. We have developed ourselves and brought benefits to the rest of the world. China has been the world's second largest import market for 12 consecutive years. It has continued to relax market access for foreign investment, actively participated in regional economic cooperation, pushed for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) to take effect early next year, and applied to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the Digital Economy Partnership (DEPA). We will continue to open up to the outside world at a higher level so that the world can share in the new opportunities of China's development.” 李克强表示，中国经济已经深度融入世界经济，开放的大门只会越开越大。中国加入世界贸易组织20年来，我们认真履行承诺，既发展了自己，也惠及了世界。中国连续12年成为全球第二大进口市场，持续放宽外资市场准入，积极参与区域经济合作，推动区域全面经济伙伴关系协定（RCEP）明年初生效，申请加入全面与进步跨太平洋伙伴关系协定（CPTPP）、数字经济伙伴关系协定（DEPA）。我们将持续扩大高水平对外开放，让世界共享中国发展新机遇.
Also: “Noting that openness is a sure path for the prosperity and progress of human society, Li said it is imperative to firmly uphold the WTO-centered multilateral trading system and promote trade and investment liberalization and facilitation.”
Now after reading all of this, I’d like to point to this WSJ report by Liza Lin and Chun Han Wong, which discusses how the new data security law has led to greater secrecy and poorer understanding of developments within China.
Finally, there’s a commentary about the significance of getting high-quality folks elected to the 20th Party Congress. It says that the 20th Party Congress is of great and far-reaching significance for the Party to unite closely around the Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, unite and lead the people to continue to struggle for the Chinese dream of building a comprehensive socialist modern country, seizing the great victory of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era and realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. 开好二十大，对于全党紧密团结在以习近平同志为核心的党中央周围，团结带领人民为全面建设社会主义现代化国家、夺取新时代中国特色社会主义伟大胜利、实现中华民族伟大复兴的中国梦而继续奋斗，具有重大而深远的意义
The selection of deputies with excellent quality, reasonable structure, and wide distribution, who are supported by Party members is an important foundation for ensuring the smooth opening of the Congress and the successful completion of all its tasks, which is crucial for giving full play to the core role of CPC leadership and to ensuring the prosperity and long-term stability of the Party and the country. The successful election of deputies is a vivid demonstration of our commitment to comprehensively governing the Party with strict discipline and strengthening and regulating intraparty political activities. It is a powerful mobilization for the whole Party to pool its strength, keep in mind its original mission...Party organizations at all levels should have a deep understanding of the significance of doing a good job in the election of deputies to the 20th Party Congress, enhance their sense of political responsibility and historical mission, conscientiously perform their duties, meticulously organize and implement them, and accomplish the tasks of the election of high-quality deputies. 选出素质优良、结构合理、分布广泛、党员拥护的代表，是确保二十大顺利召开、圆满完成大会各项任务的重要基础，关系到党的领导核心作用的充分发挥，关系到党和国家事业的兴旺发达、长治久安。做好代表选举工作，是坚持全面从严治党、加强和规范党内政治生活的生动实践，是凝聚全党力量、牢记初心使命，走好新的赶考之路的有力动员。各级党组织要深刻认识做好二十大代表选举工作的重大意义，切实增强政治责任感和历史使命感，认真履行职责、精心组织实施，高质量完成代表选举工作任务.
Next, in regard to the individuals to be elected, there are certain points to be kept in mind.
They must be outstanding members of the Communist Party...We should insist on putting political standards in the first place, highlight candidates with ideals and beliefs, political character and moral accomplishment, and focus on whether one needs to strengthen the ‘four consciousnesses’, ‘four self-confidences and achieve the ‘two safeguards’, whether they demonstrate strong political judgment, political understanding and political execution, are clear-headed on major issues, can face the test at critical moments, and consciously maintain a high degree of consistency with the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core in ideological and political actions. The piece also calls to strengthen the investigation of political qualities and reject the politically unqualified...Anyone who does not abide by political discipline and rules and displays issues such as the seven types of misconduct [七个有之], are fence-sitters or vacillate and blow with the wind (“墙头草”、“骑墙派”) and ‘two-faced people’ should be resolutely shut out.
党的二十大代表应是共产党员中的优秀分子，具有共产党员的先进性，必须严格代表资格条件，严把人选政治关和廉洁关。要坚持把政治标准放在首位，突出考察人选的理想信念、政治品格和道德修养，着重了解是否增强“四个意识”、坚定“四个自信”、做到“两个维护”，是否具有较强的政治判断力、政治领悟力、政治执行力，在重大问题上头脑清醒，在关键时刻经得起考验，是否自觉在思想上政治上行动上同以习近平同志为核心的党中央保持高度一致，加强政治素质考察，对政治上不合格的一票否决，凡是不守政治纪律和政治规矩，存在“七个有之”以及“墙头草”、“骑墙派”、“两面人”等问题的都要坚决挡在门外。要把牢人选廉洁底线，认真落实“四必”要求和廉政意见“双签字”规定，注意运用巡视巡察、信访、审计、专项督察等结果，对廉洁问题“零容忍”，坚决防止“带病提名”、“带病当选”。通过考准考实思想、政治、能力、作风、业绩、履职等方面表现情况，层层把关、好中择优，确保代表质量.
The next paragraph says that deputies should be “should be broadly representative.” It is “necessary to ensure the proportion of front-line representatives.” Therefore, the piece calls for “recommending advanced role models among workers, farmers and professional and technical personnel, especially Party members who have made outstanding achievements in urgent and dangerous tasks and difficult environments.” These include implementation of major national development strategies, the three tough battles, pandemic prevention and control, disaster prevention and relief, and those who emerged in the campaign on keeping the original aspiration in mind and the Party history education campaign. It is important to take into consideration the distribution of party members in various sectors, fields and regions to ensure representation, with a certain proportion comprising women and ethnic minorities.
Page 2: First, a report about the heads of the different national religious organisations commenting on the recent religious affairs work conference. The core point is that they get the fact that they must “fully, accurately and comprehensively understand and implement the Party’s religious work theories and policies in the new era.” Second, a commentary that reiterates the key points from the religious work conference.
Finally, there’s the third piece in the series on Xi Jinping Economic Thought. I had completely overlooked this stuff, which began over the weekend. It came to my attention while reading through today’s Sinocism. China Media Project’s report talks about the significance of this phrasing.
Today’s piece in PD says that the “historic achievements” in China’s “economic and social development” since the 18th Party Congress are owed to the guidance of Xi Jinping Economic Thought. It talks about how this guidance has been crucial in coordinating the relationship between government and market, with efficiency being the key. This also demonstrates “the superiority of the socialist system.”
The piece also later says that over the past 9 years, Xi has led more than 60 meetings of the Central Leading Group for Comprehensively Deepening Reforms which later became the Central Comprehensively Deepening Reforms Commission.
I am summarising here: The piece says that with China moving from a state of high growth to high-quality growth, there are challenges with regard to the market system in terms of the flow and allocation of factors of production, and while how to give full play to the power of the market is still the direction of future reform, the situation does call for more efficient government intervention.
For instance, the poverty alleviation campaign was “a vivid testimony to the ‘efficiency’ of development under the guidance of Xi Jinping Economic Thought. The market alone was not enough to win the battle against poverty. The role of the Party and the government were crucial. ”2020年11月23日，我国最后9个贫困县实现贫困退出。经过8年奋斗，我国近1亿贫困人口实现脱贫，创造了又一个彪炳史册的人间奇迹——这是在习近平经济思想指引下，实现发展之“效”的生动见证. 打赢脱贫攻坚战，光靠市场不行，党和政府的作用至关重要.
It says that “relying solely on market forces has its limits and drawbacks - markets can make resource allocation more efficient, but they can also fail in areas that they cannot manage or cannot manage well.” 难题在于：完全依靠市场力量存在局限性和弊端——市场能提升资源配置效率，但市场有管不了或管不好的领域，也可能失灵.
For China, handling the relationship between the government and the market is also one of the key issues to test the ruling capability. Xi Jinping has pointed out that ‘we are developing a market economy under the leadership of the CPC and the framework of the socialist system, and we must never forget the attribute of socialism’.”对于中国而言，处理好政府与市场的关系，也是考验执政能力的关键问题之一. 习近平总书记指出：“我们是在中国共产党领导和社会主义制度的大前提下发展市场经济，什么时候都不能忘了‘社会主义’这个定语.”
“Socialism has been the ‘beacon’ of human progress since its birth. China’s socialist market economic system is a market economic system under socialist conditions, which is different from the capitalist market economic system in the West. It requires that we give full play to the advantages of the socialist system, give full play to the positive role of the government, and manage well those things that the market cannot manage or cannot manage well. 社会主义，自诞生之日就是人类进步的“明灯”。我国的社会主义市场经济体制，是社会主义条件下的市场经济体制，有别于西方资本主导的市场经济体制，要求发挥社会主义制度的优越性、发挥政府的积极作用，管好市场管不了或管不好的事情.The piece praises this year’s interventions to address the energy crisis and regulation of “disorderly expansion of capital, monopoly and other illegal activities.”
Page 3: Two reports and a commentary to note. First, Yang Jiechi met with Sierra Leonean President Julius Maada Bio. Xinhua reports:
“Yang said China is willing to work with Sierra Leone to implement the FOCAC initiatives, coordinate the agreements of the conference with Sierra Leone's demand for development, and further boost cooperation in fields including pandemic fight, agriculture, fishery, education, and infrastructure, helping Sierra Leone to fight against the pandemic and recover its economy. China is willing to work together with Sierra Leone to further deepen the coordination and cooperation in the United Nations and other multilateral institutions, safeguard the common interests of China and Africa, and of other developing countries, and defend multilateralism and norms of international relations.”
The report adds: “Bio said China has made significant contributions to the peace and development of the world and set an example for developing countries. The president stated that Sierra Leone firmly upholds the one-China principle and supports the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games.”
Second, Wang Yi spoke to the outgoing Indian ambassador to China, Vikram Misri. Xinhua reports:
“Wang said that when developing relations, China and India should enhance mutual understanding instead of misjudging each other, take a long-term view instead of bothering with particular incidents, and help each other succeed instead of undercutting each other. The two sides can and should continue to stand together on major issues concerning the common interests of developing countries, he said.”
The Indian embassy’s readout of the meeting says that Misri “noted that our relations comprised both opportunities and challenges, and even though certain challenges since last year had overpowered the vast opportunities in the relationship, he was hopeful that with continued communication at all levels - political, diplomatic and military, the two sides would be able to resolve the current difficulties and take the relationship forward in a positive direction. In this regard, Ambassador, in particular, highlighted the role played by External Affairs Minister Dr. S Jaishankar and Foreign Minister Wang Yi in issuing appropriate guidance to achieve full and complete resolution of the current issues at India-China border areas, and underlined his continued hope that complete resolution of these issues as per the understanding between the two Foreign Ministers would be achieved soon, which in turn would help relations to return towards normalisation, which was the common goal of both sides.”
Finally, a Zhong Sheng commentary draws from the recent report criticising US democracy. This piece summarises the three sins/malaises that the report points to:
The system fraught with deep-seated problems
Messy and chaotic practices of democracy
Disastrous consequences of US export of its brand of democracy
The piece basically summarises the major aspects of the report. It ends by saying:
“The US’ aura as the ‘beacon of democracy’ is long gone, but it is still unwilling to accept the reality. Self-righteous promotion of American democracy will only bring more disasters to the world, which is the greatest damage to democracy. America could do with some lessons in democracy.” 美国“民主灯塔”的光环早已不再，但美国至今不愿面对现实。自以为是地推销美式民主，只会给世界带来更多祸患，是对民主的最大破坏。美国应该好好给自己补一补民主课.
Page 6: Today’s long piece on the page is by He Lifeng, who offers a broad perspective on economic policy. In the first section of the article, He basically offers a very positive review of the economic work down since the 18th Party Congress.
He says that since the 18th Party Congress steps have been taken to affirm the leadership of the Party, the position of the people as masters of the country, and the rule of law, building on the Chinese system’s institutional advantages.
He describes the approach to the economic system as “adhere to and improve the socialist basic economic system, and continuously release the vitality of market players. Public ownership is the mainstay, multiple ownership economies develop together, distribution according to work is the mainstay, multiple modes of distribution coexist, and the socialist market economic system is established as the basic socialist economic system, so as to give full play to the decisive role of the market in resource allocation and better play the role of the government.” 坚持和完善社会主义基本经济制度，市场主体活力持续释放。把公有制为主体、多种所有制经济共同发展，按劳分配为主体、多种分配方式并存，社会主义市场经济体制等确立为社会主义基本经济制度，充分发挥市场在资源配置中的决定性作用，更好发挥政府作用.
He talks about persisting with supply side structural reform, and work done to develop a “system of high-quality development indicators, policies, standards, statistics, performance evaluation and performance appraisal, and accelerate the construction of a modern economic system.” He talks about “core technologies and independent innovation,” coordinated regional development, rural revitalisation strategy, etc. He also talks about work done to “innovate and improve macroeconomic regulation” and work done in regard to opening up. With regard to the latter, he mentions BRI, the Hainan Free Trade Port, China being the leading trading partner of 200 economies, etc.
The next two paragraphs talk about environment-related policies along with poverty alleviation, education and social development policies.
The next section talks about the learnings from the practice of the above:
uphold overall Party leadership - keep 国之大者 in mind and maintain a high degree of ideological, political and action unity with the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core.
put people first
give “top priority to development.” “Development is the basis and key to solving all problems in China, and unleashing and developing the productive forces is the essential requirement and fundamental task of socialism...unswervingly insisting on development is the final word, unswervingly implement the new concept of development and promote the development of high quality in order to enhance China’s economic strength, technological strength, comprehensive national strength and international influence, and lay a solid material foundation for upholding and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics and realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. 正是因为牢牢扭住经济建设这个中心，毫不动摇坚持发展是硬道理，坚定不移贯彻新发展理念、推动高质量发展，才能全面增强我国经济实力、科技实力、综合国力和国际影响力，才能为坚持和发展中国特色社会主义、实现中华民族伟大复兴奠定雄厚物质基础.
adhere to the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics
“continue to promote reform through opening-up. Openness brings progress, while isolation leaves one behind.”
the importance of having the correct methods. Here, He talks about the lesson of adhering to a “combination of ‘crossing the river by feeling the stones’ and top-level design.”
In the final section, He makes some commitments for the future:
“Deepen the reform of state-owned enterprises and improve the modern enterprise system with Chinese characteristics; optimize the development environment for the private economy, and ensure that private enterprises use resource elements equally according to law, participate in competition openly, fairly and justly, and be equally protected by law. Increase the proportion of labor remuneration in the initial distribution, improve the mechanism that all kinds of factors of production are evaluated by the market and the remuneration is determined according to the contribution, improve the redistribution adjustment mechanism, and give play to the role of tertiary distribution. Build a high-standard market system, strengthen the foundation of competition policy, improve the modern property rights system, and work to ensure that prices of factors of production are determined by the market, that their flow is independent and orderly, and that their allocation is efficient and fair. Take self-reliance and self-improvement in science and technology as the strategic support of national development, improve the system and mechanism of scientific and technological innovation, and accelerate the construction of a strong country in science and technology. Promote the coordinated development of urban and rural areas, establish a more effective new mechanism for regional coordinated development, fully implement the rural revitalization strategy, and promote new urbanization with people as the core. 扎实推进经济体制改革，推动有效市场和有为政府更好结合。深化国有企业改革，完善中国特色现代企业制度；优化民营经济发展环境，保障民营企业依法平等使用资源要素、公开公平公正参与竞争、同等受到法律保护。提高劳动报酬在初次分配中的比重，健全各类生产要素由市场评价贡献、按贡献决定报酬的机制，健全再分配调节机制，发挥第三次分配作用。建设高标准市场体系，强化竞争政策基础地位，健全现代产权制度，推进实现要素价格市场决定、流动自主有序、配置高效公平。把科技自立自强作为国家发展的战略支撑，完善科技创新体制机制，加快建设科技强国。推进城乡区域协调发展，建立更加有效的区域协调发展新机制，全面实施乡村振兴战略，推进以人为核心的新型城镇化.
He then talks about improving the system of socialist democracy and law-based governance. The next paragraph talks about the goal of improving the level of social civilisation, strengthening the construction of socialist spiritual civilisation, promoting the normalisation and institutionalisation of ideals and belief education, cultivating and practicing core socialist values, and continuously improving citizens’ level of civilisation.
In the next paragraph, he writes: “make solid efforts to promote common prosperity, do everything possible to stabilize and expand employment, expand the capacity and quality of employment, and promote full employment...increase the income of low-income groups, expand the middle-income group, adjust excessive incomes, and improve income and wealth distribution.” In this he also talks about education, health and social welfare policies. The next paragraph broadly touches upon environmental policies, before He concludes by talking about “upholding the Party's absolute leadership over the people's armed forces” and building on “the achievements of national defense and military reform.”
Page 9: There are two articles on the Theory page. First, the Party Committee of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs talks about adhering to Xi Jinping Thought on Diplomacy (习近平外交思想). The piece praises Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as a “new leap” in the sinicization of Marxism. It also praises Xi Jinping Thought on Diplomacy, which needs to be thoroughly studied and implemented.
It says that since the 18th Party Congress, “Xi Jinping has accurately grasped the trend of progress of the times, the trend of world development, and China’s historical position, and he has made an important conclusion that ‘the world is undergoing profound changes unseen in a century’, thereby charting the course for China’s major-country diplomacy in the new era.” 党的十八大以来，习近平总书记准确把握时代进步潮流、世界发展大势、中国历史方位，作出“世界正经历百年未有之大变局”的重大论断，为我们推进新时代中国特色大国外交指明方向.
The piece says that major changes are taking place in the global balance of power. “Over the past 20 years, emerging markets and developing countries have contributed 80% to world economic growth, and their share of global GDP has increased from 24% to over 40% over the past 40 years...Last year, Asia’s GDP accounted for about 38 percent of the world’s total. Asian companies accounted for 227 of the world’s top 500 companies...several studies argue that the economic gravity of the world is shifting from the United States and Europe to Asia, causing profound pattern evolution. There is a shift in terms of soft power between the East and the West. A few major Western countries are beset by internal conflicts, including vicious political fighting, social divisions, acute disparities between the rich and the poor, institutional failures, broken government promises, and people’s disappointment. The aura of ‘liberal democracy’ no longer exists, and efforts to transplant/export democracy abroad will no longer work. Many scholars and media believe that more and more countries are getting rid of the superstition of neoliberalism and are devoted to exploring modernization paths suited to their national conditions.” 新兴市场国家和发展中国家过去20年来对世界经济增长贡献率高达80%，过去40年间国内生产总值全球占比从24%增加到超过40%，发达国家主导的国际政治经济秩序已经越来越不适应国际关系新的现实。二是世界力量格局深刻演变。去年亚洲国内生产总值全球占比约为38%，世界500强企业亚洲占了227家，联合国人居署评选的全球可持续竞争力前10名城市有5个来自亚洲。许多研究认为，世界经济中心正从美欧加快向亚洲转移，引发深刻的格局演进。三是东西方软实力消长。个别西方大国内部矛盾重重，政治恶斗、社会撕裂、贫富悬殊问题突出，制度失灵、政府失信、民众失望困局难解。所谓“自由民主”光环不再，海外“民主移植”行不通。许多学者和媒体认为，越来越多国家摆脱对新自由主义的迷信，致力于探索符合本国国情的现代化道路.
The next paragraph talks about China’s rise.
“Since reform and opening up, China's GDP has grown at an average annual rate of over 9% in real terms, much higher than the world economy's annual growth rate of less than 3% during the same period. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, our Party has led the people in eliminating absolute poverty in a historic way. China has become the world's second largest economy with a GDP of over 100 trillion yuan and a major trading partner of more than 120 countries and regions. China has contributed more than 30% of global growth for many years in a row, and its all-round competitiveness has been improving...China’s international influence has increased. China is moving closer to the center of the world stage. Its proposals for building a community with a shared future for mankind and a new type of international relations have been widely recognized. China's contributions to public goods such as COVID-19 vaccine are well received. In particular, President Xi Jinping's two speeches at Davos in 2017 and 2021, one against protectionism and isolationism, lit up the beacon of economic globalization...the attractiveness of China’s system is increasingly becoming apparent. Over the past 100 years, the Communist Party of China united and led the Chinese people to achieve great achievements in revolution, development and reform. The Chinese nation ushered in a great leap from standing up, getting rich to becoming strong, creating the two rare miracles of rapid economic development and long-term social stability, overcoming a series of crisis challenges, such as the Asian financial crisis, the global financial crisis and SARS, and achieving significant strategic achievements in the fight against the COVID-19 epidemic. These efforts had led to the end of ‘the end of history’ theory, the collapse of ‘China’s collapse theory’ and the failure of ‘failure of socialism theory’ and demonstrated the great vitality of Marxism and held high the glorious banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the world. The international community is increasingly paying attention to ‘why the CPC can’ and thinking about the ‘code’ of China’s success.” 改革开放以来，我国国内生产总值年均实际增长9%以上，远高于同期世界经济不到3%的年均增速；党的十八大以来，我们党带领人民历史性地消除绝对贫困。我国已是国内生产总值超百万亿元的世界第二大经济体，成为120多个国家和地区的主要贸易伙伴，对世界经济增长的贡献率连续多年超过30%，全方位竞争力不断提升。二是国际影响力上升。我国日益走近世界舞台中央，提出的构建人类命运共同体、新型国际关系等理念倡议广获认可，贡献的新冠疫苗等公共产品备受欢迎，全球伙伴关系网络不断拓展，高质量共建“一带一路”稳步推进。特别是在历史关键时刻彰显担当引领：习近平主席2017年、2021年两次达沃斯演讲，一次针对保护主义、孤立主义的逆流，点亮经济全球化的灯塔；一次直面新冠肺炎疫情、政治病毒的肆虐，高举多边主义的火炬，为全人类照亮前行之路。三是制度吸引力彰显。100年来，中国共产党团结带领中国人民取得了革命、建设、改革的伟大成就，中华民族迎来了从站起来、富起来到强起来的伟大飞跃，创造了世所罕见的经济快速发展和社会长期稳定两大奇迹，战胜了亚洲金融危机、国际金融危机、非典等一系列危机挑战，取得抗击新冠肺炎疫情斗争的重大战略成果，见证了“历史终结论”的终结、“中国崩溃论”的崩溃、“社会主义失败论”的失败，展示了马克思主义的强大生命力，在世界高高举起中国特色社会主义的光辉旗帜。国际社会日益关注“中国共产党为什么能”，思考中国的成功“密码”。《习近平谈治国理政》出版数十个语种和版本、覆盖160多个国家和地区，许多国家领导人从中汲取治国理政经验.
The next paragraph looks at the world today, arguing that this is an era of “turbulence and change” and the trend of chaos and uncertainty will continue. The piece argues that “the adjustment of order always lags behind the change of power pattern.” In this context, the world order established after WWII has not adapted to the changes in power dynamics. But the “call for a more just and equitable international order is getting louder. Some countries are still trying to engage in hegemony and bullying, while being determined to obstruct developing countries from expanding their voice and influence. They have gone from having a vested interest in maintaining stability and preventing chaos to being the biggest troublemakers, stoking chaos. The governance deficit, trust deficit, development deficit and peace deficit are on the rise.客观上看，秩序的调整总是滞后于力量格局的变化。随着世界多极化和经济全球化深入发展，全球性挑战层出不穷，二战后建立的全球治理体系不适应当今世界发展的地方越来越多，要求国际秩序更加公正合理的呼声越来越高。个别国家仍试图搞唯我独尊，大行霸权、霸道、霸凌，执意阻挠发展中国家扩大话语权和影响力，从过去维稳防乱的既得利益者蜕变为添堵添乱的最大麻烦制造者，治理赤字、信任赤字、发展赤字、和平赤字有增无减.
Two other points accompany this assessment: the dilemma in economic and social development remains to be resolved, and the COVID-19 pandemic has made things worse.
After this, the authors call for grasping the “period of important strategic opportunities” for China and unifying thinking behind Xi’s judgement. This includes:
The world remains interconnected, while moving towards multipolarization, economic globalization, informatization and cultural diversification, conforming to the views of Marx and Engels in the Communist Manifesto. It is important to have “confidence in our path, theory, system, and culture.”
The international environment is shifting away unipolarity and from Western dominance to multipolarization. There is a “more balanced direction” emerging when it comes to the “influence of the right to speak between east and west and north and south.” Despite this, it is important to be mindful of “black swans” and “gray rhinos.” It is important to maintain “bottom-line thinking” because competition between major powers in the economy and science and technology is more acute.
“China is still in an important period of strategic opportunities for development. The opportunities are more strategic and flexible, while the challenges are more complex and overarching. In the past, we acted along the trend and opportunities were easier to grasp... In the past, the environment was relatively stable and risks and challenges were easy to discern. The current world situation is volatile and complex, geopolitical challenges are volatile, and there are many hidden reefs and undercurrents, which have raised higher requirements for resilience. In the past, when our level of development was low, we were more complementary to others. Now that we have advanced in development, we are becoming more competitive with others...It is necessary to enhance risk awareness, hold firm on bottom lines and red lines, have high probability thinking even with regard to low probability events, focus on the worst and make the best preparations. It is necessary to maintain strategic focus, be well prepared to respond to changes in the external environment for a long time to come…” 我国发展仍处于重要战略机遇期，机遇更具有战略性、可塑性，挑战更具有复杂性、全局性。过去我们是顺势而为，机遇比较好把握；现在要顶风而上，把握机遇的难度就不一样了。过去大环境相对平稳，风险挑战比较容易看清楚；现在世界形势动荡复杂，地缘政治挑战风高浪急，暗礁和潜流又多，对应变能力提出了更高要求。过去我们发展水平低，同别人的互补性就多一些；现在我们发展水平提高了，同别人的竞争性就多起来了...要增强风险意识，把牢底线红线，用大概率思维应对小概率事件，从最坏处着眼，做最充分准备。要保持战略定力，做好较长时间应对外部环境变化的准备，集中力量做好自己的事，稳步向全面建成社会主义现代化强国的宏伟目标迈进.
persist in building a community with a shared future for mankind
The last section of the piece talks about advancing major country diplomacy while aligning actions with the strategic plans regarding diplomatic work outlined by the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core. In this, the piece talks about the need to “uphold the guiding role of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and thoroughly study and grasp the core essence of Xi Jinping Thought on Diplomacy.”
There’s also a commitment to “resolutely achieve the ‘two safeguards’, always maintain a high degree of ideological and political consistency with the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core, comprehensively and accurately implement the spirit of the important instructions of General Secretary Xi Jinping and the external strategic policy and major decision-making arrangements of the CPC Central Committee. Enhance political sensitivity, clearly defend the leadership of the Party and the socialist system with Chinese characteristics in foreign work, and safeguard national sovereignty and national dignity.” 坚决做到“两个维护”，始终在思想上政治上行动上同以习近平同志为核心的党中央保持高度一致，全面准确贯彻落实习近平总书记重要指示批示精神和党中央对外战略方针、重大决策部署。增强政治敏感性，在对外工作中旗帜鲜明捍卫党的领导和中国特色社会主义制度，捍卫国家主权和民族尊严.
Struggle and “break new ground and pursue all-round major-country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics...Cast away illusions, be brave in struggle, never yield an inch of ground on matters of principle, carry forward the spirit of not believing in evil spirits and ghosts (发扬不信邪、不怕鬼的精神), fight to the end with all forces that attempt to subvert the leadership of the Communist Party of China and China’s socialist system, delay or obstruct the great rejuvenation process of the Chinese nation, and safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests.” 丢掉幻想、勇于斗争，在原则问题上寸步不让、寸土不让，发扬不信邪、不怕鬼的精神，同企图颠覆中国共产党领导和我国社会主义制度、企图迟滞甚至阻断中华民族伟大复兴进程的一切势力斗争到底，以前所未有的意志品质维护国家主权、安全、发展利益.
The last two paragraphs emphasise political loyalty and integrity, along with the need to unite more closely around the Central Committee with Xi at its core.
Other Stories:
On the theory page, there’s a piece by Ning Jizhe on the 10 key highlights of China’s economic growth in 2021.
On Page 10, there’s a piece by Chen Yixin on Xi Jinping Thought on Rule of Law.