Politburo Study Session on Law-based Governance - Xi on the New Development Concept - US' Olympics Boycott - Series on Moral Education - 协 & Xi's Economic Thought
Here are the stories and pieces from the December 08, 2021, edition of the People’s Daily that I found noteworthy.
Page 1: Let’s begin with the report on the 35th group study session of the Politburo on Monday. Xi Jinping spoke about the need for “efforts to raise the capacity and level of law-based governance in all respects, and provide a strong legal guarantee for building a modern socialist country in all respects.”
Xu Xianming, Vice President of the China Law Society, was the guest speaker at the session. Xinhua English reports:
“The system of socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics should be advanced comprehensively, Xi said, adding that efforts should be made to adhere to the correct direction in building the legal system, uphold the Party’s leadership and the socialist system with Chinese characteristics, and implement the Chinese socialist rule of law theory.”
In PD, Xi is quoted as saying:
“We must firmly grasp the nature of socialism with Chinese characteristics, correctly handle the relationship between politics and the rule of law, reform and rule of law, rule of law and rule of virtue, rule of law and rule of the party according to regulations, and be particularly clear-headed and stand firm on major issues such as upholding the overall leadership of the party and ensuring that the people are masters of the country.” 中国特色社会主义法治体系是中国特色社会主义制度的重要组成部分，必须牢牢把握中国特色社会主义这个定性，正确处理政治和法治、改革和法治、依法治国和以德治国、依法治国和依规治党的关系，在坚持党的全面领导、保证人民当家作主等重大问题上做到头脑特别清晰、立场特别坚定.
Xi talked about the “commitment to a people-centered approach” and “called for further efforts to promote the legislative work in key areas including national security, scientific and technological innovation, public health, biosafety and biosecurity, ecological conservation and risk prevention, and focus on the key task of raising the quality of legislation.”
In PD, he adds:
“We should give full play to the role of governing the Party in accordance with regulations as a political guarantee for the development of the cause of the Party and the country, and form a pattern in which state laws and inner-Party regulations complement each other. It is necessary to focus on the quality of legislation; promote scientific legislation, democratic legislation and legislation according to law; make overall plans for legislative reform, formulating, revising, repealing, and interpreting legislative texts in a coordinated manner, improving legislative efficiency, and making legislation more systematic, holistic, and coordinated.” 要发挥依规治党对党和国家事业发展的政治保障作用，形成国家法律和党内法规相辅相成的格局。要抓住立法质量这个关键，深入推进科学立法、民主立法、依法立法，统筹立改废释纂，提高立法效率，增强立法系统性、整体性、协同性.
Some other points he mentioned:
ensure that everyone is equal before the law, and that all acts violating the Constitution or other laws must be held accountable
oversight of the legislative, law-enforcement, supervisory, and judicial powers and improving the training of legal practitioners
cracking down on corruption in law enforcement and judicial fields and organized crime and criminal gangs
Xi called for promoting the development of the system of laws for extraterritorial application. Expanding cooperation in law enforcement and judicial work should be incorporated into the agenda of bilateral and multilateral relations, in order to improve the efficiency of foreign-related law enforcement and judicial work, and resolutely safeguard China's sovereignty, security, and development interests.
He also talked about strengthening “political guidance” for lawyers in order to “educate and guide them to consciously abide by the basic professional requirements of supporting the leadership of the CPC and the socialist rule of law in China.”
Next on the page, there’s a report about a new book of Xi’s essays talking about human rights. China Media Project has a good thread on this today.
While on human rights, Xinhua’s think tank, New China Research, has released a report titled “Pursuing Common Values of Humanity - China's Approach to Democracy, Freedom and Human Rights.”
Next, there’s a long, long piece on a summary of Xi’s important expositions on the complete, accurate and comprehensive implementation of the new development concept (NDC). The piece begins by telling us that “Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era is the theoretical crystallisation of our Party’s practice in promoting China's economic development, and a rational summary of the political economy of socialism with Chinese characteristics based on the basic principles of Marxism. It is a very valuable spiritual asset for the Party and the country, which must be upheld and continuously enriched for a long time to promote deeper and broader historical changes in China’s economic development.” 习近平新时代中国特色社会主义经济思想，是我们党推动我国经济发展实践的理论结晶，是运用马克思主义基本原理对中国特色社会主义政治经济学的理性概括，是党和国家十分宝贵的精神财富，必须长期坚持、不断丰富发展，推动我国经济发展产生更深刻、更广泛的历史性变革.
The piece is basically a collection of Xi Jinping’s comments over the years. I’ve skimmed through it to look at the key themes that have been talked about.
The first part talks about the NDC, which has attributes of being innovative, coordinated, green, open, and shared. There’s a quote from Xi at the 2019 Central Economic Work Conference, talking about the need to address “imbalances and inadequacies, and never returning to the old path of simply judging the hero by the GDP growth rate.” If you are interested, Xinhua has published a piece yesterday telling us how Xi had long been arguing against GDP as being the big yardstick for judging development. For instance, “We still need GDP, but economic growth is not equivalent to development,” Xi said in 2004, when he was the Party chief of Zhejiang Province, an economic powerhouse in east China.
There is a specific section on common prosperity (共同富裕), which gets 22 mentions overall. One bit to note is that the piece highlights Xi’s comments on working towards common prosperity from January this year. He had spoken at a seminar on the study and implementation of the spirit of the 5th Plenum for key provincial and ministerial leaders. He had then described common prosperity as a “major political issue” and not just an economic issue. Here’s a quote: “Common prosperity is itself an important goal of socialist modernization. We cannot wait for the realization of modernisation to solve the problem of common prosperity.”
The next key theme is comprehensively deepening reform. This, the piece says, has entailed breaking “the shackles of ideological concepts” and the “barriers of vested interests.” This talks about supply side reform and establishment of rule of law too.
This is followed by talk about adherence to the “system concept” and coordinating the domestic and international situations. Here there’s talk about the pandemic, chaos, rhinos and swans and having courage.
The last bit emphasises the need for deeper understanding by and concerted action by leading cadres to put the NDC into practice.
Three other stories on the page.
First, Li Keqiang’s meeting with Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo. Xinhua reports:
China is willing to increase political mutual trust, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation, expand cultural exchanges, and promote the sustained and healthy development of China-Belgium relations on the basis of mutual respect and equal treatment...Noting that Belgium has strong scientific and technological strength in the fields of biomedicine, microelectronics and modern agriculture, Li said China stands ready to tap the cooperation potential in the above-mentioned fields, and will strengthen intellectual property rights protection to better achieve mutual benefits and win-win results. ‘Both China and Belgium are staunch defenders of free trade. China is willing to strengthen dialogue, coordination and cooperation with Belgium under multilateral frameworks, and work jointly to cope with global challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic,’ Li said. Belgium is an important member of the European Union and Brussels is home to the European Union headquarters. Li said he hopes that Belgium will play an active role in promoting the healthy and stable development of China-EU relations. -- The free trade line made me chuckle.
Next, a report on Li Zhanshu’s meeting (English report) with President of the National Council of Austria Wolfgang Sobotka.
Finally, a report (English report) about the 2021 Zijinshan Summit for entrepreneurs across the Taiwan Strait, which was held in Nanjing and Taipei simultaneously. I did a quick search and found that this meeting has been held annually over the past few years, but each of those stories talk about the event only being held in Nanjing. I could be wrong, but I wonder if this is a softening or if this is just a pandemic travel contingency that there’s something being held in Taipei too.
Anyway, Wang Yang sent a letter to the event. He said:
“the mainland will promote the peaceful and integrated development of cross-Strait relations. The mainland will continue to share the development opportunities with Taiwan compatriots and provide support for Taiwan businesses operating on the mainland, Wang said. He called on the business sector on both sides of the Strait to stand on the right side of history, make a clean break with the separatist forces seeking ‘Taiwan independence,’ and contribute to China's complete reunification and the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.”
Page 2: A couple of reports on the page. Hu Chunhua spoke with British Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak. Xinhua reports:
Hu, who leads the Chinese delegation to the China-UK Economic and Financial Dialogue, noted that Chinese President Xi Jinping and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson recently held a phone conversation and reached important consensus on bolstering relations and strengthening cooperation between the two countries. The Chinese side stands ready to work with the British side to implement the consensus reached by the two leaders, and make new progress in practical cooperation, Hu said. Hu expects the two countries will meet each other halfway, strengthen exchanges and cooperation in trade, investment, finance and other areas, and continuously broaden and deepen their practical cooperation. Sunak, who leads the British delegation to the dialogue, said his country attaches great importance to relations with China, stands ready to deepen bilateral economic and financial cooperation with China, strengthen cooperation in climate change, green finance, economy, trade and investment and push for new progress in bilateral relations. Both sides have agreed to hold the 11th dialogue in 2022 in due course.
Next, Yang Jiechi’s meeting (English report) with Maltese President George Vella and Prime Minister Robert Abela. Xinhua says that “during the talks, the Maltese leaders also said Malta adheres to the one-China policy and actively supports a sound and stable development of relations between Europe and China.” They also reportedly expressed support for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.
Third, a report about MoFA’s response to the US’ diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics. This is a really odd comment. China is angry about the boycott but says that it can’t really be a boycott because we haven’t invited them. Then why are you annoyed?
“The US has been fabricating the biggest lie of the century about so-called ‘genocide’ in Xinjiang, but it has long been debunked by facts. Based on its ideological biases as well as lies and rumors, the US attempts to interfere with the Beijing Winter Olympics, which will only expose its malicious intention and lead to greater loss of moral authority and credibility. Speaking of “genocide”, this label fits the US better than anyone else for the evil crimes it committed against Native Americans. The US practice gravely violates the principle of political neutrality enshrined in the Olympic Charter, runs counter to the Olympic motto of ‘together’ and stands on the opposite side of global athletes and sports fans. China deplores and firmly opposes the remarks of the US side and has lodged stern representations with the US and will respond with firm countermeasures. The Winter Olympics is not a stage for political posturing and manipulation. According to Olympic rules, officials are invited by their respective National Olympic Committee to attend the Olympic Games. Whether the US officials will come to the Beijing Winter Olympics and root for their own athletes is the US’ own business. Despite not even being invited, the US side linked its officials’ attendance with the so-called human rights issues in Xinjiang, going down the wrong path further by distorting facts while deceiving themselves as well as others. The US political agenda wins no support and is doomed to fail.”
There’s also a Zhong Sheng commentary on the page about the US’ diplomatic boycott. It basically makes the same points as the MoFA statement.
Finally, there’s the fourth piece in the series on Xi Jinping Economic Thought. This piece is focussed on the term 协, which reveals the “breadth, depth and dimension of the thought.” The emphasis is on coordinated development, moving away from merely GDP to “improving the quality and efficiency of economic growth,” the shift to a “new normal,” addressing regional imbalances and pursuing “coordinated regional development” and supply side reform.
Later the piece talks about China’s development model now aimed at synergy and harmony between man and nature. Towards the end, the piece compares the coordinated development model to the concept of “Pareto optimality,” which “refers to an ideal state of fairness and efficiency in resource allocation.” It says that the coordinated development model being pursued today is the “most effective development model.” 经济学中有一种“帕累托最优”观点，指资源分配中达到公平与效率的一种理想状态。这种协调发展模式前后左右相互照应，是最有效的发展模式.
“Coordinate and promote the economic, political, social, cultural and environmental rights of all people, strive to safeguard social fairness and justice, and promote the all-round development of people”. Strengthen anti-monopoly policies, prevent the disorderly expansion of capital, and further implement the policy of fair competition; introduce the education "double reduction" policy and standardize the management of off-campus training institutions; adhere to the real estate policy of homes not being for speculation…. “协调增进全体人民的经济、政治、社会、文化、环境权利，努力维护社会公平正义，促进人的全面发展”. 强化反垄断和防止资本无序扩张，深入推进公平竞争政策实施；出台教育“双减”政策，规范治理校外培训机构；坚持“房住不炒”的房地产调控政策……
Towards the end, the piece talks about the new principal contradiction and how this “new path of Chinese-style modernization is the kind that benefits the largest population in China and promotes social equity and justice.” Common prosperity also gets a mention.
Page 5: There’s a new series of commentaries on cultivating socialist builders and successors that is being initiated. Today’s piece by Chu Zhaohui from the National Institute For Education Sciences.
He talks about putting moral education in a more prominent position.
In a nutshell, the author says that in order to ensure that the youth have the “correct outlook” on life early on, schools should “put moral education in a more important position, truly educate people with culture and morality, and strive to make every class not only about imparting knowledge but also virtue, and constantly improve students’ ideological and political consciousness, moral quality and cultural literacy, so that the seeds of socialist core values can take root in students’ hearts, and the fundamental task of educating people with morality can be implemented.” 这就需要学校把德育放在更加重要的位置，真正做到以文化人、以德育人，努力做到每一堂课不仅传播知识，而且传授美德，不断提高学生思想水平、政治觉悟、道德品质、文化素养，让社会主义核心价值观的种子在学生们心中生根发芽，把立德树人的根本任务落到实处.
To do a better job of moral education, we need to work hard to cultivate patriotism, make patriotism firmly rooted in the hearts of students...work hard to strengthen moral cultivation, educate and guide students to cultivate and practice core socialist values, steadily improve their moral character, and become people with great love, great morality and great feelings…进一步做好德育工作，需要在厚植爱国主义情怀上下功夫，让爱国主义精神在学生心中牢牢扎根，立志扎根人民、奉献国家；在加强品德修养上下功夫，教育引导学生培育和践行社会主义核心价值观，踏踏实实修好品德，成为有大爱大德大情怀的人；在培养奋斗精神上下功夫，教育引导学生树立高远志向，历练敢于担当、不懈奋斗的精神，具有勇于奋斗的精神状态、乐观向上的人生态度，做到刚健有为、自强不息。有理想信念、有道德情操、有健全人格、有崇高精神，青年成长才有正确的价值导航，青年的人生之路才能越走越宽广.
Other Stories:
On the theory page, Wang Xiaohui writes about the significance of ideological work. There’s a lot of Xi Jinping here. He talks about Xi’s core position, the fundamental change that ideological situation has undergone, and the publicity and promotion of and learning that must be drawn from Xi’s speeches/works, etc.