Politics First in Cadre Selection, Economic Support Policies Extended, Xi's Thought & Foreign Affairs, BRI News Network, Afghan Withdrawal Criticism & Ren Lixuan on China's 'New Journey'
Here are the stories and pieces from the May 13, 2021, People’s Daily edition that I found noteworthy.
Page 1: Let’s begin with the weekly State Council meeting, where Li Keqiang spoke about extending “pro-employment” policies. PD’s report (Xinhua English & State Council’s website) says that “the employment pressure is still high. We must continue to give priority to employment and maintain policy support for market entities, especially small, medium and micro enterprises, and employment for key groups.” Consequently, the “government will continue to refund unemployment insurance premiums to employers and increase policy support for market-based employment to help college graduates find jobs or start new businesses.”
The report adds that “in regions whose balance of the unemployment insurance funds in the previous year can cover such refunds for at least one year, a maximum of 30 percent of the unemployment insurance contributions paid in the previous year will be refunded to eligible large enterprises this year, and 60 percent to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises.” Also, policies “subsidizing professional training and college graduates’ internships, and supporting college graduates to seek grassroots jobs, will be extended until the end of this year.”
Some 200 million Chinese citizens are currently working through flexible employment; there will be more measures to support them; these include support in terms of occupational injury and liberalization of household registration restrictions for flexible employees to participate in social security in the place of employment.
There will also be more support for enterprises impacted by the pandemic in sectors such as civil aviation, tourism, etc. There’s also emphasis on micro loans. The PD report says that the meeting called for ensuring that “inclusive small and micro loans of the five large state-owned commercial banks increase by more than 30%.”
Next, a short report on China’s trade with Central and Eastern European countries. It says that Q1 trade reached $30.13 billion, an increase of 50.2% year-on-year. Of course, the percentage gain is a distorted figure owing to last year’s chaos. But even last year, trade was at $103.45 billion, a year-on-year increase of 8.4%. Anyway, Chinese imports from this part of the world for Q1 were merely $8.17 billion, i.e., nearly $22 billion worth of exports from China. This data has come because there was a press briefing ahead of the Second China-Central and Eastern European Countries Expo and International Consumer Goods Expo, which will be held in Ningbo, Zhejiang, from June 8th to 11th. More details are available on the second page.
Officials informed that “the scale of two-way investment between China and Central and Eastern European countries is close to $20 billion, involving auto parts, chemicals, home appliances, logistics, minerals, business cooperation and other fields.”
In addition, in 2020, Chinese companies signed $5.4 billion worth of infrastructure projects in CEEC countries. Also, in 2020, more than 12,400 trains were opened, an increase of 50% year-on-year. This, the report says, “has set up a ‘lifeline’ for China and Europe to fight the epidemic. Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Slovakia and other countries have become important passages and destinations for the China-Europe railway networks.”
Page 2: Xi Jinping’s visiting Nanyang City in Henan Province. The trip has not really been covered so far; it will come later in the week. But yesterday Xi spoke about TCM while visiting a memorial facility dedicated to Zhang Zhongjing, a famous Chinese pharmacologist and physician of the Eastern Han Dynasty and a local company. Guess who was also talking about TCM at the same time? Politburo member Wang Chen was visiting Gansu, inspecting the implementation of the TCM law.
He said that “Gansu has conscientiously implemented the Chinese Medicine Law and other laws and regulations, steadily promoted the construction of a pilot demonstration province for the comprehensive reform of Chinese medicine development, and accelerated the construction of the country's first comprehensive experimental area for the development of the Chinese medicine industry.” He also talked about implementing Xi Jinping’s thoughts and instructions on TCM development.
We also a piece under the byline Zhong Zuwen 仲祖文. This is a pseudonym for the organisation department, and the piece reflects this since it talks about selection of cadres. Of course, interesting that this follows yesterday’s report on the Central Committee’s opinions on Selection of First Secretaries and Task Forces in Key Villages. The primary argument in the piece is “to build a modern socialist country in an all-round way, we must focus on building a team of leaders and cadres that are politically sound and capable of leading modernization.” In this context, the article calls for insisting on emphasising both ability and political integrity in selection, but putting the latter first. In addition, there is emphasis on selecting “outstanding cadres who are loyal and clean.”
The author then warns:
“It is necessary to thoroughly investigate political loyalty, political determination, political responsibility, political ability, political self-discipline, political judgment, political understanding, political execution, etc. Those who fail to observe political discipline and political rules and have problems such as "seven haves" shall not be selected as candidates.” The piece emphasises investigations to ensure political integrity, focussing on views of cadre, their relatives and children, and personal gains made, if any.
There’s a reference to “凡提四必” and “双签字”; I am not aware of these concepts. If you can point me to something that explains them, please do.
In addition, the focus should be on cadres who have performed well “in the three tough battles, epidemic prevention and control.” And then it says: “When selecting cadres for hard work and key positions, it is necessary to see whether they have experienced major struggles and use cadres who have withstood the test.” The next section talks about the nature of inspections that need to be done. “It is necessary to earnestly improve the work of cadre inspections, insist on close inspections, go to the scene more, go to the front line to listen more, talk to the insiders more, judge people according to actions and talk to the masses.”
Finally, a report (English report) on new RMB loans in April. It says that new yuan-denominated loans totaled 1.47 trillion yuan ($228.77 billion) in April, down 229.3 billion yuan year on year. In addition, China’s newly added social financing, a measurement of funds the real economy receives from the financial system, came in at 1.85 trillion yuan in April, down 1.25 trillion yuan year on year. Also, yuan-denominated loans to the real economy increased by 1.28 trillion yuan, down by 339.9 billion yuan from a year ago. By the end of April, total social financing reached 296.16 trillion yuan, up by 11.7 percent year on year.
Page 3: It’s fascinating that we have a long piece on the Belt and Road News Alliance today. I say this because it comes amid the recent release of the International Federation of Journalists titled “The Covid-19 Story: Unmasking China’s Global Strategy.” Anyway, PD’s report informs us that “at present, the alliance members have grown from 182 at the time of the first board meeting to 210 at present.” The report talks about the first meeting of the alliance in April 2019. It says that during that meeting, a mobile new aggregation and distribution platform were launched. It talks about the www.brnn.com platform, which is in 7 languages. The next bit is about exchanges.
“Nearly 100 senior editors and reporters from 87 media outlets in 46 countries in Asia, Europe, Africa and Latin America attended lectures. Visiting the media, exchanging and interacting, going to Shaanxi, Zhejiang, Guizhou, Guangdong and other places for interviews and research, and fully understanding the progress and achievements made in jointly building the belt and road initiative.” These visits ended up resulting in “300 news works.”
There are also awards that have been launched. There are six categories, i.e., “in-depth reporting award, news commentary award, photography award, video award, special contribution award and a global short video special award related to the Covid-19 pandemic. At present, more than 3,000 entries have come in.” The next bit talks about People’s Daily, CGTN, Guangming Daily, China Central Radio and Television, etc’s work on pushing BRI propaganda. There’s also references to Russian, Pakistani and South African media outlets.
Then this is important: “With the sudden outbreak of Covid-19, the Secretariat of the Alliance immediately made a point-to-point explanation to the foreign member units, strengthened communication, publicized the real situation, and collected, combed and published relevant reports of the Alliance units. On February 26 and 28, 2020, People's Daily published two special editions, titled Seeing the truth in times of hardship and Fighting the epidemic together, which summarized the reports made by some member units of the BRI News Alliance on China’s fight against the epidemic.”
Also note this: “On March 25, 2020, the Secretariat of the BRI News Alliance issued an open letter to its member units, Building an Anti-epidemic Defense Line and Building a Health Silk Road, proposing that the member units of the Alliance actively play the role of media, report accurate and reliable anti-epidemic information, and convey a positive voice of unity, so as to promote the BRI initiative and unite and cooperate in the struggle between all mankind and the virus, and finally overcome the epidemic together.”
Next, we have reports and statements regarding Wang Yi’s meeting (English report) with Central Asian foreign ministers. So the first report has Wang’s proposals.
persist in uniting to fight the epidemic and build a community of health; here he spoke about cooperation on development and the joint production of vaccines.
persist in pioneering and innovating, and building the Silk Road Economic Belt - this covers markets, products, rules and funding.
adhere to openness and connectivity, building a link between Asia and Europe.
persist in working together on regional security and stability; this covered organised crime, drug trafficking, issues of sovereignty and foreign intervention and also security in Afghanistan
jointly draw up a new blueprint for high-quality development
The meeting led to three joint statements. The first speaks about pandemic cooperation; the second is on local cooperation; the third is regarding Afghanistan.
The pandemic joint statement praises China’s epidemic control and its cooperation; it talks about opposing politicization, stigma, discrimination, racism and xenophobia, etc; it talks about pandemic cooperation among the countries; boosting scientific and pragmatic cooperation mechanism for medical institutions; it backs China’s efforts on the traceability issue; opposes ‘vaccine nationalism’ and the creation of an ‘immune gap’; and says parties are willing to study the issue of mutual recognition of health codes.
The Afghanistan joint statement says that:
“the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Afghanistan must be respected, and the right of the Afghan people to independently control their own destiny must be respected.”
They want an “orderly and responsible” withdrawal of foreign forces “to ensure the long-term stability of Afghanistan and avoid a resurgence of terrorist forces. All parties welcome relevant countries to continue to fulfill their commitments and help Afghanistan advance its economic and social reconstruction.”
“The peace and reconciliation process in Afghanistan is at a critical stage and should be firmly advanced. It is hoped that the parties involved in the Afghan peace talks will base themselves on the long-term interests of the country and the people and reach a future national arrangement acceptable to all parties as soon as possible.”
The statement talks up the SCO-Afghanistan Liaison Group and the OECD-Afghan Liaison Group.
“All parties reiterated their firm support for the Afghan government to combat all forms of terrorism, extremism and separatism. The territory of Afghanistan should not be used by destructive forces to threaten or attack any other country. All parties are willing to continue to promote cooperation in law enforcement, security and counter-terrorism with Afghanistan through bilateral and multilateral channels, and jointly combat the ‘three evils’, drug smuggling and human trafficking and other transnational criminal activities.”
Page 4: The two historical figures covered today are Xia Minghan and the duo of Zhou Wenyong and Chen Tiejun. So Xia entered the Party in 1921 after having traveled to Changsha, and was also a student of Mao Zedong In October 1927, Xia Minghan led the peasant riots in Pingjiang and Liuyang. In 1928, he was transferred to Hubei and served as a member of the Standing Committee of the Hubei Provincial Party Committee. He was eventually arrested in Wuhan in March that year and was executed. As with many of these stories, the piece talks about Xi writing a poem right before his execution. The translation is something like this:
“Beheading is nothing to me,
A true communist who'd be.
Though you kill Xia Minghan today,
Numerous will follow my way.”
The other story about the duo of Zhou Wenyong and Chen Tiejun has been a popular tale about a revolutionary couple. They worked together and were key Party members. They participated in the Guangzhou Uprising, which failed. The story talks about how they fought against the KMT army, which was 10 times the size of their forces. In January 1928, Zhou Wenyong was elected as a member of the Standing Committee of the Guangzhou Municipal Committee. But later that month, both Zhou and Chen were arrested. They were executed on the Honghuagang Execution Grounds; but before they died they wed, thereby creating the popular story of the “Wedding on the Execution Ground.”
Page 6: An interesting report about how the “the International Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (外交部国际司 - this also gets reported as Department of International Organizations and Conferences) has consciously used Xi Jinping’s thoughts on socialism with Chinese characteristics for the new era and Xi Jinping’s diplomatic thoughts to arm, guide practice, and promote work.”
This is really interesting. Why would one get this story at this point of time? Is it a reaffirmation of Xi’s control over foreign policy or a reflection of discontent that a declaration such as this is being made?
“At the weekly executive meeting, the International Department has a fixed ‘first topic’, that is, to inspect and urge the implementation of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important instructions, and examine the effectiveness of the work in time after completion, so as to learn, implement, summarize and improve while ensuring that the decision-making arrangements of the CPC Central Committee are put in place.”
Here’s more: “In 2020, in the process of President Xi Jinping's attendance at the 73rd World Health Assembly and the series of high-level meetings on the 75th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations, the International Department focused on improving the political judgment, political understanding and political execution of party members and cadres in the struggle, finding the right direction in the complicated changes of the international situation, and practicing the ‘two maintenance’ with practical actions.”
The story talks about the arrangement of a special session by the department to study Xi’s third volume of Governance of China and the outcomes of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee. Also, to strengthen theoretical understanding, there were sessions for “in-depth study of Xi Jinping’s new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics and Xi Jinping’s diplomatic thoughts.” Efforts were made to “read the original works, learn the original text, understand the principles, and master the integrity and logic of the ideological system and the Marxist standpoints and methods throughout.”
Finally note this:
“In recent years, we have taken practical actions to defend national sovereignty, security and development interests, and international image. The Department of International Affairs actively promoted Xi Jinping’s ‘people-centered’ and other major human rights concepts contained in Xi Jinping’s new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics, as well as China’s human rights development achievements, especially my country’s completion of poverty alleviation goals and tasks on schedule. China advocates the handling of human rights issues in a fair and non-selective manner, and unequivocally opposes the politicization of human rights issues and the wrong practice of double standards. It has gained the understanding and support of the international community, especially the developing countries...”
Page 13: One more long Ren Lixuan commentary today. This one talks about the “new journey” that the Party and country is on. Essentially, the author talks about the 14 FYP and 2035 goals as the blueprint for this journey. The author talks about how China being in a “critical period of realizing the great rejuvenation” and the “major changes unseen in a century” that are taking place in the world are intertwined.
“Today, we are closer, more confident and able to achieve the goal of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation than at any time in history. However, the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation can never be achieved easily, and we must carry out great struggles with many new historical characteristics.”
He adds: “We should have two general situations in mind, keep calm in times of crisis, seek opportunities in times of crisis, forge ahead and open up new opportunities.” The roadmap that the author provides is to use the changes that are taken place in the world to further China’s national rejuvenation while also using China’s rejuvenation to shape the changes that are taking place in the world. “我们要胸怀两个大局，临危不乱、危中寻机，开拓进取、开辟新局，既利用世界百年未有之大变局的正面因素推进中华民族伟大复兴，又通过推进中华民族伟大复兴推动世界百年未有之大变局正向发展，努力创造两个大局良性联动的局面，为成功实现这一伟大跨越奠定坚实基础.”
He then talks about China’s development challenges, prospects and pathways. I’ve covered these in other Ren Lixuan commentaries earlier this week. But this was interesting, where he quotes Xi arguing that there’s more to governance and modernisation than pursuing a Western institutional model and that countries can find their own way. He then writes:
“The modernization we (China) have promoted has the common characteristics of modernization of all countries and Chinese characteristics based on national conditions, which is a Chinese-style modernization…” This, he argues, should be “reflected in China’s development policies, strategies and tactics, policy measures, and work arrangements.” He then writes that “the modernization of China, the largest developing country in the world, means that the Chinese people, whose population is larger than the total population of all developed countries, will live a modern life and completely rewrite the modern world map.” 习近平总书记指出：“治理一个国家，推动一个国家实现现代化，并不只有西方制度模式这一条道，各国完全可以走出自己的道路来。”我们所推进的现代化既有各国现代化的共同特征，更有基于国情的中国特色，是中国式现代化。习近平总书记强调，我们建设的现代化必须是具有中国特色、符合中国实际的，并特别强调了5点。这是我国现代化建设必须坚持的方向，要在我国发展的方针政策、战略战术、政策举措、工作部署中得到体现，推动全党全国各族人民共同为之努力。中国这个世界上最大发展中国家实现现代化，意味着比现在所有发达国家人口总和还要多的中国人民将过上现代化生活，将彻底改写现代化的世界版图.
The piece then talks about how China’s economic strength, scientific and technological strength, comprehensive national strength and improvements in people’s living standards along with achievement in building a well-off society are indicative of the strength of the Party-led governance system. The author argues that China’s “significant institutional advantages, solid material foundation, abundant human resources, complete industrial system, strong scientific and technological strength, broad market space, and strong development resilience” create “favorable conditions and solid foundation for starting a new journey” towards socialist modernisation.
He then concludes that doing this well requires:
maintaining and strengthening Party’s leadership with Xi at its core
meeting people’s developmental needs, i.e., “people-centered” development thinking. This covers issues like inequality, livelihood issues, sustainable development, unbalanced growth, etc.
modernising governance system and capabilities; this emphasises the Party's leadership over economic, political, cultural, social, ecological, military and foreign affairs domains.
“On the new journey, we must strengthen institutional self-confidence, maintain strategic determination, and further adhere to and improve the socialist system with Chinese characteristics around the directions, goals and paths determined in the ‘Planning Outline’, so as to give our country a significant advantage in many aspects of the national system and governance system.”
insist on the core position of innovation in China’s modernization drive
“We must adhere to the bottom line thinking, enhance the sense of urgency, carry forward the spirit of struggle, improve the ability of struggle, recognize the wisdom of change, adapt to the situation, and be brave in seeking change.” In the next sentence, he concludes quoting one of Mao’s poems to emphasise the need to maintain an enterprising spirit, “A man cannot be a hero unless he climbs up to the Great Wall.” 我们要坚持底线思维、增强忧患意识，发扬斗争精神、提高斗争本领，以识变之智、应变之方、求变之勇，不惧“回头浪”、勇开“顶风船”，保持“乱云飞渡仍从容”的战略定力，展现“不到长城非好汉”的进取精神，以开拓创新的精神状态、风雨无阻的闯劲干劲，乘势而上开启全面建设社会主义现代化国家新征程、向第二个百年奋斗目标进军.
Page 17: We have the Israel-Palestine tensions and the recent Taliban gains in Kabul covered on the page. There’s then a Zhong Sheng commentary that criticises the US’ Afghan withdrawal. The piece talks about recent violence in Afghanistan, particularly the bomb attack that targeted a girls school in Kabul.
The piece says that “if U.S. and NATO troops fail to withdraw from Afghanistan in a responsible manner, it will bring greater security risks to the region.” The next few paragraphs are critical of the US for withdrawing due to domestic political considerations.
“The US decision quickly affected the domestic situation in Afghanistan. Since the United States and NATO troops officially launched their withdrawal from Afghanistan on May 1, there have been frequent bombing attacks in various parts of Afghanistan, and the security situation has become increasingly severe, seriously threatening the peace and stability of Afghanistan and the safety of the people’s lives, causing widespread concern in the international community.”
The author then talks about how “at present, the United States is the biggest external factor in the Afghan issue. The withdrawal of U.S. troops should be orderly and responsible, and the US should do its duty to prevent the further escalation of violence in Afghanistan, stop all kinds of terrorist forces from taking advantage and causing chaos, and create a favorable external environment for intra-Afghan negotiations, not the other way around.”