Praising Xi's Handling of Economy - 仲音 Commentary: Living with the Virus is not an Option - Icelandic Edition of Governance of China - Commemorating Peng Zhen's Birth Anniversary
Here are the stories and pieces that I found noteworthy in the Wednesday, October 12, 2022, edition of the People’s Daily. It’s another rather quiet edition of the paper. I guess everything’s being prepped for Sunday and thereafter. Just a note, I’ll be skipping Thursday and Friday, but will do the Saturday edition, if there’s anything interesting.
Page 1: At the top of the page is a report on Xi Jinping and German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier exchanging congratulatory messages over the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Xinhua English says:
“Xi pointed out that over the past 50 years, China and Germany have adhered to the spirit of mutual respect and mutual benefit and win-win results, continuously promoted bilateral relations, made positive contributions to global peace and development, and written a chapter of walking hand in hand and helping each other succeed. Xi said that he attaches great importance to the development of China-Germany relations, and stands ready to work with Steinmeier to take the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries as an opportunity to build on past achievements and forge ahead into the future, and push the China-Germany all-round strategic partnership to a new level for the benefits of the two countries and their people.”
Below this is a report on the launch of the Icelandic edition of the first volume of Xi’s Governance of China books. An event was held for the launch with former president Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson in attendance. As per the report, Grímsson said that in his engagements with Xi, he had been “deeply impressed” by his “philosophy of governing the country.” He called publication of the Governance of China books in different languages as being “a dialogue between China and the world.” Du Zhanyuan, President of China International Publishing Group, said that the publication of the Icelandic version of the book would “open a new window for more readers in the country to understand Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and build a bridge of understanding to promote mutual learning between the civilizations of China and Iceland.”
There are a bunch of feature pieces on the page, which I am not interested in. But there’s a report informing that the total number of registered market entities in China has hit 163 million. This is compared to 55 million at the end of 2012. Among them, individual industrial and commercial households account for 109 million. The number of foreign-invested enterprises increased from 441,000 to 668,000, an increase of more than 50% from 2012 to 2022.
Finally, there’s a long feature article praising Xi Jinping’s management of the Chinese economy over the past decade. Fairly early on, the article rather unequivocally says:
“In the past ten years, China's economic development has made historic achievements and undergone historic changes. The most fundamental reason for this lies in having General Secretary Xi Jinping as the core of the CPC Central Committee and the core of the whole party at the helm, and in the scientific guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era.” 非凡十年，我国经济发展取得历史性成就、发生历史性变革，最根本的原因在于有习近平总书记作为党中央的核心、全党的核心掌舵领航，在于有习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想科学指引.
Here’s more:
“Domestically, after years of rapid growth, the structural and systemic contradictions within the economy have been accumulating, the traditional development model is unsustainable, the problems of imbalance and inadequate development are more prominent, and the contradictions in development are concentrated in terms of the quality of development. Externally, the haze of the international financial crisis has not yet dissipated, economic globalisation has encountered adverse currents, a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation has emerged, and the competition for comprehensive national strength is unprecedentedly fierce. The international situation is complicated, and the tasks of reform, development and stability are arduous and arduous. General Secretary Xi Jinping coordinated both domestic and international situations, and made major strategic judgments one by one. ‘China’s economy has shifted from a stage of high-speed growth to one of high-quality development. China is in a critical period of transforming its development model, optimising the economic structure, and transforming the driving force for growth’; ‘the situation at home and abroad is undergoing profound and complex changes, and China’s development is still in a period of important strategic opportunities’; ‘Based on the new development stage, implementing new development concept, building a new development pattern, and promoting high-quality development are the tasks that the whole Part and the whole country must pay close attention to at present and in the future’...” 向内看，历经多年高速增长，经济结构性体制性矛盾不断积累，传统发展模式难以为继，发展不平衡不充分的问题更加突出，发展中的矛盾和问题集中体现在发展质量上。向外看，国际金融危机阴霾未散，经济全球化遭遇逆流，新一轮科技革命和产业变革孕育兴起，综合国力竞争空前激烈。国际形势错综复杂，改革发展稳定任务艰巨繁重。习近平总书记统筹国内国际两个大局，作出一个个重大战略判断——“我国经济已由高速增长阶段转向高质量发展阶段，正处在转变发展方式、优化经济结构、转换增长动力的攻关期”；“国内外形势正在发生深刻复杂变化，我国发展仍处于重要战略机遇期”；“立足新发展阶段、贯彻新发展理念、构建新发展格局，推动高质量发展，是当前和今后一个时期全党全国必须抓紧抓好的工作”；
The piece then praises Xi’s foresight and insight. It says that “after an extraordinary decade, we are even more convinced that as long as we persist in the Party’s leadership, accurately recognise changes, respond scientifically and take the initiative to pursue changes, the giant ship of the Chinese economy will surely be able to cut through the waves, move forward, and sail towards a brighter future.” 走过非凡十年，我们更加深信：只要始终不渝坚持党的领导，准确识变、科学应变、主动求变，中国经济巨轮一定能劈波斩浪、一往无前，驶向更加光明的未来.
There is some noteworthy data in the article, which makes it useful to bookmark in case you want to get a quick recap. For instance,
As of 2021, China’s urbanisation rate was 64.72%, an increase of 11.62 percentage points over the end of 2012.
From 2012 to 2021, the ratio of per capita disposable income and per capita consumption expenditure of urban and rural residents shrank from 2.88 and 2.57 to 2.5 and 1.9, respectively.
In 2021, the average number of days with good air quality in cities at the prefecture level and above was 87.5%, an increase of 6.3 percentage points from 2015
Energy consumption per unit of GDP decreased by 26.4% compared with 2012.
Toilet penetration in rural areas hit 70% as of 2021
From 2013 to 2021, the number of new urban jobs created per year has remained over 11 million.
In 2021, the per capita disposable income of China’s residents was 35,128 yuan, an increase of 18,618 yuan over 2012.
By the end of 2021, the national basic pension insurance and basic medical insurance covered 1.03 billion people and 1.36 billion people, respectively.
Beyond some such data, the article basically makes the point that China's economy is resilient and its long-term positive fundamentals remain strong. It ends by saying that “time and momentum” are on China’s side, and this is the confidence that must be maintained.
Page 2: Today, we have the third 仲音 commentary on the dynamic clearing policy. This one dismisses the idea of “lying flat” or living with the virus.
The author informs that as of September 28th, 86.26% of the elderly people over 60 years old in China have completed the whole course of vaccination, and there are still quite a few elderly people who haven't completed the whole course of vaccination and booster immunisation. In addition, there are a considerable number of children and people with pre-existing conditions who cannot be vaccinated. Therefore, the vaccination rate in China has not yet established a strong enough barrier to resist severe illness and death. Once epidemic prevention and control is relaxed, a large number of people will be infected in a short period of time, and a large number of severe infections and deaths will occur, resulting in a run on medical resources. This will also impact the demand for normal medical services which will be unaddressed, forming a vicious circle. From a practical point of view, it is precisely because of our insistence on dynamic clearing that we have protected people's lives and health to the greatest extent possible. According to data released by the National Health Commission, in 2021, the average life expectancy of Chinese residents will increase to 78.2 years, and various indicators of health care will continue to be optimised. This achievement is due to the scientific and effective epidemic prevention and control. Practice has fully proved that dynamic clearing is in line with national conditions, scientific, effective and feasible. The essence of insisting on dynamic clearing is to adhere to the supremacy of the people and life. 截至9月28日，我国60岁以上老年人完成全程接种人数占老年人口的比例为86.26%，还有相当部分老年人尚未完成全程接种和加强免疫接种，加上相当数量的儿童和有禁忌症无法接种疫苗的人群，疫苗接种率尚未形成足以抵抗重症和死亡的屏障。一旦放松疫情防控，势必会在短期内造成大量人群被感染，出现大量重症和死亡病例，造成医疗资源挤兑，让正常的医疗服务需求得不到解决，形成恶性循环。从实践看，正因为坚持动态清零，我们才最大限度保护了人民生命安全和身体健康。国家卫生健康委发布的数据显示，2021年我国居民人均预期寿命提高到78.2岁，卫生健康事业各项指标持续优化。能够取得这一成绩，科学有力的疫情防控功不可没。实践充分证明，动态清零符合国情、符合科学、有效可行，坚持动态清零实质就是坚持人民至上、生命至上. — Quick thought: This is all fine. It makes sense to argue that the scale of vaccination leaves a lot of people vulnerable. But if this is the case, why is the Chinese government not doing more to vaccinate people? Why not put in place vaccine mandates to access public spaces for starters.
The next paragraph says that lying flat, therefore, is not an option. To make this case, the article takes data from Japan and the US. It talks about the Japanese medical system being under “severe pressure” and points to over 1 million COVID-related deaths in the US, reduced life expectancy and data saying that 24 million adults in the US are struggling with long COVID.
Later the article makes the point that “from a scientific point of view, ‘lying flat’ increases the risk of new mutant strains emerging…Relaxing prevention and control will greatly increase the risk of virus mutation, and the emergence of new mutant strains may bring new transmission risks and infection threats.” 从科学角度而言，“躺平”增加了新的变异毒株出现的风险。新冠病毒变异和进化存在不确定性，感染病例越多，新冠病毒变异的机会也就越多。放松防控将大幅提升病毒变异风险，而新的变异毒株出现后又可能带来新的传播风险和感染威胁. — This is such a stupid argument; it’s not like locking oneself down is going to stop the virus from mutating.
Page 3: First, there’s a report (English report) about Peng Liyuan sending a congratulatory message to the 2022 UNESCO Prize for Girls’ and Women’s Education award ceremony. Second, there’s a piece on China’s development diplomacy; this basically talks about GDI.
At this critical juncture, China put forward the Global Development Initiative, aiming to build a community of global development, adhering to the concepts of giving priority to development and taking the people as the centre; focusing on promoting cooperation in poverty reduction, food security, pandemic containment and vaccines, development financing, climate change and green development, industrialisation, digital economy, connectivity in the digital age and other fields; and advocating that development should be placed in a prominent position in the global macro-policy framework, the need to build a more equitable and balanced global development partnership, promote the synergy and efficiency of multilateral development cooperation process, accelerate the implementation of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development; all of this fully demonstrates that China has always made contributions to global development as a responsible major power. The Global Development Initiative has set up a cooperation platform and pointed out a feasible path for jointly promoting global development to a new stage of balance, coordination and inclusiveness. More than 100 countries and many international organisations, including the United Nations, have responded and supported it, and more than 60 countries have joined the Group of Friends of the Global Development Initiative.” 在全球发展事业的关键当口，中国提出全球发展倡议，以构建全球发展共同体为目标，秉持发展优先、以人民为中心等理念，重点推进减贫、粮食安全、抗疫和疫苗、发展筹资、气候变化和绿色发展、工业化、数字经济、数字时代互联互通等领域合作，倡导将发展置于全球宏观政策框架的突出位置，构建更加平等均衡的全球发展伙伴关系，推动多边发展合作进程协同增效，加快落实联合国2030年可持续发展议程，充分展现中国始终做全球发展贡献者的大国担当。全球发展倡议为共同推动全球发展迈向平衡协调包容新阶段搭建了合作平台、指明了可行路径，得到100多个国家和包括联合国在内的多个国际组织响应支持，60多个国家加入“全球发展倡议之友小组”.
The piece then talks about the 32 outcomes from the high-level dialogue on global development in June. Then it talks about the Ministerial Meeting of the Group of Friends of the Global Development Initiative, which was held in September in New York. You can read the outcome from that meeting here.
Page 6: There’s a long article commemorating the 120th birthday of Peng Zhen. Interesting little bit in this on his purging during the Cultural Revolution. “During the ‘Cultural Revolution’, Comrade Peng Zhen was wrongly criticised and brutally persecuted. But in the face of adversity, he always believed that the truth would win, believed in the Party and believed in the people. He insisted on studying Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought, and fought resolutely against the perverse practices (倒行逆施 - this is an idiom for which the explanation is better than how translation here.) of Lin Biao and Jiang Qing.” “文化大革命”中，彭真同志遭受错误批判和残酷迫害。但他在逆境中始终坚信真理一定会胜利，相信党，相信人民。他坚持学习马列主义、毛泽东思想，同林彪、江青一伙的倒行逆施进行坚决斗争.