Roots of American Hegemony - Zero-Covid is the 'Best Choice' - Wang Yi's Chat with Emmanuel Bonne - Zhong Sheng on US & Human Rights - Employment Situation 'Complex & Severe' - Common Prosperity
Here are the stories and pieces that I found noteworthy from the Friday, April 08, 2022, edition of the People’s Daily.
Page 1: This morning Xi Jinping spoke at an event in Beijing to honour those who have made outstanding contributions to Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games and the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games. The lead article in the People’s Daily is a longish feature which emphasises Xi Jinping’s leadership as the key factor in China successfully hosting the Games. Next, there’s a report about the regulation on petitions. The entire regulation is on Page 6. There’s also a front page commentary on the regulations. The commentary says that:
“It must be deeply understood that work related to petitions is important for the Party and government to understand the people’s feelings, pool their wisdom, safeguard their interest and unite the people. It is also an important way for organs and units at all levels and their leading cadres and staff to accept the supervision of the masses and improve their work style. Party committees, governments, and leading cadres at all levels must further enhance their sense of purpose, do everything possible to solve problems for the masses, address their legitimate demands, adhere to and develop the Fengqiao Experience in the new era, and strive to resolve contradictions in the early stage at the grass-roots level, so as to make the people feel that their rights and interests are treated fairly and their interests are effectively safeguarded…” 必须深刻认识到，信访工作是党和政府了解民情、集中民智、维护民利、凝聚民心的一项重要工作，是各级机关、单位及其领导干部、工作人员接受群众监督、改进工作作风的重要途径。各级党委和政府、各级领导干部必须进一步增强宗旨意识，千方百计为群众排忧解难，把群众合法诉求解决好，坚持和发展新时代“枫桥经验”，努力把矛盾化解在早、化解在小、化解在基层，努力让人民群众感到权益受到公平对待、利益得到有效维护，切实把信访工作做到群众心坎上，不断夯实党执政的群众基础.
Next, there’s a report informing us that Premier Li Keqiang has signed a State Council decree unveiling a set of revised administrative regulations to further cut the red tape and stimulate market players’ vitality. The decree, which will take effect on May 1, 2022, announced the decision to amend 14 and abolish six sets of regulations in a bid to promote the separation of permits from business licenses. The entire decision document is published on Page 16.
Xinhua English informs that “The revision cancelled certain review and approval procedures for foreign investments in telecommunications businesses, according to the decree. It also streamlined procedures for the establishment of some medical institutions. The document details measures to switch from licensing to archival filing management for certain fields. Administrative approval will no longer be required for training of security guards, international road cargo transport and motor vehicle driving. Some regulations inconsistent with the provisions and principles of the Civil Code were also abolished, according to the document.”
Next, there’s a report from Guangxi about the ongoing 20th Party Congress election process. The piece informs that as of now, 17 recommending and nominating units in Guangxi have successfully completed the nomination and recommendation work. The candidates recommended are distributed at all administrative levels, i.e., district, city, county and village levels, and represent different sectors like the economy, science and technology, politics and law, education, health and other fields.
There’s also a quote from an unidentified member of the Organisation Department in Guangxi talking about the checks being placed from a “political integrity” perspective. The person says that once someone is recommended, there is an inter-departmental joint review that is carried out in order to ensure that the nominee meets the political integrity criteria. If not, the individual’s nomination is vetoed.
Finally, there’s a short piece bylined 林亦辰. It calls for adherence to the dynamic zero-COVID policy. It says that the zero-Covid strategy “is the best choice at this stage” and “striving to achieve ‘dynamic zero-Covid’ in a short time is the most economical and effective epidemic prevention and control strategy.” It also calls on cadres to maintain “strategic determination” not slacken, be paralysed or grow war weary in implementing the policy. 我国地域广阔，各地医疗卫生条件存在差异，疫苗接种在不同人群之间存在不平衡性，同时老年人口基数大。在这样的背景下，“动态清零”是现阶段基于我国当前疫情形势的最佳选择，力争在短时间内做到“动态清零”是最经济、最有效的疫情防控策略。保持战略定力，不麻痹、不厌战、不松劲，从严从实开展防控工作，我们必能巩固来之不易的成果，有力保障人民群众生命健康和经济社会发展.
Page 2: The entire page is dedicated to reports related to the Covid outbreak in the country, particularly Shanghai. One of the articles talks about the work being done by the local authorities to ensure that requirements of daily supplies for people are met. This is covered via comments by Vice Mayor Chen Tong, who spoke at a press conference yesterday.
Global Times’ English report covers some of Chen’s remarks. He said that the city has sufficient reserves of supplies such as rice and meat, and additional food supplies could be transported from other regions when there's a need. Supermarkets and vegetable farms can't operate normally and there has been reduced delivery capacity of e-commerce platforms due to epidemic prevention, leading challenges in distribution and deliveries, Chen said. Shanghai has established special working groups to ensure daily supplies, with 10 emergency supply warehouses built, and the city has engaged with more than 100 vegetable production bases.
The PD report talks about the officials pointing to the last mile delivery challenge in megacities. The report also has officials talking about the work being done to ensure that pregnant women can have access for checkups and patients with serious illnesses get treated.
Second, there’s a report about Party members and medical staff standing up to deal with the challenges of the pandemic. This narrative, in PD at least, is so far not close to the heroes’ narrative that we saw during the Wuhan lockdown. But it is of the same variety. If you are interested in checking out what that narrative looked like, let me plug my book Smokeless War.
Finally, there’s a picture report about a makeshift hospital becoming operational.
Page 3: There’s a report about Wang Yi’s chats with the foreign minister of Mongolia, Batmunkh Battsetseg, and the French president’s diplomatic counselor Emmanuel Bonne.
“The two sides exchanged views mainly on the Ukraine issue. Bonne said that France has always adhered to an independent foreign policy and will not fall into the logic of bloc politics. France has always been committed to creating and maintaining peace, and is communicating with various parties including Russia on major issues such as Ukraine's achieving neutrality and obtaining security guarantees, he added. France attaches great importance to China's views on the current situation, and is ready to make joint efforts with China to promote peace talks, realize a ceasefire and resolve the crisis, said Bonne.”
Wang said that Xi had spoken to Macron in the past and “comprehensively expounded China's principled position on the Ukraine issue.”
“China also looks forward to an early ceasefire and the restoration of peace, and has been making unremitting efforts to this end in its own way, he added. At the same time, China believes that all parties should work to create the necessary environment and conditions for advancing peace talks, facilitating peace and negotiations instead of fanning flames, he said. One cannot call for ceasefire and cessation of war while sending large quantities of advanced weapons and equipment to further escalate the war, and likewise, one can not claim to support dialogue and peace talks while at the same time unscrupulously imposing unilateral sanctions and provoking further escalation of tensions, Wang said. Noting that the Ukraine issue has its roots in Europe’s security imbalance, Wang said that the principle of indivisible security should be adhered to, and a balanced, effective and sustainable European security framework should be rebuilt. Only by doing so can Europe truly achieve lasting peace and stability, he added. Wang also said that China supports the French side in upholding Europe’s strategic autonomy and letting the European people take the continent's destiny into their own hands, adding China appreciates France's nonrecognition of the logic of bloc politics, and meanwhile believes the Cold War mentality should not be allowed to resurge. Humankind has entered the 21st century, in which the interests of all countries are intertwined and interdependent, Wang pointed out, noting China stands ready to work with France to strengthen strategic cooperation and jointly build a community with a shared future for mankind. Both sides are deeply concerned about the spillover effects of the Ukraine crisis.”
Regarding the call with Batmunkh Battsetseg, Xinhua reports:
“The more turbulent the international situation is, the more China and Mongolia, as close neighbors, should strengthen communication, enhance mutual trust and deepen cooperation, Wang added. Echoing Wang’s words, Battsetseg said that the Mongolian side is ready to work with China to implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, keep close exchanges at different levels and strengthen communication and cooperation in various fields. She said that the Mongolian side looks forward to giving full play to the Mongolia-China "green lanes" to further improve port operation capacity and shipment, and effectively cope with the negative impact caused by the spillover of the Ukraine crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic.”
“China is willing to work with Mongolia to speed up the construction of the China-Russia-Mongolia Economic Corridor and promote the connectivity of railway lines between China and Mongolia, Wang said…The two sides agreed to continue to firmly support each other in safeguarding sovereignty, security and development interests, avoid external interference and promote healthy and stable development of bilateral relations. Battsetseg said Mongolia respects China's core concerns, and will as always handle religious affairs independently.”
There are two reports about Nancy Pelosi’s expected visit to Taiwan. I don’t think this visit is going to happen immediately, since she’s tested positive for COVID. One of the reports is based on MoFA’s Zhao Lijian’s comments. He had said:
“China resolutely opposes all forms of official contact between the US and Taiwan. Congress is a branch of the US government and should stringently abide by the one-China policy that the US upholds. If Speaker Pelosi visits Taiwan, this would gravely violate the one-China principle and the stipulations of the three China-US Joint Communiqués, seriously undermine China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, severely impact the political foundation of China-US relations and send a seriously wrong signal to “Taiwan independence” separatist forces. China firmly opposes this and has lodged solemn representations with the US side. The US should abide by the one-China principle and the three China-US Joint Communiqués, immediately cancel Speaker Pelosi’s plan to visit Taiwan, stop official contact with Taiwan, and fulfill its commitment of not supporting “Taiwan independence” with real actions. If the US insists on having its own way, China will take firm and strong measures to resolutely safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity. All possible consequences that arise from this will completely be borne by the US side.”
The other report is based on comments from the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council. Spokesperson Ma Xiaoguang’s comments echoed Zhao’s. He framed the visit from the perspective of “collusion” between independence seeking forces in Taiwan and some American officials. Ma said that China would not tolerate such a visit and would “strike back firmly” if it takes place. “We warn Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party authority to immediately stop seeking 'Taiwan independence' by collaborating with foreign forces.”
Finally, there’s the 8th commentary in the Zhong Sheng series of commentaries criticising the US for the war in Ukraine. This one talks about the American “game of maintaining hegemony under the guise of ‘human rights’.” The piece criticises the US as the originator/initiator 始作俑者 of the crisis and says that while the US has been talking about the need for all democratic countries to help deal with the refugee crisis, it is the countries in Europe that are actually dealing with the tide of refugees. It says that while the US boasts of being a “beacon” and “defender” of human rights, in essence it is a false priest 伪道士.
“The United States has an unshirkable responsibility for the current refugee tide in Europe. The US government has declared that it will welcome Ukrainian refugees fleeing the war ‘with open arms’. But ironically, compared with European countries receiving millions of refugees, US State Department data shows that from March 1 to 16, the United States has only received seven Ukrainian refugees. According to Newsweek, at least five Ukrainian refugees entering the United States have been detained by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and one of them was transferred to a detention center in Louisiana. A few days ago, the United States promised to accept 100,000 Ukrainian refugees. Even if this promise is fulfilled, it will merely be a drop in the bucket when it comes to addressing the Ukrainian refugee problem.” 美国对当前欧洲出现的难民潮负有不可推卸的责任。美国政府曾宣称将“张开双臂”欢迎逃离战火的乌克兰难民。但极具讽刺意味的是，与欧洲国家接收数百万难民相比，美国国务院数据显示，3月1日至16日，美国仅接收7名乌克兰难民。另据美国《新闻周刊》报道，至少5名入境美国的乌克兰难民正被拘留在美国移民与海关执法局，其中一人被转移到路易斯安那州的拘留中心。日前，美国又承诺将接收10万名乌克兰难民。且不说承诺能否兑现，即使落到实处，对于解决乌克兰难民问题也是杯水车薪.
The next paragraph talks about hypocrisy when it comes to human rights, and some apparent racist comments in the American media “when reporting on the Ukrainian crisis and refugees in the country.” Basically, the argument is the human rights issue is nothing but a tool to extend US hegemony. The following paragraph says that the US instead of being a defender of human rights has been the biggest violator of rights around the world. This talks about the bombing of Yugoslavia, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the conflicts in Syria and Libya.
The next paragraph criticises the use of sanctions by the US, arguing that these have led to humanitarian crises. In making this point, the author cites a 1996 interview with the late Madeleine Albright. She was then the US ambassador to the UN. Albright was asked on 60 Minutes about studies which indicated that the economic strife in Iraq amid the American sanctions had been linked to the death of half a million children over the years. The anchor asked her if the price was worth it? And Albright had responded by saying “I think that is a very hard choice. But the price, we think, the price is worth it.” 为维护霸权，美国肆意挥舞制裁大棒，进一步加剧人道主义危机。1996年，在回答有关“美国主导的对伊拉克制裁导致50万儿童死亡，这一切是否值得”的问题时，美国时任常驻联合国代表公然称：“这是一个困难的选择，但我认为这是值得的。”这种霸权高于主权、人权的逻辑，始终主导着美国的外交政策。美国对伊朗石油部门的制裁导致伊朗无法进口足够的医疗用品，威胁伊朗人民的生命权和健康权。美国对叙利亚的制裁，严重影响叙利亚人民享有经济、社会、文化权利。美国对古巴的经济封锁长达60年，即使在疫情期间也没有放松。古巴外交部长布鲁诺·罗德里格斯表示，经济封锁是一种“大规模、公然和不可接受的对古巴人民人权的侵犯”“制裁就像病毒一样，令人窒息和死亡，必须停止”.
(Quick thought: This obviously comes off horribly. It is interesting that the quote is being used in Chinese propaganda. Clearly, the folks writing these commentaries are savvy about what’s trending. This clip had made its way on social media after Albright’s demise in late March. Anyway, at a broader level, there’s a lot to criticise when it comes to US policies related to Iraq over the decades. And it is important to not dismiss the human cost of all of this. But let’s remember that this was in 1996 and not after the 2003 war. Back then, it was Saddam who had provoked the war by attacking Kuwait a few years ago, which had led to an international response and subsequent sanctions. Finally, it also seems that the point she was making in the interview was that there is significant culpability of the dictator in charge for wasting away people’s resources on personal luxuries and for threatening countries in the neighbourhood.)
Here’s a longer clip:
Anyway, the final paragraph of the commentary ends by saying that “humanitarian issues should not be politicised, still less be used as an excuse to maintain hegemony. If the US really cares about the humanitarian situation in Ukraine, it should take concrete actions to ease the situation and play a constructive role in dialogue and negotiation.” 人道问题不应被政治化，更不应成为维护霸权的借口。如果美国真的关心乌克兰人道主义局势，就应当为缓和局势拿出实际行动，为对话谈判发挥建设性作用.
Page 4: Two reports to note. First, a report about Vice Premier Hu Chunhua presiding over a symposium on employment. He says that the employment situation is “complex and severe.” Xinhua reports: “The stability of employment should be placed in a more prominent position, Hu said, urging relevant departments to solve difficulties faced by enterprises in a timely manner and continue to improve employment services. He also underscored the importance of efforts to strengthen the study of the employment situation, propose new suggestions in response to new changes, and hear opinions from research institutions, enterprises and other areas, so as to contribute more to the stability of employment.”
Second, a report about the new National Security Committee of Macao holding its first plenary meeting. The report talks about the improvement of the legal system to safeguard national security.
Page 9: The entire theory page today is dedicated to the third set of articles in the 10 clears series. The third clear is:
“The principal contradiction facing Chinese society in the new era is that between unbalanced and inadequate development and the people’s ever-growing needs for a better life, and the Party must therefore remain committed to a people-centered philosophy of development, develop whole-process people’s democracy, and make more notable and substantive progress toward achieving well-rounded human development and common prosperity for all.”
There’s a lot of common prosperity talk in these articles. In the first article, Li Jie talks about the importance of appropriately defining the principal contradiction facing society. Li obviously says that the Party is correct in its redefinition under Xi Jinping. In tracking the history of the changes in China’s development orientation over the decades, Li mentions Mao, Deng, Jiang and Hu before talking about “people-centred development” thinking under Xi. The last section of the article is dedicated to the idea of common prosperity.
“Achieving common prosperity for all the people is the unswerving goal of our party and a key measure to implement the people-centred development philosophy and build a modern socialist country in an all-round way.”
“In order to promote common prosperity, first, we must fully mobilise the enthusiasm, initiative and creativity of the people, give full play to the efforts of the whole society to promote the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and constantly make the ‘cake’ bigger. Second, we should divide the ever-growing ‘cake’ well, so that the superiority of the socialist system can be more fully demonstrated. China has a vast territory and a large population, and there are great differences in natural endowments and development foundations from place to place. This means that achieving common prosperity is a process of dynamic development. It is not about everyone achieving prosperity at the same time or engaging in egalitarianism or eating from the same pot of rice. Rather, it should be achieved gradually along a process from the partial to the whole and from quantitative to qualitative changes.” 促进共同富裕，一要充分调动人民群众的积极性、主动性、创造性，举全民之力推进中国特色社会主义事业，不断把“蛋糕”做大。二要把不断做大的“蛋糕”分好，让社会主义制度的优越性得到更充分体现。我国幅员辽阔、人口众多，各地自然禀赋和发展基础存在很大差异。这意味着实现共同富裕是一个在动态中向前发展的过程，不是同时富裕、同步富裕、同等富裕，更不是搞平均主义、吃大锅饭，而要沿着从局部到整体、从量变到质变的进程逐步实现.
In the second piece, Sang Yucheng from Fudan University talks about people-centered development and China’s whole process democracy. Sang writes:
“The original purpose of democracy is that the people are the masters of the country. Democracy is not an ornament or for decoration, but rather it must provide solutions to the problems that the people need to solve. The people are in the best position to say what kind of democracy is good and what kind is bad. In some western countries, people only wake up when they have to vote, and then go into hibernation. They only listen to the hysterical slogans during the election but have no right to speak after elections. They are only sought after when leaders are canvassing for votes, after that, they are left out in the cold. This so-called ‘democracy’ results in all kinds of chaos. Such a democracy is not a real democracy.” 民主的本意是人民当家作主，民主不是装饰品，不是用来做摆设的，而是要用来解决人民需要解决的问题的。哪种民主好、哪种民主不好，人民感受最直接，最有发言权。在一些西方国家，人民只有在投票时被唤醒、投票后就进入休眠期，只有竞选时聆听天花乱坠的口号、竞选后就毫无发言权，只有拉票时受宠、选举后就被冷落，所谓的“民主”呈现种种乱象，这样的民主不是真正的民主.
Sang finally praises China’s whole process democracy and argues that “practice has proved that the whole process of people's democracy is a true democracy…”
The final article is specifically about common prosperity by Wan Haiyuan from Beijing Normal University. Wan writes that
At present, China has entered the stage of high-quality development. Promoting common prosperity through high-quality development, strengthening security and improving people’s livelihood are conducive to expanding consumption, enhancing growth potential and increasing social vitality. It will help in creating more inclusive and fair conditions for people to improve their education level, and promoting the overall improvement of people’s development ability. It will help open up channels for upward mobility, create a better institutional environment for people to get rich through hard work, and foster a development environment in which everyone participates. It will help strengthen the guidance of socialist core values, develop public cultural undertakings, improve the public cultural service system, and constantly meet the diverse, multi-level and multi-faceted spiritual and cultural needs of the people. On the basis of sustained and healthy development, efforts should be made to solve the problem of inadequate and imbalanced development and improve the quality and efficiency of development. Only through this path can people’s increasing needs in economy, politics, culture, society and ecology be better met, and people's all-round development and society's all-round progress be better promoted. 当前，我国已经进入高质量发展阶段。在高质量发展中促进共同富裕，加强保障和改善民生，有利于扩大居民消费，提升增长潜力，增加社会活力；有利于为人民提高受教育程度创造更加普惠公平的条件，促进人的发展能力全面提升；有利于畅通向上流动通道，为人们勤劳致富创造更加良好的制度环境，形成人人参与的发展环境；有利于强化社会主义核心价值观引领，发展公共文化事业，完善公共文化服务体系，不断满足人民群众多样化、多层次、多方面的精神文化需求。在持续健康发展的基础上，着力解决好发展不平衡不充分的问题，大力提升发展质量和效益，这样才能更好满足人民在经济、政治、文化、社会、生态等方面日益增长的需要，更好推动人的全面发展、社会全面进步.
“At the same time, it should be recognized that common prosperity does not mean prosperity for all at the same time, nor does it mean prosperity for all regions at the same time. The problem of unbalanced and inadequate development is still prominent in China, and there is a wide gap in development between urban and rural areas, among regions, and in income distribution. To promote common prosperity, we should neither rush for success nor shrink from difficulties. Instead, we should fully assess the long-term, arduous and complex nature of achieving common prosperity and make solid progress.” Wan says that there will be differences in the levels of affluence between different groups and in the time that different groups need to become affluent. Rather than being worried about that, it is important to focus on making sustained efforts. “We also need to encourage local governments to explore effective approaches in light of their local conditions, draw on experience and gradually implement them,” Wan adds. 同时应认识到，共同富裕不是所有人都同时富裕，也不是所有地区同时达到一个富裕水准。我国发展不平衡不充分的问题仍然突出，城乡区域发展和收入分配差距较大，促进共同富裕既不能急于求成，也不能畏难不前，而要对实现共同富裕的长期性、艰巨性、复杂性有充分估计，扎扎实实向前推进。不同人群实现富裕的程度会有高有低，时间上也会有先有后；不同地区富裕程度会存在一定差异，不可能齐头并进。办好这件事，需要持续推动，不断取得成效，也要鼓励各地因地制宜探索有效路径，总结经验，逐步推开.
He says that When it comes to primary distribution, both efficiency and equity should be emphasised, while redistribution should both promote equity and give consideration to efficiency. While making full use of fiscal and taxation policies to regulate income distribution, it is important to improve the social security system and make better use of its role in supporting those in need. The tertiary distribution, meanwhile, mainly plays a supportive role, encouraging enterprises or individuals to participate in charity voluntarily. 初次分配既要讲效率又要讲公平，再分配既要促进公平又要考虑效率。在发挥财税调节收入分配作用的同时，还要健全社会保障体系，更好发挥其兜底提低的作用。三次分配主要起辅助作用，鼓励企业或个体自愿参与慈善事业.
The last paragraph is also interesting. It calls for “encouraging innovation and entrepreneurship, actively promoting new industrialization, informatization, urbanization and agricultural modernization, focussing on stimulating the vitality of capital and industrial development power, and adhering to industrial prosperity in order to drive people to become rich and increase income through labour and employment.” 鼓励创新创业，积极推进新型工业化、信息化、城镇化和农业现代化，着力激发资本活力和产业发展动力，坚持以产业兴旺带动全体人民通过劳动就业致富增收.
Page 17: On the international page, there’s no mention of Ukraine. But we do have stories about bird flu in France and two pieces critical of the US. First, there’s a report that talks about the US-led coalition having used “depleted uranium bombs and white phosphorus bombs in large quantities in Iraq,” and discusses the human cost of these actions, calling them a “crime against humanity.” This report cites different news reports, studies and analysts.
Second, there’s an article by CASS’ Wei Nanzhi, who talks about the multiple roots of American hegemony. She writes that “an alliance of interests between the American state machinery and international monopoly capital groups (国际垄断资本集团) is the ‘foundation’ of American hegemony. However, the US’ own national governance capacity has struggled to maintain this foundation. Consequently, the United States is increasingly developing in the direction of transferring internal contradictions to external crises. 美国的国家机器与国际垄断资本集团结成的利益同盟是美国霸权的“根基”，但是美国自身的国家治理能力已难以维系这一“根基”，美国越来越朝着对内转移矛盾、对外转嫁危机的方向发展.
In the next paragraph, she writes about there being “great regional and ethnic cultural differences” in US society. However, she says that the US has historically treated the “aborigines, African slaves and immigrants of colour in a cruel manner through forcing cultural transformation and the use of various exclusive and discriminatory regulations.” 从文化根源看，美国是一个具有巨大区域文化和族群文化差异的国家，但是美国通过各种强制性文化改造和制定各类排他性、歧视性规定，残酷对待原住民、非洲裔奴隶和有色人种移民等. In contrast, externally, the United States regards itself as the representative of western civilization, promotes American values to the whole world as ‘universal values’, and creates or amplifies ethnic conflicts and ideological conflicts in many places around the world by launching ‘colour revolutions’, thereby becoming the ‘source of chaos in the world’.” 对外，美国自视其代表了西方文明，将美国价值观作为“普世价值”向全世界推广，通过发动“颜色革命”等，在全球多地制造或放大族群冲突和意识形态冲突，成为“世界乱源”。
The next paragraph criticises double standards in US policy when it comes to human rights, democracy, etc. “The United States has long pursued ‘double standards’ and made profits by creating and leveraging various regional conflicts. The United States is also the most prominent representative of capitalist countries against socialist countries, and the anti-communist thinking established through ‘Red Scare’ and ‘McCarthyism’ remains extremely strong. The ruling clique in the United States has divided the opinions of the American people on various issues, used identity politics to disintegrate the discourse of class politics, cracked down upon or corrupted trade unions, and prevented the American people from forming a joint force.” 美国长期奉行“双重标准”，通过制造和利用各种地区冲突进行牟利。美国也是资本主义国家中反对社会主义国家最突出的代表，“红色恐慌”和“麦卡锡主义”等形成的“反共”思维极其浓厚。美国统治集团在各种话题上制造美国民众意见的分裂，用身份政治议题瓦解阶级政治话语，打击或腐化工会组织，阻止美国民众形成合力.
The next paragraph says:
“The US Federal Reserve System, which performs the duties of the central bank, does not belong to the US government, but is a private central bank. The invisible hand of ‘money power’ legitimately controls the right to issue American currency. The implementation of major US government policies depends on the support of international monopoly capital groups. The strong production capacity of the military-industrial complex and the strong financing capacity of capital groups jointly ensure the maintenance of American hegemony.” 履行中央银行职责的美国联邦储备系统并不完全属于美国政府，而是一家私有的中央银行。“金钱权力”这只看不见的“手”合法化地控制着美国货币发行权。美国政府重大政策的实施取决于国际垄断资本集团的支持，军工复合体的强大生产能力和金融资本集团的强大融资能力共同推动美国维系霸权.
“There is a natural tension between political power and capital power in the United States. The system design of its state machinery emphasises separation of powers, federalism, a two-party system and other decentralisation mechanisms. However, the international monopoly capital groups that dominate the American economy emphasise global vertical integration and have developed into a global production exchange and competition system. With the impact of global power expansion of monopoly capital, American domestic and foreign affairs have become a tool for monopoly consortiums to make profits, resulting in deterioration in terms of social inequality, the decline of liquidity and vanishing spirit of public ethics in the United States. As these economic and social problems have been transmitted to the political field, the fierce struggle between the two parties has become increasingly serious. However, both parties are unable to carry out internal structural reforms. Therefore, they can only shift the crisis by shaping a common external enemy, and have increasingly pursued foreign policy based on ‘American interests first’, which has fundamentally damaged the trustworthiness/creditworthiness of the United States.” 从政治根源看，美国的政治权力和资本权力之间天然存在张力，其国家机器的制度设计强调三权分立、联邦制、两党制等分权机制，但是主宰美国经济的国际垄断资本集团强调全球纵向合并，并且已经发展成为一种世界范围的生产交换和竞争体系。垄断资本的全球权力膨胀冲击，美国内政外交沦为垄断财团牟利的工具，导致美国社会不平等性恶化、流动性下降、公共伦理精神缺失。同时，经济社会问题向政治领域传导，两党恶斗日趋严重，但都无力进行内部结构性改革，只能通过塑造共同的外部敌人来转嫁危机，并且越来越以“美国利益优先”推行其外交政策，从根本上伤及美国的国家信用。