Winter Olympics - Politicised Torch Relay - Non-Fossil Energy Capacity - Putin's Pre-Visit Article
Here are the stories and pieces that I found noteworthy from the Thursday, February 03, 2022, edition of the People’s Daily.
Page 1: A few pieces to note. First, a long story about Xi Jinping’s important discourse around the Olympics. Nothing that I found of value in this, other than the fact that it was on the front page and so much time, energy and space was spent for this piece.
Next, a report about Xi Jinping’s replies to letters from Victoria Woodards and Dick Muri, mayors of Tacoma and Steilacoom of the US state of Washington.
Woodards and Muri recently wrote to Xi separately, extending their Spring Festival greetings to the Chinese president and people and wishing the Beijing Winter Olympics a success. Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, Woodards said, it is fortunate for the whole world to have a responsible host country with great organizational capacity like China to hold a safe, healthy and successful Winter Olympics. The people of Tacoma will watch the Beijing Winter Olympics and cheer for athletes and for Beijing, she added. In his letter, Muri said that the Steilacoom people hold high expectations for the Beijing Winter Olympics and believe it will be well organized and successful. He added that he and his family, as well as the 6,700 residents of Steilacoom, look forward to watching the wonderful performance of the athletes on television.
Next, a brief report about the torch relay in Beijing. Han Zheng and Cai Qi are mentioned in the report. Not mentioned is Qi Fabao, a regiment commander of the PLA who was involved in the Galwan Valley clash between Indian and Chinese forces in June 2020.
This led to a lot of discussion in India, and is an example of the politicisation of the Olympics. I wonder how much of a realisation there is in the foreign policy circles in Beijing about the message that such actions are sending to New Delhi.
I did a thread below looking at some recent publications and developments like this, which to me are shaping a public consciousness in China of India being a threat/adversary. This will have long-term consequences for the bilateral relationship even beyond the current standoff in Eastern Ladakh.
Page 3: A report that tells us that China’s installed capacity of producing non-fossil energy reached 1.12 billion kilowatts in 2021; coal-fired power generation reached 1.11 billion kilowatts, accounting for 47% and 46.7% of the total installed power generation capacity, respectively. This was anticipated by the China Electricity Council’s report last April.
The piece also adds that electricity consumption of China’s high-tech and equipment manufacturing industry will increase by 15.7% year-on-year. Within this segment,
electricity consumption of medical instruments and equipment manufacturing was up by 24.9%
wind power generation-related manufacturing was up by 25.4%
new energy vehicles manufacturing was up by 46.8%
photovoltaic equipment manufacturing was up by 91.3%
Other Stories:
First, although it is not in PD, there’s Vladimir Putin’s signed article published by Xinhua ahead of his visit to China. This will be the 38th meeting between the two men since 2013. Some excerpts:
Last year, we celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation. The basic principles and guidelines for joint work were defined by our two countries in the treaty, which include first and foremost, equality, consideration of one another's interests, freedom from political and ideological circumstances as well as from the vestiges of the past. These are the principles we consistently build on year after year in the spirit of continuity to deepen our political dialogue.
There is every opportunity for this as our countries have substantial financial, industrial, technological and human resources allowing us to successfully resolve long-term development issues…A number of important initiatives are being implemented in the investment, manufacturing, industrial and agricultural sectors. In particular, the portfolio of the Intergovernmental Commission on Investment Cooperation includes 65 projects worth over 120 billion U.S. dollars. This is about collaboration in such fields as mining and mineral processing, infrastructure construction, and agriculture.
We are consistently expanding settlements in national currencies and creating mechanisms to offset the negative impact of unilateral sanctions. A major milestone in this work was the signing of an agreement between the Government of Russia and the Government of China on payments and settlements in 2019.
A mutually beneficial energy partnership is being formed between our countries. Along with long-term oil and gas supplies to China, we have plans to implement a number of large-scale joint projects. The construction of four new power units at Chinese nuclear power plants with the participation of Rosatom State Corporation launched last year is one of them. All this significantly strengthens the energy security of China and the Asia region as a whole.
We see an array of opportunities in developing partnerships in information and communication technologies, medicine, space exploration, including the use of national navigation systems and the International Lunar Research Station project.
Foreign policy coordination between Russia and China is based on close and coinciding approaches to solving global and regional issues. Our countries play an important stabilizing role in today's challenging international environment, promoting greater democracy in the system of international relations to make it more equitable and inclusive. We are working together to strengthen the central coordinating role of the United Nations in global affairs and to prevent the international legal system, with the UN Charter at its centre, from being eroded.
PLA Daily also had a piece on Xi and Putin yesterday.
Second, a couple of interesting threads on recent tech regulatory changes:
Finally, a piece on the Chinese narrative on the Sri Lankan debt crisis by Antara Ghosal Singh. She talks about three types of discourses among Chinese analysts, which are nicely clubbed under the headers:
It is Sri Lanka’s fault
It is the US’ fault
It is India’s fault
She later writes:
“There has been much discussion in the Chinese internet about the plight and suffering of ordinary people in Sri Lanka due to record inflation, food prices soaring, and state coffers drying up. In this context, one of the key questions doing the rounds is how such a negative development might impact Sri Lankans’ attitude towards Chinese capital, what influence it will have on the local elections, and what it means for the overall China-Sri Lanka relations…The other issue of concern is about how the Sri Lankan case might strengthen negative impressions on Chinese investments in other countries and impact their judgement about participating in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) now and in the future. There have been instances in the past where countries such as Myanmar, Malaysia, and Nepal referred to the Sri Lankan case as a negative precedent and suspended some Chinese investment projects due to concern over debt. From that perspective, it is important to note that most of China’s projects in South Asia are mainly for demonstration purposes—creating a favourable impression about China locally and globally and winning the hearts and minds of the people are amongst their key mandates. From that perspective, the Sri Lankan debt crisis is a big blow to Chinese objectives both in the region and beyond.”