Xi & Poverty Alleviation - Xi & Sustainable Development - Hainan Outbreak - Sichuan Electricity Crisis - China-Africa Ties - Yang Mingjie on Taiwan Crisis
Here are the stories and pieces that I found noteworthy in the Monday, August 22, 2022, edition of the People’s Daily.
Page 1: At the top of the page is a feature piece talking about China’s poverty alleviation success. After talking about how much better things have become in terms of incomes increasing, connectivity improving, industries being developed in poverty-stricken areas, employment opportunities improving for those who were previously poor, and of course, the “relationship between the party and the masses is getting closer.”
The piece also says that China’s poverty reduction effort has provided a useful reference point for global poverty reduction.
The quotes from Xi Jinping that have been used are interesting to note. For instance:
“The comprehensive victory in the battle against poverty marks a solid step forward for our Party in uniting and leading the people to create a better life and achieve common prosperity.” 习近平总书记指出：“脱贫攻坚战的全面胜利，标志着我们党在团结带领人民创造美好生活、实现共同富裕的道路上迈出了坚实的一大步.”
“Why can China create a great miracle in the history of human poverty reduction?” General Secretary Xi Jinping has profoundly pointed out: ‘The achievements of poverty alleviation that have attracted worldwide attention depend on the strong leadership of the Party, the spiritual quality of the Chinese nation’s self-reliance and hard work, and the solid foundation accumulated since the founding of New China – especially since the reform and opening up – the persistence and perseverance of one person after another, and the united struggle of the whole Party and the people of all ethnic groups in the country.” 习近平总书记深刻指出：“脱贫攻坚取得举世瞩目的成就，靠的是党的坚强领导，靠的是中华民族自力更生、艰苦奋斗的精神品质，靠的是新中国成立以来特别是改革开放以来积累的坚实物质基础，靠的是一任接着一任干的坚守执着，靠的是全党全国各族人民的团结奋斗.”
The article reiterates that Xi “personally took command, personally went on expeditions, and personally supervised the battle” when it came to poverty alleviation. It says that Xi presided over the Central Poverty Alleviation Symposium seven times, conducted more than 50 research tours on poverty reduction and inspected all the 14 contiguous impoverished areas. “脱贫攻坚是我心里最牵挂的一件大事”“我最牵挂的还是困难群众”……习近平总书记亲自挂帅、亲自出征、亲自督战，7次主持召开中央扶贫工作座谈会，50多次调研扶贫工作，走遍14个集中连片特困地区.
General Secretary Xi Jinping has profoundly pointed out: ‘Getting rid of poverty is not the end, but the starting point of new life and new struggle.’ After the victory in the fight against poverty, the cadres and masses in the poverty-stricken areas have taken advantage of the situation and continued to promote the consolidation and expansion of the achievements in fighting poverty and effectively linking them with the rural revitalisation strategy.” 习近平总书记深刻指出：“脱贫摘帽不是终点，而是新生活、新奋斗的起点。”脱贫攻坚战取得胜利后，脱贫地区广大干部群众乘势而上，持续推动巩固拓展脱贫攻坚成果同乡村振兴战略有效衔接.
There are also some details on the efforts in regard to the monitoring and assistance mechanisms to prevent people falling back into poverty.
In the first half of the year, 41.55 billion yuan of micro-credit was distributed to those who were poverty-stricken, supporting 945,000 poverty-stricken households…This year, more than 55 percent of the central government's rural revitalisation subsidy funds will be used for industrial development, with the focus on supporting industries associated with agriculture in order to ensure prosperity of farmers. All localities have made every effort to promote stable employment of the poverty-stricken labour force. By the end of June, the number of poverty-stricken labourers nationwide had reached 32.23 million, accounting for 106.7% of the annual target tasks. 促产业、稳就业，巩固拓展脱贫攻坚成果。全国上半年新增发放脱贫人口小额信贷415.5亿元，支持94.5万脱贫户和防止返贫监测对象发展生产。今年中央财政衔接推进乡村振兴补助资金用于产业发展的比重将达到55%以上，重点支持联农带农富农产业。各地千方百计促进脱贫劳动力稳岗就业，截至6月末全国脱贫劳动力务工规模3223万人，完成全年目标任务的106.7%.
Next, there’s another feature in the series on Xi leading the high-quality development of enterprises over the past decade. This one talks about how enterprises have responded to Xi’s vision of building an ecological environment.
Some of the key points being made are as follows. Each of these is followed by examples of improvements or of enterprises doing as Xi had required.
On April 24, 2018, Xi Jinping visited the Yangtze River Economic Belt. He said that “Enterprises are the main body and important force in the construction of ecological environment protection in the Yangtze River. It is necessary to strengthen corporate responsibility, speed up technological transformation, eliminate backward production capacity, develop cleaner production, and enhance the capacity of ecological environment protection and construction of enterprises.”2018年4月24日，习近平总书记考察长江经济带发展战略实施情况的第一站就来到这里，察看化工企业搬迁、改造以及码头复绿情况。总书记强调：“企业是长江生态环境保护建设的主体和重要力量，要强化企业责任，加快技术改造，淘汰落后产能，发展清洁生产，提升企业生态环境保护建设能力.”
There’s a comment from Xi from his visit to the Chaerhan Salt Lake in 2016. Xi talked about properly handling the relationship between resource development and utilisation and ecological and environmental protection. Developing a circular economy is the only way to improve the efficiency of resource utilisation. We should firmly establish the concept of green development, actively promote the innovation of relevant industrial processes, technologies and processes in the region, and strive to achieve low consumption, low emissions and high efficiency, so that the precious resource of the Salt Lake can benefit the people forever.2016年8月22日，习近平总书记来到察尔汗盐湖考察。总书记指出：“盐湖资源是青海的第一大资源，也是全国的战略性资源，务必处理好资源开发利用和生态环境保护的关系。发展循环经济是提高资源利用效率的必由之路，要牢固树立绿色发展理念，积极推动区内相关产业流程、技术、工艺创新，努力做到低消耗、低排放、高效益，让盐湖这一宝贵资源永续造福人民.”
The final point that is emphasised is about the importance of technological innovation in order to ensure sustainable development.
Finally a report on China’s oil and gas production. In the first seven months of this year,
domestic crude oil output was 120 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 3.7%
natural gas output was 126.7 billion cubic metres, a year-on-year increase of 5.4%.
output of shale oil, offshore crude oil and offshore natural gas has grown rapidly, up by 14.4%, 7.9% and 13.6% year-on-year, respectively.
Page 2: A report on Sun Chunlan’s visit to Hainan, amid the COVID-19 outbreak in the province. It’s taken a really long time for PD to get into the Hainan outbreak. Sun was in Hainan from August 13 to the 21st. The report says that at present, the epidemic situation in Hainan has reached an inflection point, with the number of newly-infected people continuing to decline every day. The RT value of the epidemic transmission index in Sanya has dropped to 0.9. The main transmission chain has been basically blocked in Sanya. In Lingshui and Lingao, which had been severely affected, the situation has been cleared, and the epidemic prevention and control in the whole province is generally controllable and stable. 目前海南疫情已出现拐点，每日新增感染者数量持续下降，三亚疫情传播指数Rt值降到0.9，主要传播链基本阻断，疫情较重市县中的陵水、临高已经社会面清零，全省疫情防控总体可控、稳中向好.
The report also says that as per Sun, Hainan’s epidemic prevention and control is at a critical period. It is necessary to further coordinate resources, highlight key points, tackle key problems, and win the fight against the virus quickly.孙春兰指出，当前海南疫情防控正处于关键期，需要进一步统筹资源力量，突出重点、拔点攻坚、速战速胜。
It is necessary to implement precise measures based on different levels and categories, heavy screening is required in areas with severe outbreaks, strengthen close contact identification and isolation and remove those high-risk individuals at the earliest in order to realise social clearing. Cities and counties without outbreaks should strengthen regional joint defence and investigation in order to prevent the occurrence of imported cases. 孙春兰指出，当前海南疫情防控正处于关键期，需要进一步统筹资源力量，突出重点、拔点攻坚、速战速胜。要分级分类精准施策，优化核酸检测策略，疫情较重地区要加密筛查，加大密接判定和隔离力度，尽快捞净管控风险人员、实现社会面清零，没有疫情的市县要加强区域联防协查，严防疫情输入。She also talks about acting fast and not relaxing.
Next, there’s a report suggesting that electricity supply is going to be a challenge in the weeks and months ahead. Sichuan has been struggling with serious shortages for some time, and this report does touch upon it.
For instance, here’s Global Times’ report from August 15: Factories in Sichuan asked to take 6 days off in high temperatures, as province tries to ensure electricity for residential use, and here’s Xinhua English from August 17: Drought threatens hydropower generation in China's Sichuan
Anyway, the report says that since late June, some river basins have received less water and the output of hydropower units has been seriously affected. “Demand-side management and orderly power consumption measures should be taken during peak power consumption in order to ensure the balance of power supply and demand. With the production and output improvement of the supporting power supply, the supply and demand situation is generally stable.” 6月下旬以来部分流域水电来水偏少，水电机组出力受到严重影响，在用电高峰期需要采取需求侧管理和有序用电措施，以保证电力供需平衡；随着支撑性电源投产和出力情况改善，供需形势总体平稳.
Recently, the National Energy Administration held a special meeting on power supply guarantee in key regions such as East China, Central China and North China, demanding the responsibility of local governments, enterprises and power grids to be tightened. It urged coal-producing regions and coal enterprises to fully fulfil the task of increasing production and ensuring supply, and ensure the supply of thermal coal to key regions and power plants. Strengthen the supervision of unplanned outages and output blockages of units to achieve stable and full production. Give full play to the advantages of large power grids and strengthen inter-provincial and inter-regional mutual power aid; optimise and refine the demand side management with regard to power and devise orderly power consumption plans to ensure power consumption in key areas such as people's livelihood and public affairs. 近日，国家能源局先后召开华东、华中和华北等重点区域电力保供专题会，要求压紧压实地方、企业和电网电力保供责任；督促产煤地区和煤炭企业不折不扣完成增产保供任务，保障重点区域、重点电厂电煤供应；强化机组非计划停运和出力受阻监管，做到稳发满发；发挥大电网优势，强化跨省跨区电力互济；优化细化电力需求侧管理和有序用电方案，确保民生、公共等重点领域用电.
Since July, the average precipitation in Sichuan has been 51% less than that in the same period during normal years; consequently, hydropower capacity has dropped significantly. In view of the tight power supply situation, the State Grid has called on provinces to support Sichuan to the maximum extent. Some 132 million kilowatt-hours of electricity is being shared from Shaanxi to Sichuan every day at present. 7月以来，四川平均降水量较常年同期偏少51%，水力发电能力大幅下降。针对供电紧张形势，国家电网最大限度跨省调度电力支援四川，陕西腾出输电通道全力送电四川。目前陕西宝鸡送四川德阳的直流输电通道满功率运行，省外每天向四川送电1.32亿千瓦时，甘肃启用陇南枣阳送四川广元的220千伏备用线路.
Page 3: There’s a commentary based on the recently concluded Coordinators’ Meeting on the Implementation of the Follow-up Actions of The Eighth Ministerial Conference of FOCAC. Wang Yi’s full comments at the meeting are available here. The commentary basically summarises the points that Wang Yi made about the development of China-Africa cooperation so far this year. The key point made is this:
“What Africa needs is a peaceful and friendly cooperative environment, not the Cold War mentality of you lose and I win. What Africa welcomes is mutually beneficial cooperation for the benefit of the people, not great power games for geographical competition. China has always followed the principles of sincerity, real results, affinity and good faith as well as the right approach to justice and shared interests, and has been a partner of mutual respect, equal treatment and sincere cooperation with Africa, firmly supporting African countries to follow their own path, and firmly supporting African countries to unite for self-improvement. China's cooperation with Africa is based solely on Africa’s needs. It does not seek spheres of influence, engage in geopolitical competition, and has no self-interest. China-Africa friendship can stand the test and weather, and will certainly continue to be the backbone of South-South cooperation and a model for international relations.” 非洲需要的是平和、友善的合作环境，不是你输我赢的冷战思维。非洲欢迎的是造福百姓的互利合作，不是地缘争夺的大国博弈。中国始终践行真实亲诚理念和正确义利观，与非洲做相互尊重、平等相待、真诚合作的伙伴，坚定支持非洲国家走自己的路，坚定支持非洲各国联合自强。中国推进对非合作完全是从非方需要出发，不谋求势力范围，不搞地缘政治争夺，没有任何私利。中非友好经得起考验，扛得住风浪，一定会继续成为南南合作的脊梁、国际关系的典范.
Anyway, some of the noteworthy points from Wang’s comments:
“We have pushed forward our cooperation on infrastructure, and completed several major projects since the Dakar Conference, including the Foundiougne Bridge in Senegal, the Nairobi Expressway, the Kribi-Lolabe Highway in Cameroon, and the 10th of Ramadan LRT in Egypt. All these have lent a strong boost to Africa’s industrialization process. China is making steady progress in implementing all the pledges it made in Dakar, despite various difficulties and disturbances. Over three billion has been delivered out of the 10 billion US dollars of credit facilities pledged to African financial institutions, and nearly 2.5 billion US dollars of loans were channeled to Africa’s priority programs. More than two billion of the 10 billion US dollars of trade finance has been allocated, and China’s import of African goods within seven months reached 70.6 billion US dollars. Chinese companies have invested 2.17 billion US dollars in Africa. We are prepared to, through the IMF’s two Trusts, re-channel 10 billion US dollars of its SDR to Africa, and encourage the IMF to direct China’s contributions to Africa.”
“So far this year, China has signed exchange of letters with 12 African countries on zero tariff for 98 percent of their export items to China.”
“China has provided 189 million doses of vaccines to 27 African countries. Joint production of vaccines in Africa now has an annual capacity of about 400 million doses. The Africa CDC Headquarters building has topped out and is expected to be completed early next year…China has made 332 appointments of medical personnel to Africa; the nearly 1,000 Chinese medical experts in Africa have provided services on 250,000 clinical cases, conducted more than 30,000 operations, treated patients in 4,500 critical cases, and trained 3,600 participants from the local medical and healthcare community. African students taking courses in Chinese colleges are returning to their campuses in China. Fourteen Chinese vocational schools have forged partnerships with 13 African higher education institutions.”
“We are carrying out South-South cooperation for addressing climate change. In Seychelles, we are building a low-carbon demonstration zone. In Madagascar and Mozambique, we have supported their response to hurricanes, and helped enhance capacity for disaster preparedness and relief.”
“China has put forward the Outlook on Peace and Development in the Horn of Africa, appointed its Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa Affairs, and supported countries in the region in holding the Horn of Africa Peace Conference. The second China-Africa Peace and Security Forum and a workshop on security in the Gulf of Guinea were successfully held. China has continued to provide military aid to countries in Sahel, the Horn of Africa and the Gulf of Guinea, and policing equipment to countries including the Central African Republic and Namibia. All of this has helped boost the capacity of countries in the region for preserving peace and stability with their own strength.”
“China supports the AU in joining the G20 and supports Uganda in hosting a successful high-level meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement. We will work with Africa to carry forward the Five Principles of Peaceful Co-existence, practice true multilateralism and jointly safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of developing countries.”
“China will waive the 23 interest-free loans for 17 African countries that had matured by the end of 2021. We welcome and support the decision of Tanzania and Zambia to reactivate the Tazara Railway. China will continue to actively support and participate in the construction of major infrastructure in Africa through financing, investment and assistance. We will also continue to increase imports from Africa, support the greater development of Africa’s agricultural and manufacturing sectors, and expand cooperation in emerging industries such as the digital economy, health, green and low-carbon sectors.”
“China has started developing a pool of global development projects, and welcomes application from African countries with prospective projects. We will also publish a China-Africa action plan on shared development in due course. To help address food shortage in Africa, the Chinese government has decided to provide, within this year, a new tranche of food assistance to the 17 African countries in need, and will encourage more Chinese firms to invest in agricultural production and processing in Africa to help realize food self-sufficiency.”
“China will speed up the delivery of military aid to the AU and regional countries, help Africa enhance the capacity for countering terrorism and maintaining stability, and contribute to the early realization of the “Silencing the Guns” initiative. China wishes to work with Africa to jointly implement the Global Security Initiative, and will increase its input to the UN Peace and Development Trust Fund and help improve the UN operations for stability and peace in Africa.”
Page 6: A report on the World Robot Conference. It informs that as of 2021, China’s output of industrial robots was 366,000 units, an increase of 68% over the previous year; the output of service robots was 9.214 million units, an increase of 47% over the previous year.
Page 16: On the international page, we have a report about the drought in Europe. There’s a report based on comments from Rochelle Walensky, the director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who said that “for 75 years, CDC and public health have been preparing for Covid-19, and in our big moment, our performance did not reliably meet expectations.” Finally, there’s a long report on the “dark history” of Native American boarding schools.
Page 17: There’s a piece by Yang Mingjie, Director, Institute of Taiwan Studies Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, on the tensions over Taiwan. There is nothing particularly new in this. He reiterates the key Chinese talking points that we’ve read over the past 20 days now. The argument is that the US is playing the Taiwan card to contain China. But this effort is “doomed to fail.” The DPP, Yang argues, is willing to be used as a “pawn” at the hands of foreign forces.
The “real status quo” and the core content of one-China is that “there is only one China in the world and Taiwan Province is a part of China, and the government of the People's Republic of China is the sole legal government representing China.” Yang calls this the “basic norm of international relations confirmed by UN General Assembly Resolution 2758.” 台湾自古属于中国的历史经纬清晰、法理事实清楚，白皮书以大量事实阐明台湾是中国的一部分不容置疑也不容改变。世界上只有一个中国，台湾是中国的一部分，中华人民共和国政府是代表中国的唯一合法政府。这是台湾问题的真正现状和一个中国的核心内容，是被联合国大会第2758号决议所确认的国际关系基本准则，也是所有国家同中国建立外交关系的前提和基础。
Yang adds that as per the recent Chinese white paper “UNGA Resolution 2758 is a political document that embodies the one-China principle, and international practice has fully confirmed its legal validity and cannot be misinterpreted. However, in recent years, some forces in some countries, led by the United States, have colluded with the Taiwan independence separatist forces, falsely claiming that the resolution did not deal with the issue of Taiwan Province’s representation, does not address the ‘issue of Taiwan’s representation’, hyping up the illegal and invalid ‘San Francisco Peace Treaty’, ignoring the Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Proclamation, and once again advocated that ‘Taiwan Province's status is undecided’ and called for supporting Taiwan’s ‘meaningful participation in the United Nations system.’ These remarks distort black and white and confuse right and wrong. Their essence is an attempt to change Taiwan’s status as part of China, create ‘two Chinas’ or ‘one China, one Taiwan’, and achieve the political goal of using Taiwan to contain China. Such acts distort UN General Assembly Resolution 2758, violate international law, seriously betray the political commitments made by the concerned countries to China, violate China’s sovereignty and dignity, and trample on the basic norms of international relations. In this regard, the Chinese government has expressed its solemn position of opposition and condemnation.” 白皮书指出，联大第2758号决议是体现一个中国原则的政治文件，国际实践充分证实其法律效力，不容曲解。但近年来，以美国为首的个别国家一些势力与“台独”分裂势力沆瀣一气，妄称该决议没有处理“台湾的代表权问题”，炒作非法无效的“旧金山和约”，无视《开罗宣言》《波茨坦公告》在内的一系列国际法律文件，再度鼓吹“台湾地位未定”，宣称支持台湾“有意义地参与联合国体系”。这些言论颠倒黑白、混淆是非，其实质是企图改变台湾是中国的一部分的地位，制造“两个中国”“一中一台”，实现其“以台制华”的政治目的。这些行径歪曲联大第2758号决议，违反国际法，严重背弃有关国家对中国作出的政治承诺，侵犯中国的主权和尊严，践踏国际关系基本准则。对此，中国政府已经表明了反对和谴责的严正立场.
Yang later warns that the US “should abide by the one-China principle, handle Taiwan-related issues prudently and properly, stop playing with fire on the Taiwan issue, fulfil its commitment to not support ‘Taiwan independence’ with concrete actions, and not go further and further down a wrong and dangerous path.” 美国应该恪守一个中国原则，慎重妥善处理涉台问题，停止在台湾问题上玩火，以实际行动履行不支持“台独”的承诺，不要在错误和危险的道路上越走越远.