Xi & the Youth - Tripartite Cooperation in CPEC - China-Russia Ties
Here are the stories and pieces from the May 4, 2021, People’s Daily edition that I found noteworthy.
Page 1: Once again, we have a holiday edition, so it is thin on content. But today is the anniversary of the May 4, 1919 movement. So on the front page, we have quotes from Xi Jinping about the youth. This is a really long piece with 79 mentions of Xi Jinping. It’s that long that it takes all of Page 2. The piece is basically a collection of remarks by Xi over the years, structured under different sub-heads, talking about:
the dynamism of youth as a social force
the youth’s responsibility to achieve national rejuvenation
the importance of them believing in socialism with Chinese characteristics
the need for them to have lofty ideals and ambitions
the need to love the motherland, i.e., have a deep sense of patriotism
to emphasise core socialist values and cultivate morality
to use ideological and political theory courses mixed with practical learning to forge the spirit and cultivate believe in the socialist path
the importance of “struggle.” In one bit, he says: “Happiness is the result of struggle, and struggle itself is a kind of happiness.”
on the need for the Communist Youth League to deepen its political and mass character
Next, there’s a piece on the party history learning and education activities in universities. The article talks about what different institutes, from Peking University, Harbin Institute of Technology, Beijing Institute of Technology, Wuhan University, Zhejiang University, etc, are doing.
See this as an example:
Wuhan University has launched courses on the “Introduction to the Spirit of China” and “Great anti-epidemic spirit” and most of the course team members are post-80s and post-90s teachers from the School of Marxism. Another example is “Jane Fan, a young teacher, said that preparing lessons and giving lectures is also a party history study and education, so that more teachers can deeply understand why the Communist Party of China works, why Marxism works and why socialism with Chinese characteristics is good.”
Page 3: First, Vice Premier Sun Chunlan and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova held a meeting to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the signing of the China-Russia Treaty of Good-neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation. Sun said that “the two sides will hold more people-to-people exchange activities, in areas such as education, culture, health, sports and tourism, to promote mutual understanding between the two peoples and mutual learning between the two civilizations, and to advance the building of a new type of international relations and a community with a shared future for mankind.”
Second, and this is really interesting. Beijing and Islamabad are calling on Jakarta to participate formally in CPEC. PD reports that the Chinese Embassy in Indonesia and the Pakistani Embassy in Indonesia jointly held a China-Pakistan Economic Corridor webinar. It says that “officials, entrepreneurs, and experts from the three countries actively discussed and offered suggestions for deepening trilateral pragmatic cooperation.”
The report adds:
“The Chinese Ambassador to Indonesia Xiao Qian said that China, Pakistan and Indonesia have friendly relations, and there are favorable conditions for trilateral cooperation. The three countries can strengthen policy communication and exchange of experience, give full play to their respective advantages, deepen tripartite cooperation in the areas of connectivity, industrial parks, health, etc., and jointly promote the optimal allocation of resources in East Asia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia, promote industrial chain integration, and work together for common development.”
Page 4: We have the list of all those who are being awarded the “Chinese Youth May 4th Medal.”