Xi ≈ Mao - Yan'an Spirit - Li's Green Development Pitch - Wang's European Diplomacy
Here are the stories and pieces from the May 31, 2021, edition of People’s Daily that I found noteworthy.
Page 1: We first have a short story about the new Opinions on Strengthening Party Leadership by Central Enterprises in Improving Corporate Governance. The document has a two-fold objective, PD tells us. First, strengthen Party leadership over SoEs; second, establish a “modern enterprise system.”
It says that the Party committee has “a legal status in the corporate governance structure and plays a leading role in guiding the direction, managing the overall situation and promoting implementation in enterprises.” At the same time, the document standardizes the requirements and procedures for party committees to discuss major business management issues and clarifies the ways in which party committees play a role in decision-making by the board of directors and the general managers.
We then have two pieces that draw from Xi’s big speech to China’s scientists last week. You can read a detailed breakdown of the speech here in my weekly Eye on China newsletter.
The first is a commentary that reiterates some of the key points that Xi made about technological development and self-reliance in core technologies. The author tells us that:
“improving the ability of independent innovation and breaking through key core technologies as soon as possible has become a key issue in building a new development pattern. At the same time, in the face of fierce international competition and against the backdrop of rising unilateralism and protectionism, we must take a path of innovation that suits our national conditions. In particular, we must put the enhancement of original innovation capabilities in a more prominent position and strive to achieve more...”
The author argues that experience has shown that core technologies don’t come easy, and cannot be bought or sought from others. Therefore, “only by mastering the key core technologies in our own hands can we fundamentally guarantee the national economic security, national defense security and other security, and provide strong scientific and technological support for China's development.” The next bit tells us that doing this requires focus on basic research. And this means more investment and sustainable investment, and promoting ambition among science and technology sector workers to pursue these long-term objectives.
To me, all of this is really interesting. It tells us that there is clearly a mismatch between market incentives and what the leadership wants to achieve. At the same time, there is also a mismatch between the ambitions of researchers and entrepreneurs and the leadership.
The next two paragraphs talk about research needing to be “problem-oriented.” In other words, it must seek to address key issues related to livelihood, people’s needs, market requirements, national security and so on. This essentially reiterates what Xi said, along with mentioning key sectors that Xi spoke about too. The next paragraph talks about “the integration of the innovation chain and industry chain” by focusing on “enterprise innovation.” Essentially, this refers to accelerating “the construction of an innovation consortium led by leading enterprises, supported by universities and institutes” working in coordination with each other.
The second piece is about how researchers, heads of institutions, and students reacted to Xi’s speech. I am not quoting bits, but the conclusion will give you a flavour of the piece.
“The new journey of building a modern socialist country in an all-round way has begun, and the clarion call for marching towards the second centenary goal has been sounded. Everyone said that they should unite, be brave in innovation and work hard, and make unremitting efforts to build China into a prosperous, strong, democratic, civilized, harmonious and beautiful modern socialist power and realize the Chinese dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.”
Next short report (English version) based on NBS data with regard to profits of industrial firms with an annual business revenue of at least 20 million yuan, which surged 106% year on year in the January-April period to over 2.59 trillion yuan. When compared with the first four months of 2019, the figure represented a rise of 49.6%. The average growth rate over the past two years stood at 22.3 percent.
Finally, Li Keqiang’s comments at the 2021 Partnering for Green Growth and the Global Goals 2030 (P4G) Seoul Summit. He reiterated China’s carbon peak and neutrality goals. He then made the following pitch:
“We must strengthen international cooperation in the fight against the epidemic and further improve the global health governance system. At the same time, strengthen policy coordination and ensure the security and stability of the global industrial supply chain through flexible forms such as ‘fast channel’ and ‘green channel’.”
“The post-epidemic recovery of various countries must not return to the old path of high-pollution and high-emission development. They must firmly pursue a win-win situation between economic development and ecological protection, and resolutely curb the impulse of extensive growth.”各国疫后复苏绝不能重回高污染、高排放发展的老路，要坚定追求经济发展与生态环境保护的共赢，坚决抑制粗放型增长冲动. (I thought this was really interesting. What Li seems to be saying is that there is a certain standard that China would like others to follow when it comes to exploitation of natural resources for economic growth. But how does this square with the idea of national conditions being the key determinant of development path? But then, I guess reading it with the next point is important too.)
“The international community must adhere to the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, attach great importance to the concerns and demands of developing countries, and increase technical, financial, and capacity support to help them achieve a green and low-carbon transition. It is necessary to maintain the multilateral trading rules system with the World Trade Organization as the core, be alert to new green trade barriers, and oppose unilateralism and trade protectionism. (This last bit is important from an Indian perspective too.)
Page 3: First, we have a piece by GAVI CEO Seth Berkley. He writes about the “serious inequalities in the distribution of global vaccines.” He writes (with minor edits):
“We call on countries that have obtained a large supply of vaccines to share vaccines with the Implementation Plan, and call on governments of all countries to remove export controls on all vaccine raw materials...and provide at least $1.6 billion in additional funds as soon as possible to ensure that countries supported by the Implementation Plan can carry out advance market procurement and book vaccines for this year and early next year.”
He then says that, “Given China's active leadership in responding to the pandemic and its ongoing vaccine research efforts, we believe there is significant scope for China to play a role in participating in the Implementation Plan and in the equitable distribution of vaccines to countries supported by the Advance Market Commitment mechanism. To address new coronavirus variants, we encourage national institutions to submit promising vaccine candidates for development in collaboration with the Implementation Plan.”
Second, a short piece based on the new International Finance Forum’s China Report 2021. Just to add a note here, the IFF is “an independent, international organization, founded with support from Chinese government and financial institutions, in October 2003 in Beijing.” So, the report says that “87% of the surveyed central banks believed that Belt and Road projects would contribute to post-epidemic economic recovery, and 75% of them said that these projects would contribute to green recovery.” It also tells us that while the pandemic and lockdowns have hurt BRI projects, Chinese support for them has not waned.
Third, a report about Wang Yi’s chat (English version) with his Serbian counterpart Nikola Selakovic in Guiyang. Wang said that Serbia was China’s “iron-clad” friend in Europe, and that he would be willing to deepen their cooperation further. Although this wasn’t covered in PD, Wang also met with his Polish counterpart Zbigniew Rau in Guiyang and his Irish counterpart Simon Coveney.
To Rau, he said that:
China attaches great importance to Poland’s international and regional influence and is willing to view China-Poland relations from a strategic and long-term perspective. Wang stressed that the Chinese side adheres to the principle of mutual respect, equality and benefit to develop mutually beneficial cooperation and inject new content into the China-Poland comprehensive strategic partnership. Wang said the two sides, on the basis of strengthening prevention and control of the epidemic, should maintain high-level exchanges, promote policy coordination, and strengthen cooperation in many fields, including economy and trade, logistics, medical and health care, scientific and technological innovation, energy, and digital economy.
To Coveney, he said that:
“China attaches importance to Ireland’s unique role and influence in international and regional affairs…(and) that Ireland is a stable and strong force in the European Union, and it’s believed that Ireland will continue to play a positive role in developing healthy and steady China-EU relations.”
After treating Arab diplomats in Shanghai over the last week, now we have 40 African diplomats in China from 30 countries and regions being taken to Urumqi to experience Xinjiang. The basic idea is to show how people are happy and refute “Western lies about ‘genocide’, ‘forced sterilization’, ‘forced demolition of mosques’, ‘persecution of trainees’ and ‘forced labor’ in Xinjiang.
Finally, we have a piece drawing from comments by Dominic Dwyer, an Australian scientist on a World Health Organisation expert team sent to China on a Covid-19 origin-tracing mission, to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (English Strait Times report). Dwyer has defended the team’s findings, amid all the talk about the lab-leak theory. PD quotes this comment by Dwyer: “The fact that President Biden says he's getting conflicting reports from his intelligence agencies, to me, suggests there is no clear evidence, otherwise it would be obvious what was going on.”
Dwyer said the authorities in Wuhan had been “pretty open” with the team during its investigation. “The evidence we got and the questions we asked and the answers we got are really what I would expect if I was doing the same investigation in Australia or New Zealand or somewhere similar.”
Page 4: First, a short report based on HKMAO’s statement regarding intimidation of judges in Hong Kong. This is in connection with reports of the judge in the Jimmy Lai case receiving threatening phone calls. “This is a serious threat to the personal safety of judges, a flagrant challenge to the judicial system in Hong Kong and a gross violation of the rule of law and order in Hong Kong. It must not be tolerated. Such abominable acts not only violate Hong Kong’s Criminal Offences Ordinance, but also violate Hong Kong’s National Security Law and must be severely punished,” said HKMAO.
Then we have the Liaison Office’s comment on this. It said that this “is a blatant breach of the rule of law and order, and does serious harm to public interest...violating the bottom line of the law.”
Next, Wang Zhonglin, the man who took over as Party Secretary of Wuhan in February 2020, has now been promoted to the post of Governor of Hubei province. Finally, there’s a short report on the new Recommended Catalogue of Scientific and Technological Innovation Achievements of Central Enterprises (2020 Edition). There are some 178 technical products in 8 fields that make the list.
Page 6: A long piece today by Politburo member Wang Chen. This is a really passionate invocation of Party-linked nationalism. Wang writes about the significance of the Yan’an Spirit, and how “Yan’an has also become a red beacon that will always inspire the Chinese Communists to march forward courageously.” He tells us that
“The Yan'an period is one of the most important stages in the history of the Chinese Communist Party, a period when the Chinese revolutionary cause led by our Party moved from a low tide to a high tide and achieved a historic turnaround.” 延安时期是中国共产党历史上最重要的阶段之一，是我们党领导的中国革命事业从低潮走向高潮、实现历史性转折的时期.
“On the hot land of Yan’an, the Chinese Communists, with Comrade Mao Zedong as the main representative, followed the historical trend and took up the historical mission, combined the basic principles of Marxism-Leninism with the actual practice of the Chinese revolution, systematically summarized the laws of the development of the Chinese revolution, formulated the general line of the new democratic revolution, proposed the three major treasures of the united front, armed struggle and party construction, formed the three major fine styles of theory and practice, close contact with the masses and criticism and self-criticism, established the guiding position of Mao Zedong Thought in the whole party, and realized the first historical leap of the Sinicisation of Marxism. 在延安这片热土上，以毛泽东同志为主要代表的中国共产党人顺应历史潮流，勇担历史使命，把马克思列宁主义的基本原理同中国革命的具体实践相结合，系统地总结了中国革命发展的规律，制定了新民主主义革命的总路线，提出了统一战线、武装斗争、党的建设三大法宝，形成了理论联系实际、密切联系群众、批评和自我批评三大优良作风，确立了毛泽东思想在全党的指导地位，实现了马克思主义中国化的第一次历史性飞跃.
He then goes on to make the case that the revolutionary spirit of Yan’an has inspired not just the party but led to the cultivation of national power. He says that looking back “the reason why ‘Go to Yan’an’ was the loudest slogan across China and the strongest spiritual call of countless revolutionaries was that the caves in Yan’an shone with the light of Marxism and the spirit of Yan’an, representing the direction of the Chinese nation.” 回首那段光辉岁月，“到延安去”之所以是响彻中国大地最响亮的口号，之所以是无数革命志士最强烈的心灵呼唤，就是因为延安窑洞里闪耀着马克思主义和延安精神的光芒，代表着中华民族前进的方向.
He then defines, or I guess redefines, the Yan’an spirit:
“The main contents of Yan’an spirit include: a firm and correct political direction, an ideological line of emancipating the mind and seeking truth from facts, the fundamental purpose of serving the people wholeheartedly, and the entrepreneurial spirit of self-reliance and hard work.” 延安精神的主要内容包括：坚定正确的政治方向，解放思想、实事求是的思想路线，全心全意为人民服务的根本宗旨和自力更生、艰苦奋斗的创业精神.
From here, we go into Xi’s personal history; Wang talks about Xi’s father, Xi Zhongxun and how he was an “outstanding proletarian revolutionist” and how he had praised Mao. He talks about Xi going to Yan’an during his youth and working there for seven years. He refers to Xi’s comments in April 2020 and September 2020 to say that these clarified the “direction for educating the broad masses of party members and cadres with the Yan’an Spirit in the new era.”
He then emphasises the importance of studying Party history as the CCP celebrates its centenary and the use of red resources to do this so that the people “inherit the red gene, and ensure that the red country will never change its colour.” To do this, he proposes:
First, “we should consolidate the foundation of ideals and beliefs with Yan 'an spirit, strengthen four consciousnesses, strengthen four self-confidences and achieve two maintenance, constantly absorb the power of faith, and calibrate the way forward.” Wang here talks about Mao’s consolidation of power in Yan’an with the 1939 invocation to maintain “firm and correct political direction” as being the primary learning of the struggle against Japan. And then he says:
“During the 13 years in Yan’an, our Party matured rapidly from the setbacks it had previously experienced and became the deserved leading core of the revolutionary cause of the Chinese people, the most fundamental reason for which was the establishment of the guiding position of Mao Zedong Thought and the formation of the central leadership collective with Comrade Mao Zedong as the core, which achieved unprecedented ideological, political and organizational unity and unity of the Party.” 在延安的13年中，我们党从之前经历的挫折中快速成熟起来，成为中国人民革命事业当之无愧的领导核心，其中最根本的原因，就是确立了毛泽东思想的指导地位，形成了以毛泽东同志为核心的中央领导集体，实现了全党在思想上、政治上、组织上的空前团结和统一.
He then compares this to Xi Jinping Thought emerging as the key ideology after the 19th Party Congress.
“Today, the lesson from the history of the party for a hundred years and carrying forward the Yan’an spirit is to promote the whole party and the people of all nationalities to hold high the great banner of Xi Jinping Thought...resolutely safeguard General Secretary Xi Jinping’s position as the core of the Party Central Committee and the core position of the whole party; resolutely safeguard the authority and centralized and unified leadership of the CPC Central Committee, and consciously maintain a high degree of ideological and political consistency with the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core, so as to ensure that the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics always advances in the right direction.” 今天我们学习百年党史，弘扬延安精神，就是要推动全党全国各族人民高举习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想伟大旗帜，坚决维护习近平总书记党中央的核心、全党的核心地位，坚决维护党中央权威和集中统一领导，自觉在思想上政治上行动上同以习近平同志为核心的党中央保持高度一致，确保中国特色社会主义事业始终沿着正确方向前进.
The next point talks about keeping in mind the original intention. Once again, there is a parallel that Wang draws between Mao and Xi. Where Mao once called for “Serving the People,” Xi now pursues a “people-oriented” development approach. Here we read about the significance of “winning people’s trust,” maintaining “flesh and blood ties” with people, etc.
The third and final point he makes is really fascinating. It talks about drawing lessons from the Yan’an period with regard to combating the enemy while enduring hardships. Wang talks about the cadres enduring hardships, living simple lives in “cave dwellings,” eating “rough grains”, sleeping on “the hard soil” and wearing worn out clothes, “shared joys and sorrows with the people, and carried forward the glorious tradition of self-reliance and hard struggle.” These, he adds, provided “powerful guarantees for the party and the people to overcome all kinds of difficulties and obstacles and create a new situation in the revolutionary cause.”
He then talks about current changes in the world and says that:
“Today, under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core, we should learn from history, extract the magic weapon to defeat the enemy from historical experience, further stimulate the great creative spirit, great struggle spirit, great unity spirit and great dream spirit of all Chinese people, persist in reform and opening up, persist in self-reliance, grasp the new development stage, implement the new development concept, and build a new development pattern without fear of wind and rain.” 今天我们学习百年党史，弘扬延安精神，就是要在以习近平同志为核心的党中央坚强领导下，从历史中获得启迪，从历史经验中提炼出克敌制胜的法宝，进一步激发全体中国人民的伟大创造精神、伟大奋斗精神、伟大团结精神、伟大梦想精神，坚持改革开放，坚持自立自强，把握新发展阶段，贯彻新发展理念，构建新发展格局，无惧风雨，勇往直前，更好应对前进道路上各种可以预见和难以预见的风险挑战.
Next, we have a short report about activities around the country focussed on youth under the theme Red Scarf Heart for the Party 红领巾心向党.
Page 18: The Theory page today has been pushed back, because from Page 13 to Page 17 we have the list of nominees for the July 1 medal. On the Theory page, we have pieces around poverty alleviation, cultural industry development, etc. Nothing that I found particularly interesting.