Xi Meets Kissinger - Central Financial and Economic Affairs Commission Discusses Food Security - Zhong Sheng on Fukushima Wastewater Discharge - Chen Wenqing Wants Tougher Anti-Terror Work
Dear subscribers,
Before we get to today’s edition, I’d like to share a new publication by my colleague Amit Kumar at Takshashila’s Indo-Pacific Studies Programme.
As the world becomes more economically integrated, a complex web of asymmetric interdependences has emerged, allowing some states to wield disproportionate economic power. Consequently, recourse to economic coercion as a tool for compellence, deterrence or co-optation has become much more frequent.
This has resulted in intensified debate about economic dependence, vulnerabilities generated through trade and economic globalisation, and their strategic implications. Despite this, there’s still a lot of fuzziness around concepts like strategic vulnerabilities and ideas like de-coupling and de-risking and what they could mean for different sectors and product categories. In India too, this debate has intensified as the country’s relationship with China has deteriorated. While bilateral trade volume still remains robust, there are calls to reduce imports as a whole, as these are viewed as dependencies that make Indian vulnerable.
Often these discussions lack conceptual grounding, which invariably can adversely impact the decision-making apparatus, resulting in policies potentially doing more harm than good. Therefore, in this new study, we define key terms and present a framework through a series of tests to understand whether trade in a certain commodity between countries can be classified as a critical vulnerability.
This is the first publication in an 18-month project that the Indo-Pacific Studies Programme is undertaking to identify precise recommendations for India to address trade-induced strategic and critical vulnerabilities.
The graphic below offers a quick view of the framework proposed. Do read through the full paper here, and please do share your feedback.
Cheers,
Manoj
Here are the key reports and articles that I found noteworthy from the People’s Daily's edition on Friday, July 21, 2023.
Page 1: The top story on the page is on Xi Jinping’s meeting with Henry Kissinger. Xinhua reports:
“Xi noted that Dr. Kissinger has recently celebrated his 100th birthday and has paid more than 100 visits to China over the years. ‘These two 100s give this visit special significance.’ Xi said that fifty-two years ago when China and the United States were at a crucial inflection point, Chairman Mao Zedong, Premier Zhou Enlai, President Richard Nixon and Dr. Kissinger, with their extraordinary strategic vision, made the right decision for China-U.S. cooperation and launched the process of normalizing the China-U.S. relationship. The decision delivered benefits to the two countries and changed the world. The Chinese people value friendship, said Xi. ‘We never forget our old friends, nor your historic contributions to promoting the growth of China-U.S. relations and enhancing friendship between the two peoples.’ Xi emphasized that the world is undergoing momentous transformations unseen in a century and the international landscape is going through major shifts. ‘China and the United States have once again come to a crossroads, which requires another decision by the two sides about where to go from here.’ Looking ahead, China and the United States can help each other succeed and prosper together, and the key is to follow the three principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation, he said. ‘China is ready, on this basis, to explore with the United States the right way for the two countries to get along and take their relations steadily forward, which will be good for both sides and deliver benefits to the world,’ said Xi. He expressed the hope that Dr. Kissinger and other people of foresight in the United States could continue to play a constructive role in restoring China-U.S. relations to the right track.”
As per Xinhua, Kissinger said that “it is imperative to maintain the principles established by the Shanghai Communique, appreciate the utmost importance China attaches to the one-China principle, and move the relationship in a positive direction.”
Meanwhile, John Kerry met with Xie Zhenhua, China’s special envoy for climate change. This meeting is not covered in PD today.
Xinhua said that they exchanged views on implementing the consensus reached by the two heads of state at their meeting in Bali, as well as jointly addressing climate change. The two sides agreed that climate change is a common challenge facing the mankind, and it is of great significance for the two countries to work together to address this challenge. Candid, in-depth and constructive dialogues on implementing the China-U.S. Joint Statement Addressing the Climate Crisis and the China-U.S. Joint Glasgow Declaration on Enhancing Climate Action in the 2020s were held by the two sides. During the talks, the two sides introduced their respective policies, measures and progresses on addressing climate change, and are willing to continue to jointly promote the multilateral process of climate change, adhere to the goals and principles of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement, and push for the success of the 28th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP28). The two sides agreed to maintain close communications on climate change.”
Meanwhile, two recent develoipemtns related to US-China ties.
“Hackers linked to Beijing accessed the email account of the U.S. ambassador to China, Nicholas Burns, in an attack that is believed to have compromised at least hundreds of thousands of individual U.S. government emails, according to people familiar with the matter. Daniel Kritenbrink, the assistant secretary of state for East Asia, was also hacked in the cyber-espionage attack, the people said. The two diplomats are believed to be the two most senior officials at the State Department targeted in the alleged spying campaign disclosed last week, one of the people said. The contours of the campaign aren’t fully known. Though limited to unclassified emails, the inboxes of Burns and Kritenbrink could have allowed the hackers to glean insights into U.S. planning for a recent string of visits to China by senior Biden administration officials, as well as internal conversations about U.S. policies toward its rival amid a period of delicate diplomacy that has been challenged repeatedly in recent months. Burns and Kritenbrink are the second and third senior Biden administration officials to be identified in news reports as having their emails hacked. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo’s email account was also compromised in the breach, U.S. officials have said. It appeared that Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s email account wasn’t directly infiltrated in the hack, nor were those of his circle of top advisers, one of the people familiar with the matter said. Instead, the hackers appeared to focus on a small number of senior officials responsible for managing the U.S.-China relationship. The estimate of individual emails accessed is rough and could grow, the people said.”
Second, in Washington, the House Select Committee on the CCP held a hearing on the Biden administration’s China policy yesterday. You can watch the whole hearing here:
Some key points from the testimonies of key administration officials:
Daniel Kritenbrink, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs:
we are investing in the foundations of our strength at home – our competitiveness, our innovation, our democracy, with bipartisan bills like the CHIPS and Science Act, the Inflation Reduction Act, and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law
In the Indo-Pacific, we have done so by deepening our alliances with Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia, Thailand, and the Philippines, and by strengthening the latticework of established regional organizations such as ASEAN, APEC, and the Pacific Island Forum, as well as newer, flexible arrangements such as the Quad, AUKUS and Partners in the Blue Pacific, while also driving shared prosperity through the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework.
“We have instructed our diplomats to engage on the PRC challenge not just in the Indo-Pacific, where competition is most pronounced, but also globally, as Beijing exerts economic, diplomatic, military, and technological pressure in unprecedented ways. Our objective is not to change the PRC but to shape the strategic environment in which it operates, building a balance of influence that is favorable to the United States, our allies and partners, and the interests and values we share.”
“The contest to write the rules of the road and shape the relationships that govern global affairs is playing out in every region and across economics, technology, diplomacy, development, security, and global governance…As we compete, we are committed to managing this competition responsibly and to maintaining open lines of communication with the PRC. Intense competition requires intense diplomacy. Similarly, we will continue to express our belief in the importance of open lines of military-to-military communication between the United States and the PRC, and I must note that the PLA has unfortunately remained unwilling to engage in substantive dialogue through these channels. Open lines of communication are the only way to make clear our profound concerns, to clear up misperceptions, to signal, and to explore areas where we might work together.”
Ely Ratner, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs, DoD:
“The PRC presents the most comprehensive and serious challenge to U.S. national security because of the PRC's increasingly coercive efforts to refashion the Indo-Pacific region and the international system to suit its authoritarian preferences. To that end, we have seen the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) play a growing role in the PRC’s aspirations to dominate the Indo-Pacific region and displace the United States as a global power.”
“President Biden’s FY 2024 budget requests major investments in air power, including fifth generation aircraft; sea power, including undersea capabilities; resilient space capabilities; joint all domain command and control; and cybersecurity and cyber space operations, among others. These capabilities will strengthen deterrence and ensure the Joint Force can prevail in conflict by enhancing our ability to penetrate an adversary’s anti-access/area-denial (A2/AD) defenses at range and conduct strikes against a range of targets. These investments will also improve the survivability of our strike capabilities; support the next generation of combat power despite adversary attacks; maintain information and decision advantages for our warfighters in the face of intense adversary disruptions; and ensure we can rapidly mobilize, deploy, and sustain the Joint Force across the vast distances in the Indo-Pacific region. This budget also includes the largest-ever request for Pacific Deterrence Initiative (PDI) funding – a 40 percent increase at $9.1 billion. PDI is a critical tool for investing in advanced capabilities and more resilient posture that we need across the Indo-Pacific region. Together with other crucial investments in the President’s FY 2024 budget request for DoD, these expenditures would strengthen how the United States projects military power across long distances and holds key targets at risk, including in highly contested environments.”
Force Posture changes: “In December 2022, the United States and Australia announced a series of new force posture initiatives that include increased rotations of U.S. bombers and fighters through Australian bases. These rotations will support training and bring more capable U.S. forces to the Indo-Pacific region, ready to quickly respond to any crisis…In early January 2023, the United States announced historic posture improvements with Japan that will deliver more capable, ready, and interoperable U.S. forces in the region. These include the first forward stationing of a U.S. Marine Littoral Regiment (MLR), bringing the Marine Corps’ most advanced formation and cutting-edge anti-ship capabilities to Japan. The United States and Japan also committed to enhanced bilateral exercises and training in Japan’s Southwest Islands, which will increase interoperability across key terrain in the region…Later in January, the United States and the Philippines announced that U.S. forces will have access to four new sites in the Philippines under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), underscoring how, in addition to strengthening our existing posture, the United States is also expanding where we operate to new strategic locations…in May 2023, the United States and Papua New Guinea (PNG) concluded a Defense Cooperation Agreement (DCA) that will deepen bilateral security cooperation, strengthen the close U.S.-PNG relationship, and increase regional stability and security. We have also successfully concluded a shiprider agreement to improve PNG’s capacity for maritime domain awareness…”
Work with Partners: “The Department is supporting Japan’s efforts to acquire counterstrike capabilities, working with Australia as it develops an indigenous capacity to manufacture guided weapons and explosive ordnance, implementing a new inaugural technology initiative with India focused on co-development and co-production of major defense platforms, working with Southeast Asian countries to acquire asymmetric capabilities suited to combatting PRC coercion and harassment, and more. Most recently with India, we concretized our commitment to co-produce jet engines and strengthen cutting-edge technology and defense industrial cooperation during Prime Minister Modi’s state visit. We are also working with Indian counterparts on proposals to co-produce extended range artillery and infantry vehicles to address India’s operational requirements along its border with the PRC…Consistent with longstanding policy, we are also continuing to uphold our commitments consistent with the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA) to support Taiwan’s self-defense capabilities, including through the provision of appropriate defensive arms and services, in the face of the PRC’s ongoing pressure campaign…Providing these self-defense capabilities to Taiwan is one of the Department’s highest priorities.”
“This year at the Shangri-La Dialogue, Secretary Austin and his Australian and Japanese counterparts committed to conduct trilateral F-35 Joint Strike Fighter training in Australia; enhance readiness through high-end trilateral exercises in northern Australia; and increase strategic capabilities cooperation, including in integrated air and missile defense, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR), and undersea warfare to maintain the technological edge in the region. Our critical trilateral efforts with Japan and the ROK have yielded important progress in our efforts to share early-warning missile data and to develop a long-term trilateral plan for regular exercises and training to strengthen interoperability among our forces.”
“The Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness (IPMDA), for example, will drive greater transparency by providing space-based maritime domain awareness to countries in Southeast Asia, the Indian Ocean, and the Pacific Islands. This will greatly enhance the ability of regional states to monitor and police their own waters, addressing illegal fishing and other malign PRC behavior. These relationships and activities represent a growing set of common interests, a willingness to defend them, and—perhaps most importantly— one of America’s greatest strategic advantages in the Indo-Pacific region and globally.”
Thea D. Rozman Kendler Assistant Secretary of Commerce for the Export Administration.
“the PRC is going to great lengths to obtain key advanced technologies with military potential. It uses a military civil-fusion (MCF) strategy to deliberately blur lines between commercial sectors and military programs. This strategy is even more concerning where the PRC’s government structure gives leadership the power to demand information and assistance from companies that have little choice but to agree. Accordingly, MCF, combined with the PRC’s government system, has necessitated stronger export controls targeting predominantly commercial items that can be used in military applications.”
“In CY 2022, licenses reviewed for the PRC comprised approximately 13 percent of all applications reviewed by BIS. For items, including commodities, software, and technology (including domestic technology transfers, known as deemed exports), BIS and our interagency partners reviewed 5,064 export and reexport license applications. Of these, approximately 26 percent were denied or returned without action…applications for exports to the PRC dropped by 26.2 percent between CY 2021 and CY 2022 (although volumes are still higher than during the height of the pandemic).”
“BIS’s approach to the PRC is calibrated and targeted. Using a scalpel approach, we seek to restrict the PRC’s military modernization efforts by restricting key, sensitive technologies without undercutting U.S. technology leadership and unduly interfering with commercial trade that doesn’t undermine our national security and foreign policy. We remain focused on aggressively and appropriately using our tools to contend with the long-term strategic competition with the PRC…we have prioritized a review of export controls related to quantum, the bioeconomy, and artificial intelligence.”
“Although the PRC has tried to characterize U.S. export control actions related to advanced semiconductor production, supercomputing, and AI as an economic measure aimed at restraining its economic growth, BIS focused solely on these clear national security and foreign policy considerations when issuing our rules…BIS’s actions already are having an impact in the PRC. Since implementation of our controls, public reporting shows that the PRC is surging resources into its semiconductor sector. However, the PRC knows that money alone cannot solve its problem. Our cut-off threshold for advanced logic semiconductor manufacturing in the PRC is at 14 nanometers (nm). The PRC’s sole semiconductor lithography equipment manufacturer, Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group (SMEE), has not made any major advancements since achieving the generations-earlier 90nm equipment, in part due to the difficulties of obtaining components and servicing from abroad–difficulties increased by the December 2022 placement of SMEE on the Entity List by BIS. The PRC’s largest semiconductor foundry, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC) has removed 14nm fabrication technology from the list of services on its website. Although our measures have restricted the PRC’s ability to indigenously produce advanced semiconductors, we know that the PRC is looking for ways to continue accessing these high-end chips. In this evolving technological landscape, we continue to review open source and classified information to address circumvention attempts, to track the impact of our controls, and to be proactive and nimble.”
“in October 2021, based on a BIS proposal, we, along with our Australia Group partners—a multilateral regime consisting of 43 participating countries that focuses on the spread of chemical and biological weapons—imposed multilateral controls on software for nucleic acid assembly and synthesis. Additionally, in April of this year we sought public comment on the potential control of peptide synthesizers. These technologies make it quicker and easier to produce toxins and pathogens that can be exploited for biological weapons purposes. By adopting these controls, requiring a license to the PRC will help ensure that our biotechnology exports are not used for malign purposes.”
“Currently, we have over 700 PRC parties on our Entity List – over 230 of those were added during the Biden-Harris Administration. They have been added for reasons including supporting PRC’s military modernization and WMD programs, supporting Iran’s WMD and military programs, facilitating human rights abuses in Xinjiang, and providing restricted items to Russia. These parties include those involved in AI, surveillance, biotechnology, microelectronics, and quantum computing.”
Back to the People’s Daily. Next, there’s a report on the meeting of the Central Financial and Economic Affairs Commission, which Xi chaired. The meeting discussed issues related to strengthening the protection of arable land and the comprehensive transformation and utilization of saline-alkali land.
The report says that Xi emphasised that food security is 国之大者, and arable land is the foundation of food production. He stressed the need to implement the strategies of storing grain and relying on technology for grain security, strengthen the protection of arable land, improve its quality, fully explore the potential of comprehensive utilisation of saline-alkali land, steadily expand agricultural production space, and enhance comprehensive agricultural production capacity. 习近平在会上发表重要讲话强调，粮食安全是“国之大者”，耕地是粮食生产的命根子，要落实藏粮于地、藏粮于技战略，切实加强耕地保护，全力提升耕地质量，充分挖掘盐碱地综合利用潜力，稳步拓展农业生产空间，提高农业综合生产能力.
The meeting heard reports from the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the Central Finance Office (Central Agricultural Office), and the National Development and Reform Commission on strengthening cultivated land protection and comprehensive transformation and utilization of saline-alkali land.
Xinhua English summarises the key points from the report well:
“Although China has initially curbed the trend of continuous contraction in the total cultivated farmland since the 18th CPC National Congress, its national conditions featuring a large population and limited farmland remain unchanged and the task of farmland protection is not alleviated, according to the meeting. Work should be done to ensure the red line of 1.8 billion mu (about 120 million hectares) of farmland will not be breached, while farmland, especially permanent basic farmland, should be turned into modern fertile land which is suitable for farming and capable to produce high and stable yields despite droughts or floods. Utilization of abandoned land should be strengthened and different kinds of non-conventional farmland should be actively exploited, the meeting noted. Investment towards sci-tech research, development and production should be enhanced, and effective development modes shall be explored so that the natural constraints of conventional farmland scarcity could be broken through. The meeting called for formulating a plan for the comprehensive utilization of saline-alkali land. Efforts should also be made in accelerating the selecting and breeding of saline-alkali tolerant varieties of crops and popularizing the effective saline-alkali land treatment methods, the meeting said. A guideline on promoting the comprehensive utilization of saline-alkali land was reviewed and approved.”
Also on the page is a commentary based on Xi’s speech at the national conference on ecological and environmental protection, which I covered a couple of days ago. I didn’t find anything particularly new being said in this article. Next, there’s a report on the publication of a new book, which contains 74 important documents from the period since the fifth plenary session of the 19th Central Committee in October 2020 to the 20th Party Congress in October 2022. Twelve of these documents have been made public for the first time. On Page 2, the entire page is dedicated to brief excerpts/introductions of some of the documents contained in the book.
Finally, there’s a report on Wang Huning’s meeting with President of the Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF) Central Committee Do Van Chien in Beijing. Xinhua says:
“The CPPCC National Committee is willing to strengthen exchanges and cooperation with the VFF Central Committee to contribute more to achieving stability and development of the two countries and pushing bilateral relations to a new level, Wang said. Do Van Chien said Vietnam takes developing friendly cooperation with China as a strategic choice and top priority in its foreign policy and firmly pursues the one-China policy. The VFF is willing to work with the CPPCC National Committee to deepen practical cooperation in various fields and push for more development of the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between the two countries, added Do Van Chien.”
Page 3: There’s a Zhong Sheng commentary on the Fukushima wastewater issue. This is the first in a new series, it seems. It says that Japan is trying to use the recent IAEA report as a ‘pass’ to start releasing wastewater into the ocean.
It argues that the IAEA “only conducted a review and assessment based on the data and information provided unilaterally by Japan. It conducted a limited laboratory comparison and analysis of a small number of nuclear-contaminated water samples collected solely by Japan. The legitimacy of Japan’s sea-discharge plan was not examined, the long-term effectiveness of Japan’s purification system was not evaluated, and the true accuracy of Japan’s nuclear-contaminated water data was not confirmed. Furthermore, there was no thorough validation of alternative plans. The lack of representativeness in the sampling of nuclear-contaminated water seriously undermines the relevance and objectivity of the related conclusions. The IAEA’s report explicitly states that it neither recommended Japan's sea discharge plan nor endorsed it. Japan should not and cannot treat the organization’s report as a ‘pass’ for sea discharge.” 因授权所限，机构仅对日方单方面提供的数据和信息开展审查评估，仅对日方单方面采集的少量核污染水样本开展实验室间比对分析，并没有审查日方排海方案的正当合法性，没有评估日方净化装置的长期有效性，没有确证日方核污染水数据的真实准确性，更没有对可替代方案进行充分验证。核污染水取样代表性严重不足，相关结论存在局限性和片面性。机构报告明确表示，机构既没有建议日方采用排海方案，也没有为日方排海方案背书。日方不应也不能将机构报告当作排海的“通行证”.
There is more criticism later:
“For Japan to regard the IAEA’s report as authoritative is a serious mistake. The agency's statute does not grant the authority to make decisions on the disposal of radioactive materials. The review and evaluation of Japan’s nuclear contaminated water discharge plan was completed by a technical working group appointed by the IAEA director-general, but the evaluation report did not fully reflect the opinions of all experts participating in the evaluation work, and the relevant conclusions were not unanimously approved by all experts. The agency secretariat had a very limited time window when seeking expert opinions from the technical working group on the draft report. After receiving the feedback, the secretariat did not discuss revisions and the adoption of the opinions again; instead, it released the report hastily. According to South Korean media reports, anonymous sources said that the Japanese government obtained the draft of the agency’s final assessment report in advance and proposed substantive revisions, exerting undue influence on the conclusion of the final report. This has further exacerbated the concerns of the international community about the discharge of Japan's nuclear-contaminated water into the sea, and has also raised questions about the fairness and objectivity of the conclusions of the IAEA’s report.” 日方将机构报告作为权威更是大错特错。事实上，机构规约并没有赋予机构决定放射性物质处置的权力。对日方核污染水排海方案的审查评估由机构总干事任命的技术工作组完成，但评估报告并未能充分反映所有参加评估工作专家的意见，有关结论未获各方专家一致认可。机构秘书处在就报告草案征求技术工作组专家意见时留的时间窗口非常有限，秘书处在收到意见反馈后也没有再次就报告修改及意见采纳情况进行讨论，就仓促发布了报告。另据韩国媒体报道，匿名知情人士称日本政府提前获得了机构最终评估报告草案，并提出实质性修改意见，对最终报告结论施加了不当影响。这进一步加剧了国际社会对日本核污染水排海的担忧，也引起了人们对机构报告结论是否公正客观的质疑.
Another report discusses MoFA’s responses to questions related to the wastewater issue.
“NHK: A question on Japan’s discharge of the treated, diluted water from Fukushima nuclear plant. Due to this issue, China has tightened restrictions on food imports from Japan. The Japanese government said that the safety of Japanese food has been scientifically proven, and that it would ask China to lift import restrictions as soon as possible. What’s the foreign ministry’s response?
Mao Ning: The Chinese government puts people first. Our job is to be responsible for the health of our people and the marine environment. Our opposition to Japan’s ocean discharge plan is based on facts and reason, so are the measures that we have decided to take. We urge Japan to heed the call of the international community, stop pushing through the discharge plan, engage in full, sincere consultations with its neighbors, dispose of the nuclear-contaminated water in a responsible way and accept rigorous international oversight.”
A few weeks ago, China’s customs authorities had said that it would continue to maintain bans on the import of food from 10 Japanese prefectures for safety reasons. China, the biggest buyer of Japan's seafood exports, said it would also strictly review the documents for food, especially aquatic products, from other parts of Japan.
Another question from yesterday’s MoFA presser said:
Beijing Daily: Lately, the Japanese government has sought to justify its discharge plan at the NATO Summit, the ASEAN-plus ministerials, the Eastern Caribbean Ministerial Meeting on Fisheries and Sustainable Use of Living Marine Resources and so on, while signaling that the discharge scheduled to begin this summer will not be postponed. However, the National Fisheries Cooperative Federation of Japan and fisheries cooperatives of Fukushima and Miyagi have all reiterated their opposition to the plan. What’s your comment?
Mao Ning: The Japanese government has done several things recently on the issue of ocean discharge—it has launched a global PR campaign, set up a special fund to silence the public in opposition to the plan and used the IAEA’s review report as a “greenlight” for its plan—to act as if the ocean discharge plan is a done deal. If the Fukushima nuclear-contaminated water is truly safe, Japan wouldn’t have to dump it into the sea—and certainly shouldn’t if it’s not. The world has widely questioned the legitimacy, legality and safety of Japan’s discharge plan. No matter how Japan tries, there is no way to whitewash its discharge plan. The protests from neighboring countries and the questions raised by people within Japan are all clear evidence.
A Japanese media outlet reported on July 16 that over 80 percent of Japanese respondents to a recent poll consider the government’s explanation over the Fukushima wastewater to be insufficient. Japan’s scholars and environmentalists have also spoken up, saying that the discharge should not be tolerated, given the radioactive pollution it will add to the radioactive leak caused by the 2011 Fukushima accident. The Japanese government’s decision does not take into account at all the public concerns, particularly those of the fishing and farming communities. Most likely, the government will not keep its promise of not starting the ocean discharge before gaining the understanding of relevant parties.
I need to stress that there is no precedent nor commonly accepted standard for dumping nuclear-contaminated water into the ocean. It is a matter of science and a question about attitude as well. We urge Japan to take seriously the legitimate concerns of the international community and the people in Japan, stop pushing through the ocean discharge plan, have full, sincere communication with neighboring countries, dispose of the nuclear-contaminated water in a truly responsible way, and accept strict international oversight.”
Page 4: A couple of reports to note.
First, there’s a report on the China Media Group forum being held in Shanghai. The city’s Party chief Chen Jining and Propaganda chief Li Shulei delivered remarks. The report mentions discussions around Chinese-style modernisation, GDI, GSI and GCI. More than 230 representatives from international organisations, media organisations, Chinese and foreign think tanks, multinational companies and other fields participated in the conference in person and online.
Second, there’s a report on comments by Chen Wenqing, who heads the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission, during his visit to Ningxia this week. While visiting Minning Town in Yongning County, Chen said that:
“under the personal leadership of General Secretary Xi Jinping, Minning Town has transformed from a ‘barren beach’ to a ‘golden beach’ today, overcoming poverty, achieving moderate prosperity, and embarking on a new journey. We should deeply understand General Secretary Xi Jinping's concern for the people from the extraordinary transformation of Minning Town, firmly support the two establishments and resolutely achieve the two safeguards. We should adhere to the rule of law, reduce conflicts and disputes at the source, handle them in accordance with the law, and let the people feel fairness and justice in every judicial case, truly safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of the people. It is necessary to integrate the resources of all parties and rely on the comprehensive management center to coordinate and do a good job in resolving conflicts and disputes in townships and streets.” 在永宁县闽宁镇，陈文清参观了闽宁新貌展示馆。在闽宁镇司法所、人民法庭，陈文清详细了解了人民调解、诉源治理等情况。他指出，在习近平总书记亲自领导推动下，闽宁镇从当年的“干沙滩”变成了今天的“金沙滩”，摆脱贫困、实现小康、奋进新征程。我们要从闽宁镇的非凡变迁中深刻感悟习近平总书记的人民情怀，坚定拥护“两个确立”，坚决做到“两个维护”。要坚持依法办事，从源头上减少矛盾纠纷，依法处理矛盾纠纷，让人民群众在每一个司法案件中感受到公平正义，真正维护好人民群众的合法权益。要整合各方资源，以综治中心为依托，统筹做好乡镇街道矛盾纠纷化解工作.
He engaged with grassroots political and legal affairs units in Ningxia.
“He demanded that through continuous and in-depth thematic education, the political construction of the Party’s political and legal organs should be strengthened, and a loyal, clean and responsible political and legal army should be forged. It is necessary to achieve new results in implementing the comprehensive national security concept, maintaining national security and social stability, coordinating development and security, and effectively maintaining political security and national unity. It is necessary to achieve new results in implementing Xi Jinping Thought on Rule of Law and advancing the comprehensive rule of law, coordinate the promotion of scientific legislation, strict law enforcement, impartial justice, and adherence to the law by the whole society, and improve the level of rule of law in economic development, petition work, and ecological and environmental governance…During the investigation, Chen attended and delivered a speech at the anti-separatist and anti-terrorism work conference held in Yinchuan. He fully affirmed the achievements of earlier work and demanded that political and legal organs enhance their sense of urgency, adhere to the bottom line, adhere to vigilant prevention, severe crackdown, and strict management, promote standardisation of counter-terrorism work, stability and rule of law, and ensure overall social stability.” 他要求，要通过持续深入抓好主题教育，加强政法机关党的政治建设，锻造忠诚干净担当的政法铁军。要在贯彻落实总体国家安全观、维护国家安全和社会稳定上取得新成效，统筹发展和安全，有力维护政治安全、民族团结。要在贯彻落实习近平法治思想、推进全面依法治国上取得新成效，统筹推进科学立法、严格执法、公正司法、全民守法，提升经济发展、信访工作、生态环境治理等各方面工作法治化水平。陈文清希望宁夏政法机关在全面依法治国实践中打造宁夏亮点、形成宁夏特色、创造宁夏经验。调研期间，陈文清出席在银川召开的部分省区市反分裂反恐怖工作会议并讲话，充分肯定前期工作成效，要求政法机关增强忧患意识，树立底线思维，坚持严密防范、严厉打击、严格管理，推进反恐维稳法治化常态化，确保社会大局持续稳定.
Finally, a report informing that China’s State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters on Thursday activated a level-IV emergency response to flooding in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. Teams have been dispatched to the region to guide flood prevention work.
Page 17: The key story on the international page emphasises that America’s drug problem is its own making.
Two other developments that are not in today’s paper:
ILD chief Liu Jianchao visited South Africa this week, leading the CPC delegation to attend the BRICS Political Parties Plus Dialogue. Another development worth noting is that the BRICS foreign ministers meeting took place in online mode yesterday. Qin Gang was not there to represent China. Also, the BRICS leaders summit, scheduled for late August, is now likely to be held in hybrid mode, given that Putin is unlikely to travel to South Africa. Reports, meanwhile, indicate that more than 40 nations have indicated an interest in joining the BRICS bloc.
Here is China’s foreign ministry’s response to the bombing of the Chinese embassy in Odessa.
Q: Sources say the Russian military’s drone and missile attack on the Ukrainian city Odessa on July 20 shook the Chinese Consulate-General there, causing damage to the outer wall surface and some windowpanes. Can you confirm this? Has China made démarches to Russia?
A: An explosion happened near China’s Consulate-General in Odessa. The blast wave shook off parts of the wall surface and windowpanes. The consulate staff had long left the premises and no one was hurt. China is closely following the developments and staying in touch with the parties concerned. We will take all measures necessary to keep Chinese institutions and nationals safe in Ukraine.