Xi Planting Trees - Li Qiang Speaks to Mishustin - China-Indonesia High-level Dialogue - Zhong Sheng on US Democracy Summit
Here are the key reports and articles that I found noteworthy from the People’s Daily’s edition on Wednesday, April 5, 2023.
Page 1: It’s a smaller edition today, considering that today is the Qingming Festival. The main story is on Xi Jinping participating in a voluntary tree planting activity in Beijing. I am not doing a detailed dive into the story. The two key policy messages were:
Xi Jinping said that the education of children, like the planting of a tree, must be done correctly/ensured that it is upright at the beginning, otherwise it will grow askew.” 习近平强调，孩子教育，跟植树一样，一开始就要竖正，否则就会长歪.
“Xi highlighted green development as the country's major development strategy now and for the foreseeable future and called nationwide tree-planting campaigns an active practice to advance afforestation and build a beautiful China.”
Next, there’s a commentary drawing from Xi’s speech on the campaign to study Xi’s thought, which I covered yesterday. This one reiterates the key points from the speech. I’ll do some excerpts below.
It says that the speech was “profound in thought, rich in content, and highly political, ideological and instructive. It provides fundamental guidelines for the whole Party to carry out thematic education, and is a Marxist programmatic document.” 习近平总书记的重要讲话高屋建瓴、视野宏阔、思想深邃、内涵丰富，具有很强的政治性、思想性、指导性，为全党开展主题教育提供了根本遵循，是一篇马克思主义纲领性文献.
It reiterates that Xi’s thought is contemporary Marxism in China and 21st Century Marxism. “Over the past ten years of the new era, we have persistently used this innovative theory to arm our minds, guide our practice and promote our work. It has provided fundamental guidelines for the development of the Party and the country in the new era. The decade of great changes in the new era were made possible by the concerted efforts of the whole Party and the people of all ethnic groups. The most fundamental reason for this success, however, lies in the fact that General Secretary Xi Jinping was at the helm steering the ship and the scientific guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era.” 新时代十年来，我们坚持不懈用这一创新理论武装头脑、指导实践、推动工作，为新时代党和国家事业发展提供了根本遵循。新时代十年伟大变革，是全党全国各族人民一道拼出来、干出来、奋斗出来的，最根本在于有习近平总书记掌舵领航，有习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想科学指引。
“Practice has fully proved that the Two Establishments are the major political achievement made by the Party in the new era; they are decisive factors in promoting the historic achievements and changes in the cause of the Party and the country; they provide greatest certainty, the greatest confidence and the greatest guarantee to overcome all difficulties and obstacles and deal with all uncertainties; and they are of decisive significance to the development of the cause of the Party and the country in the new era and the historical process of promoting the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.” 实践充分证明，“两个确立”是党在新时代取得的重大政治成果，是推动党和国家事业取得历史性成就、发生历史性变革的决定性因素，是战胜一切艰难险阻、应对一切不确定性的最大确定性、最大底气、最大保证，对新时代党和国家事业发展、对推进中华民族伟大复兴历史进程具有决定性意义。
The whole Party must profoundly understand that carrying out this education campaign is an inevitable requirement for unifying the Party in terms of thought, will and actions, maintaining its strong cohesion and combat effectiveness at all times, promoting the Party to take an active role and constantly creating a new situation for the development of the Party’s cause, and deepening the comprehensive and strict management of the party and leading the social revolution with the Party’s self-revolution. 全党必须深刻认识到，开展这次主题教育，是统一全党思想意志行动、始终保持党的强大凝聚力、战斗力的必然要求，是推动全党积极担当作为、不断开创事业发展新局面的必然要求，是深入推进全面从严治党、以党的自我革命引领社会革命的必然要求.
Also on the page is a report on cadres responding to Xi’s speech.
Next, there’s a consolidated report on Li Qiang’s conversations with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh.
Xinhua’s report on the call with Mishustin:
“China-Russia relations adhere to the principles of non-alignment, non-confrontation and non-targeting of any third party, mutual respect, mutual trust and mutual benefit, which not only promote their own development and rejuvenation, but also uphold international fairness and justice, he said. Li stressed that during Chinese President Xi Jinping's recent successful visit to Russia, he and Russian President Vladimir Putin jointly drew up a new blueprint for the development of bilateral relations, charting a new direction for bilateral cooperation. China is willing to work closely with Russia, he said, adding that the government departments of the two countries should implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state and push forward the pragmatic cooperation between China and Russia to achieve new development. For his part, Mishustin said Russia-China relations are based on international law and the principle of pluralism, which is an important factor to ensure global peace and stability, adding that at present, bilateral relations are at the highest level in history, and President Xi's state visit to Russia was a complete success, opening a new chapter in Russia-China relations. Russia cherishes its comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination with China and is willing to strengthen good-neighborly friendship with China, deepen practical cooperation in various fields and push for common development of the two countries, he said.”
Xinhua’s report on the call with Pham Minh Chinh says:
Li said that China and Vietnam are a community with a shared future of strategic significance and share a special friendship of "comrades and brothers," adding that their good neighborliness is of paramount importance and in line with the interest of both countries…Li underscored that the two sides should promote the high-quality synergy of the Belt and Road Initiative with the ‘Two Corridors, One Economic Belt’, and work together to build a system of industrial and supply chains that is stable, smooth, mutually beneficial and win-win. China and Vietnam should continue to take concrete actions in promoting stability and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific and jointly build a peaceful, safe and secure, prosperous, beautiful and amicable home of China and ASEAN, Li said. He added that the two sides should stay committed to managing differences through dialogue and consultation, and create together a sound external environment for the development of the two countries.”
The readout from the Vietnamese side is interesting too.
“PM Chinh suggested the two sides actively study measures to maintain smooth trade, raise the capacity and efficiency of customs clearance, and strengthen connectivity of road, rail, sea, and air infrastructure. He also proposed China continue facilitating trade, expand the import of goods, accelerate market opening for Vietnamese agricultural products, increase the quota for Vietnamese goods transiting through its railway to a third country and create favourable conditions for Vietnam to open more trade promotion offices in China. The Vietnamese PM welcomed China’s investment in large-scale, high-quality, and new technology projects in Vietnam, saying the two sides should work harder to remove prolonged problems in some cooperation projects such as the second-phase expansion of the Thai Nguyen iron and steel plant, effectively cooperate in tourism and make greater efforts to promote people-to-people cooperation and exchanges.”
“Regarding maritime issues, both sides concurred to make joint efforts to maintain peace and stability, and settle the issues satisfactorily in the spirit of high-level common perceptions and the Agreement on basic principles guiding the settlement of sea-related issues between Vietnam and China. PM Chinh stressed that the two sides should effectively utilise negotiation mechanisms on demarcation and cooperation at sea, strive for progress in a step-by-step manner, settle disputes and disagreements through peaceful means in accordance with international law, especially the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), fully and effectively implement the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea/South China Sea (DOC), and strive to build a substantive, effective Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC) in line with international law, including the 1982 UNCLOS.”
Finally, there’s a report on Han Zheng meeting with Indonesia's Coordinator for Cooperation with China and Coordinating Minister of Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan. Xinhua reports:
Han said that “China is ready to take this opportunity to strengthen strategic synergy with Indonesia, set a fine example of high-quality development cooperation and establish a model for a community with a shared future, as well as bring more benefits to the two peoples. Han said China supports the work of Indonesia as the incumbent of the rotating presidency of ASEAN, and is actively pushing for more fruitful results from the comprehensive strategic partnership between China and ASEAN. Luhut thanked China for its selfless assistance to Indonesia in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, which fully reflected the spirit of building a community with a shared future between the two countries. Indonesia attaches great importance to its relations with China and is willing to deepen Belt and Road Initiative cooperation with China to push bilateral relations to a new level, Luhut added.”
Page 2: There’s a report on Wang Yi meeting with Luhut as they co-chaired the Third Meeting of China-Indonesia High-level Dialogue Cooperation Mechanism. Xinhua reports:
“Noting this year marks the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative, Wang said China is willing to work with Indonesia to advance cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative in the next stage. Wang called on both sides to strengthen cooperation in development financing, green economy and grain security, deepen maritime cooperation, and promote bilateral economic, trade and investment cooperation. China and Indonesia should also strengthen defense and law enforcement cooperation, increase personnel exchanges and deepen strategic mutual trust and people-to-people friendship, Wang added. When talking about the Global Civilization Initiative, Wang said China is ready to strengthen exchanges and mutual learning between civilizations with Indonesia and encourage the governments, political parties, parliaments, localities and non-governmental forces of the two countries to play a positive role in enriching and improving the content and forms of inter-civilization dialogue. For his part, Luhut said Indonesia regards China as an important strategic partner and is willing to work with China to jointly build the Belt and Road with high quality, actively explore the Global Development Initiative and strengthen the sense of a community with a shared future.”
Next, there’s a Zhong Sheng commentary, the fourth in the series of commentaries attacking the US on the issue of human rights. In a nutshell, the piece says:
“Money politics has made the United States increasingly deviate from the direction of human rights protection, and political polarisation has led to the United States increasingly losing its ability to protect human rights. The US has no right to talk about ‘promoting democracy’ and ‘safeguarding human rights’ in the international arena, far be it to seek hegemony and engage in bullying in the name of democracy and human rights.” 金钱政治让美国日益偏离保护人权的方向，政治极化导致美国日益丧失保护人权的能力。美方根本没有资格在国际上大谈所谓“推进民主”“维护人权”，更不应打着民主、人权的幌子搞霸权霸道霸凌.
“The United States, which was founded on the basis of colonialism, racist slavery and inequality in labour, ownership and distribution, has further fallen into the quagmire of institutional failure, lack of governance, ethnic fissures and social unrest in recent years owing to a mix of a polarised economic distribution pattern, social pattern of racial conflicts and a political pattern controlled by capital interest groups. However, the US recently held the so-called second ‘Summit of Democracy’ and continued to create divisions in the world under the guise of democracy and human rights. The US also openly announced that the USAID would set up the so-called Bureau for Democracy, Human Rights and Governance, further exposing the attempt to politicise and instrumentalise democracy and human rights.” 建基于殖民主义、种族主义奴隶制和劳动、占有、分配不平等之上的美国，在两极分化的经济分配格局、种族冲突的社会格局以及资本利益集团操控的政治格局相互作用下，近年来进一步陷入制度失灵、治理缺位、族群撕裂、社会动荡的泥潭。然而，美国近日举办所谓第二届“领导人民主峰会”，继续打着民主、人权的幌子在世界上制造分裂。美方还堂而皇之地宣布，美国国际开发署将组建所谓民主、人权和治理局，将民主和人权政治化、工具化的企图进一步暴露.
The next paragraph basically makes the point that it is money that matters in American politics and democracy rather than the people. The paragraph after this makes the point about the deepening partisan divide and widening ideological divide in the country, which is tearing the fabric of society. “In an NBC News poll released last October, 81 percent of Democrats said the Republican agenda is a threat to the country that, if left unchecked, will destroy the United States. Seventy-nine percent of Republicans also think the Democratic agenda will destroy America.” 美国全国广播公司新闻网去年10月发布的调查结果显示，81%的民主党人认为共和党的议题对国家构成威胁，如不加以制止将会摧毁美国；79%的共和党人也同样认为民主党的议题将摧毁美国.
The paragraph after this uses the polarised gun violence and gun control debate in the US as an example to substantiate the above. The final paragraph reiterates the key point that the US is “in no position to talk about ‘promoting democracy’ and ‘safeguarding human rights’ in the international arena.”
Finally, there’s a report on ILD chief Liu Jianchao meeting with Ahsan Iqbal, Secretary General of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistani Minister for Planning Development and Special Initiatives. The report gives little information. But the Associated Press of Pakistan reports:
“Extending warm felicitations on the successful conclusion of the annual Two Sessions, the minister paid tribute to the vision of President Xi for launching initiatives like Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Global Development Initiative (GDI), Global Security Initiative (GSI) and Global Civilization Initiative (GCI) which were contributing in creating a peaceful and harmonious world. Hailing CPEC as the shining example of BRI cooperation, Minister IDCPC appreciated the Planning Minister’s role in nurturing and developing CPEC in his current and earlier tenures. Both reaffirmed CPEC’s importance as the flagship project of BRI and decided to add further impetus to CPEC cooperation along with marking the completion of one decade as an important milestone. Recalling the successful visit of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to Beijing in November 2022, the two sides agreed to work out modalities of IDCPC support for capacity-building through special training of Pakistani young political leaders and professionals, and experience sharing on CPC governance model for rural development, youth empowerment, poverty alleviation, economic growth, use of technology, enhancement of exports and industrialization. Ahsan Iqbal also extended an invitation to Minister IDCPC to visit Pakistan to continue the discussions and cooperation for deepening bilateral ties.”
A few days ago, Reuters reported:
“Pakistani Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said on Friday China had rolled over a $2 billion loan that matured last week, providing relief during the South Asian nation's acute balance of payment crisis. Locking in a rollover had been critical for Pakistan, where reserves have dipped to just four weeks' worth of imports and talks over an International Monetary Fund bailout tranche of $1.1 billion have hit a stalemate. ‘I am happy to confirm that this had been rolled over on March 23,’ Dar told parliament, referring to the maturity date. He said all concerned documentation had been completed…Dar's comments were the first official announcement of the rollover after the loan matured. Dar did not give the new maturity date or other terms of the arrangement. A top finance ministry official told Reuters on Wednesday that a formal confirmation of the refinancing would be made after the process was completed. One of the IMF's conditions for the release of the next tranche is assurance of external financing to fund Pakistan's balance of payments. Longtime ally Beijing has provided the only help Islamabad has got so far, with refinancing of $1.8 billion credited last month to Pakistan's central bank. In its monthly Economic Update and Outlook, the Finance Division of the government noted that Pakistan was currently confronted with shortage in external liquidity. Islamabad has been negotiating with the IMF since early February for the release of $1.1 billion from a $6.5 billion bailout package agreed in 2019. To unlock the funding, the government has cut back on subsidies, removed an artificial cap on the exchange rate, added taxes and raised fuel prices.”
Page 3: A report on the 10th theory seminar between the CCP and the Lao People's Revolutionary Party. In his remarks Li Shulei talked about informatization bringing new opportunities and challenges to social governance.
Next, a report on new appointments by the State Council.
Xu Datong was appointed vice minister of public security, replacing Du Hangwei.
Chen Zhenlin was appointed head of the China Meteorological Administration
Song Baowei was named president of Northwestern Polytechnical University.
Tan Zhemin replaced Lyu Jian as president of Nanjing University
Li Shushen was removed from the post of vice president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
And that’s about it for the paper today. I am doing a compilation of other interesting developments related to Tsai’s visit to the US, shifts in East Asia and tensions between India and China below for paid subscribers.