Xi Visits Joint Ops Command Centre - Food Security Policies - Preparing for COP27 - Li in Cambodia - Wang Yi-Penny Wong Call - 20th Party Congress & Human Rights
Here are the stories and pieces that I found noteworthy in the Wednesday, November 9, 2022, edition of the People’s Daily.
Page 1: The top story is on Xi Jinping’s visit to the joint operations command center of the CMC. The report says that Xi instructed the armed forces to thoroughly study, publicise and implement the guiding principles of the 20th CPC National Congress and take concrete actions to further modernise national defence and the military.
It adds:
“Xi Jinping emphasised that at present, the profound changes unseen in a century, are accelerating; there is increasing instability and uncertainty in China’s security situation; and the tasks of reform are arduous. The whole army must implement the Party's thought of strengthening the military in the new era, implement the military strategic policy for the new era, adhere to the single fundamental criterion of combat effectiveness, focus all their energy on fighting and devote all their work to fighting, accelerate the enhancement of capabilities to win, and resolutely safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests, and fulfil all tasks entrusted by the Party and the people.” 习近平强调，当前，世界百年未有之大变局加速演进，我国安全形势不稳定性不确定性增大，军事斗争任务艰巨繁重。全军要贯彻新时代党的强军思想，贯彻新时代军事战略方针，坚持战斗力这个唯一的根本的标准，全部精力向打仗聚焦，全部工作向打仗用劲，加快提高打赢能力，坚决捍卫国家主权、安全、发展利益，完成好党和人民赋予的各项任务.
Xi said that the command centre provides vital support to the strategic command of the CPC Central Committee and the CMC and is of great importance and shoulders heavy responsibilities. He added that it is necessary to keep in mind the duties and missions, strengthen research and assessments about the national security situation, strengthen the realistic response to military struggles, strengthen the practice of innovation in command and operation, and strive to build a strategic command structure that is absolutely loyal, good at planning for war, efficient in command, and dares to win, so as to make new and greater contributions to comprehensively strengthening training and combat readiness and effectively fulfilling the PLA’s mission in the new era. 习近平指出，军委联指中心是党中央和中央军委实施战略指挥的重要支撑，地位重要、责任重大。要牢记职责使命，加强国家安全形势研判，加强军事斗争现实应对，加强指挥运行实践创新，努力建设绝对忠诚、善谋打仗、指挥高效、敢打必胜的战略指挥机构，为全面加强练兵备战、有效履行新时代我军使命任务作出新的更大贡献.
At the top of the page, meanwhile, is a report that informs that in the 10 years of the new era, China’s carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP have dropped by 34.4%, reversing the trend of rapid growth in CO2 emissions. This, of course, is an effort to set the narrative as COP27 begins in Egypt. The piece talks about policies related to achieving carbon peak and neutrality that are discussed in Xi’s report to the 20th Party Congress.
The 2035 goal in the document says: “Broadly establish eco-friendly ways of work and life; steadily lower carbon emissions after reaching a peak; fundamentally improve the environment; largely accomplish the goal of building a Beautiful China.”
The article refers to these two policy documents from last year outlining China’s approach towards the goals of carbon peak and neutrality.
It then informs that since the 18th Party Congress, China has intensified focus on non-fossil fuel energy sources. “The world's largest clean power generation system has been built, with the installed capacity of hydropower, wind power, photovoltaic and other non-fossil energy sources exceeding 1.1 billion kilowatts. China’s installed capacity of wind, solar, water and biomass power generation ranks first in the world. In the past 10 years, the proportion of coal consumption in China’s primary energy consumption has dropped from 68.5% to 56% last year. 建成世界最大清洁发电体系，水电、风电、光伏等全口径非化石能源发电装机容量突破11亿千瓦。风、光、水、生物质发电装机容量都稳居世界第一。十年来，我国煤炭消费占一次能源消费比重由68.5%下降到去年的56%.
The piece then talks about the launch of the national carbon emission rights trading market last year. It says that as of October 21, 2022, the cumulative turnover of carbon emission quotas in the national carbon trading market reached 196 million tons, and the cumulative transaction value was 8.58 billion yuan.” 截至今年10月21日，全国碳市场碳排放配额累计成交量达1.96亿吨，累计成交额达85.8亿元，市场运行总体平稳有序.
The piece also talks about China’s support for energy efficient growth and its expansion of carbon sink capacity.
Below this is a feature piece on the issue of grain production and food security. The article begins by talking about food security being 国之大者, and makes the point that this was highlighted in the report to the 20th Party Congress. It adds that “the Chinese people’s rice bowl must be firmly held in their own hands at all times, and the rice bowl must mainly consist of Chinese grains.” 中国人的饭碗任何时候都要牢牢端在自己手中，饭碗主要装中国粮.
There’s a comment by Ye Xingqing. Director-General of the Research Department of Rural Economy of the Development Research Center of the State Council, who argues that in order to deal with the uncertainty of the external environment, domestic production and supply needs to be certain and stable. “从复杂的国际形势看，粮食安全不能有丝毫麻痹大意，必须增强忧患意识，强化底线思维，保持战略定力，以国内稳产保供的确定性来应对外部环境的不确定性。”国务院发展研究中心农村经济研究部部长叶兴庆说.
Cheng Guoqiang, from the School of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, Renmin University of China, says that domestically, the food consumption structure of urban and rural residents has been upgraded, and the production and supply of agricultural products must be maintained to ensure not only quantity but also variety and quality. At present, the supply of important agricultural products, such as grain is generally secure, but the supply and demand of grain is still tightly balanced, the self-sufficiency rate of soybean oil is low, the supply of green and high-quality agricultural products is insufficient, and the foundation for stable production and supply is not firm. In order to better meet people's needs for a better life, we should speed up the establishment of a comprehensive food security guarantee system based on food security and aimed at ensuring effective food supply.” 从国内看，城乡居民食物消费结构不断升级，农产品稳产保供，既要保数量，也要保多样、保质量。“当前我国粮食等重要农产品供给总体有保障，但粮食供求仍呈紧平衡，大豆油料自给率偏低，绿色优质农产品供给不足，稳产保供的基础还不牢固。要从更好满足人民美好生活需要出发，加快构建以粮食安全为基础、以确保食物有效供给为目标的粮食安全综合保障体系。”中国人民大学农业与农村发展学院教授程国强分析.
At this point, let me share this excellent piece by Ananth Krishnan from The Hindu on an old Bollywood song being used to protest rice shortages for those dealing with lockdowns in China.
Anyway, the article adds that statistics show that 1.058 billion mu of functional grain production zones and important agricultural production reserves have been designated nationwide, which can guarantee 95% of China’s grain consumption. The effective irrigated area of farmland in the country accounts for more than 54%, and the contribution rate of improved varieties of seeds in the increase of agricultural production exceeds 45%. 数据显示，全国划定10.58亿亩的粮食生产功能区和重要农产品生产保护区，可保障我国95%的口粮消费量。全国农田有效灌溉面积占比超过54%，良种在农业增产中的贡献率超过45%.
Other key policy measures on food security that the article talks about are:
Maintaining the red line of 1.8 billion mu of arable land
Steps taken for black soil conservation
Innovation in the seed industry to enhance breeding; do recall that earlier this year, the Chinese government added 116 state-sponsored seed breeding and production bases to the previous 100 hubs. SCMP’s report then had informed that “the government hopes the national bases will supply more than 80 per cent of the seeds needed for crop production by 2025, up from more than 70 per cent in the 2016-20 period.”
Greater use of technology for mechanisation of agriculture
Building better food storage capacity
Ensuring financial support for farmers. This refers to the grain farming subsidy that was announced earlier this year.
In this context, the piece references a quote by Xi Jinping, saying that “the farmers who grow grains should not suffer economically, and the large counties that grow grains should not suffer financially.” 习近平总书记强调，“不让种粮农民在经济上吃亏，不让种粮大县在财政上吃亏”.
The piece also quotes Li Guoxiang, from the Institute of Rural Development of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, saying that “Party committees and governments at all levels should shoulder their responsibilities, fully implement the responsibilities of the Party and government for food security, improve the income guarantee mechanism for grain farmers and the benefit compensation mechanism for major grain producing areas, so as to ensure that the rice bowl is firmly held in their own hands.” “党的二十大报告进一步释放了重农抓粮的鲜明信号，各级党委政府要扛起责任，全面落实粮食安全党政同责，健全种粮农民收益保障机制和主产区利益补偿机制，确保把饭碗牢牢端在自己手中。”中国社会科学院农村发展研究所研究员李国祥说.
To boost farmers’ enthusiasm for grain farming, the central government this year allocated 120.5 billion yuan in advance to protect arable land and continue to raise the minimum purchase prices for wheat and rice; it also allocated 40 billion yuan in one-time subsidy to actual grain growers, double that of the previous year…Going forward, governments at all levels will continue to increase support for grain production, stabilise expectations by providing price support, guarantee the cost of income subsidies, and reduce risks by expanding insurance coverage, so as to provide all-round security for farmers to grow grain. 为调动农民种粮积极性，今年中央财政提前下达耕地地力保护补贴1205亿元，继续提高小麦、稻谷最低收购价，先后下拨实际种粮农民一次性补贴400亿元，比上年翻了一番。政策稳预期、强信心。下一步，各级财政将持续加大种粮支持力度，通过价格支持稳预期、收入补贴保成本、保险扩面降风险，为农民种粮提供全方位保障。
Next, there’s a report on Li Keqiang arriving in Phnom Penh. Li will attend the 25th China-ASEAN Summit, the 25th ASEAN Plus China, Japan and the Republic of Korea Summit and the 17th East Asia Summit to be held in Phnom Penh.
Xinhua reports that upon landing, “Li noted that China and ASEAN are comprehensive strategic partners and each other's largest trading partner. The international and regional situations are undergoing a complex and profound transformation, with growing uncertainties and instabilities, and unprecedented challenges facing the global development, the premier said. China expects the East Asia leaders' meetings to focus on development and cooperation, uphold multilateralism and free trade, adhere to open cooperation and mutual benefit, jointly preserve secure and smooth global industrial and supply chains, enable parties to join hands to address global challenges, and inject new impetus into promoting regional economic integration as well as safeguarding peace, stability, development and prosperity in the region and beyond, Li said.”
Finally, there’s an article informing us that China has a total of 6,183 registered museums, with 395 new ones registered in 2021. And 91% of these offer free entry. This is one of my biggest regrets while I lived in Beijing. I didn’t do enough museum visits; and there are some really quirky ones that I didn’t go to.
Page 3: There’s a report on Wang Yi’s call with Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong. Sydney Morning Herald’s report tells me that this is their third conversation in five months. Xinhua’s report begins by first discussing Wong’s supposed comments. It says:
“Australia and China have maintained effective communication and contact recently, said Wong, adding that through unremitting efforts, bilateral relations have witnessed positive changes. Australia will continue to adhere to the one-China policy and develop more stable and mutually beneficial relations with China on the basis of mutual respect, she said. Noting that sound Australia-China relations are not contradictory to safeguarding the two countries' respective national interests, Wong said Australia has no intention to magnify existing differences, and is ready to properly handle specific issues in a responsible manner within the framework of Australia-China comprehensive strategic partnership and make continuous efforts to improve and strengthen the two countries' relations.”
“For his part, Wang said the common interests of China and Australia far outweigh their differences, and the easing and improvement of China-Australia relations conforms to the fundamental interests of both sides and the common expectations of the two peoples and the international community. Wang said that the two sides should continue to stick to the consensus on the basic position of being comprehensive strategic partners each other, uphold the spirit of mutual respect, seek common ground while reserving differences, and work together towards the goals of mutual benefit and win-win cooperation, so as to rebuild mutual trust between the two countries and get bilateral ties back on track. During this process, China and Australia need to gradually address respective legitimate concerns and jointly make positive contributions to tackling current global challenges, noted Wang.”
There’s lots of talk of a possible meeting between Australia’s PM Anthony Albanese and Xi Jinping in Bali. Let’s see. Anyway, I have not been able to locate an Australian readout of the call so far. This is something that I just do not get. Why do other governments let Chinese media set the public narrative?
Next, there’s a report on the 3rd China-Arab States Political Parties Dialogue. ILD chief Liu Jianchao spoke about BRI cooperation, the China-Arab strategic partnership and the outcomes of the 20th Party Congress.
Finally, a report about the Chinese delegation to COP27 meeting with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Xie Zhenhua, special representative for Chinese President Xi Jinping and special envoy for Climate Change, and Zhao Yingmin, head of the Chinese delegation, spoke to Guterres, who praised China's accelerating green transformation and focusing on pragmatic actions as well as China’s efforts in developing renewable energy. Xinhua adds that the two sides also exchanged in-depth views on issues of long-term concern to developing countries, such as adaptation to climate change, and financial and technical support.
SCMP’s report on Xie’s comments during an event at the China Pavilion at COP27, says that he talked about the need to address the needs of developing countries in areas such as emissions reduction and financing. On the issue of financing, this is worth noting:
“Rich nations failed to meet their pledge to deliver US$100 billion per year by 2020 to help poorer countries cope with climate change. They made the promise in 2009 at the COP15 biodiversity conference staged in Montreal, Canada. The developed nations only provided US$83.3 billion, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in July. At last year’s COP26 summit in Glasgow, the European Union and the United States rejected calls for a separate financial mechanism.”
Also worth watching is whether we get bilateral dialogue between the US and China. This is an ideal opportunity to quietly restore the situation after the strain in August, following Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan.
Page 4: Another consolidated report on 20th Party Congress spirit study sessions. This one begins with Zhang Qingli’s presentation at the CPPCC. Zhang is a member of the Central Propaganda Group. It says that:
“Zhang Qingli gave a systematic and in-depth lecture on the spirit of the 20th Party Congress from the following aspects: deeply understanding the significance of the 20th Party Congress, firmly grasping the work in the past five years and the great changes in the decade of the new era, firmly grasping the global outlook and methodology of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, firmly grasping the mission and tasks of comprehensively promoting the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation through Chinese-style modernisation, firmly grasping the important requirements of leading the great social revolution with great self-revolution, and firmly grasping the requirements of the times of unity and struggle.” 张庆黎从深刻认识党的二十大的重大意义、牢牢把握过去五年工作和新时代十年伟大变革的重大意义、牢牢把握习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想的世界观和方法论、牢牢把握以中国式现代化全面推进中华民族伟大复兴的使命任务、牢牢把握以伟大自我革命引领伟大社会革命的重要要求、牢牢把握团结奋斗的时代要求等方面，对党的二十大精神进行了系统深入宣讲.
He called on the CPPCC to “deeply understand the decisive significance of the ‘Two Establishments’ and reiterated the 4-4-2 formulation. He added: “persist in strengthening the Party's overall leadership over the work of the CPPCC, give full play to the role of specialised consultation bodies, closely follow the decision-making arrangements of the CPC Central Committee, conduct in-depth consultation and deliberation on state affairs, strengthen supervision and implementation, persist in efforts to make suggestions and contributions and building consensus, promote broad unity, promote multi-party cooperation and practise whole-process people's democracy during the consultation process, and contribute wisdom to comprehensively promoting the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation through Chinese-style modernisation. 张庆黎指出，人民政协要完整准确全面领会党的二十大精神，深刻领会“两个确立”的决定性意义，增强“四个意识”、坚定“四个自信”、做到“两个维护”，坚持和加强党对政协工作的全面领导，切实发挥专门协商机构作用，紧扣党中央决策部署深入协商议政，强化监督落实，坚持建言资政和凝聚共识双向发力，在协商中促进广泛团结、推进多党合作、实践全过程人民民主，为以中国式现代化全面推进中华民族伟大复兴贡献智慧力量。
A similar study session was held at Shanghai Jiaotong University with Gong Zheng, member of the Central Propaganda Group and the mayor of Shanghai, doing the presentation. He talked about Chinese-style modernisation and uniting behind the Central Committee with Xi Jinping as the core. He added that “fully implement Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, strengthen confidence, work with one heart and one mind, work hard and move forward bravely…” 全面贯彻习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想，坚定信心、同心同德，埋头苦干、奋勇前进，为全面建设社会主义现代化国家、全面推进中华民族伟大复兴而团结奋斗.
A similar session was held in Lhasa, with Wang Jianxin talking about Chinese-style modernisation. In Beijing, Tian Peiyan spoke to the SoEs system. He reiterated that the Two Establishments “are the major political achievements of the party in the new era, and the decisive factor to promote the historic achievements and changes in the cause of the Party and the country.” 他表示，“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.
It is necessary to profoundly understand the decisive significance of the Two Establishments, effectively turn the political consensus of the Two Establishments into practical actions for achieving the two safeguards, implement the Party’s line, principles and policies to the letter, and comprehensively study, grasp and fully implement the spirit of the 20th Party Congress.要深刻领悟“两个确立”的决定性意义，切实把“两个确立”的政治共识转化为“两个维护”的实际行动，不折不扣贯彻落实党的路线方针政策，全面学习、全面把握、全面落实党的二十大精神. Likewise in Lanzhou, Zhang Laiming made the presentation talking about the two establishments and two safeguards.
Page 6: There’s an article by Sun Chunlan on what the 20th Party Congress has meant for education policy. I am not particularly interested in this, but if anyone would like to translate and summarise, I’ll gladly publish here.
Page 10: There are two reports on a study session held by the China Society for Human Rights Studies on 20th Party Congress and its implications for adhering to the path of human rights development in China. The first report says that “the meeting thoroughly studied and implemented the spirit of the 20th Party Congress, deeply understood the decisive significance of Two Establishments, strengthened the four consciousnesses and four self-confidences and achieved the two safeguards, and conducted in-depth discussions around guiding China's human rights theoretical research and discourse system construction under the guidance of the spirit of the 20th Party Congress.” 会议深入学习贯彻党的二十大精神，深刻领悟“两个确立”的决定性意义，增强“四个意识”、坚定“四个自信”、做到“两个维护”，围绕以党的二十大精神指引中国人权理论研究和话语体系建设各项工作进行了深入研讨.
It reiterated the aim of “adhering to China’s path of human rights development, actively participating in global human rights governance, and promoting the all-round development of human rights cause. This is the “political consciousness and historical initiative” of the CCP, the report adds. It also says that the 20th Party Congress had
“clarified the practical path to comprehensively promote China’s human rights cause with Chinese-style modernisation.”
The report adds that the participants at the meeting “unanimously expressed that they should always maintain a high degree of unity with the CPC Central Committee with comrade Xi Jinping at the core, consciously and actively study, publicise and explain the rich human rights connotation of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, base themselves on China's human rights practice, carry forward contemporary China's view of human rights, strive to refine new concepts, new categories and new expressions that have international influence, constantly push forward the modernisation of Marxist human rights theory in China, and create a new situation in China's human rights theory and discourse system construction.” 与会人士一致表示，要始终同以习近平同志为核心的党中央保持高度一致，自觉主动学习宣传阐释习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想的丰富人权内涵，立足中国人权实践，弘扬当代中国人权观，努力提炼具有国际影响的新概念新范畴新表述，不断推进马克思主义人权理论中国化时代化，开创中国人权理论和话语体系建设新局面.
The second report on this is a deeper dive into the propositions and arguments discussed at the meeting. The first proposition highlighted is:
“Survival is the basis for enjoying all human rights, and people's happy life is the greatest human right. Participants said that adhering to the basic human rights with the right to subsistence and development as the first priority is not only an important feature of human rights development in China, but also a valuable experience of human rights practice in China.” 生存是享有一切人权的基础，人民幸福生活是最大的人权。与会人士表示，坚持以生存权、发展权为首要的基本人权，这既是中国人权发展的一大重要特征，又是中国人权事业实践的一条宝贵经验.
Li Junru, former vice president of the Central Party School, says that “the 20th Party Congress profoundly pointed out the important features and essential requirements of Chinese-style modernisation, which reflected the all-round respect and protection of human rights.” “党的二十大深刻指出中国式现代化的重要特征和本质要求，深刻体现了全方位尊重和保障人权.”
Lu Guangjin, from the China Society for Human Rights Studies and a professor at the law school at Jilin University, said that “Chinese-style modernisation has created a new miracle in which all human rights are continuously and comprehensively guaranteed.” 中国式现代化创造了各项人权不断得到全面保障的新奇迹.
But this is the bit that takes the cake:
“The development and progress of Tibet’s human rights cause is a typical epitome of the brilliant achievements of the development of China’s human rights cause. ‘Under the care of the CPC Central Committee, the support of the whole country and the united struggle of the people of all ethnic groups in Tibet, Tibet has made great achievements in various construction undertakings, which have played a key role in improving people’s living standards and happiness index and in the development of human rights in Tibet,’ said Zhang Yun, a researcher at the China Tibetology Research Center. 西藏人权事业的发展进步是中国人权事业发展辉煌成就的一个典型缩影。“在党中央关心下，在全国支援和西藏各族群众的团结奋斗下，西藏的各项建设事业取得了巨大的成就，为提高人民群众的生活水平和幸福指数、为西藏人权事业的发展起到关键性作用。”中国藏学研究中心历史研究所研究员张云说.
The second proposition in the article is that rule of law/law-based governance is critical for human rights protection. This talks about whole-process democracy, improving the legal protection mechanism for human rights and the sense of fairness and justice that people experience in their engagement with the legal system. This sounds fine in itself, but the devil lies in the detail. One can be implementing the law, but that doesn’t in itself mean improved human rights. There are many other questions that one must ask.
For instance, how does the law define fundamental rights of the people and the responsibility of the state to protect and respect them? Has its interpretation in practice been tending towards greater political and economic freedom or not? Does the law place the individual at the centre or community? If communities are prioritised, then how are these defined; which get greater protection; and why? What are the constraints that the law places on the state or the requirements that the state must meet for it to abridge an individual or a community’s fundamental rights in certain cases?
Anyway, finally, the third proposition is about China’s participation in global human rights governance. The discussion essentially points to Beijing being more active in shaping human rights norms internationally, based on the plank of the common values of mankind, i.e., peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy and freedom. This framework is being and will be used to counter what it sees as a Western narrative of universal values.
Other Stories:
A couple of stories from outside PD, that I think are useful reads: