Xi's Calls Nepal, Spain & Montenegro - Li on Supporting MSEs - US Democracy & Inequality - CPEC - Backing Reform & Opening Up
Here are the stories and pieces from the May 27, 2021, People’s Daily edition that I found noteworthy.
Page 1: Lot’s of news reports on today’s front page. First, Xi Jinping’s phone call with Nepali President Bidhya Devi Bhandari. This was predominantly about the second wave of COVID-19 in the country. It is heartbreaking to read stories that are reminiscent of what’s been happening in India take place in Nepal.
Anyway, Xi told Bhandari (English report) that “the Chinese central and local governments as well as non-governmental organizations were among the first to take actions, offering much-needed medical supplies and equipment as well as vaccines to Nepal, and sharing with the Nepali side experience in epidemic prevention, control, diagnosis and treatment.” He promised continued support. China’s ambassador to Nepal, Hou Yanqi, meanwhile, has said that Beijing will provide 1 million vaccine doses to the country. This bit was not part of the PD report.
Xi also spoke about how he “is willing to share China's development opportunities with Nepal;” he wants to advance BRI by “building of the trans-Himalayan Multi-Dimensional Connectivity Network” and will “as always, support Nepal in safeguarding national sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity, respect the Nepali people's independent choice of development path, and support Nepal's economic and social development.”
“China is willing to work with Nepal to intensify coordination and cooperation within multilateral frameworks, firmly uphold multilateralism, and safeguard the common interests of developing countries,” he added.
Do note this: “Bhandari said Nepal attaches great importance to its relations with China, firmly adheres to the one-China policy, firmly supports China in safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity, and will never allow any forces to use the Nepali territory for any anti-China activities.” She also thanked Xi for China’s pandemic assistance.
Xi also had a phone conversation (English report) with Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic. Xi said that the two countries “have always maintained high-level political mutual trust, and supported each other on issues involving their respective core interests and major concerns.” He added that via BRI and CEEC, the two countries have “achieved outstanding results in cooperation in such key areas as transportation infrastructure construction and energy.” On the pandemic, he promised “as much assistance as its (China’s) capacity allows.”
Djukanovic, apart from the standard comments that Xinhua reports about leaders congratulating the Party on its centenary and praising China’s developmental achievements, said that “his country appreciates China's consistent adherence to the principle of equality between big and small countries, and its respect for the independent choices of development paths different countries have made in line with their respective national conditions.”
Xi’s final phone conversation reported today (English report) is with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez. Interestingly, no congratulating the CCP by Sanchez. Xinhua’s report tells us that Xi acknowledged that China-Europe ties have “new opportunities” but “confront various challenges.” He spoke about the need to “properly manage differences and maintain the main tone of win-win cooperation.” Xi called for “cooperation projects in such areas as port logistics, smart cities and clean energy, strengthen third-party cooperation with Latin America and Africa, and deepen people-to-people and cultural exchanges.” He also wants deeper party-to-party ties. Finally, Sanchez said “that his country welcomes Chinese enterprises’ investments and cooperation.”
Next Li Keqiang chaired the weekly State Council meeting (English report). This one ended with a decision on supporting micro and small enterprises along with self-employed people. The report tells us that as of April, China has over 44 million MSEs and more than 95 million self-employed individuals. So what’s going to be done?
First, continue to implement policies related to the six stabilities and six guarantees.
Second, expand “inclusive finance” by encouraging “credit loans, first-time loans, medium- and long-term loans and loan renewals without principal repayment, and to promote the pay-as-you-go lending model.”
Third, ensure price and supply stability when it comes to raw materials; so this talks about cracking down on hoarding and price-gouging -
Fourth, get sub-national governments to extend job retention subsidies, and encourage Internet platforms to lower excessive charges and commissions.
Fifth, efforts will be made to cover self-employed individuals and flexibly employed people with social insurance schemes, and household registration restrictions will be lifted to allow workers to enrol in these schemes where they work.
Also note: “The meeting urged stronger law enforcement against monopoly and unfair competition. Malicious subsidies and below-cost dumping by advantageously-positioned companies to seize more market share will be investigated and tackled under the law. Arbitrary charges and unwarranted fines will be overhauled.”
In the PD report, we also have a paragraph on education. It talks about efforts to improve the provision of compulsory education in rural areas. The focus is on improving training for teachers and providing them income support. Along with this, it talks about the need to improve school infrastructure and the central government’s pledged allocation of 30 billion yuan of subsidies for support in this regard.
Next, the NPCSC will be meeting from June 7 to 10. On the agenda will be “draft laws on data security, Hainan free trade port, stamp duty, legal aid, practicing physicians and the protection of status, rights and interests of military personnel.” They will also “deliberate draft revisions to the Law on Military Facilities Protection and the Vocational Education Law and draft amendments to the Law on Workplace Safety and the Audit Law.”
Finally, today’s piece on Xi’s red footprints talks about his visit to Lankao County, Henan Province, in March 2014. The piece tells us that Lankao is the home of the “Jiao Yulu spirit.” During the visit, Xi had said that Jiao’s “spirit is the same as the revolutionary traditions and great spirits such as Jinggangshan spirit, Yan 'an spirit and Lei Feng spirit. It was, is and will still be a valuable spiritual wealth of our party in the past, and we must always learn from him.”
We then quickly jump to Xi’s 2019 visit to Xinxian County. At the time, the piece says, Xi “emphasized that every time I visited the old revolutionary base areas, I paid a visit to the memorial sites of revolutionary history, which was to warn the whole party comrades not to forget how the red regime came into being, how the new China came into being, and how the happy life came into being today.”
The piece then talks about Xi’s visit to the homes of locals during these trips, and how these regions have grown economically; eradication of poverty; enhanced incomes and lifestyles, and the persistent spirit of service, and the relevance of using red resources. The story emphasises his comments about the need to rely “on the rich red cultural resources and green ecological resources to develop rural tourism, invigorating the rural economy.”
Page 2: First, Liu He spoke at the opening ceremony of the 2021 China International Big Data Industry Expo. He said that “it is necessary to expand the application scenarios of big data from two dimensions of breadth and depth, actively promote the all-round deep integration of digital technology and economic and social development, and fully tap the multiple values of data.” He also said this:
“Data elements have new characteristics such as near-zero marginal cost, strong scaling effect and non-exclusiveness. It is necessary to strengthen research, establish and improve governance systems and related systems, and explore the realization of more accurate data confirmation, more convenient data transaction, more reasonable data use, promote fair competition and oppose monopoly on the premise of ensuring personal privacy and data security.” 数据要素具有边际成本接近零、规模效应强、非排他等新特点，要加强研究，建立健全治理体系和相关制度，在确保个人隐私和数据安全的前提下，探索实现更精准的数据确权，更便捷的数据交易，更合理的数据使用，促进公平竞争，反对垄断.
Second, Guo Shengkun was in Shandong recently; he spoke about how “it is necessary to adhere to the guidance of Xi Jinping's new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics, thoroughly study and implement Xi Jinping’s thought of rule of law, carry out in-depth study and education of party history in accordance with the decision-making arrangements of the CPC Central Committee, solidly promote the education and rectification of political and legal teams, and strive to forge a loyal and clean political and legal iron army to better shoulder the missions entrusted by the party and the people.”
The piece adds that:
“Guo Shengkun paid a visit to the East China Revolutionary Martyrs Cemetery and Yimeng Revolutionary Memorial Hall, demanding that red resources should be used to carry out the study and education of party history, so as to inspire the powerful spiritual power of political and legal police officers to do their duty for the party and contribute to the people.” He also inspected the Qufu City Public Security Bureau and the Lanshan District People’s Procuratorate of Linyi City.
He says that:
“it is necessary to focus on the primary task of building political loyalty, deepen ideological understanding through continuous learning and education, persist in seeking truth from facts, highlight problem orientation and quality and efficiency standards, accurately grasp policies and strategies, and solve problems with real difficulties to ensure that they do not go through the motions.” 要聚焦筑牢政治忠诚这一首要任务，以持续学习教育深化思想认识，坚持实事求是，突出问题导向和质效标准，准确把握政策策略，动真碰硬解决问题，确保不走过场.
Page 3: A few stories to note on the page. First, Wang Yi spoke (English report) during a session on China at the Munich Security Conference. Wang said that “China is a trustworthy partner of all countries, not an institutional rival that confronts others. ‘We will stick to the system and development path we have chosen, fully respect the independent choices of other countries, and will not engage in exporting its system’.”
The report adds: Wang said that “China has always viewed China-EU relations from a strategic perspective, believed that cooperation is the general direction and keynote of bilateral relations, and regarded Europe as a partner rather than an opponent. He noted that China will, as always, firmly support the European integration process, support the EU's unity and self-reliance, and support the EU to play a greater role in the international community. The two sides should prevent the political virus from undermining their unity...”
Second, MoFA announced sanctions against Johnnie Moore, Commissioner of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). “The individual concerned and his family members are prohibited from entering the mainland, Hong Kong and Macao of China,” said Zhao Lijian. This he said was in response to the release of the 2020 International Religious Freedom Report, which announced sanctions on a Chinese official.
Zhao said: the “so-called report from the US side, in disregard of facts and fraught with ideological bias, has unscrupulously denigrated China's religious policy and severely interfered in China's internal affairs. China firmly rejects this.” He said the US was a “move to endorse cults and impose unilateral sanctions on Chinese personnel based on lies and disinformation.”
Third, Zhao Kezhi spoke to Uzbek Interior Minister Pulat Bobojonov. “Zhao expressed his hope that the two sides will earnestly implement the important consensus of the two heads of state, strengthen practical cooperation in such fields as security of major events, combating the ‘three forces,’ de-extremism and law enforcement capacity building, so as to jointly maintain regional security and stability, and deliver more benefits to the two countries and two peoples.”
Fourth, we have another Zhong Sheng commentary on American democracy. This is commentary number 5. It argues that “in recent decades, structural racism in the United States, as well as inequality in the education, medical insurance, and financial systems, have further exacerbated the polarization between the rich and the poor.” It emphasises that “American governors have not taken concrete actions to promote common prosperity and have no sincere will to seek the greatest common denominator of interests, which means that they have not paid attention to the rights and interests of the general public at all, and just made ‘democratic governance’ a mirage.”
The essence of the argument is that inequality and the large gap between the rich and the poor is a “chronic disease” and “institutional” and structural issue in or even a feature of the US, which American democracy is fundamentally incapable of addressing.
The article quotes Abraham Lincoln:
“A house divided against itself cannot stand. Abraham Lincoln’s remarks about the two economic systems in the United States more than 160 years ago are also suitable for analyzing the consequences of the widening gap between the rich and the poor in the United States.” “一栋裂开的房子是站不住的。”亚伯拉罕·林肯160多年前论及美国南北两种经济制度的话，如今也很适合用来分析美国贫富差距拉大的后果.
Fifth, a report on Arab diplomats’ visit to Shanghai. PD says that they went to the “China-Arab Reform and Development Research Center to continue exchanges and discussions on topics of common interest such as leadership, diplomatic negotiations, and crisis management.”
It adds that an Egyptian diplomat asked:
“what characteristics and character do political parties and national leaders need to possess?...Liang Xiaojun, deputy director of the Department of Diplomacy of China Foreign Affairs University, replied that as leaders of political parties and countries, they must first have a sense of responsibility and always take the people at heart; they must have an international perspective. In the current interdependent international society, the development of the country must be in line with the development trend of the times and the world; it must coordinate domestic and international relations and have the ability to coordinate the overall situation…”
Today, these folks are being taken today to the South Lake in Jiaxing to listen to the history of the Chinese Communist Party. What fun!
Finally, a long piece about China-Pakistan cooperation. This is marking the 70th anniversary of bilateral ties. There’s lots in there about how they share in “weal and woe” and how the partnership has only strengthened through the years. Interestingly, there’s little mention of military ties, which were the key drivers in the past and today too. But there’s lots about “practical cooperation” which implies CPEC. So the piece tells us that the focus areas in CPEC are Gwadar port and infrastructure and energy sectors. If you’d missed Ambassador Nong Rong’s piece, here’s the state of CPEC:
“The corridor has brought in direct investment of US$25.4 billion to Pakistan. Up to now, 46 of the 70 early harvest projects identified by the two parties have been launched or completed.”
This is also useful to note:
“As the only land passage between China and Pakistan, the Karakoram Highway was opened to traffic in 1978. Because of the complex terrain and frequent natural disasters, the construction process was extremely difficult. Now the road extends south, and the second phase of the project (the section from Havelian to Thakot) was officially opened to traffic in July last year. The road built by the people of the two countries with sweat and blood is called the ‘China-Pakistan Friendship Road.’ In a cemetery of martyrs in Gilgit, there are more than 80 Chinese workers who died for building roads. Five local people spontaneously guard the martyrs’ cemetery all year round.”
The last bit in the piece is about media and people to people engagement.
Page 4: First, propaganda chief Huang Kunming spoke at a meeting of the Leading Group for Party History Learning and Education, “emphasizing the need to deeply study and understand General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important expositions on Party history study and education, and strengthen the sense of responsibility for guiding the work.”
Second, Peng Shilu, a nuclear energy expert and “and one of the pioneers and founders of China’s nuclear power industry” has been awarded the title of “Model of the Times” (时代楷模)He is being recognised for having made “important contributions to the successful development of the first nuclear submarine in China.”
Page 6: The two historical figures talked about today are Lei Feng and Wang Jie.
Page 7: Two pieces to note. First, today’s piece on red inheritance talks about Tan Kah Kee, a Chinese-born Singaporean businessman, who supported the Xinhai Revolution and the fight against the Japanese. He had also set up the Jimei School Village in 1913. The narrative around the village has been of the “Jiageng spirit,” which implies a dedication to learning and self improvement. PD tells us that the “Jiageng spirit of ‘loyalty, sincerity, perseverance, diligence and innovation’ has become Xiamen’s precious spiritual wealth.”
What this means in practice is this: “The spirit of Jiageng has injected new momentum into the development of Xiamen Special Economic Zone. On April 22, 12 overseas Chinese and Chinese innovative cooperation projects were signed and settled in Xiamen, with a total contracted investment of 4.83 billion yuan. The good environment has attracted many overseas Chinese businessmen to invest and start businesses.”
The idea being pushed is that the old trend continues to inspire actions and policies today.
Next a short report about a seminar in Chongqing about human rights in Tibet. It says that “experts and scholars on Tibet-related issues from China, Russia, Nepal and other countries participated in the seminar.”
Page 13: Today’s Theory page talks about why and how reform and opening up was a historical choice. In the first piece, Huang Yibing, deputy dean of the Central Party History and Documentation Research Institute, writes that reform and opening up “conforms to the Chinese people’s desire to develop, innovate and live a better life, and conforms to the trend of the times.”
He adds that the:
“Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China accurately grasped the changes in the domestic and international situation, broke through the severe shackles of "Left" mistakes, and made a historic decision to shift the central work of the Party and the state to economic construction and implementing reform and opening up.” 党的十一届三中全会准确把握国内外形势变化，冲破“左”的错误的严重束缚，作出把党和国家工作中心转移到经济建设上来、实行改革开放的历史性决策.
And this:
“The purpose of reform and opening up is to liberate and develop social productive forces, realise national modernisation, enrich the Chinese people and rejuvenate the great Chinese nation. It is to promote the self-improvement and development of China's socialist system, give socialism new vitality, and build and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics; it is necessary to strengthen and improve the Party's construction while leading the development and progress of contemporary China, maintain and develop the advanced nature of the Party, and ensure that the Party always walks in the forefront of the times.” 改革开放的目的，就是要解放和发展社会生产力，实现国家现代化，让中国人民富裕起来，振兴伟大的中华民族；就是要推动我国社会主义制度自我完善和发展，赋予社会主义新的生机活力，建设和发展中国特色社会主义；就是要在引领当代中国发展进步中加强和改进党的建设，保持和发展党的先进性，确保党始终走在时代前列.
There’s an interesting chunk later in the piece which talks about how the decision to reform and open up was taken after an assessment of the international situation. It says that after the 1960s and 1970s, there was a new technological revolution taking place around the world. This was “marked by microelectronics and information technology” and it was rapidly changing “the economic structure, industrial structure, and social structure.” Recognising this, and the favourable “international situation,” the Party acted to seize “opportunities with a high sense of historical responsibility and urgency.”
The next chunk talks about Deng’s emphasis on science and technology. It then says:
“In the practice of reform and opening up, our Party has always paid attention to closely combine the superiority of China's socialist system with the mastery, application and development of advanced science and technology, implement the strategy of developing the country through science and education, take the road of strengthening the country through science and technology, vigorously promote scientific and technological progress and innovation, continuously transform and upgrade the national economy with advanced science and technology, achieve the leapfrog development of China’s productive forces, and realize the goal of catching up with the times.” 在改革开放的实践中，我们党始终注意把发挥我国社会主义制度的优越性同掌握、运用和发展先进科学技术紧密地结合起来，实施科教兴国战略，走科技强国之路，大力推动科技进步和创新，不断用先进科技改造和提升国民经济，实现了我国生产力的跨越式发展，实现了赶上时代的奋斗目标.
In the second piece, Qin Xuan, Research Institute of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics in the New Era of Renmin University of China, writes that there are some key reasons why reform and opening up succeeded in China. These are:
Strong leadership core: “It is precisely because of the strong leadership core of the Communist Party of China that reform and opening up can always move forward in the right direction and that we can successfully deal with a series of major risks and challenges, overcome a series of difficulties and obstacles, and continue to make great achievements.” Refer to my earlier thoughts about Yuen Yuen Ang’s work.
The role of People: “It can be said that in the process of advancing the cause of reform and opening up, every breakthrough and development in our understanding and practice, and the creation and accumulation of experience in every aspect come from the practice and wisdom of hundreds of millions of people.” There’s also a sense that he’s arguing about the performance of the approach here.
Scientific Thinking: In this, he credits the Marxist approach and the leadership for arriving at the view that China was in the primary stage of socialism, which informed policy formulation.
The approach to reform: This is where he is essentially arguing about the methodology that acknowledges the importance of experimentation and learning from experiences to adjust policies. So he emphasises “seeking truth from facts,” the importance of “being pragmatic,” studying new situations and addressing problems, being people-oriented, encouraging “bold experiments and breakthroughs,” etc.