Xi's Youth Agenda - Veterans Propaganda Campaign - Vacuous Vaccine Rhetoric
Here are the stories and pieces from the People’s Daily’s May 3, 2021, edition that I found noteworthy.
Page 1: Today’s edition is a smaller one owing to the May Day holidays in China. But the lead story on the front page is about Xi Jinping and the youth. Interesting timing for this, given that tomorrow is May 4; and of course, last week we read about the rectification campaign at universities and the Communist Youth League’s First Secretary’s piece pledging fealty to Xi.
So this piece talks about how Xi has been inspiring youth for a long, long time through his letters. There’s a reference to his term as Secretary of the Zhengding County Party Committee in 1983. The anecdote talks about a letter he wrote at the time, which inspired more than half of the 51 students from Zhengding studying t at Hebei Agricultural University to return to work in their hometown.
Here’s one more anecdote. Another letter Xi wrote got some 100 graduates from Baoding College in Hebei Province to volunteer to work in the country’s western regions. In that letter, he apparently wrote: “I have lived in the western region and know that children there are eager for knowledge, and the development there needs talents...Good sons and daughters aim at all four directions; those who have aspirations struggle without regret.”
Then the piece tells us that Xi also has foreign “pen pals,” i.e., some stories about Xi’s letters to foreign students. And why is this important? Because, “the ‘letterhead dialogue’ across the seas and mountains has nourished the flower of friendship between the Chinese people and the people of the world.”
The next bit talks about Xi’s agenda of ensuring that the youth stay true to “core values” because “the value orientation of youth determines the value orientation of the entire society.” Then we get a story about Xi’s admiration for Jiao Yulu, who once served as Party secretary of Lankao County, Henan Province, and has become a symbol of hardworking cadre. In 2014, Xi visited the Jiao Yulu Memorial Hall in the county. The piece talks about how Xi read about Jiao Yulu in 1966 while in school.
And this is the lesson that Xi drew:
“‘Comrade Jiao Yulu's deeds come down to one point, that is, to firmly follow the party. He shared in the worries of the party and added color to the party all his life.’ General Secretary Xi Jinping said that not forgetting this initial intention is not only the political choice of our youth, but also the life direction of our youth.”
Next, Xi Jinping sent a condolence message to Israeli President Reuven Rivlin the during the Lag B’Omer celebrations in the country.
Page 2: Keeping with what we read on the front page, on the second page we have a story about the youth from the Karamay Campus of China University of Petroleum (Beijing) who in 2020 chose to focus on grassroots work in Xinjiang. They too had received a letter from Xi. The essence of the story is the bit about how difficult circumstances toughen up one’s will (艰苦条件锻炼意志). The concluding sentence emphasises this further through one of the protagonists in the story, Wei Pengfei.
“Nowadays, Wei Pengfei often tells his bothers and sisters, ‘Going to the grassroots is a good choice. Although one may suffer, but one grows very fast; it is a rare life treasure.” 如今，魏鹏飞常跟师弟师妹们说：“到基层去，是一个好选择. 虽然可能会吃苦，但成长非常快，这是一笔难得的人生财富.”
Next, the the Central Propaganda Department, the Veterans Affairs Department and the Political Work Department of the Central Military Commission have launched a new campaign with the theme “most beautiful veterans.” The idea here is to identify stories of veterans over the course of the Party’s history and publicise “typical” cases.
The notice says that all localities should dig deep, select and publicize outstanding veterans who displayed characteristics of the times, made outstanding achievements and are recognized by the masses. From these, 20 will be selected as role models with propaganda work being built around them, urging emulation of their examples. Why do all this? Well because the goal is “to inspire and guide the majority of veterans to always listen to the party, follow the party, and vigorously create a political atmosphere to celebrate the centenary of the birth of a great cause in history.” And, of course, because there has been friction with veterans for the past few years as the PLA has sought to move from a manpower-focussed to firepower-focussed force.
Page 3: First, the President of the Spanish Olympic Committee (COE), Alejandro Blanco has backed the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. Second, a piece about the challenges related to COVID-19 vaccines. The piece quotes people from different countries to make the point that:
“At present, global vaccines are facing ‘capacity deficits’ and ‘distribution deficits.’ Some developed countries have artificially created an ‘immune gap’ by hoarding vaccines and imposing export controls. Many developing countries are facing severe vaccine shortages. The international community has generally called for jointly resisting ‘vaccine nationalism’, promoting the fair and reasonable distribution of vaccines, supporting and helping developing countries to obtain vaccines, and building a common line of defense against the epidemic.”
There’s a lot of calling for cooperation and praising China in the piece; but if Beijing’s serious about addressing vaccine nationalism and also about its rhetoric of multilateralism, democratisation of international relations and putting life first as a principle of governance, then why doesn’t it also back waivers on intellectual property rights at the WTO? European MEPs seem against it, but reports suggest that the US might seriously be considering the idea. What stops Beijing from taking the lead with countries like India and South Africa? After all, isn’t mankind a community of common destiny?
A piece on Chinese support for East Timor following the recent rains and flooding and of course, pandemic-related aid. The piece talks about how the armed forces there provided food to victims of the flooding and then says that it turns out that the equipment they used had been donated by China. “China assisted Timor-Leste in 2019 with a batch of logistics equipment, including seven field cooking vehicles,” the piece says. Then it talks about Chinese companies providing aid in the country and the announcement of providing 100,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines.
Finally, the Chinese Embassy in Brazil and the Brazilian Center for International Relations held a series of seminars recently about China’s governance experiences.