Tracking People’s Daily — July 31, 2020
Page 1: The lead story on the front page today is about the fifth plenary session of the 19th Central Committee. The Politburo met yesterday and decided to hold the session in October. PD is carrying a Xinhua story. There are two key objectives of the 5th Plenary, i.e., formulate the 14th Five Year Plan and long term goals for 2035. Other key points in the story:
“The 14th Five-Year Plan period is the first five years after China has completed building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and achieved the first centenary goal, according to the meeting.” So it’s clearly a done deal that poverty will be eliminated and Xiaokang will be achieved. “The period will also mark the time for the country to build on this achievement to embark on a new journey toward the second centenary goal of fully building a modern socialist country.”
What’s also interesting is that the statement following the meeting says that “China will still be in a period of strategic opportunity for development, facing new opportunities and challenges.” But it adds that the “current economic situation is still complicated and severe, with great instability and uncertainty. Many of the problems we encounter are medium- and long-term. We must understand from the perspective of protracted warfare, and accelerate the formation of a domestic and international cycle.” The report views expanding domestic demand as a “strategic” imperative.
In the near-term, however, there are still key steps to be taken, despite “better than expected” Q2 growth. The meeting focussed on improving epidemic control and prevention measures and the six stabilities and six guarantees and the need to ensure funds for the construction of major projects and focus on quality and efficiency.
“We must continue to expand domestic demand, overcome the impact of the epidemic, expand final consumption, and create conditions for residents’ consumption upgrade. We must focus on the long-term, actively expand effective investment, and encourage social capital to participate. It is necessary to speed up the construction of new infrastructure, deepen the promotion of major regional development strategies, and accelerate the implementation of major national strategic projects…We must adhere to the positioning that houses are used for living, not for speculation, and promote the steady and healthy development of the real estate market.”
Next, Xi Jinping’s speech to a non-Party forum in Beijing. This is about getting opinions and views about economic policy. Xi Jinping pointed out that at the beginning of this year, we faced “a sudden and severe test.” He said that the outbreak has “brought unprecedented impact to my country’s economic and social development.” And then this: Xi “emphasized that the epidemic prevention and control situation is now stable and economic operations have basically recovered. In the third and fourth quarters, we must take advantage of the momentum to consolidate and expand the results of epidemic prevention and control and economic recovery, and strive to make up for the losses in the first half of the year.” His objective going forward is “seeking progress while maintaining stability,” including adhering to the supply-side structural reform as the main line, firmly grasping the strategic basis of expanding domestic demand, and vigorously protecting and stimulating market entities.
Page 2: A few stories to note. First, an expansion of the dibao, income subsidy, scheme to cover a larger number of low income individuals, migrant workers and labourers, and marginal families. Marginal families are those whose per capita income is higher than the local urban and rural subsistence allowance standard, but 1.5 times lower than the subsistence allowance standard, and whose property meets the relevant local regulations. Next, the new State Council opinions on Enhancing the Leading Role of Mass Entrepreneurship and Innovation Demonstration Bases. The focus is on providing financial and policy support for entrepreneurial enterprises, ensuring that these drive employment, building a system of innovation and entrepreneurship for industry, academia, research, and innovation and strengthening the incubation carrier of open entrepreneurship.
Third, a report on the Covid outbreak in Dalian, where “as of July 29, the city has dispatched a total of 21999 medical staff, set up 4297 sampling points, completed 4.09 million samples, and will carry out the second nucleic acid sampling work for key populations in high-risk areas.” The report says that “currently, Dalian has designated 1 high-risk area and 4 medium-risk areas. It is strictly forbidden for personnel in medium- and high-risk areas to leave Dalian.”
Page 3: A number of pieces that are noteworthy. First, this report about how China’s epidemic recovery has helped foreign enterprises in the country. Some of the companies mentioned in the report are: Panasonic, Roche Pharmaceuticals, Dow, Rio Tinto, Volkswagen, etc. Next, Wang Yi’s chat with his Indonesian counterpart. Wang told him: “China is willing to work with ASEAN countries to continue to fully and effectively implement the ‘Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea’ and accelerate consultations on the ‘Code of Conduct in the South China Sea’. The United States has become the biggest destructive factor in current international relations.”
Third, MoFA’s remarks about the US ambassador to Brazil’s remarks on 5G and Huawei, calling them part of “naked hegemonic behaviour.” MoFA also added: “We hope all countries will commit to uphold a fair, just, open and non-discriminatory business environment and reject nationality discrimination in global scientific cooperation as firmly as they reject racism.” Fourth, a conversation between Chinese and Vietnamese Communist parties. PD says: “The two sides believe that they should jointly maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea, guard against external interference and provocation, and firmly maintain the basic norms of international relations to contribute to world peace and development.”
Page 4: Two stories about Hong Kong on this page. First, the decision to disqualify 12 pro-democracy candidates (CNN’s report). Second, the Liaison Office’s statement after the disqualification of 12 pro-democracy candidates from contesting LegCo elections. It says that “these people came to Hong Kong to paralyze the SAR government, subvert the state power…”
Page 7: The Ministry of National Defense said that the Southern Theater Naval Aviation Organization held a drill with PLA bombers H-6G and H-6J. (SCMP story) They carried out nighttime take-off exercises in the South China Sea, long-range assault drills, and practised attacks on sea targets. The MND spokesperson also criticised the US for its actions in the South China Sea. He then added that “the Tibet Military Region organised multiple types of artillery, day and night fire strike drills and artillery fire assault drills in high altitude areas, mainly to test the troops’ long-range precision strikes and fire assault capabilities in plateau environments. The above exercises are part of the annual training plan and are not targeted at any specific country.”
Page 9: The entire page is dedicated to pieces which emphasise the Party’s control over the PLA.
First, a piece from the National Defense University’s Xi Jinping Thought research center. It basically draws from the decision following the Fourth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee, which regard that the PLA must “adhere to the party’s command of guns, ensure that the people’s army is absolutely loyal to the party and the people, and effectively protect the country’s sovereignty, security, and development interests.” The rest is an emphasis on this and why this is beneficial.
Second, Liu Nianguang, the political committee member of National University of Defense Technology, writes that “absolute loyalty must be rooted in the mind and more importantly implemented in the action. Ensuring absolute loyalty requires our army to be loyal to the cause of the party and the people, and never betray the trust of the party and the people. Focus on the main responsibilities and main business, gather efforts to prepare for war, and keep in mind the fundamental functions of combat teams. Military academies must conscientiously focus on actual combat, focus on educating talents, and engage in scientific research aimed at the battlefield, so that personnel training and technological innovation can be aligned with the development of the army and focus on improving the rate of contribution to combat effectiveness.”
This is something that Xi emphasised very early on. The objective was to revamp training and education to make the forces more combat ready. It’s obviously extremely difficult to assess how combat ready these forces are, unless they face combat.
Third, a piece from the Central Party School’s Xi Jinping research center. It emphasises the importance of the Party’s control over the PLA, and then says:
“The world today is undergoing major changes unseen in a century. Our country is in a critical period of realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Our party is leading the people in a great struggle with many new historical characteristics. We are bound to face various risks and challenges on the way forward. Even encounter unimaginable stormy seas. If major risks occur and cannot be held up, national sovereignty, security, and development interests may face major threats, and the process of realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation may be delayed or even forced to be interrupted.”
And then adds: “In the new era, we must strive to achieve the party’s goal of strengthening the army in the new era, build the people’s army into a world-class army in an all-round way, and provide powerful support for safeguarding national sovereignty, security, and development interests.”
Page 16: Below is a snapshot of the stories covered on the international page.
