Tracking People’s Daily — June 12, 2020

This is a daily thread that I’ve decided to do in order to track the key reports and commentaries from the Chinese Communist Party’s flagship newspaper People’s Daily. The objective is to gain insights into the regime’s priorities and narratives, which I believe is important in order to develop effective policy responses. My comments are in bold below.

Big Picture: It’s been weeks now, but still no coverage of the India-China border issue in the People’s Daily so far. Also, today we didn’t see anything about the issues within the US. Much of the focus was on domestic issues. There’s clearly concern about global reaction to the central leadership’s policies in Hong Kong. Today’s edition shows the extent of perception management efforts that are underway.

Page 1: Today’s front page is filled with reports of high-level diplomacy. So Xi’s conversations with Rodrigo Duterte and Belarusian President Lukashenko, along with the Li Keqiang and Angela Merkel virtual meeting. There’s also a piece about Serb Member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Milorad Dodik backing Beijing’s natsec law in Hong Kong. All of this is Xinhua reportage, so I am not getting into the details. You can track those in my weekly newsletter.

Two other pieces to note:

• First, a long report on Xi’s trip to Ningxia. Again, this is as hagiographic as it gets. It’s about how much Xi has cared about tackling poverty and how people found him so approachable and caring and so on. Check this out:

“General Secretary Xi Jinping came to his house as a guest. Liu Kerui accompanied the general secretary to look outside. The cowshed at the door, the tidy little courtyard, the bright bedroom, and the clean kitchen. In the kitchen, the general secretary lifted the lid of the pan, opened the refrigerator, and twisted the faucet. In the living room, Liu Kerui’s family sat next to the general secretary. The old couple, sons and daughters-in-law, grandchildren, and a family of six are happy. General Secretary Xi Jinping asked what difficulties they had. Lao Liu excitedly reported to the general secretary: “I got rid of poverty in the first two years!”

• Second, a commentary based on Xi’s Ningxia visit, which talks about the goal of eliminating poverty by the end of the year.

Page 2: A piece about Hu Chunhua discussing agricultural production and food security, and one on the Civil Code. But here’s two that I found worth noting.

• A report on central officials’ visit to Hubei, which examined the reopening and epidemic control prevention efforts. While there’s much caution about proceeding with opening, the operative bit of the assessment is that the province has shifted from “emergency” control mechanisms to “normal” control mechanisms.
• A report on mobile phone sales in China. “In the first five months of 2020, the total domestic mobile phone market shipments totalled 124 million units.”

Page 3: A few pieces to note here:

• First, a piece that puts together comments from leaders or state institutions in different countries supporting Beijing’s natsec law in Hong Kong. The countries listed: Nepal, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar, Congo (Brazzaville), Burundi, Tanzania, Niger, Syria, Timor-Leste, and Philippines. Interestingly, Russia hasn’t been mentioned.
• A commentary based on the Covid-19 white paper, which looks at the external dimension. This is basically defensive stuff, amid the international criticism that Beijing has received. There’s also a bit of “great power autism” at play here, as Edward Luttwak had argued. The piece says:

“At present, there is no reason for mankind to create political differences, seek decoupling and isolation, and pursue unilateralism, let alone shake the foundation of multilateralism. For the common benefit of all mankind, all countries should do their utmost to promote unity and cooperation. Regrettably, some politicians in individual countries ignored the facts and science, politicized the epidemic and stigmatized China. In fact, they turned their attention and shirk their responsibilities. It must be pointed out that China is a country affected by viruses and a global contributor to the fight against epidemics. It should be treated fairly rather than blamed. China firmly opposes the use of the epidemic situation to discredit China’s rumours in order to defend the facts and truth…China calls on all countries to take this epidemic as a mirror, reflect on lessons, turn crises into opportunities…”

Page 4: A few reports worth noting:

• First, a piece on the flood situation. The next few months will be tough in this context. “It is predicted that this year’s flood season will have a general deviation in my country’s climatic conditions, and there will be more extreme events. Regional storms and floods will be heavier than normal, and floods will be heavier than drought,” the report says. More reportage on rainfall forecasts across the country and preparedness. The areas covered are Guizhou, Guangxi, Guangdong, Yunnan, Chongqing and Beijing.
• A commentary defending the HK natsec law, while arguing that this won’t impact the economy and will rather support development. Of course.

Page 6: A few reports worth noting:

• A report celebrating the new national anthem legislation in Hong Kong.
• A report with the Taiwan Affairs Office responding to US military C-40A transport plane flying over Taiwan:
• Another report on how financial flows show that Hong Kong’s market remains stable.

Page 9: A piece by the Communist Youth League Central Research Center. Basic argument is that tackling poverty requires a strengthened CCP. It says: “The huge effect of poverty alleviation fully demonstrates our party’s strong organizational and governance capabilities and reflects the party’s leadership advantages.” If you are interested in dynamics of the social contract between the Party and the people, this is something to read.

Also, there’s this really torrid piece about how one can also locate the China’s epidemic control success in Chinese culture.

Finally, I didn’t really find anything noteworthy on the international page, apart from just the nature of stories covered. So thought I’d just take a snapshot and share it below.