Tracking People’s Daily — June 15, 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.
Big Picture: There’s one big takeaway from today’s edition for me. The propaganda push around the anti-poverty campaign is now in full swing. In all likelihood, it will revolve around underscoring the historic nature of the achievement and the role of the CCP, which in effect will imply the effectiveness and perhaps even superiority of the system. But how this plays out in a time of serious economic weakness and potential new waves of Covid infections remains to be seen.
Page 1: It’s fascinating that a newspaper has such a first page. Not much to note apart from this really long piece by Zhang Xi, a former Provincial Party Standing Committee member in Zhejiang during Xi’s tenure there. Zhang’s basically recounting Xi’s personal handling of SARS, arguing that he had already provided the “Zhejiang Experience” as a model approach for the whole country.
Page 2: The focus here is the outbreak in Beijing’s Xinfadi market. First, Sun Chunlan led a meeting of the State Council’s epidemic control mechanism. Here’s the operative bit:
“the risk of the epidemic spreading is high. It is necessary to take firm and decisive measures to effectively prevent the spread of the epidemic. Focus on the new development area and surrounding areas to implement the most stringent flow control, carry out in-depth and comprehensive source tracing work, and more proactively discover and control the source of infection. Support Beijing to enhance its nucleic acid detection capabilities, cover all areas and key populations, gradually expand the scope of detection, and promptly detect confirmed cases and asymptomatic infections.”
The second piece covers the different steps that the local administration is taking to tackle the outbreak.
Page 3: One piece to note, which is this commentary looking at Chinese non-governmental entities’ contribution to the fight against the pandemic. It’s a wonderful example of Chinese exceptionalism. The piece lists out a bunch of institutions and charities and their contributions and then provides this analysis.
“Exploring the deep roots of Chinese civil forces’ active participation in global anti-epidemic, it is not difficult to find the special code rooted in the cultural genes of the Chinese nation. The Chinese people have a patriotic sentiment of ‘the world rises and falls, everyone is responsible’…In the global anti-epidemic struggle, Chinese scientists have shared their experiences selflessly, Chinese companies have actively carried out aid operations, Chinese civil society organizations have assisted various countries in various ways, and the Chinese media have taken the initiative to take responsibility and morality….The Chinese people deeply understand that human destiny is shared and deep Knowing that only by working together for the benefit of all mankind can we maximize the maintenance of human health and well-being and promote the development of human civilization.”
Page 4 & 5: Much coverage on the page about the floods that are ravaging large parts of China. The angle of the coverage is important, i.e., it’s all about the nature of state response and its effectiveness, rather than where it has been found wanting.
Also a commentary lashing out at US politicians for targeting and criticising China on the pandemic. It raises many points, but basically paints the criticism as cynical politics, linked to the US election and a failure to control the spread of the disease in the US.
On the next page, we have a commentary discussing the country’s disaster prevention and mitigation strengths. This is all going to be important given that heavier flooding than normal has been predicted this season.
Another piece on the page discusses something that I haven’t read much about, i.e., the use of TCM in Covid treatment. I am, however, aware that the top leadership has been pushing for greater TCM development. Written by Gu Xiaohong, secretary of the Party Committee of Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, it says: “as of mid-April, a total of 773 Chinese medicine experts and five batches of national Chinese medicine medical teams were sent to Wuhan to fight the epidemic. A total of 4,900 people were sent to support Hubei; more than 90 % Of diagnosed patients received traditional Chinese medicine treatment.” It then talks about boosting TCM development along with “Western medicine.” Gu basically then calls for strengthening institutional structures supporting the integration of TCM in medical education and the public health system.
Page 9: In my weekly newsletter on Sunday, I wrote about the start of a new coordinated propaganda campaign around the poverty alleviation efforts. Two pieces today inform of the line that the campaign will take. First, this one by Zheng Keyang, former deputy director of the Central Policy Research Office. Here’s some data to begin with:
“After unremitting efforts, by the end of February this year, of the 832 poor counties, only 52 had not yet taken off their caps. The number of poor people decreased from 98.99 million at the end of 2012 to 5.51 million at the end of 2019. The incidence of poverty has dropped from 10.2% to 0.6%, reducing poverty by more than 10 million annually for seven consecutive years.”
And then the basic argument: “The achievements of China’s anti-poverty struggle have demonstrated the historic changes and unprecedented progress that have taken place in poor areas and populations. It is a miracle that our party leads the people in adhering to and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics. Although the decisive battle continues, its significance is great…(its) influence will definitely shine in the annals of history.”
Or as this other piece on the same theme discusses, it is about “writing a new chapter in the history of anti-poverty” struggle.
Page 16 & 19: Finally, on the international page, there isn’t much to note. But I am attaching an image that shows the stories covered. Page 19 is a tech supplement. It’s worth a look, given the amount of money that is being spent on “new infrastructure” and the propaganda push around its significance.
