Tracking People’s Daily — September 29, 2020

Today’s edition wasn’t quite to my interest, but I guess that’s expected as we’re heading into the holiday week in China. Anyway, here’s what caught my attention.

Page 1: The lead story today is about the Politburo’s meeting to discuss a report on seeking public opinion about a CCP document on the formulation of the 14th Five-Year Plan. The fifth plenary session of the 19th CPC Central Committee will be held in Beijing from Oct. 26 to 29. The document will be approved then. So if you recall, Xi has been holding symposiums with scientists, academics, officials, economists and business leaders in order to get their thoughts and share his thoughts. I’ve covered most of these. This process is what is touted as an example of “socialist democracy.”

This PD report begins saying “the goals and tasks of the 13th Five-Year Plan are about to be completed, and my country’s economic strength, scientific and technological strength, and comprehensive national strength have leapt to a new level.”

Anyway, the document puts together all the inputs from those to create the 14th Plan. Xinhua English’s report on this has key details.

• The meeting emphasized upholding the overall leadership of the CPC and maintaining and improving the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics to promote economic and social development in the 14th Five-Year Plan period. (So no shift in broader governance direction)
• The meeting also stressed staying committed to putting people first, building a new development pattern, deepening reform and opening up, and forestalling and defusing major risks and challenges. (The last bit is interesting, it could mean several things; but let’s see if it entails the resumption of a crackdown on debt.)
• The enactment of the regulations on the work of the CPC Central Committee is essential to upholding the authority of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core, and its centralized and unified leadership, according to the meeting.
• It is also a major step for upholding and improving the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics and modernizing China’s system and capacity for governance, it said. (Refer to comment 1.)

Next, Xi’s exchange of messages (English report) with Cuba’s Raul Castro and Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel on the 60th anniversary of ties.

Third, we have a new book comprising 67 poverty alleviation stories based on Xi’s visits, observations, speeches, and decisions. So it’s not the system it’s Xi who alleviated poverty. Take it from Xinhua: “The stories reflect Xi’s compassion for the people living in hardships and how he had helped them shake off poverty.”

Finally, a commentary reiterating the key points from the Xinjiang work symposium.

Page 2: Two pieces. First National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration recently issued the “Opinions on Comprehensively Improving the Service Level of “Access to Electricity.” Basically, this is about improving MSMEs’ access to electricity. The report says that “according to Liu Baohua, deputy director of the National Energy Administration, World Bank data shows that my country’s ranking of ‘Access to Electricity’ indicators has risen from 98th in 2017 to 12th in 2019, maintaining the global leading level for two consecutive years.” That’s rather remarkable.

Second, a report on how academics and officials are interpreting Xi’s Xinjiang speech.

Page 3: A report citing different international media outlets’ coverage to show that foreign media are hailing China’s poverty alleviation campaign. Next, a commentary on Sino-US ties, essentially saying that China doesn’t want to interfere in the US elections.

It says: “Some American politicians should immediately stop the trick of drawing China into American domestic politics. The fortresses were breached from within. People in both China and the United States have pointed out that for a large country like China and the United States, no external force can cause it to collapse. What can really cause it to collapse is an internal crisis. The problems that the United States is facing now cannot be resolved by shifting contradictions. The United States’ biggest ‘enemy’ is itself.” (Such insight, but then why does the Chinese leadership keep talking about foreign black hands?)

Finally, MoFA’s response to the State Department’s statement on the South China Sea. The statement talked about Xi not honouring his commitment to not militarise the South China Sea, something he said standing next to Obama at the Rose Garden in 2015. MoFA said “China’s construction on our own territory is aimed to meet the civilian need in the South China Sea, provide more public goods and services to the region and beyond, and fulfill our international responsibilities and obligations. Deployment of necessary defense facilities on the Nansha Islands is an exercise of China’s right to self-preservation and self-defense under international law. It is reasonable, legal and within our sovereignty. It has nothing to do with militarization and is no different from the defense measures other countries take on their territory.”