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Weekly Report 4|23 4.17.2021-4.23.2021
Highlights
During the opening ceremony of the 2021 Boao Forum, Xi Jinping delivered a speech entitled “Pulling Together Through Adversity and Toward a Shared Future for All” (see Senior Leaders section).
Senior Leaders
Li Keqiang Speaks at National Food Safety Advanced Groups and Individuals Awards Virtual Meeting, Han Zheng Present at Meeting
4.16 Premier Li Keqiang spoke at the virtual National Food Safety Work Advanced Groups and Individuals Awards Meeting. Li said that food safety is a social issue important to everyone’s physical wellbeing and safety. He affirmed the efforts by local-level departments to improve food safety in recent years. He sent his sincere regards to comrades who are on the frontlines of the fight for food safety, and congratulated those who were awarded the titles of “Advanced Groups” and “Advanced Individuals.” Li said that food safety commissions at all levels should coordinate; fulfill their own responsibilities; further complement supervision mechanisms; strictly monitor manufacturing, circulation, and consumption; strictly enforce the law and punish food safety crimes; and raise the standards of risk prevention and emergency response measures.
Politburo Standing Committee member and Vice Premier Han Zheng (韩正) emphasized that food safety work should be problem-oriented, focus on the top issues that the public cares about, and strive to solve the acute problems of food safety. He stressed that this work must be pursued with the word “strict” in mind: setting the strictest standards, implementing the strictest supervision, enforcing the strictest punishment and the strictest reprimands.
He mentioned other measures for future work in food safety: utilizing new technology to improve food inspection capabilities; ensuring local government should bear the responsibility of oversight and food manufacturers and business owners bear the main responsibility; encouraging the participation of various social forces; improving cadre competence and supervision capabilities through party history education and team-building.
Xi Jinping: Adhere to the Goal of Building World-Class Universities with Chinese Characteristics
4.20 Xi Jinping visited Tsinghua University on the eve of the school’s 110th anniversary. He was accompanied by several members of the Politburo: Secretary of the Central Secretariat Ding Xuexiang (丁薛祥), Vice Premier Sun Chunlan (孙春兰), Director of the Central Organizational Department Chen Xi (陈希), and Beijing Party Secretary Cai Qi (蔡奇).
Xi emphasized the importance of higher education in building a modern socialist country. The Party and the country, he said, need scientific knowledge and excellent talent now more than at any other moment in history. Young students carry the historical mission, Xi said, and they need to solidify their confidence, set ambitious goals, understand grand principles, become great talents, take on great responsibilities, and strive to become individuals capable of carrying on the great task of national rejuvenation.
The key to the development of world-class universities, Xi said, is to continuously improve the quality of human capital. On developing human capital and innovation, Xi Jinping stressed taking an interdisciplinary approach. He called for improving and adjusting existing fields of study, targeting cutting-edge technology, and promoting the development of new engineering, medical sciences, agricultural sciences, and humanities subjects in order to accelerate the cultivation of critical human capital. Original indigenous innovation capabilities should also be strengthened. Xi called for more international collaboration. Chinese world-class universities should proactively establish cooperation platforms for international educational and cultural exchange.
Xi pointed out that contemporary Chinese youth should love their country and their people. They should be inspired and empowered through the study of party history and continuously strengthen the “four confidences.” They should cultivate their spirit with Chinese traditional culture, revolutionary culture, and advanced socialist culture. They must dare to innovate and to excel through hard work.
Finally, Xi Jinping stressed that faculty is also important in cultivating innovative talent. Faculty should be grand masters, set examples for students, research real problems, focus on the cutting-edge and the important needs of the country, and they should strive to solve real problems. They must always stand together with the Party and the people and be firm believers and loyal practitioners of Socialism with Chinese characteristics.
Xi Jinping: Join Hands to Fight the Pandemic, Strengthen Global Governance, Build the “Belt and Road,” Continue Moving Toward Building a Community of Shared Future for Mankind
4.20 During the opening ceremony of the 2021 Boao Forum, Xi Jinping delivered a speech entitled “Pulling Together Through Adversity and Toward a Shared Future for All.” Xi framed the current world as going through “changes unseen in a century.” Coupled with the pandemic of the century, the world has entered a phase of turmoil and change. We are currently in an era full of challenges, Xi said, but it is also an era full of hope. Xi suggested that, to build a better future for posterity, we should start with the common interest of humanity and make wise choices with an attitude of assuming responsibility. Xi called for joint management of the pandemic, the strengthening of global governance, and marching toward a community of shared future for mankind.
To achieve these objectives, Xi suggested the following:
All should have discussions on an equal basis to create a win-win future. Pursue real multilateralism, push the global governance system toward fairness and justice. The world wants fairness, not hegemony. Great powers should act like great powers and shoulder more responsibility.
Openness and innovation will contribute to a prosperous future. Trade and investment should be liberalized and made more convenient. Regional economic integration should be deepened. Solidify supply chains, industrial chains, data chains, and human capital chains, to build an open world economy. Artificial “walls” and “decoupling” violate economic and market principles and harm one’s own interests as well as the interests of others.
We are all in the same boat so we should build a healthy and safe future. Strengthen information sharing and joint prevention, strengthen international cooperation on coronavirus vaccines, comprehensively strengthen global public health governance, and build a health community of shared future for mankind.
We need to guard justice and develop a future of mutual respect. Discard cold-war thinking and zero-sum mindsets, oppose any form of a “New Cold War” or ideological rivalry. Relations between countries should prioritize equal treatment and mutual respect. Promote the values of peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy, and liberty.
On the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Xi said that the BRI is a grand sunlit road where all can march with joined hands. It pursues development, values win-win outcomes, and conveys hope. Xi said that China will continue to build a high-quality Belt and Road, and promote the values of openness, greenness, and integrity.
Lastly, Xi Jinping discussed the 100th anniversary of the founding Chinese Communist Party this year. Xi praised what the Party has done for the Chinese people, the Chinese nation, and for the world. Xi emphasized that China is the builder of world peace, the contributor to global development, the defender of the international order. No matter what degree of development China achieves, Xi said, it will not seek hegemony, will not expand, will not seek a sphere of influence, and will not engage in an arms race. China will actively participate in multilateral cooperation on trade and investment, advance the building of the Hainan free trade port and of a new economic system that is more open and has a higher standard. He welcomed all to share in the immense opportunities of the Chinese market.
Guo Shengkun: Promote the Education and Rectification of Political and Legal Personnel
4.22 Politburo member and Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission Secretary Guo Shengkun (郭声琨) conducted an investigation of the promotion of the Party History Study and Education campaign within the political and legal system in Guizhou Province. Throughout his visit he emphasized the necessity of taking Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics as a guide, thoroughly studying and implementing Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law, making good use of “red resources,” inheriting “red genes,” and building political loyalty, among other imperatives.
Guo visited the site of the 1935 Zunyi Conference, conducted field investigations of grassroots political and legal units in Zunyi, Bijie, and Guiyang, and presided over a seminar on the education and rectification of municipal legal units. He emphasized that studying party history provides a deeper understanding of the importance of the core leadership of any country or political party. It is necessary for political and legal units to study party history, he said, so that the vast number of political and legal personnel can draw strength from the great course of party history and continuously improve political judgement, understanding, and execution. He also emphasized the importance of creating a “safe and stable political and social environment” for the celebration of the Party’s centenary.
During a symposium on governance of the country according to the rule of law, he emphasized that 2021 is the “year of implementation” for the comprehensive rule of law.
Propaganda Work
Zhong Sheng: A Just Trial Cannot Allow for the Pointing Fingers of Outside Forces
4.18 A People’s Daily’s Zhong Sheng (钟声) column commented on the recent sentencing of nine Hong Kong activists, including Jimmy Lai (黎智英), Martin Lee (李柱铭),, and Albert Ho (何俊仁).
The column said that if someone breaks the law, they shall receive the punishment of the law; this is the manifestation of fairness and justice. Certain people in certain Western countries that attacked the just ruling in the name of “so-called” “human rights” and “democracy” have only exposed their true nature of violating international law and the principles of international relations and rudely interfering with China’s internal affairs. The column reiterated that Hong Kong is China’s Hong Kong and Hong Kong affairs are purely China’s internal affairs and no outside power has the right to interfere.
Zhong Sheng condemned the actions of the “oppose-China, stoke-chaos-in-Hong-Kong elements.” The commentary said that they incited violence, openly advocated for Hong Kong independence, challenged the bottom-line of “one country two systems”, and colluded with foreign forces to bring disaster and chaos to Hong Kong. They harmed the interests of citizens and the spirit of the rule of the law.
The commentary then said that the Hong Kong National Security law and electoral reform offered the institutional safeguard for the practice of “one country, two systems” and for the long-term stability of Hong Kong. Sentencing Lai, Lee, Ho, and others, who are the leaders of the “oppose-China, stoke-chaos-in-Hong Kong” forces, is the prerequisite of ruling by the law. The commentary remarked on the restoration of social stability in Hong Kong, and said that this was the result of protecting the people’s interests.
Zhong Sheng again condemned the minority of Western countries who are interfering with Hong Kong’s judicial activities, which denigrates the internationally-recognized spirit of the rule by law and damages Hong Kong’s judicial independence. The commentary pointed out that Western countries cheered when Hong Kong was attacked by rioters, but now that Hong Kong is stabilized they are concerned. Zhong said this proves that these countries don’t want to see a prosperous Hong Kong, and are using Hong Kong as a pawn to obstruct China’s development.
Finally, Zhong Sheng said the Hong Kong issue has reflected the psyche of certain Western countries: still harboring colonial sentiments, adhering to hegemony and power politics, and obsessed with the Cold War mindset. The commentary concluded that history always moves forward like an inevitable tide, and Hong Kong will have a better tomorrow.
Zhong Sheng: Is [Japan’s] Conscience Still There?
4.18 Another Zhong Sheng article condemned the Japanese government’s decision to release contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant into the ocean. The commentary said that the ocean is the mutual asset of humanity, so the disposal of the contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident is not a matter of Japan’s internal affairs, and the Japanese authorities cannot take actions on their own terms.
Zhong Sheng said that the Japanese government had not considered all safe disposal measures, and thus is not taking this measure as a last resort. In the face of international criticism and condemnation, Zhong Sheng continued, the Japanese government is making a very irresponsible decision at the expense of damaging international public health safety and the interests of people from neighboring countries. According to the commentary, this violates the most basic international norms.
Zhong Sheng pointed out that there is not yet a precedent of disposing contaminated water from a nuclear accident into the ocean. Japan claims the contaminated water is safe, but the commentary noted that this is only based on the data released by Japanese authorities. Japan’s nuclear electricity industry has had decades of problems, andTokyo Electric Power Company also has a history of manipulating data and hiding safety risks, which have resulted in scandals and accidents. Thus, Zhong Sheng said that the data released on the contaminated water is not convincing. The commentary enumerated three other alternative measures to dispose of the contaminated water. It also referenced reports from the International Association of Atomic Energy and other scientists that warn about the harmful contents of the water and how quickly it would spread around the region and the world.
Zhong Sheng then turned to international opposition to Japan’s decision, citing protests by Chinese, Korean, Russian, and Filipino officials. Japan must understand, the commentary declared, that justice will not be absent in safeguarding the right to health and to life.
Zhong Sheng concluded the article by demanding that the Japanese government conduct an in-depth evaluation of the potential effects of the disposal of the contaminated water, release accurate and transparent information, and submit to strict inspections by China and other stakeholder countries and international organizations. The water should not be released on Japan’s own accord alone, and a decision should be made after multilateral consultations.
International Liaison Work
4.20 The International Department of the CCP Central Committee and the United Russia party held a videoconference for the ninth meeting of the dialogue mechanism between the ruling parties of China and Russia on the theme of "China-Russia Strategic Coordination against the Background of Major Changes: New Starting Points and New Missions for the Ruling Parties’ Exchanges and Cooperation". International Department Head Song Tao (宋涛) and United Russia Supreme Council Chairman Boris Gryzlov read congratulatory letters from Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin, respectively, and delivered speeches. International Department Deputy Head Qian Hongshan (钱洪山) and United Russia General Council Deputy Secretary Andrei Klimov presided over the meeting. Chinese Ambassador to Russia Zhang Hanhui (张汉晖) and Russian Ambassador to China Andrey Denisov attended and addressed the meeting. Heilongjiang Party Secretary Zhang Qingwei (张庆伟) and Chelyabinsk Oblast Governor Aleksey Teksler exchanged views on strengthening regional cooperation. Other participants included Central Organization Department Deputy Head Fu Xingguo (傅兴国), Central Propaganda Department Deputy Head Jiang Jianguo (蒋建国), Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission Deputy Secretary-General Bai Shaokang (白少康), and representatives of the Russian side.
4.20 International Department Deputy Head and Silk Road Think Tank Association (SRTA) Council Co-Chair Chen Zhou (陈洲) held a video exchange with former Thai National Assembly President and SRTA International Advisory Board member Bhokin Bhalakula.
4.21 International Department Deputy Head Qian Hongshan (钱洪山) held a video conference with Moldovan Parliament Committee for Foreign Policy and European Integration Deputy Chairman Bogdan Țîrdea.
4.22 International Department Deputy Head Shen Beili (沈蓓莉) held a video conference with Brazilian Social Democracy Party President Bruno Araújo.
4.22 Qian Hongshan held a videoconference with Romanian Social Democratic Party Vice President Gabriel-Valer Zetea.
4.23 Shen Beili held a video conference with Argentine Justicialist Party First Vice President Cristina Álvarez Rodríguez.