Jiang Zemin, 1926 – 2022

Wikimedia Commons – click picture for source

Jiang Zemin (江泽民), one of the CCP leadership’s many trained engineers, the man who invented the socialist market economy and the three represents, … Relatively untarnished by the June-4 crackdowns, he became the CCP’s chairman (or secretary general) in June 1989, by means of what official Chinese sources usually refer to as an “election”, at the Fourth Plenary Session of the Thirteenth CPC Central Committee.  Jiang had spent some time abroad, as a trainee at the Stalin Automobile Works in Moscow in 1955, and later worked in leading technical and party functions in trades as different as the automotive and soap-manfucaturing industries. His work turned more administrative and governmental some time after 1980.

In October 1992, he told the 14th CCP party congress that

To establish a socialist market economy we must do the following important and interrelated tasks.  First, we must change the way in which state-owned enterprises operate, especially the large and medium-sized ones, and push them into the market so as to increase their vitality and efficiency. This is the key to establishing a socialist market economy, consolidating the socialist system and demonstrating its superiority.

Based on Deng Xiaoping‘s concept of socialism with Chinese characteristics (中国特色社会主义), the socialist market economy (社会主义市场经济) focused on growth – something Deng kept emphasizing, sometimes against opposition from more conservative party leaders such as Chen Yun. Even Jiang is said to have come fully behind Deng’s all-out advocacy of growth once the paramount elder had made his inspection tour to the south (i. e. Shenzhen), garnering local support for his reform agenda, and proving that he was still China’s most powerful man, even if (mostly) from backstage.

Unlike his mentor Deng Xiaoping, he was no revolutionary veteran, and therefore lacked some or much of the traditional authority to head the party’s central military commission at the time. He led the commission anyway, and worked to make it clear that he was no mere civilian business promoter, according to a short news notice by German newsmagazine Der Spiegel in January 1995:

Those who criticize me for raising glasses with Western leaders must understand that this is tactics,

he told PLA officers in Chengdu, according to a central committee document the Spiegel said it had on hand.

I’m aware that the West remains our main enemy.

Socialism with Chinese characteristics has remained one of the CCP’s slogans, even as Jiang’s (and Deng’s) propensity to growth lost favor among the fourth generation of party leadership, i. e. the previous (Hu-Wen led) politbureau. The term socialist market economy has become less frequently used. In June 2011, China Daily hailed the concept as evidence for the wisdom of the CPC and its able leadership of the Chinese people in their endeavor to build a prosperous, civilized, democratic and harmonious modern socialist state and realize the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation only in June 2011, but left no doubt that the Deng-Jiang approach had been second stage in a three-stage development strategy, and that

Now we are striding forward toward the strategic objective of the third stage. From now to the mid-21st century, China will be in a period of in-depth development of industrialization, informatization, urbanization, marketization and internationalization, an important period of strategic opportunities for economic and social development, but also a period with prominent social contradictions.

The three-staged approach referred to by the above China-Daily article of June 2011 had been spelled out by Jiang Zemin’s predecessor Zhao Ziyang (赵紫阳), in 1987. Jiang was to replace Zhao two years later, after Zhao had been ousted in the process of the June-4 crackdown. Li Peng (李鹏), state council chairman at the time of the crackdown, and the Standing Committee of the “National People’s Congress” afterwards, referred to the third stage as a the one where

we will catch up with medium-level developed countries in terms of per capita GNP by the middle of this century, achieve modernisation by and large and turn China into a prosperous, strong, democratic and culturally advanced socialist country,

in January 2001, speaking to an audience in India.

The Hong Kong handover in 1997 added to the glorious picture of growth, this time in terms of political power. But appointing the former British colony’s tycoon Tung Chee-hwa (董建華) as the chief executive of the newly-created special administrative region (or having him “elected”) was probably one of Jiang’s leadership’s less lucky choices. In October 2000, enraged by Hong Kong journalists’ questions about if the CCP supported Tung’s candidacy for a second term, and if so, how that support could play a role, if Tung was really to be elected, Jiang told the questioners that they were “too simple, sometimes nayifu”. Tung, deeply embarrassed (by his fellow Hong Kongers, his boss, or both sides), was laughing in the background.

In his angry lecture, Jiang also advised the Hong Kong press people to learn from Mike Wallace, an American anchorman who had interviewed him about a month earlier, in the seaside resort of Beidaihe. It had been an unusual  interview, by CCP leadership standards, one that Jiang had visibly enjoyed, and one that had probably gone very well for him, in terms of public relations. Compared to his successor, he came across as a cosmopolitan, with a certain command of several foreign languages, including English, Russian, and arguably some German. When Spiegel journalists met with Jiang in 2002, they were greeted in German, with no accent.

Jiang had stated the need to deepen the reform of the system of distribution and the system of social security, in his 14th CCP party congress speech of October 1992, but that was basically that. If in essence, the objective of socialism was to liberate and develop the productive forces, to eliminate exploitation and polarization, and ultimately to achieve common prosperity, liberating the productive forces certainly came first. Growing divides between rich and poor didn’t appear to trouble either Jiang, or Zhu Rongji‘s (朱镕基) state council.

Another trend however did – the growing influence of a qigong-related, or buddhism-related religious organization, Falun Gong. In reaction to an incident in Tianjin, a massive silent protest involving over 10,000 Falun Gong practitioners or supporters was organised in Beijing on April 25, 1999. The CCP leadership declared Falun Gong an “evil cult” in July, 1999, and started a lasting crackdown, initially supplemented with extended evening news propaganda featuring allegations against the organization which were hardly more “scientific” than the “evil cult” itself. Here, too, Hong Kong’s unfortunate chief executive Tung Chee-hwa was walking on eggshells, trying to please both his superiors in Beijing, and the public in Hong Kong.

When Jiang stepped down as the CCP’s secretary general in November 2002, he had held the post for more than thirteen years. He relinquished state chairmanship in March 2003, and the party’s central military commission chairmanship in September 2004.

Jiang Zemin was born in Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province, in 1926. He is survived by his wife Wang Yeping (王冶坪, also born in Yangzhou), and by two sons, Jiang Mianheng (江绵恒) and Jiang Miankang (江绵康).

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Related
» Jiang Zemin’s Health Matters, July 8, 2011
» Tiger on the Brink, New York Times, about 1998

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Most headlines in during Jiang’s life after retirement came from Falun-Gong affiliated media. The close interest from these quarters was no coincidence.

Xi’s Kitchen Cabinet (3): Zhao Leji – two Upholds, never change Color

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Much of the following table’s content is taken from the bio published by “People’s Daily” online, on October 25, 2017, when Zhao became a permanent politburo standing committee member for the first time (then ranking #6).

Short Bio Politburo Standing Committeee — #3 — Zhao Leji (赵乐际)
1957-03-08	Born in Xining, Qinghai province, family background: parents from Xi’an.
1974-07-00	party membership
1974-09-00	Considered an “educated youth” (知识青年), Zhao is sent or “called” to Hedong Township, Qinghai, during the “Down to the Countryside” movement. Hedong is part of the “Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture”.
1975-08-00	Returns to city life as a mail clerk and messenger at Qinghai Department of Trade.
1977-02-00	Studies at Beijing University’s philosophy faculty, as a worker-peasant-soldier student.
1980-01-00	graduation
about 1980	Returns to Qinghai Department of Trade.
1984-12-00	Party secretary at Qinghai Province Hardware Electric & Chemical Products (a Qinghai Department of Trade company), also picking up managerial duties.
1986-04-00	Chairman of financial and commercial workers’ trade union’s Qinghai Department of Trade branch.
1993-02-00	Assistant to Qinghai provincial governor, provincial department of finance director.
1994-07-00	Qinghai deputy provincial governor.
1997-03-00	Xining Municipal Party Committee Secretary.
1997-12-00	Deputy secretary of Qinghai Provincial Party Committee.
1999-08-00	Acting governor.
2000-01-00	Officially appointed as Qinghai provincial governor.
2003-08-00	Secretary of Qinghai Provincial Party Committee.
2004-01-00	Qinghai Provincial People’s Congress Standing Committee director.
2007-03-25	Deputy secretary of Shaanxi Provincial Party Committee.
2008-01-23	Shaanxi Provincial People’s Congress Standing Committee director.
2012-11-15	Member of the CPC’s 18th Central Committee, and politburo member.
2012-11-19	Secretary of the Secretariat of the Chinese Communist Party.
2012-11-19	Holding the office of CPC Central Organizational Department director at the same time.
2017-10-25	First plenary session of the 19th CPC National Congress, CPC politburo standing committee membership (ranking 6th) among seven standing-committee members).
	Also Central Commission for Discipline Inspection secretary, replacing Wang Qishan.
	Investigates Yang Jing (杨晶), Zhao Zhengyong (赵正永), Qin Guangrong (秦光荣), Fu Zhenghua (傅政华), Sheng Guangzu (盛光祖), Meng Hongwei (孟宏伟), Xiao Yaqing (肖亚庆), and others.
2022-10-23	First plenary session of the 20th CPC Central Committee,Zhao Leji ranks second in the new politburo’s standing committee.

^{Zhao Leji’s (r) research tour in Hebei, September 2019, “Hebei Xiong’an New Area”}

What may strike a reader of this summarized biography is how often Zhao returned to previous posts in his career, how long he stayed within Qinghai networks, and how rapidly his career picked up in the 1990s (still in Qinghai, and then also in Shaanxi — see family background, accidental or not).
Deutsche Welle’s Chinese service suggested in an online article of October 23 that according to previous politburos’ practice, Zhao was likely to head the “National People’s Congress”, the CPC’s parliament simulation with Chinese characteristics. This would also match his previous experience as Qinghai Provincial People’s Congress Standing Committee director (2004) and Shaanxi Provincial People’s Congress Standing Committee director (2008).
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The following is my translation of a Xinhua article, published on November 12, 2021 (a bit more than a year ago). Zhao is quoted there in his capacity as secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.

Main Link: “Zhao Leji emphasizes …”
Links within blockquotes added during translation.

At Central Commission for Discipline Inspection´s Standing Committee session, Zhao Leji emphasizes the positive contributions to be made for self-revolution in the new era, by thorough study and implementation of the 19th Central Committee´s Sixth Plenary Session´s spirit<
赵乐际在中央纪委常委会会议上强调 深入学习贯彻党的十九届六中全会精神 为新时代党的伟大自我革命作出积极贡献
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November 12, 2021, 21:34, Xinhua Online
2021-11-12 21:34:39 来源： 新华网
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Xinhua, Beijing, November 12 report.
The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection´s Standing Committee held a meeting on November 12, to convey and study the 19th Central Committee´s Sixth Plenary Session´s spirit, and to look into ways to thoroughly implement decisons. Politburo Standing Committee member and Central Commission for Discipline Inspection Secretary Zhao Leji directed the meeting and emphasized the need for the disciplin inspection and supervision organs to thoroughly study and implement the spirit of the [19th Central Committee´s Sixth] plenary session, to strengthen the “Four Awarenesses” [also known as the “Four Consciousnesses”], to strengthen the “Four Matters of Confidence”¹⁾, to achieve the “two upholds”, to link together and to put to use the historic experience from the party´s one-hundred years of struggle, to promote high-quality development of discipline inspection work in the new era, and, in advancing the party´s self-revolution, making positive contributions, leading the new practice of society´s revolution by self-revolution.
新华社北京11月12日电 中央纪委常委会12日召开会议，传达学习党的十九届六中全会精神，研究贯彻落实举措。中共中央政治局常委、中央纪委书记赵乐际主持会议，强调纪检监察机关要深入学习贯彻全会精神，增强“四个意识”、坚定“四个自信”、做到“两个维护”，贯通运用党的百年奋斗历史经验，推动新时代纪检监察工作高质量发展，在推进党的自我革命、以伟大自我革命引领伟大社会革命的新实践中作出积极贡献。
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Zhao Leji pointed out that Xi Jinping, in a speech of profound and long-lasting deep thought and of a strong political, theoretical, strategic and guiding nature, clearly designated the way forward for the party to take bravely and resolutely, for the party so as not to forget the original intention at this new major historic juncture. The plenary session´s “resolution” stands on the Communist Party of China’s summarized political experience of why the party can, why Marxism works, and why socialism with Chinese characteristics works. [The plenary session´s “resolution” stands on] a grasp of the development and discipline of party building. It is the CPC’s political declaration and guide for action in the new era. Discipline inspection and supervision organs must make the study and implementation of the plenary session’s spirit a major political mission, study the plenary session’s documents in their entirety, learn the original documents, become aware of the principles, deeply understand the main points and essentials, correctly grasp the main theme and the main line of the party’s historic development and its main stream essence, and make use of the plenary spirit for common purpose, aggregated consensus, staunch confidence and strengthened fighting spirit.
赵乐际指出，习近平总书记在全会上的重要讲话，立意深远、思想深邃、内涵深刻，具有很强的政治性、理论性、战略性、指导性，为全党在新的重大历史关头不忘初心、勇毅前行指明了方向。全会《决议》站在中国共产党为什么能、马克思主义为什么行、中国特色社会主义为什么好的政治高度总结历史经验，把握党的事业发展和自身建设规律，是新时代中国共产党人的政治宣言和行动指南。纪检监察机关要把学习贯彻全会精神作为重大政治任务，原原本本学习全会文件，读原文、悟原理，深刻领会要点要义，准确把握党的历史发展的主题主线、主流本质，用全会精神统一思想、凝聚共识、坚定信心、增强斗志。
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Zhao Leji emphasized that for the iscipline inspection and supervision organs to study and implement the plenary session’s spirit, it is necessary to link closely to reality, to stick closely to one’s duties, to deeply understand the demands of the new ideology, new conclusions and new demands put forward by the plenary session, particularly the important discourse and requirements concerning comprehensive and strict governance over the party, the party’s work style and building clean government, and fight against corruption [must be implemented at work and embodied in action]. We must – unswervingly and with all-encompassing unity and maintaining the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on socialism with Chinese characteristics – continue to learn and to put in real efforts, strive to grasp the marxist position, viewpoint and methods contained in it, and always guarantee the correct political course of discipline inspection and supervision work. We must – unswervingly and with all-encompassing unity – promote the strengthening of the entire party’s “four consciousnesses”, maintain the “four matters of confidence”, achieve the “two upholds”, conscientously carry out the responsibility and mission of political supervision, earnestly guarantee the party’s unity, guarantee centralized and unified leadership, unswervingly and with all-encompassing unity implement the guidelines of comprehensive and strict governance over the party, strengthen the will and ability to fight, promote [a state of affairs / a status when] nobody dares to nor is able or wishing to be corrupt, resolutely carry the anti-corruption work out to the end, and play a positive role in making sure that the party will never degenerate, never change color, never change smell, nor its level of achievement²⁾.
赵乐际强调，纪检监察机关学习贯彻全会精神，要联系实际、紧扣职责，深刻领会全会提出的新思想新论断新要求，特别是关于全面从严治党、党风廉政建设和反腐败斗争的重要论述、重要要求，落实到工作中、体现到行动上。要坚定不移、一以贯之坚持以习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想为指导，在持续学懂弄通做实上下真功夫，努力掌握蕴含其中的马克思主义立场观点方法，始终保证纪检监察工作正确政治方向；要坚定不移、一以贯之推动全党增强“四个意识”、坚定“四个自信”、做到“两个维护”，认真履行好政治监督的责任使命，切实保证党的团结统一、保证党中央集中统一领导；要坚定不移、一以贯之贯彻落实全面从严治党战略方针，增强斗争意志和本领，一体推进不敢腐、不能腐、不想腐，坚决把反腐败斗争进行到底，在确保党不变质、不变色、不变味中发挥职能作用。要以学习全会精神为重点巩固党史学习教育成果，引导广大纪检监察干部坚定历史自信、增强历史主动、涵养历史思维、运用历史经验，不断深化规律性认识，进一步提高正风肃纪反腐工作的质量和水平。
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Yang Xiaodu, member of the politburo of the CPC and deputy secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, attended the meeting.
中共中央政治局委员、中央纪委副书记杨晓渡出席会议。

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Previously: Li Qiang #2

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Notes

1)–	“Confident in our chosen path, confident in our guiding theories, confident in our political system, and confident in our culture”
2)–	Beijing’s “zero-covid” policy may raise questions about what <em>achievement</em> means in the CPC’s dictionary – I have no idea how they define achievement.

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Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) Christmas Program on Shortwave, 2022 (01)

If Germany’s Northern German Radio (Norddeutscher Rundfunk, NDR) has it right in its December 2022 schedule, the traditional program of greetings from the shore to the Seven Seas (minus the Pacific, it seems) will be on air on Christmas Eve from 18:03 to 21:00 UTC. That would be in line with last year’s broadcasting time, which was also just three instead of the traditional four hours.

^{Hello World, this is Leer calling}
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»»»»» Beginning of Update, Nov 30, 2022

Times and frequencies

Target Areas	Schedule Nov 26 (now invalid)	Schedule Nov 30 (most recently)
Atlantic (North)	6145 kHz
Atlantic (South)	9830 kHz	13725 kHz
Atlantic (Northwest)	—	15770 kHz
Atlantic (Northeast)	—	6030 kHz
Atlantic / Indian Ocean	9590 kHz	11650 kHz
Indian Ocean	—	9740 kHz
Indian Ocean (West)	9740 kHz
Indian Ocean (East)	9675 kHz
Europe	6155 kHz	6080 kHz

This leaves us with some guesswork, but tradition and target areas seem to suggest that the Atlantics will be served from Nauen (Germany) or from Issoudun (France). and 6155 kHz look like Moosbrunn (Austria), especially as the Austrian Broadcasting Service (Österreichischer Rundfunk Service, ORS) seem to target all of Europe (360°) from there with their daily morning and midday broadcasts in German.

But to be honest, I’m really wildly guessing. Hopefully, NDR will follow up with some more details about transmitter sites, soon.

Still update, Nov 30, 2022

I’m not sure how the NDR schedule had arrived at the previous schedule (Nov 26) – those weren’t last year’s Christmas frequencies either. But moving up the spectrum makes sense, as maximum usable frequencies have been rising for a while, and are likely to do so until about 2025.

End of update Nov 30 «««««

In some ways, the program seems to be going back to normal as far as its  format is concerned. People are no longer confined to their computers and the internet – people meet again. Christmas messages from seafarers’ relatives ashore will be pre-recorded in Leer (East Frisia / Ostfriesland) on December 11, and in Hamburg on December 18, in settings as christmaslike as possible, 13 or six days ahead of the big day (or night) itself.

What will be missing this year (it appears) is the religious service – the only part of the traditional shortwave broadcasts that actually used to be live on the air. That would follow at 22:00 UTC, but only on VHF, digital, or streamed.

German Chancellor’s first China Visit: Opportunities and Liabilities

It is going to be the first visit to China for German chancellor Olaf Scholz who took office late last year with a three-party coalition (SPD, Greens, and FDP).

On Friday (November 4), he is scheduled to meet “President” Xi Jinping, according to his office’s website, and following that, a meeting his planned with him and Li Keqiang, his actual colleague as head of a government. Bilateral relations, international topics such as climate change, Russia’s “war of aggression” against Ukraine and the situation in the east Asian region are said to be on the agenda. “Federal Chancellor Scholz will be accompanied by a business delegation during his visit”, the office’s statement concludes.

^{Not everybody’s first visit}
Shanghai’s “Jiefang Daily” suggests^*) that

many European companies have experienced serious economic problems this year, because of the energy crisis, high inflation, rising interest rates and problems like the economic slowdown. It is crucial for these European companies to make up for these losses in Europe by profiting from the Chinese market. Brudermüller for example, CEO at Germany’s chemical giant BASF, plans to further expand BASF’s “favorable investments” in China. It’s business report shows that unlike in Europe, results in China have been positive.
欧洲很多企业今年以来由于能源危机、高通胀、利率上升和经济放缓等遭遇严重经营困难。对这些欧洲企业来说，用中国市场的收益弥补在欧洲的亏损至关重要。比如德国化工巨头巴斯夫集团首席执行官薄睦乐就打算进一步扩大巴斯夫在中国的“有利投资”。业绩报告显示，与在欧洲的亏损不同，巴斯夫集团在中国的增长一直是正向的。

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Michelin’s business report, said to have been published on October 25, also shows rapidly rising sales in China, in contrast with an eight-percent drop in Europe, “Jiefang Daily” reports.

Michelin’s handsome China numbers notwithstanding, the “Global Times”, a Chinese paper for a foreign readership, blames a “sour-grape” mentality for France’s differences with Germany’s China policy. Those differences probably exist, with Paris being more skeptical about Chinese “opportunities” than Berlin, but you might consider Germany’s dependence on Chinese export markets as a liability, rather than as an opportunity, just as well.

While the SPD remains highly cooperative when it comes to China business, both its coalition partners have advised caution. And while it may be difficult to forecast a trend of future German investment in, exports to and supply chain connections with China, there are statements from German business circles you wouldn’t have heard a few years ago.

China itself rather bets on protectionism, but wants to get into the act globally, including in Germany (China setzt selbst eher auf Abschottung, will aber überall in der Welt mehr mitmischen, auch bei uns in Deutschland),

German weekly “Focus” quotes Martin Wansleben, head of the Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce.  Scholz should champion clear-cut rules.
It isn’t only France that is concerned about Germany’s economic dependence on China. “Voice of America’s” (VoA) Chinese service, too, points out that “the West shows growing concern about Chinese trade practices and its human rights record”, as well as unease about “Germany’s dependence on the world’s second-largest economic body” (对德国对中国这个世界第二大经济体的依赖感到不安).

VoA also quotes a German government spokesman as saying that while Berlin’s view on China had changed, “decoupling” from China was opposed by Berlin.

When you keep pressing people for a while, the main problem appears to be China’s aggressive policy against Taiwan. Most Germans (this blogger included) never expected that Russia would really invade Ukraine. Now that this has happened, peoples’ imagination has become somewhat more animated – and realistic.

The Social Democrats are more skeptical than its middle- and upper-class coalition partners when it comes to the West’s human-rights agenda, and rightly so. (If China put all its SOEs on international sale, you wouldn’t hear a word about the Uyghurs from Western governments anymore.)

But the Russian-Chinese alliance is a fact, and so is that alliance’s preparedness to annex third countries. That is something the Social Dems can’t ignore. If the press, the oppositional CDU/CSU and the SPD’s coalition partners statements are something to go by, the tide of German integration with China’s economy is being reversed.

“Nothing speaks against German SMEs continuing to import their special nuts and bolts from China”, a columnist mused on German news platform t-online last week, but not without a backup source.

China’s propaganda doesn’t look at Scholz’ visit in a way isolated from its other global contacts. In fact, the German visitor is mentioned in a row with General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Nguyễn Phú Trọng, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Tanzania’s President Samia Suluhu Hassan – all of them bearing testimony, or so the propaganda suggests, of how attractive “Chinese opportunities” (中国机遇) actually are.

But Germany’s dependence on China, while worrying and in need to be cut back substantively, shouldn’t be viewed in an isolated way either. Scholz visit won’t even last for a full day, without an overnight stay, and also in November, Scholz will travel to Vietnam. Statistics appear to suggest that German industry will find backup sources there – if not first sources just as well.

And Annalena Baerbock, Germany’s foreign minister and one of the leaders of the SPD’s China-skeptic Green coalition partner, is currently travelling Central Asia. All the countries there “once hoped to be a bridge between Russia, China, and Europe,” German broadcaster NTV quotes her – the European Union needed to provide Central Asia with opportunities. Options beyond Russia and China, that is.

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Notes

*)	“Jiefang” actually “quotes foreign media”, but Chinese propaganda is often very creative in doing so – therefore no names here.

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