Xi’s Business Speech: The West has spat into your Porridge

China’s party, military and state leader Xi Jinping spoke to the CPPCC delegates of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce on Monday afternoon local time in Beijing.

One of the takeaways from his speech, probably not surprisingly, was  that he emphasized party leadership over business¹⁾. (Ask Jack Ma if he was surprised.)

^{习近平在看望参加政协会议的民建工商联界委员时强调 正确引导民营经济健康发展高质量发展，新闻联播，2023-03-06}

Maybe somewhat more strikingly, Xi went beyond the usual descriptions of a “difficult” etc. environment for China, and blamed  “containment carried out by Western countries under U.S. leadership” for at least some of the undeniable difficulties China is facing. He combined that with an emphasis on achievements of the past five years, using the phrase of “不易” again – i. e. achievements that hadn’t been easy to come by²⁾

What he did not mention was that no country in the world is obliged to throw first-class technology at China, and that it had been China that tested economic-coercion tools against countries like Australia and Lithuania.

The following is a short translated excerpt from Xi’s speech on Monday.

Xi Jinping pointed out that the five years that followed the party’s 19th National Congress have been extremely unusual and outstanding years. Our country’s external environment has suddenly changed. Uncertain factors that are hard to predict have significantly grown, and especially the Western countries under American leadership have carried out comprehensive containment, blockade and suppression, bringing unprecedented, serious challenges to our country. At the same time, we are facing a multitude of difficulties inside our country, such as repeated corona epidemics and growing downward pressure on the economy. We will adhere to the overall main key of seeking progress within stability, we will rise to the challenges, calmly respond, not believe in evil, we will not fear, won’t seek refuge, average GDP will grow by 5.2 percent, we won the fight against poverty as planned, built a society of moderate prosperity, reached the first two-centenary goal, promoted the party’s and nation’s achievements that have found global attention, and promoted our country’s steps into the construction of a new milestone of comprehensive socialist modernization. The successes of the past five years are the fruit of the entire party and the entire people unitedly struggling, showing the essence of the CPPCC representatives’ contributions.
习近平指出，党的十九大以来的5年，是极不寻常、极不平凡的5年。我国发展的外部环境急剧变化，不确定难预料因素显著增多，尤其是以美国为首的西方国家对我实施了全方位的遏制、围堵、打压，给我国发展带来前所未有的严峻挑战。同时国内也面临新冠疫情反复、经济下行压力增大等多重困难。我们坚持稳中求进工作总基调，迎难而上，沉着应对，不信邪、不怕压、不避难，国内生产总值年均增长5.2%，如期打赢脱贫攻坚战，全面建成小康社会，实现第一个百年奋斗目标，推动党和国家事业取得举世瞩目的重大成就，推动我国迈上全面建设社会主义现代化国家新征程。5年来的成就，是全党全国人民团结奋斗的结果，也凝聚着广大政协委员的贡献。

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Notes

1)	「要引导民营企业和民营企业家正确理解党中央方针政策，增强信心、轻装上阵、大胆发展，实现民营经济健康发展、高质量发展。」
2)	「我们动态优化调整防控政策措施，较短时间实现了疫情防控平稳转段，新冠病亡率保持在全球最低水平，取得疫情防控重大决定性胜利。我们完整、准确、全面贯彻新发展理念，着力构建新发展格局、推动高质量发展，在全球通胀达到40多年来新高的情况下，我国物价总水平保持平稳，全年经济增长3%，在世界主要经济体中是很高的。这些成绩的取得，实属不易。」 Previously: 来之不易 (not easy to come by).

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Related

China’s “multilateralism” only for big powers, CNN / Landsbergis, March 7, 2023
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Tags: accountability, America, Australia, business, China, Communist Party of China, COVID-19, Europe, industrial relations, West, 满意度调查