Sino-Russian Joint Statement concerning the Deepening of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in the New Era

The following are my takeaways from the  current March 2023 “Sino-Russian Joint Statement concerning the Deepening of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in the New Era”.

Many topics had been touched upon before, in Beijing’s and Moscow’s “joint statement on international relations”, issued in Beijing in February 2022, but that statement had been issued shortly before Russia tried a full invasion of Ukraine.

According to the March 2023 statement, Sino-Russian relations are not similar to military and political alliances of the cold-war era, and not directed against third countries. Beijing and Moscow say they want to build “exemplary major-power relations” – viewing each others as “priority partners”, respecting each other all along, and treating each other as equals.

That’s basically the same model Xi Jinping tried to introduce into Chinese-American relations ten years ago, as described by Xinhua back then in June 2013, and further explained by Yang Jiechi, CPC Foreign Affairs Leading Small Group secretary at the time.

The March 2023 statement then highlights the usual emerging multi-polar world, one where “peace, development, cooperation and win-win are the unstoppable historic trend” (reads as if there had been no international cooperation before 2023), and an increasingly strong position of emerging markets and developing countries and where regional powers (地区大国, Russia? :)))  “resolutely defend their legitimate interests”.

^{Bragging in German, eating humble pie in Chinese: Sputnik/Rossya Segodnya propaganda celebrates first anniversary of full-scale Ukraine invasion as “dawn of a new world order (Febr 24, 2023) and covers Russia’s support for “China’s core interests” (March 22, 2023)}

Economic Cooperation

The two sides “adhere to the principle of mutual benefit” and intend to further deepen cooperation in the fields of modernisation.  A fair and predictable investment environment is to be created, and financial cooperation (with increased use of own currencies) and mutual supplies of agricultural products and food (互输农产品和粮食的多样性和供应量) are also on the agenda. There’s talk about diversity in those supplies, too, so it seems to avoid the question if this is meant to support food security in China, or if it is just meant to make Russian markets more diverse.
Increased use of own currencies isn’t a new topic. Xi Jinping raised the topic in a speech to a Gulf-Cooperation Council audience, too, in December last year, and Putin had advocated it as soon as in 2008. Cooperation on technology and innovation, such as AI, internet of things, 5G, low-carbon economy are also mentioned by the 2023 joint statement.

The remarks about iinvestment also refer to a Sino-Russian Investment Cooperation Planning Outline (中俄投资合作规划纲要), which is part of the 2001 Sino-Russian Treaty of Friendship.  Supply chain stability and security, optimized trade structures and cooperation between small and medium-sized enterprises of both sides are to be promoted.

It’s hard to tell from declarations like this one how far it will help Russia to develop its economy, but it does probably throw Moscow an economic lifeline. That, however, goes without saying even without this month’s joint statement. China doesn’t want Putin to go under.

Russian-Ukrainian war

Which leads us to the Russian-Ukrainian war.

The two sides express deep concern about comprehensive challenges for international security, express believe that there is a shared fate of all countries and peoples and that no country should achieve its own security at the costs of other countries’ security.
双方对国际安全面临的严峻挑战深表关切，认为各国人民命运与共，任何国家都不应以他国安全为代价实现自身安全。

It hadn’t read much differently in February 2022, a few weeks prior to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine:

The sides are gravely concerned about serious international security challenges and believe that the fates of all nations are interconnected. No State can or should ensure its own security separately from the security of the rest of the world and at the expense of the security of other States. The international community should actively engage in global governance to ensure universal, comprehensive, indivisible and lasting security.

Less obviously related to the Ukraine war, maybe, but from the 2023 statement, one year on:

The two sides emphasize the significance of the “Joint Statement of the Leaders of the Five Nuclear-Weapon States on Preventing Nuclear War and Avoiding Arms Races” and reaffirm that “a nuclear war cannot be won or won”.
双方强调《五个核武器国家领导人关于防止核战争与避免军备竞赛的联合声明》的重要意义，重申“核战争打不赢也打不得”。

How reliable this assurance will be, remains to be seen. Russia has toyed with nuclear threats during the past year, and continues to do so.

Multipolar World

In the broadly  and vaguely defined field of “terrorism”, the 2023 statement is more detailed than in that of 2022, demanding “objective, fair and professional” investigation of Nord Stream attack (应对“北溪”管线爆炸事件进行客观、公正、专业的调查) and agreeing to strengthening law enforcement cooperation concerning the “three evils”, including color revolutions, East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), transnational organized crime, economic crimes, and drugs trade. Listing ETIM, popular uprisings and organized crime in one go is certainly an intentional step to make the Sino-Russian public (and unknown swathes of international public opinion) get used to this kind of world view.

As for the world beyond bilateral relations, the multipolar one with the unstoppable historic trends of peace, development, cooperation and win-win, Beijing and Moscow emphasize “the democratization of international relations“, every country’s “right to choose its own path of development (with the likely exceptions of Taiwan and Ukraine, if it is up to China and Russia), and a continued implementation of the Agreement on Economic and Trade Cooperation between the People’s Republic of China and the Eurasian Economic Union signed on May 17, 2018.^*)

Taiwan

As mentioned before, “democratization of international relations” isn’t for everyone in the Sino-Russian statements  – not for Ukraine or Taiwan.

Russia reiterates its scrupulous respect of the one-China principle, acknowledges that Taiwan is an inseparable part of Chinese territory, opposes any form of “Taiwan independence”, firmly supports China’s actions to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity.
(俄方重申恪守一个中国原则，承认台湾是中国领土不可分割的一部分，反对任何形式的“台独”，坚定支持中方维护本国主权和领土完整的举措。)

Indeed, both issues. Ukraine and Taiwan, are closely related. Both China and Russia intend to annex foreign territory (Russia has already done so, although not to the extent  it would like to, and China, if it wants to attack Taiwan, will have to depend on its Russian hinterland. However, Moscow’s compliance with Beijing’s “one-China” charade is no particular hint into that direction, as it is being played along with by many other countries too, although in varying degrees. All the same, China’s planned aggression of its own, against Taiwan, is one of the reasons why it needs to cultivate relations with Moscow as closely as it does.

Military concerns

China and Russia (apparently) see U.S. in breach of Biological Weapons Convention, and call for institutionalized effective inspection mechanisms. Demands for  were quite likely included at Russia’s particular request. The Ukraine bioweapons conspiracy theory of March 2022 – a year ago – may remain a scarecrow in the Moscow muppet show, and probably works well on parts of the global public. The March 2023 statement deplores a U.S. “cold-war mentality” and the “negative influence” of the Indo-Pacific Strategy” on regional peace and stability in that region.

As far as Beijing and Moscow are concerned, NATO isn’t welcome in the Indo-Pacific either. The statement says that NATO should remain a regional (i. e. European) and defensive alliance. The statement also expresses concern about NATO “undermining” Asia-Pacific “peace & stability”.

Generally speaking, China seems to get more out of the strategic partnershp and the “major-power relationship” than Russia. That becomes obvious, because apart from the EAEU bits, most concerns are rather about China’s than about Russia’s. There are, however, demands that there should be no unilateral sanctions without approval of the United Nations Security Council (not an issue in the 2022), and a note that

the two sides oppose politization of international cultural cooperation, and discrimination against people in the fields of culture, education, science, and sports, based on nationality, language, religion, political or other beliefs, or national or social origin.
双方反对国际人文合作政治化，反对以国籍、语言、宗教、政治或其他信仰、民族或社会出身为由歧视文化、教育、科学、体育界人士。

This may be read as a hint to the “Olympic Committee”, among others.

Covid Pandemic

I’ve left that out here. Both Sino-Russian statements, Febr 2022 and March 2023, are full of it, with the usual complaints and demands, but the world is moving on.

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Note

*)

There needs to be a mention of the institution that are supposed to help bring about the multipolar world, according to Beijing and Moscow. That would be – according both to this month’s and the 2022 statements – the WTO (including remarks that can be read as a Chinese reaction to “discrimination” against it concerning the chip industry), the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), BRICS, G20, and APEC. Accession of the African Union was added to the G20 issue this time, but hadn’t been a year ago.

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Related / Updates

「主要重点是经济方面和高科技领域」, sputnik.cn, Mar 26, 2023
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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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China’s Position: Ukraine still hopes for the Best

On February 27, Ukraine issued a rejection of sorts of China’s February 24 position paper “on the Political Settlement of the Ukraine Crisis”. Advisor to the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Mykhailo Podolyak, told “Freedom TV”  that the only effective measure the position paper called for was “immediate cessation of fire.”

“This means that Russia will remain in the occupied territories, we will have a new dividing line, and we will have a slow absorption of Ukraine. That is, the slow death of Ukraine,” the TV station quoted Pdolyak.

The rejection from Zelensky’s office, but only in an unofficial interview, suggests that Kiev doesn’t want to anger Beijing and possibly provoke Chinese lethal-arms supplies to Russia that wouldn’t happen otherwise.

^{中共中央外事工作委员会办公室主任王毅会见乌克兰外长库列巴，慕尼黑，Febr 18, 2023}

In an article published on March 3, “Freedom TV” quotes interviewees as saying that “it is too early to say that China is openly opposing Ukraine”. China’s “global ambitions”, its long common border with Russia, and its dependence on Russian energy supplies as well as the two countries’ traditional alliance are quoted as factors supporting the bilateral relationship, but “Beijing will not sacrifice its own well-being because of Russia, experts are sure”.

Part of China’s “well-beings” is the arable land it owns in Ukraine. It shouldn’t be too difficult to replace, given that Beijing’s investment companies are scouting all continents for farmable land to buy or rent, but it wouldn’t be fun to see the goose being killed by Russia – even if it isn’t quite the “golden” goose.

Besides, at least one of “Voice of America’s” interlocutors, Taiwan International Strategic Study Society director Ching-Sheng Lo (羅慶生), took a rather critical view of China’s food security, a year ago.

Lo Ching-Sheng says: “Having bought that much grain, with storage for a year and a half, there’s nothing to care about – no problem in the short run. If this should turn into an Afghanistan kind of war of twenty years, China’s problems will be very big.”
罗庆生说：“因为中国买了太多粮食的关系，它储存了一年半的粮食，所以一年半之内它不会有事情，所以短期的话没问题。长期的话，如果说变成阿富汗战争那个样子打个20年，那中国的问题就很大了。”

But the Russian hinterland will count more than Ukraine – be it for China’s “global ambitions”, be it for its food security. Beijing took a speaking decision in early February, 2022, a few weeks before the Russian invasion of Ukraine started. Answer to the unfolding crisis: more grain imports from Russia.

Ukraine’s hopes on China are unreasonably high. As Zongyuan Zoe Liu, a fellow for international political economy at the Council on Foreign Relations, recently wrote,

The party can survive setbacks in the chip war, but the stakes are much higher in the fight for food security. Failure on the food security front will threaten the survival of the regime.

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Related

Kuleba addresses Asia, March 22, 2022

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After the End of the Beginning: Civil-Society Replacement in Hong Kong

The following is rather old news, but historical processes are mostly slow, especially when promoted and manipulated by the Communist Party of China. Being “old” or “slow” doesn’t limit their relevance.

Sometimes, however, those operations may take a leap or two, as illustrated by Didi Kirsten Tatlow, in an article published by Sinopsis, a Czech website, in August 2020. Rather than “the beginning of the end of Hong Kong’s freedoms,” she argued,

it was the end of the beginning, the culmination of a deliberate, decades-long effort by the Communist Party of China (CPC) to build a parallel political order for Hong Kong despite the content of the Sino-British agreement over Hong Kong’s future, the Joint Declaration, and Hong Kong’s post-handover constitution, the Basic Law.

The episode you’ll read about underneath is just one of many unspectular, boring and hardly noticeable steps post-imposition (of the “national security law” in Hong Kong), but it seems to give me an idea of what these small post-2020 steps look like.

^{Message from a bunker}

Main Link/source: All Walks of Life from Hong Kong society

It is about a meeting of members of all walks of life of Hong Kong society to study the spirit of the Twentieth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, i. e. the CPC’s party congress in October last year. To help them appreciate the national congress’s feats, Tam Yiu-chung (谭耀宗, a pro-Beijing politician in Hong Kong and a member of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress) as well as some committee members of the “Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference”, assisted the learners. Tam also “presided” over the meeting. Reportedly, it took place on November 17, 2022.

The Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (in short, Hong Kong Liaison Office) published a short rendition of the “study meeting”. At least one of the participants used his invitation and speech there as an embroidery for his organization’s “Facebook” page, with some impressions of his own, but the Hong Kong press, as far as they cared, apparently only republished the Liaison Office’s text.

The meeting was described as a combination of online participants (probably in various locations) and one main venue where people met in person. No mention was made of the location of that main venue.

Luo Huining (骆惠宁), the Liason Office’s director at the time (and during the introduction and implementation of the “national security law”), had been “invited” to “share his views” (作交流分享). He expressed his hope that “everyone will support the [HK SAR] chief executive and local government to govern in accordance with the law so as to make a great contribution to the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and Hong Kong’s long-term stability”.

When reading the participants’ statements (all of the “civil-society” members mentioned are, of course, people who have proven to be “patriots” fit to “govern Hong Kong” in one way or another), you get the feeling that even among them, there was some unease about the director of Beijing’s crackdown agency in Hong Kong.

Ng Chau-pei (Stanley Ng), leader of the pro-Beijing Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions, not only advocated trade-union positions, but also the continuation of “Hong Kong’s good traditions of forbearance, mutual support, and a focus on finding common ground” (香港包容共济、求同存异的优良传统).

Luo was apparently happy to tune his statement to an apparently nervous audience, as long as it came without opportunity costs for Beijing – he referred to the “Spirit of the Lion Rock” (狮子山精神), and to something like a “new legend” to be written “Below the Lion Rock”. 獅子山下, a Cantonese television series that started in the 1970s at RTHK and has since been continued by TVB. The soothing message: Hong Kong’s story continues. The unshakable “but”: under the successful implementation of the “one-country-two-systems” principle, which he described as a “struggle”.

Other participants quoted by the Liasion Office – probably all at the main venue – were Dr Jonathan Choi Koon-shum (蔡冠深, Chairman of The Chinese General Chamber of Commerce, Hong Kong), who advertised the advantages his institution could provide, such as in form of “diversified and high-value financial services to the mainland” (为内地提供多元且高质量金融服务) and as in its capacity as “a ‘super contact’ (超级联系人) between the mainland and the world”, as well as a promoter of the Greater Bay Area.

Nancy Ip (叶玉如, head of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology) and Chong Ka-bun (庄家彬, a fourty-plus years-old “Youth Activity Committee” chairman and businessman) also attended. The latter called on the youth of Hong Kong to learn from “the CPC’s exemplary difficult, revolutionary and militant development history” (以党的艰辛革命、奋斗发展历史为榜样).

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Related

Beijing law takes priority, BBC, June 28, 2022

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No further Orders, Militant Greetings

All the news I’ve learned on Twitter (or elsewhere)

Source: VoK. 75th founding anniversary of the “Korean People’s Army” – see last item of this blog for details
–
Sunday, Febr 5, 2023	“While the three major indicators of production, consumption and investment all rose for the second consecutive year, suggesting a recovery in industrial activity, the most recent monthly data suggests otherwise”, KBS World Radio reported last Sunday. The government attributed declines in the most recent industrial output comparison (month-on-month) to “slowing exports and weakened domestic recovery”.
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Sun Febr 5 / Mon 6, 2023	“A presumed weather balloon from North Korea entered South Korean airspace for a few hours” last Sunday (Febr 5), KBS World Radio reported on Monday. “The Joint Chiefs of Staff(JCS) […] instructed the frontline unit to simply keep a close eye on the balloon after assessing that it was a weather balloon, without giving further orders.”
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Monday, Febr 6, 2023	40 Taiwanese search -and-rescue workers left for Turkey on Monday night (Taiwan standard time). Interior minister Lin Yu-chang (林右昌) and foreign minister Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said that Taiwan helped in the same spirit in that Turkey had helped during the September 1999 earthquake in Taiwan.
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Tuesday, Febr 7, 2023	Communist Party of China general secretary Xi Jinping (also state chairman and central-military-commissions chairman) gave an opening speech to a Seminar for the implementation of Xi Jinping’s ideology of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era and the spirit of the party’s 20th national congress. According to Chinese television’s main evening news on Tuesday night local time, newly-joined members of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and alternate members, provincial-level leading cadres as well as comrades from the democratic parties’ central committees, the all-China industrial and trade association, and others took part in the seminar.
–
Tuesday, Febr 7, 2023	The Eighth Central Military Commission of North Korea’s ruling “Workers’ Party of Korea” held its fourth expanded meeting on Monday, February 6, South Korea’s foreign radio reported on Tuesday. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un reportedly chaired the meeting and emphasized a need to “react to the current situation” and to “further improve preparedness for war” This was seen as a signal that North Korea was closely following the South Koreas and America’s strengthened extended deterrence, and react to joint South Korean and US miltary exercises, according to the South Korean radio report.
–
Wed, Febr 8 / Thu, 9, 2023	North Korea held a nightly military parade on February 8, celebrating “the 75th founding anniversary of the Korean People’s Army, the revolutionary armed forces of the Workers’ Party of Korea”, North Korean foreign radio station “Voice of Korea” reported. Some of the 150 photos published by VoK also featured North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s daughter.  Kim Jong Un sent militant greetings*) to the life guardsmen taking part in the parade, says VoK.

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Notes

^*) 战斗问候 in VoK’s Chinese version
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Xi Jinping’s Lecture: “More efficient and Fairer than Capitalism”

The following are translated excerpts from a speech given by Xi Jinping on Tuesday, at the opening ceremony of a “study class” or seminar of leading CPC and other “democratic parties‘” cadres.

^{Banner: “Seminar for the implementation of Xi Jinping’s ideology of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era and the spirit of the party’s 20th national congress”}

Main Link: Xinwen Lianbo, Febr 7, 2023

Links and footnotes within blockquotes added during translation.

Newly-joined members of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and alternate members as well as provincial-level leading cadres studied the implementation of Xi Jinping’s ideology of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era and the spirit of the party’s 20th national congress.¹⁾ The seminar took place at the Central Party School (aka Chinese Academy of Governance) in the morning of February 7th. CPC Central Committee secretary general, State Chairman and Central Military Commissions’ chairman Xi Jinping gave an important speech there and emphasized that summarizing and deepening the theory of Chinese-style modernization is a major innovation from the 20th national congress of the CPC and the latest fruit of scientific socialism. Chinese-style modernization is a great fruit of a long and difficult search and practice conducted by the people of all nationalities, under the leadership of our party, achieved under great deprivation and at a huge price. We must add to it and cherish it, adhere to it forever and continuously expand and deepen it.

新进中央委员会的委员、候补委员和省部级主要领导干部学习贯彻习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想和党的二十大精神研讨班7日上午在中央党校（国家行政学院）开班。中共中央总书记、国家主席、中央军委主席习近平在开班式上发表重要讲话强调，概括提出并深入阐述中国式现代化理论，是党的二十大的一个重大理论创新，是科学社会主义的最新重大成果。中国式现代化是我们党领导全国各族人民在长期探索和实践中历经千辛万苦、付出巨大代价取得的重大成果，我们必须倍加珍惜、始终坚持、不断拓展和深化。

Member of the politburo’s standing committee Li Qiang presided over the class opening ceremony, politburo standing committee members Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang and Li Xi were present.

中共中央政治局常委李强主持开班式，中共中央政治局常委赵乐际、王沪宁、蔡奇、丁薛祥、李希出席。

Xi Jinping pointed out that achieving the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation has been the common dream of the Chinese people ever since modernity²⁾, and countless people with lofty ideas had struggled for it and tried all kinds of ways, but failed in the end. Historically, the heavy responsibility of China’s modernization fell to the Communist Party of China.
习近平指出，实现中华民族伟大复兴是近代以来中国人民的共同梦想，无数仁人志士为此苦苦求索、进行各种尝试，但都以失败告终。探索中国现代化道路的重任，历史地落在了中国共产党身上。

Xi’s speech continues with a generous appropriation of the northern expedition, the agrarian revolution war, the Sino-Japanese war, and the civil war from 1945 to 1949 – those are all the CPC’s feats, in its own books. The CPC had overthrown the “three big mountains” (三座大山) – imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucrat-capitalism³⁾, made the People’s Republic of China “with the people in charge of its own affairs” or “master of their own house” (建立了人民当家作主的中华人民共和国),  achieved national independence (民族独立), people’s liberation (人民解放) so as to create the right conditions for modernization (为实现现代化创造了根本社会条件).

Xi Jinping emphasized that ever since the 18th national congress of the CPC, our party has continued its advance on foundations already laid by itself, continuously bringing about theoretical and practical innovative breakthroughs, successfully promoting and broadening Chinese-style modernization. We have deepened our knowledge, created the ideology of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era, brought about the epochally soaring sinicization of Marxism, and new standards to follow in Chinese-style modernization.
习近平强调，党的十八大以来，我们党在已有基础上继续前进，不断实现理论和实践上的创新突破，成功推进和拓展了中国式现代化。我们在认识上不断深化，创立了新时代中国特色社会主义思想，实现了马克思主义中国化时代化新的飞跃，为中国式现代化提供了根本遵循。

[…]

We have continuously perfected our strategies, such as the strategy of relying on science to rejuvenate the nation, the strategy of developing a quality workforce in the new era, and the rural vitalization strategy, thus providing support for Chinese-style modernization.
我们在战略上不断完善，深入实施科教兴国战略、人才强国战略、乡村振兴战略等一系列重大战略，为中国式现代化提供坚实战略支撑。

[…]

Xi Jiinping pointed out that the party’s leadership was directly related to the fundamental direction of Chinese-style modernization, it’s future fate, and the final decision between success and failure. The leadership by the party decides the fundamental quality of Chinese-style modernization. Only if adhering to the party’s leadership without the slightest wavering, Chinese-style modernization will see a shining future and an economic renaissance. Otherwise, it will get off course, lose its soul and even commit subversive mistakes.
习近平指出，党的领导直接关系中国式现代化的根本方向、前途命运、最终成败。党的领导决定中国式现代化的根本性质，只有毫不动摇坚持党的领导，中国式现代化才能前景光明、繁荣兴盛；否则就会偏离航向、丧失灵魂，甚至犯颠覆性错误。

In this context, Xi also mentions five aspects that – in the leadership’s view – characterize a uniquely Chinese path towards modernization. “China Daily” provided an overview of them in English about a year ago, in an article published in March 2022.

Xi’s core message was “brimming with assertiveness”, German correspondent Fabian Kretschmer noted in an article for Germany’s green-leaning “taz” on Wednesday, one day after Xi’s classroom lecture. Also, Xi had described China’s development path as a role model for the Global South. Beijing had been trying for years to export its autocratic model of government.

Indeed,

Practice confirms that Chinese-style modernization is feasible, works in a stable fashion, and is the only correct path for national rejuvenation.

实践证明，中国式现代化走得通、行得稳，是强国建设、民族复兴的唯一正确道路。

[…]

Xi Jinping pointed out that Chinese-style modernization was deeply rooted in China’s excellent traditional culture, embodied the advanced quality of scientific socialism, drew on all of mankind’s excellent civilizational fruits, represented a civilizational development direction for mankind, unfolded a mental picture different from Western modernization, was a completely new type of human civilization. Chinese-style modernization had broken the myth that “modernization = westernization, unfolded another mental picture of modernization, broadened the choices of developing countries towards modernization, and provided a Chinese plan for searching a better human society system.
习近平指出，中国式现代化，深深植根于中华优秀传统文化，体现科学社会主义的先进本质，借鉴吸收一切人类优秀文明成果，代表人类文明进步的发展方向，展现了不同于西方现代化模式的新图景，是一种全新的人类文明形态。中国式现代化，打破了“现代化=西方化”的迷思，展现了现代化的另一幅图景，拓展了发展中国家走向现代化的路径选择，为人类对更好社会制度的探索提供了中国方案。中国式现代化蕴含的独特世界观、价值观、历史观、文明观、民主观、生态观等及其伟大实践，是对世界现代化理论和实践的重大创新。中国式现代化为广大发展中国家独立自主迈向现代化树立了典范，为其提供了全新选择。

If you forecast cadres’ working plans based on this rendition of Xi’s speech, the central-committee members and candidates as well as the “provincial-level cadres” are going to face difficult tasks:

Both [of these goals] are important: to create greater efficiency than in capitalism, and more efficient protection of social fairness, a better balance between efficiency and fairness at the same time – both of them promoting each other, and both of them integrating with each other.
既要创造比资本主义更高的效率，又要更有效地维护社会公平，更好实现效率与公平相兼顾、相促进、相统一。

In addition to that, Xi demands “continuously broadening high-level opening up” (不断扩大高水平对外开放), and “thorough participation in global division of labor and cooperation” (深度参与全球产业分工和合作) so as to create more room for “Chinese-style modernization”.  How far this spells cooperation with, say, America, the Netherlands or Taiwan, or rather with the “Global South”, remains to be seen. The speech is careful enough not to mention potential cooperation partners explicitly, as not all of them may be happily available for the “great rejuvenation”.

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Notes

1)	Only the last lines of the article mentions another group of participants: dangwais (党外 or 党外人士). In this case, i. e. the Tuesday morning study class, this referred to “comrades from the democratic parties’ central committees, the all-China industrial and trade association, and others” (各民主党派中央、全国工商联及有关方面负责同志列席开班式).
2)	“Modernity” may not be the best choice to translate 近代 – jìndài may refer to modern times, recent history, or the years since the establishment of the PRC in 1949.
3)	官僚资本主义, translated “crony capitalism” by Baike-Baidu: “bureaucrat-capitalism, also described as crony capitalism (裙带资本主义), clique capitalism (朋党资本主义), bigwigs capitalism (权贵资本主义), close-friends capitalism (密友资本主义) or relationship capitalism (关系资本主义), describes an economy where success in business depends on close relationships between entrepreneurs, business people, and government officials. […]”

Related

“Personal experience”, Jan 5, 2013

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Wuxiwooshee: Trying to transcribe Major-General Jin Yinan

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That’s Major-General Jin Yinan (金一南), a Chinese Major-General, Professor, author and CPBS radio columnist with peculiar opinions about the Netherlands and Norway (click picture underneath for more info):

Also, I find him difficult to understand.

Here goes:

Question: 欢迎收听一南军事论坛。我是[Zhou Yuting]。 北约军事委员会主席罗伯·鲍尔^*)一月二十八日在接受媒体采访时公开表态说，北约准备与俄罗斯直接对抗。他的这个表态迅速引发国际社会的广泛关注。对此，俄罗斯国家杜马回应称，这种言论正在将整个世界投入和战争。那么北约真的要直接与俄罗斯开战吗？ 和战争的威胁是否离人类越来越近。这些就是今天一南军事论坛要关注的话题。首先欢迎金一南教授。金一南教授，您好！

Jin Yinan: 你好！

Question: 我们都知道自从俄乌开战以来，以美国为首的西方国家在对俄罗斯实施多轮建立制裁的同时，还…不断的向乌克兰提供各种军事援助。那么，北约军事委员会主席罗伯·鲍尔的自谈表态是否意味着北约已经做好准备将直接与俄罗斯开战？

Jin Yinan: 他这种讲话就北约准备与俄罗斯直接对抗－－这种话的份量非常重。不是间接对抗。与俄罗斯直接对抗。几乎就说就让往这个欧洲大战faran中。这是一个非常严重的采取啊。我觉得一辈子两次世界大战see-sai和现在有长效和平的欧洲人应该对鲍尔的话感到非常震惊。 原来北约的整个态度－－谴责俄罗斯，制裁俄罗斯，提供优先的军备－－这个优先军备是什么呢？就wuxiwoosheewooshee现在慢慢转进wuxiwoosheewooshee。现在向乌克兰提供美国的Abrahams坦克，德国的”豹”式坦克等等适于最先进的一种坦克…，那就完全不是wuxiwoosheewooshee了，是wuxiwoosheewooshee。
[…..]

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Notes

Clues:	防御性的武器 — 进攻性的武器
*)	Robert Bauer
—	Want to try yourselves? Give it a go there (starts at 19′ 45”)

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Xi Jinping’s Rabbit of the Year

The following are translated excerpts of China’s main evening TV news, Xinwen Lianbo, on January 20th, 2023.
Links within blockquotes added during translation.
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CCTV News (Xinwen Lianbo): The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council held a Spring Festival meeting in the Great Hall of the People in the morning of December 20th. Communist Party of China Secretary General, State Chairman and Central Military Commissions Chairman Xi Jinping gave a speech on behalf of the Central Committee and the State Council, wishing a happy new year to the entire nation’s and the entire people’s nationalities, to the compatriots in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, to the compatriots in Macau Special Administrative Region, and to the Taiwanese and overseas Chinese compatriots.
央视网消息（新闻联播）：中共中央、国务院20日上午在人民大会堂举行2023年春节团拜会。中共中央总书记、国家主席、中央军委主席习近平发表讲话，代表党中央和国务院，向全国各族人民，向香港特别行政区同胞、澳门特别行政区同胞、台湾同胞和海外侨胞拜年。

^{Absolutely rabbit: Kang Hui announces the happy gathering}

Xi Jinping emphasized that the outgoing year of the tiger’s thirty-ninth year I3 of the 60 year cycle [i. e. 2022] had been a year of utmost importance in the history of the party and the country. Facing an unusually stormy international environment and formidable duties of reform, development and stability at home, the entire party, the entire army and the entire country with all its nationalities rose to the challenges, fought unitedly, and based on the enthusiasm of the soaring tiger and the leaping dragon, dared to enter the tiger’s cave, and wrote, with fortitude and tenacity, a new chapter of socialist modernization.
习近平强调，即将过去的壬寅虎年，是党和国家发展史上极为重要的一年。面对风高浪急的国际环境和艰巨繁重的国内改革发展稳定任务，全党全军全国各族人民迎难而上、团结奋斗，凭着龙腾虎跃的干劲、敢入虎穴的闯劲、坚忍不拔的韧劲，书写了社会主义现代化建设的新篇章。

Li Keqiang presided over the meeting, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Li Qiang, Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Han Zheng, Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang, Li Xi and Wang Qishan attended the meeting.

李克强主持团拜会，栗战书、汪洋、李强、赵乐际、王沪宁、韩正、蔡奇、丁薛祥、李希、王岐山等出席。

[…]

Xi Jinping pointed out that in traditional Chinese culture, the Rabbit is referred to as the auspicious Jade Rabbit, standing for resourcefulness and nimbleness, honesty and kindness, serenity and beauty. The auspicious rabbit represents symbolizes the increasingly auspicious peace, abundant vitality and youthful energy of the Chinese lands. In the lunar year of the Rabbit, we hope that the entire people, and especially many young people, will leap ahead in the way of the Rabbit and exert themselves in all areas of life in a graceful manner.

习近平指出，在中华传统文化中，兔被称为瑞兔、玉兔，代表着机智敏捷、纯洁善良、平静美好。吉兔呈祥，象征中华大地愈发安宁祥和、生意盎然、朝气蓬勃。在农历兔年，希望全国人民特别是广大青年像动如脱兔般奋跃而上、飞速奔跑，在各行各业竞展风流、尽显风采。

Leading and old comrades from the Central Committee, the National People’s Congress’s Standing Committee, the State Council, theNational Supervision Commission,  the Supreme People’s Court, the People’s Republic of China Supreme People’s Procurate, and the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, attended the gathering.

中共中央、全国人大常委会、国务院、国家监委、最高人民法院、最高人民检察院、全国政协、中央军委领导同志和老同志出席团拜会。

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Related

“Open the Skies for the Young”, May 5, 2013

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