Recently, the Chinese Communist authorities announced the list of spokespersons for central and local units in 2021, not only the number of spokespersons has increased, but also the level of spokespersons has been upgraded. Photo shows CCP Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian at a regular press conference in Beijing on April 8, 2020.
Recently, the Chinese Communist Party authorities announced the list of spokespersons for central and local units in 2021, not only increasing the number of spokespersons, but also upgrading their ranks. In this regard, senior traveler and current affairs commentator Tang Jingyuan believes that the CCP’s move is to strengthen the overall tone of the War Wolf and make it more convenient for falsification.
On February 9, the Information Office of the State Council of the Communist Party of China (the “State Council Information Office”) released a list of 262 spokespersons for central state organs and localities in 2021, including 161 from central departments and 101 from localities.
Increasing the number of spokespersons to block all murmurs
The list of spokespersons for the State Information Office was first published by the Chinese Communist Party authorities in 2004, when there were only 75 of them, and has more than tripled to 262 after 17 years. Compared with 2020, the list of spokespersons in 2021 has 14 new members, including six new members from central departments and eight new members from localities.
In the 2021 spokesperson directory, the central government added four new departments, namely the General Office of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, the Office of the Central Committee for Comprehensively Deepening Reform, the Office of the Central Military and Civil Integration Development Commission, and the Office of the Central Financial and Economic Commission. Among them, the General Office of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, the Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China for Comprehensively Deepening Reform, and the Office of the Central Financial and Economic Commission of the Communist Party of China are the first Time to announce the spokesperson. And the spokesperson of the Office of the Central Military and Civil Integration Development Commission appeared in 2019, but was withdrawn again in 2020.
The number of spokespersons of the CPC Central Propaganda Department (with the State Council Information Office) has also increased from the original 2 persons, Guo Weimin and Hu Kaihong, to 4 persons, namely Xu Lin, Chen Wenjun, Shou Xiaoli and Xing Huina. Among them, Xu Lin is the Vice Minister of the Central Propaganda Department and the Director of the State Council Information Office, a full ministerial-level official; Chen Wenjun is the Director of the Foreign Press Bureau of the Central Propaganda Department; Shou Xiaoli and Xing Huina are the Deputy Directors of the Foreign Press Bureau of the Central Propaganda Department.
Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps” spokesperson has been added to the list of local provincial spokespersons.
In an interview with the Epoch Times, Tang Jingyuan, a veteran commentator on current affairs in the United States, said that the CCP authorities’ spokespersons are a chessboard from the central to local levels, with the aim of ensuring that there is only one voice from top to bottom, no deviation and no deformation, and that all departments and localities can only make Xi Jinping‘s voice and block out all murmurs.
He believes that Xi Jinping’s growing control of the discourse is due to pressure from within and outside the country. Domestically, on the one hand, Xi Jinping faces challenges from interest groups and needs to strengthen his voice, and on the other hand, Xi Jinping needs to strengthen his control over domestic public opinion as he faces re-election at the Communist Party’s 100th anniversary this year and the 20th Communist Party Congress next year. In foreign countries, war-wolf diplomacy is Xi Jinping’s diplomatic principle, which is to demonstrate strength, especially after Biden took power, Xi Jinping decided that this is a strategic opportunity period for the CCP, and will continue to take a proactive and more aggressive diplomatic route in the future.
The expansion and overhaul of the press spokesperson is intended to reflect the overall strengthening of the official war-wolf voice and overall strength,” he said, adding that “the war-wolf style of ‘I am a rogue and I am afraid of no one’ like Zhao Lijian may become a model for CCP press spokespersons at all levels in the future.
Wang Juntao, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese Democratic Party, told the Epoch Times that the main role of spokespersons is external, because the CCP can unify public opinion and ideas by simply issuing documents at Home; increasing the number of spokespersons shows that the CCP now attaches great importance to external propaganda work, which means strengthening external propaganda.
Wang Juntao believes that one of the direct reasons for the increase in the number of spokespersons is that, at present, foreign journalists are asking questions on various aspects, and it is basically difficult to answer with only one spokesperson. And next year, the CCP may face more acute problems, which it needs to answer, such as including foreign relations, economic downturn, out-of-control Epidemic and some livelihood issues, etc.
Spokesman level upgraded CCP easier to falsify
The 2021 spokesperson directory also shows that the levels of central and local spokespersons have been upgraded.
Among them, the Central United Front Work Department, the Liaison Department and the Central Taiwan Affairs Office have ministerial-level spokespersons for the first time: Xu Yansheng, vice minister of the Central United Front Work Department; Guo Yezhou, vice minister of the Liaison Department; and Chen Yuanfeng, vice director of the Central Taiwan Affairs Office.
Local provincial and Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps Party Committee spokespersons are all deputy ministerial-level provincial Party Committee Standing Committee members.
Although the spokesperson of the Central Internet Information Office has been reduced from six to two, the level has been increased, from the original six directors of internal agencies to Niu Yibing, deputy director, and Xie Dengke, director of the Bureau of Network News and Information Dissemination.
Tang Jingyuan, a veteran U.S.-based current affairs commentator, told the Epoch Times that the elevation of the spokesperson’s rank is another form of centralization, which in a way amounts to the formation of a more unified and centralized spokesperson system.
Xi’s big move in the official tone of voice shows his intention to firmly control the power of discourse,” Tang said. Tang Jingyuan said, “A more centralized and unified spokesperson system is more convenient for falsification.
In addition, the Central Committee of Political and Legal Affairs, which first established a spokesman in 2020, has the position temporarily vacant this year. Lei Dongsheng, who served as the first spokesman last year, left for Ningxia more than 20 days ago to become a member of the Standing Committee of the Party Committee of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region and secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission.
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