Li Keqiang attends a press conference and answers questions from Chinese and foreign journalists after a meeting of the Chinese Communist Party‘s National People’s Congress
After the Biden administration took office, the U.S. announced on March 10 that senior Chinese and U.S. officials would meet next week. Later, Li Keqiang spoke about U.S.-China relations at a press conference at the two sessions of the Communist Party of China, calling for “the establishment of a multi-disciplinary and multi-level dialogue mechanism.
Although Li softened his tone toward the U.S. at the press conference, analysts believe that Li was actually singing the “white face” of the “red and white faces” this Time. The Chinese Communist Party is implementing delaying tactics, but secretly has no intention to reduce confrontation with the United States.
Li Keqiang’s Press Conference: Behind the Chinese Communist Party’s High-Level Shouting at the U.S.
On March 11, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang held a press conference by video after the National People’s Congress session. At the meeting, he responded to questions about U.S.-China relations.
Li Keqiang acknowledged that Sino-U.S. relations have suffered serious difficulties in the past few years. Li appealed that “we hope that China and the United States will have multi-disciplinary and multi-level dialogues, so that even if we cannot reach a consensus for a while, we can exchange views, increase trust and clear doubts, which will be conducive to managing and resolving differences.”
The timing of Li Keqiang’s remarks is sensitive, as the U.S. and China finalized just one day ago that the top brass will meet next week.
On March 10, the U.S. State Department took the lead in announcing a meeting between senior U.S. and Chinese officials. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan will meet with Communist Party of China State Councilor Yang Jiechi and Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Alaska on March 18.
According to Li Linyi, a commentator on current affairs, this is a clear indication of what the Chinese Communist Party’s top brass expects from this meeting, which will come out of Li Keqiang’s mouth at the “two sessions”. The U.S.-China meeting may not have any substantive results, but the CCP wants to establish a “multi-disciplinary and multi-level” dialogue mechanism with each other.
According to Li Linyi, Li Keqiang does not have much say in U.S.-China relations and foreign affairs. And when you look at recent Chinese diplomatic officials, there are no similar statements. Therefore, it is likely that this represents Xi and the CPC Central Committee. Of course, whether the CCP will get what it wants is another question.
Reuters reported that Blinken told a Senate Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on March 10 that “there is no intention at this point to have a series of follow-up exchanges. Even if there were follow-up exchanges, they would have to be predicated on concrete progress and concrete results on U.S.-China issues that are of concern to us.”
Li Keqiang’s press conference softens tone on U.S. formulation
Li Keqiang’s speech was softer in tone than previous tough remarks on U.S.-China relations by CPC State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
On March 7, at a video press conference held at the National People’s Congress of the Communist Party of China, Wang Yi responded to the issue of China-US relations by saying, “For a long time, the United States has been recklessly interfering in the internal affairs of other countries at every turn under the banner of so-called democracy and human rights, creating a lot of trouble in the world and even becoming a source of unrest and war …… “”I hope the U.S. side and the Chinese side will move in the same direction and lift as soon as possible all kinds of unreasonable restrictions set so far on Sino-U.S. cooperation ……”
Li Keqiang said at a press conference on the 11th, China and the United States will inevitably have contradictions and differences when they get along, even the more acute differences, but the two sides still have to respect each other and treat each other as equals in dialogue and communication.
From the “two sessions” of the press conference in another place can also be seen Li Keqiang softened to the U.S. expression.
At the press conference, a CCTV reporter asked, “The country has proposed to build a strong country in science and technology, but we also note that we still have shortcomings in some key areas and key technologies, and there are even ‘stuck neck’ situations… …What other new initiatives will the government take in promoting science and technology innovation in the future?”
Li Keqiang did not answer the question positively, nor did he mention the CPC’s 14th Five-Year Plan investment in “key areas and key technologies” and so on, but only talked about basic research. He admitted that “there is indeed a shortage in the field of basic research, and it is necessary to lay a solid foundation of basic and applied basic research.”
Previously, many media reported that the U.S. would start a science and technology war with the CCP in several “key areas. However, Li Keqiang’s speech completely avoided these contents.
Analysis of the 14th Five-Year Plan: Li Keqiang’s Delaying Tactics
The outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan studied by the Communist Party of China’s “two sessions” indicates that “a new generation of artificial intelligence, quantum information, integrated circuits, brain science and brain-like research, genetics and biotechnology, clinical Medicine and health, deep space and deep earth Deep space, deep sea and polar exploration” are the 8 major forward-looking fields of the CPC. These areas overlap with the previously released U.S. science and technology focus areas. This plan is also believed to indicate that the Chinese Communist Party will implement a long-term science and technology war against the U.S. in the future.
“The 14th Five-Year Plan mentions the development of strategic emerging industries, accelerating the development of new-generation information technology, biotechnology, new energy, new materials, high-end equipment, new energy vehicles, green environmental protection, and aerospace and marine equipment industries.
Comparing with the previous “Made in China 2025” released by the CPC, it can be seen that the science and technology and industrial strategies proposed in the 14th Five-Year Plan of the CPC mostly overlap with the key areas of “Made in China 2025”.
The “Made in China 2025” (“2025”) proposed by the CPC in 2015 established ten key areas, including a new generation of information and communication technology industry, high-grade CNC machine tools and robots, aerospace equipment, marine engineering equipment and high-tech ships, advanced rail transportation equipment, energy-saving and new energy vehicles, electric power equipment, agricultural equipment, new materials, biomedicine and high-performance medical devices .
Li Linyi said that although the official Chinese Communist Party has rarely mentioned the 2025 in recent years under the heavy attack of the Trump administration, the draft outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan shows that the 2025 has not only been revived but also strengthened in the 14th Five-Year Plan. He believes that the Chinese Communist Party’s blatantly enhanced version of 2025 in the 14th Five-Year Plan shows the ambition of the Chinese Communist Party and its clear intention to confront the United States.
According to Li Linyi, Li Keqiang is actually singing the “white face” of the “red and white faces” this time, so he is soft on the US. The Chinese Communist Party is implementing delaying tactics, but secretly it has no intention to reduce confrontation with the United States. The Chinese Communist Party expects that during the four years of the Biden Administration, there will be at least no violent conflict with the United States. At the same time, the CCP hopes to get the opportunity to develop science and technology and gradually get rid of its dependence on the United States.
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