On June 9, the Communist Party’s Xinhua News Agency summarized Xi Jinping’s visit to Qinghai, but the headline stated that Xi Jinping emphasized “deepening reform and opening up with the people at the center. In the text of the report, Xi’s remarks during the visit were mainly about internal development or regional development, but not about external issues. Such mismatched reporting suggests that the top brass can no longer avoid internal and external dilemmas and is taking the lead in changing “the strategy and art of public opinion struggle”; in any case, it may have to change its tune.
While pretending that everything is fine and under control both internally and externally, the top brass has to respond to the worsening external situation by deliberately putting “putting the people first”. Even internally, the top management of the CCP has started to avoid talking about internal circulation and double circulation, seeing that the economy cannot be circulated at all, massive unemployment cannot be solved, the epidemic can no longer be covered up, and emergencies occur one after another. Everything the CCP does is not “people-centered”, but “power-centered”.
The rapid changes in the international situation are far beyond the CCP’s ability to predict or control; the internal “gray rhinoceros” or “black swan” events that the CCP’s top management is worried about are also difficult to gauge. Faced with various potential challenges within the Party, the current CCP top brass is in fact frazzled, repeatedly trying to sing its own praises to cover up a series of missteps, and repeatedly reinforcing its political high-handedness to prohibit “presumptuous discussion of the Central Committee,” but it is never sure whether it can fully prevail in the internal struggle. The CCP is preparing to hold a so-called “party celebration” in Tiananmen Square, one of its attempts to cover up its many problems.
Xi Jinping’s call to tone it down?
On May 31, Xi Jinping said that the CCP’s Politburo should “deeply understand the importance and necessity of strengthening and improving international communication under the new situation” and “create a favorable external public opinion environment” and “pay attention to the strategy and art of public opinion The political bureau also held a meeting that morning.
A meeting of the Politburo was also held that morning, but there was no mention of the international situation in the CCP media. It is unlikely that the Politburo did not discuss the increasingly difficult international situation, but there should have been no real solution or consensus, so naturally it could not be reported. This actually reflects the embarrassment of the CCP’s top brass. While it is not natural to go soft easily, which would be tantamount to admitting that the previous strategies were wrong, the content of the Politburo’s collective study shows that the CCP has to admit the reality of its international isolation and hope to continue to change the situation through public opinion lies.
On June 9, the CPC media summarized Xi’s visit to Qinghai with the headline “Deepening reform and opening up”, which should be the beginning of such a change of tone. The tone of the CCP’s Foreign Ministry has also changed.
Chinese Foreign Ministry forced to restrain
On June 8, the U.S. Senate passed the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (USICA), which opens the legislative process for concrete steps to confront the Chinese Communist Party.
After U.S. Trade Representative Dyche and Treasury Secretary Yellen had introductory conversations with Liu He, the CCP Ministry of Commerce had high-profile statements that “normal communication has begun in the field of trade and commerce between China and the U.S.”, which was not expected to be punctured so soon.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin responded at a press conference that it was important not to “render the ‘China threat'” and that “how the U.S. develops and how to enhance the U.S. ‘competitiveness This is a matter for the U.S.” and opposed “treating China as an ‘imaginary enemy'” and said again that it is “committed to developing with the U.S. side without conflict or confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation. The U.S. is committed to developing a non-confrontational, mutually respectful, cooperative and win-win relationship with the U.S. side.
Seeing that the U.S. is getting serious, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman did not repeat his tirade and had to restrain himself. Xinhua News Agency, in addition to parroting Wang Wenbin’s words, also reported that the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National People’s Congress issued a statement on the U.S. Senate’s passage of the American Innovation and Competition Act of 2021, repeating similar content.
The Communist Party’s top brass should be well aware of the implications of the U.S. Senate bill, and the fact that Xi Jinping is in Qinghai and still remotely controls Li Zhanshu’s voice through the Communist Party’s National People’s Congress shows how significant the bill is. It is rare for the Chinese Party media to refrain from name-calling and to try to “clarify” that they are not trying to challenge the U.S. or fight for hegemony, so the tone is obviously lowered.
U.S. Senators visit Taiwan on military plane, Chinese Communist Party avoids talking about red line
On June 6, three U.S. senators arrived at Taipei’s Songshan Airport on a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster transport plane to announce that they would donate Taiwan’s Chinese Communist Virus (COVID-19) vaccine. This move directly touched the red line that the CCP had mentioned several times, yet the CCP’s response was weak.
At a June 7 press conference at the CCP’s Foreign Ministry, spokesperson Wang Wenbin only symbolically objected, saying that it violated the “three joint communiqués between China and the United States” and “raised serious representations,” but did not again threaten or hurl insults. The Chinese Communist Party saw the red line being stepped on, but this time it swallowed it hard.
The U.S. and Japan summit talks specifically mentioned Taiwan, the Japan-Europe dialogue also talked about the Taiwan Strait, and the Japan-Australia 2+2 talks again focused on the Taiwan Strait, and the CCP’s red line kept being stepped on. However, since June 4, the website of Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense was no longer updated with information about the CCP’s military aircraft disturbing Taiwan, and the CCP was not just verbally abashed.
At the June 9 press conference of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, a reporter mentioned that Australian Prime Minister Morrison said he would seek greater cooperation with like-minded democracies at the G7 summit; he also mentioned that Campbell, the U.S. White House NSC Commissioner for Indo-Pacific Affairs, said the global outcry against China’s (CCP) policies “can only be blamed on China (CCP) “.
Spokesman Wang Wenbin simply said “the United States does not represent the international community” and again argued for “peaceful development”, almost avoiding responding to Australia, let alone hurling insults.
The Chinese Communist Party’s sudden low profile is not only because the U.S. wants to get real, but also because it is closely related to the upcoming G7 leaders’ meeting.
Top Chinese Communist Party Worries About G7+ Meeting
The G7+ leaders’ meeting is approaching, and the finance ministers’ meeting has already started first. The meeting will include many major issues such as economy, epidemic fighting, trade, technology and climate, etc. International relations are being reshaped intensively, but the Chinese Communist Party, which is eager to dominate the world, is excluded from the planning of such a major international affair. What should worry the top echelon of the CCP most is the specific program of Western countries to jointly promote resistance against the Communist Party, especially the public statements with strong measures.
On May 31, while presiding over the collective study of the Politburo, Xi Jinping continued to say that “as we move closer to the center of the world stage, we have the ability and responsibility to play a greater role in global affairs,” and also stressed that “telling the Chinese story well” is “in line with China’s comprehensive national power and international status match”.
The words are still high-profile, but mainly for internal propaganda purposes. The CCP top brass should no longer expect to have the opportunity to participate in the international layout of Western countries, and as long as countries do not push too hard, or even state publicly that they are not too embarrassing to the CCP, the CCP top brass will have to face reality.
More indications are that the G7+ statement will not be polite to the CCP. Australia was invited to the meeting, supposedly precisely because of its anti-communist stance, and the Australian government has accurately grasped the pulse of the shifting international winds and won itself a bigger international stage in the process of confronting the CCP. This also foreshadows the possible thematic direction of the G7+ meeting, leaving the Communist Party’s top brass on pins and needles and having to order a downward adjustment in its external tone.
On June 9, Xinhua also reported “U.S. White House Releases Risk Assessment Report on Key Product Supply Chains,” revealing the U.S. government’s plans for domestic production of key materials such as semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, critical minerals, and high-capacity batteries. This rare report releases signals that the CCP should be concerned that the G7+ countries may follow suit, and that key supply chains should at least leave the CCP behind. The Chinese Communist Party’s top brass is clearly quite anxious, but powerless to do anything about it.
Not only that, but if the G7+ meeting discusses going after the CCP for the epidemic, the CCP top brass’s top 20 layout may be difficult to achieve.
On June 9, after hearing a report from the Qinghai Provincial Party Committee and the provincial government, Xi Jinping said, “Party members and cadres should never forget the oath of loyalty to the Party made when joining the Party and never rebelling against the Party, to always be loyal to the Party and to the Party’s cause, and to follow the Party with an iron heart and nine deaths without regret.”
The Chinese Foreign Ministry may return to its war-wolf posture after the G7+ meeting statement, but it can only continue to act as a shield for the Chinese Communist Party top brass.
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