The Chinese Communist Party magazine “Seeking Truth” published yesterday (15) the contents of a talk given by Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party, at a symposium of experts in the economic and social fields last August. He warned at the time that the world was entering a period of turbulent change and that China would face more “headwinds and headwaters” in the future and must be prepared to deal with them.
In his talk, Xi emphasized that the global pandemic of coronavirus epidemic has accelerated the “unprecedented changes of the century” and the world has entered a period of turbulent changes. In the future, China will face more adverse external environment and must be prepared to deal with the risks and challenges.
Xi also said he would promote the formation of “a new development pattern with the domestic cycle as the main body and the domestic and international cycles promoting each other”, and called for vigorous efforts to enhance independent innovation capabilities and breakthroughs in key core technologies as soon as possible, among other things.
On August 24, 2020, Xi Jinping hosted a “forum of experts in the economic and social fields” in Zhongnanhai, where Xi’s nine-member “national teacher” think tank was exposed for the first time and spoke on the “14th Five-Year Plan”. The meeting was a rare event for Xi to hold in his personal capacity. This is a rare forum that Xi convened in his personal capacity, excluding Premier Li Keqiang, who is in charge of the economy.
China expert Wang Jian said in a live broadcast on YouTube channel that the 9-member think tank and Xi’s thinking are still the same as Marxist economic and political science, and that the exclusion of Li Keqiang, who understands the economy, is typical of the “five big boys who run the business”.
In addition, the think tank is led by Wang Huning, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC), who is known as the “Third Generation State Teacher”, and another member of the Standing Committee, Han Zheng, who is in charge of ideology and propaganda and has been relied upon by Xi Jinping in recent years, and has been criticized for using the old Maoist approach to the US-China trade war.
Despite the fact that the CCP is facing internal and external difficulties and could fall at any time, Xi Jinping clearly wants to stay in power for a long time. Xi Jinping’s reference to “more adverse external circumstances” in the future has prompted various interpretations.
On the Voice of America current affairs program, Xie Tian, chair professor at the University of South Carolina Aiken School of Business, said Xi’s phrase “the unprecedented changes of the century” reflects the sense of urgency and great pressure from the top leadership of the Communist Party on the multiple crises currently facing the Communist Party.
He said, “We see that the CCP is facing a comprehensive crisis in all aspects of Chinese society: political, economic, diplomatic, military, human rights, and now the plague. Especially the economy, the collapse of the economy should now be in progress. He has recently consulted some experts in this seminar, in fact, to seek some solutions to the economic crisis at this time of economic collapse.”
Li Hengqing, an economist at the Institute for Information and Strategic Studies, agrees that Xi Jinping is realizing that the Communist Party is facing an unprecedented crisis after changing its diplomatic landscape, and that he now has to take action to save the party and himself.
The so-called 100-year change may end with the final fall of the largest communist state, or socialist state,” he said. So my basic understanding is that he has now begun to realize that, so how to save the party, how to save himself, has now become one of his most important and urgent problems.”
As early as January 21, 2019, Xi Jinping personally presided over a “major leading cadres at the provincial and ministerial levels to adhere to bottom-line thinking and make efforts to prevent and resolve major risks” when opening the class, also admitted in his speech that the CPC is now facing “major risks in the political, ideological, economic, scientific and technological, social, external environment, Party construction and other areas”, as well as “the treacherous international situation, complex and sensitive surrounding environment”, to “prevent and resolve many major risks with bottom-line thinking”, to deal with “unimaginable waves of shock.”
According to a commentary signed by Li Zhi, when this seminar for senior officials at provincial and ministerial level to prevent and resolve major risks was held, people naturally understood how important the so-called “major risks” are and how urgent it is to prevent and resolve them, which shows that the central leadership has prepared for the worst.
According to the analysis of Fa Guang, the so-called political security is the security of the regime, which is to “protect the mountain”. The top leaders of the Communist Party of China have never felt so insecure about the regime, which is incredible to say the least.
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