Top-ranked articles for week of 11-17 September 2022

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Commentary

The biggest signal in last week’s most widely circulated articles in China’s official media is in the first article, the report on an “important” article by Xi Jinping published in Qiushi magazine, the ideological journal of the Communist Party’s Central Committee.

The article offers an early preview of the report Xi will deliver to next month’s Communist Party National Congress. Held every five years, the congress formally brings together delegates from across the country to review the Party’s progress in the previous half decade and elect a new leadership for the next five years.

Showing how ideology has developed in the last five years is another way of showing what the Party has done in this administration. That Xi in his article reviews this as having been successful is unsurprising. However, the reasons given for this progress are unusual. Rather than attributing developments to continuing Party discipline, the standard codeword for the focus on anti-corruption that has been a keynote of Xi’s period as CPC general secretary, the article highlights two other factors. First, the economy:

[S]ince the reform and opening up [period started], we have been practicing and exploring, and under the premise of adhering to the leadership of the Communist Party of the socialist system of China, we have carried out a series of revolutionary changes in the socialist road, theory, system and culture — opening up China up. The path of socialism with Chinese characteristics has enabled China’s development to catch up with the times in great strides.

And second, what Xi refers to as “keeping the revolutionary spirit”:

[W]e should not forget that we are communists, we are revolutionaries, and we must not lose the revolutionary spirit. After revolution, construction and reform, our party has transformed from a party that led the people in striving for national power to a party that led the people to seize national power and stay in power for a long time; it has gone from being a party that led the construction of the country under the conditions of external blockade and the implementation of a planned economy to become the party leading the country’s construction under the conditions of opening to the outside world and developing the socialist market economy.

Noteworthy here are Xi’s shift away from previous ideological flirtations with autarky or self-reliance (自力更生) and his highlighting of China’s openness and market-orientation. His playing up of the Communist Party’s revolutionary side points to its role not being about realising world socialism but of advancing the interests of the party as that alone would ipso facto advance communism, albeit with a tautological argument:

In order to realize the prosperity and long-term stability of the party and the country, all comrades in the party must maintain the revolutionary spirit and revolutionary fighting spirit, and have the courage to continue the great social revolution that our party leads the people to carry out. We must not retreat because of difficulties; we must strive to make socialism with Chinese characteristics show a stronger and more convincing force of truth.

The less positive side of this that a revolutionary spirit has little attraction to investors outside China, either multinational companies or portfolio managers. Efforts to reconcile the contradictions between the red thread of his beliefs and the need for ties to the rest of the world will likely prove a major theme of Xi’s next five years as party head.

The other four of the week’s most widely circulated articles were all reports on Xi’s first trip out of China for nearly three years – his visit to central Asia, first for a state visit to Kazakhstan, then to Uzbekistan for a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperative Organisation (SCO). The meetings with various heads of state at the SCO went largely as planned, with each delegation making a point of their support for Beijing’s “One-China” principle on Taiwan.

However, the gatherings did produce two unexpected moments in China’s coverage. First, were comments on Russia needing to meet the responsibility of being a major power, accompanied by an unusual photo of Xi towering over Putin as the two leaders walked along. The impression that China was telling its people that it was putting Russia back into place was increased by the reporting of a joint Mongolia-Russia-China meeting with the three leaders depicted an equal footing.

Second, was the absence of any mention of any meeting or sign of an easing with Indian leader Narendra Modi, despite the two nations agreeing a ceasefire and de-escalation in the border areas prior to this SCO summit.

The first point was widely noted by Western media on the hunt for signs of even the slightest rift in China-Russia ties. The second, though all but unmentioned, will likely matter more for China’s foreign policy in the coming years. China-India relations have been poor since the border skirmish of May 2020 ended the hitherto relaxed relations between Xi and Narendra Modi. Although Xi met a dozen leaders during his Central Asian trip, India’s prime minister was not among them.

1. Seeking Truth publishes Xi article

坚持和发展中国特色社会主义要一以贯之

Consistently uphold and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics

Date of first publication: 15 September 2022

Article usage: 35%

Article source: Xinhua News Agency

Length: 1,149 characters / 791 words

9月16日出版的第18期《求是》杂志将发表中共中央总书记、国家主席、中央军委主席习近平的重要文章《坚持和发展中国特色社会主义要一以贯之》。 Full article

The year’s 18th issue of “Seeking Truth”, to be published on September 16, will feature an important article by Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, State President and Chairman of the Central Military Commission, titled “Consistently insist on and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics”. Machine translation of full article

2. Xi meets Putin and Khurelsukh

习近平出席中俄蒙元首第六次会晤

Xi Jinping attends sixth meeting of the heads of state of China, Russia and Mongolia

Date of first publication: 15 September 2022

Article usage: 33%

Article source: Xinhua News Agency

Length: 871 characters / 605 words

当地时间15日下午，国家主席习近平在撒马尔罕国宾馆同俄罗斯总统普京、蒙古国总统呼日勒苏赫举行中俄蒙三国元首第六次会晤。 Full article

On the afternoon of September 15 local time, President Xi Jinping held a China-Russia-Mongolia meeting with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and Mongolia’s President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh at the Samarkand State Guest House, the sixth meeting of the three heads of state. Machine translation of full article

3. Xi visits Kazakhstan

习近平对哈萨克斯坦共和国进行国事访问

Xi Jinping pays state visit to Kazakhstan

Date of first publication: 14 September 2022

Article usage: 33%

Article source: Xinhua News Agency

Length: 2,244 characters / 1,526 words

当地时间9月14日下午，国家主席习近平乘专机抵达努尔苏丹，开始对哈萨克斯坦共和国进行国事访问。 Full article

On the afternoon of September 14, local time, President Xi Jinping arrived in Nur-Sultan by special plane and started his state visit to the Republic of Kazakhstan. Machine translation of full article

4. Xi attends SCO meeting

习近平出席上海合作组织成员国元首理事会第二十二次会议并发表重要讲话

Xi Jinping attends 22nd meeting of Council of Heads of State of SCO Member States, delivers important speech

Date of first publication: 16 September 2022

Article usage: 33%

Article source: Xinhua News Agency

Length: 2,357 characters / 1,502 words

当地时间9月16日，国家主席习近平在撒马尔罕国际会议中心出席上海合作组织成员国元首理事会第二十二次会议。 Full article

On September 16, local time, President Xi Jinping attended the 22nd meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization at the Samarkand International Conference Center. Machine translation of full article

5. Xi meets Putin

习近平会见俄罗斯总统普京

Xi Jinping meets Russia’s President Vladimir Putin

Date of first publication: 15 September 2022

Article usage: 33%

Article source: Xinhua News Agency

Length: 721 characters / 497 words

当地时间15日下午，国家主席习近平在撒马尔罕国宾馆同俄罗斯总统普京举行双边会见，就中俄关系和共同关心的国际和地区问题交换意见。 Full article

On the afternoon of September 15, local time, President Xi Jinping held a bilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Samarkand State Guest House, exchanging views on regional issues. Machine translation of full article

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