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The CCP Held a High-Profile National Religious Work Conference
From December 3rd to 4th, the National Conference on Religious Work was held in Beijing. Xi Jinping gave a key speech at the meeting. Many key officials of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) attended the meeting, including all Politburo Standing Committee members, Politburo members, Secretaries of the CCP Central Secretariat, officials of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, State Council members, the President of the Supreme People’s Court, the President of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, top officials from the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, top CCP provincial officials in charge religious work, city party heads from key cities in each province, top officials at the CCP Central Departments, the state’s ministries, and the Central Military Commission organs.
Xi Jinping stressed the party’s leadership over religions and the need to develop a group of CCP officials who are experts on Marxist theories and capable of doing religious control work.
Source: China Government Site, December 4, 2021
http://www.gov.cn/xinwen/2021-12/04/content_5655877.htm
China’s Ministry of Finance Supported Zhejiang Province’s Common Prosperity Moves
This summer, Xi Jinping introduced the concept of “Common Prosperity.” The Chinese media have since hotly discussed the “Third Distribution.” It would involve distributing wealth from the rich to the poor via donations from the rich. In China, this could be a donation the authorities enforced- instead of a voluntary donation. Zhejiang Provincial Party Secretary Yuan Jiajun led the provincial leaders to donate a day’s worth of wages on September 3, to echo the call for the “Third Distribution.”
Xinhua reported that, recently, the Ministry of Finance published “The Implementation Plan to Support Zhejiang Province as a Provincial Example to Explore, Innovate, and Develop Fiscal Policies to Promote Common Prosperity.” This plan is the first plan to use fiscal policies to promote common prosperity. The plan fully intends to leverage the fiscal policies and the “Second Distribution” (via taxation) function; to adjust and influence the “First Distribution” and the “Third Distribution.”
Source: Xinhua, December 1, 2021
http://www.news.cn/fortune/2021-12/01/c_1128118905.htm
Chinese Companies Are Mining Lithium and Rare Earths in Afghanistan
Liberty Times reported that at least 20 Chinese companies, both state-owned and privately-owned, have inquired about lithium projects in Afghanistan. Global Times reported that, currently, five Chinese companies have stationed representatives in Afghanistan. They are conducting site inspections in order to develop lithium projects.
Afghanistan has large untapped reserves of copper, iron, zinc, lithium, and rare earths. These reserves are valued at more than $1 trillion.
Source: Liberty Times, November 24, 2021
https://ec.ltn.com.tw/article/breakingnews/3746854
China Released a White Paper called, “China: a Democracy That Works”
The United States will hold its first Summit for Democracy on December 9 and 10. It invited 110 countries, citizen groups, and individuals to attend. Taiwan was invited – not President Tsai Ing-wen, but Hsiao Mei-chin, Taiwan’s Representative to the U.S. and Councilor Tang Feng will attend. China and Russia were not invited.
On December 4, China’s State Council Information Office released a White Paper “China: Democracy That Works” and held a press conference.
The White Paper called China’s development a “whole process people’s democracy.” “China’s development of this whole-process people’s democracy not only has complete systematic procedures, but also has complete participation. … It makes each part and each aspect of the country’s political life and social life reflect the people’s will and to listen to the people’s voice. It effectively prevents the phenomena of making empty promises (to please voters) at the time of election, but without any follow up after the election.” (Note: the last sentence was a criticism of the Western style of democracy.)
Xi Jinping first brought up the term “whole process democracy” when he visited Shanghai on November 2, 2019. It seemed that Xi was trying to define “China’s democracy,” which had been criticized as a “hollow slogan.”
China’s White Paper also stressed the diversity of democracy – “There are multiple ways to implement democracy and it can’t be seen as one-size-fits-all.” “Assessing the political systems of other countries against a single yardstick and forcing other countries to copy a single country’s political structure and democracy model are in themselves undemocratic. It does not have people’s support and is doomed to fail.”
Foreign reporters asked whether “China and the U.S. are in a fight for the discourse power of democracy” since China published this democracy White Paper right before the U.S. Summit for Democracy.
Xu Lin, Deputy Minister of the Chinese Communist Party’s Propaganda Department and Director of the State Council’s Information Office responded by blaming the U.S. for imposing its standard for democracy on other countries and creating a mess in its own domestic management while still pointing fingers at other countries.
Source: BBC, December 4, 2021
https://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp/chinese-news-59532643
African Countries Are Moving Away from Communist China
The Eighth Forum on China–Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) took place in Dakar, Senegal, on September 29 and 30. Epoch Times reported that this eighth conference showed indications that African countries are no longer that close to Beijing.
First, the meeting was reduced to a ministerial-level conference. Beijing sent Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Commerce Minister Wang Wentao to the meeting. Xi Jinping also gave an on-line speech. The previous time, 40 Presidents, 10 Prime Ministers, and one Vice President from the African countries, as well as the President of the African Union Commission, attended the Seventh FOCAC in Beijing.
Second, several countries have started separating themselves from Beijing. The Republic of Congo took its mine development rights back from China. The reason was that China failed to deliver on many large contracts that it signed with the Congo, including 31 hospitals and 2 universities.
There was a rumor earlier this year that Kenya would give its port of Mombasa as collateral to Beijing to borrow money from China for rail construction. However, more recently, the Kenyan government stated that the port of Mombasa would not fall into the hands of Beijing even if it defaulted on its repayment.
Uganda, however, after participating in the Communist China’s “Belt and Road Initiative” program, is in danger of losing control of its only international airport to Beijing because of its inability to repay a huge loan or to renegotiate the loan agreement with the lender.
Sources:
1. Epoch Times, November 30, 2021
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/21/11/30/n13408492.htm
2. China’s Official Web Site, “International Society Discussed Sino-African Cooperation, November 30, 2021.
http://news.china.com.cn/txt/2021-11/30/content_77902794.htm
Taiwan: Voice of China Commented on Far Eastern Group’s Statement of “Anti-Taiwan Independence”
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) fined Taiwan’s Far Eastern Group in the amount of US$5.7 million, blaming it for supporting “Taiwan Independence” activists. On November 29, the Far Eastern Group’s Chairman Xu Xudong yielded to the CCP and published a statement on Taiwan media, expressing an “anti-Taiwan Independence” position and supporting the “One China” principle.
China ‘s Media Group, also known as the Voice of China, published a commentary stating that the Far Eastern Group’s statement was not enough. “Regarding Xu Xudong’s expression, we heard his words, but more importantly, we need to see his actions.”
“If the Taiwan Far Eastern Group wants the sincere recognition of compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, it must completely abandon the illusion of being a ‘two-faced person.’ It must stop supporting the ‘Taiwan Independence’ elements, and avoid making itself an accomplice to ‘Taiwan Independence’ again. Only in this way can people believe that Xu Xudong’s statement is really in support of the ‘One China’ principle, rather than a temporary measure to protect his interests in the mainland.”
“Regarding Xu Xudong’s statement, we focus more on the future and want to see their actions. On the one hand, they should really stop political donations to the ‘Taiwan Independence’ elements, to combat the ‘independence’ from the origin. Any ‘two-faced’ behavior cannot escape the sharp eyes of people on both sides of the Strait. On the other hand, they should also exert their influence to promote cross-strait exchanges actively and lead more Taiwanese enterprises operating in the mainland resolutely to oppose the Democratic Progressive Party authorities’ despicable tactics of ‘decoupling’ the two sides…”
Related postings on Chinascope:
Source: CCTV, November 30, 2021
https://content-static.cctvnews.cctv.com/snow-book/index.html?item_id=3772629037891974856&t=1638291827318&toc_style_id=feeds_default&share_to=wechat&track_id=da4afb72-df2f-4878-bb35-ba367c27915c
Taiwan: The Netherland, France, and Ireland Supported Taiwan
After China retaliated against Lithuania for opening the Taiwan Representative Office, a de facto embassy in Lithuania, both the Netherlands and France took actions to support Taiwan in boosting its international status.
On November 23, the Dutch House of Representatives passed a motion with an overwhelming vote of 149 to 1, calling on the Dutch government and countries with similar ideas jointly to study the feasibility of supporting Taiwan’s participation in Interpol’s General Assembly.
On November 30, the Dutch House of Representatives passed two motions in support of Taiwan. Both actions happened on the same day. In the first, it was120 votes to 30 to call on the Dutch government not to accept the Chinese Communist Party’s unilateral change of the status quo in the Taiwan Strait, and 117 votes to 33 to urge the European Union to support Lithuania in strengthening its relations with Taiwan.
On November 30, the French National Assembly passed a non-binding cross-party resolution with a vote of 39 to 2, to support France’s continued diplomatic steps to support Taiwan’s participation in the work of international organizations, and in particular of the WHO.
On December 1, The Irish Senate passed without dissent a resolution condemning China for human rights abuses, supporting Taiwan’s participation in international organizations, and reaffirmed that reunification between China and Taiwan must not be sought by force. It also called on the Irish government to maintain its strong support for the personal and political liberties of the people of Taiwan, to increase its interaction with the government and people of Taiwan, including through the use of the EU Representative Office in Taiwan.
Sources:
1. Radio France International, November 23, 2021
https://www.rfi.fr/cn/国际/20211123-149票对1票-荷兰众院力挺台湾参与国际刑警组织
2. Epoch Times, December 1, 2021
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/21/12/1/n13409780.htm
3. Radio France International, November 30, 2021
https://www.rfi.fr/cn/法国/20211130-法国议会决议支持台湾参与重要国际组织
4. Central News Agency, December 2, 2021
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/aipl/202112020018.aspx