Geo-Strategic Trend - 68. page

On December 15, the International Liaison Department of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) held a meeting with European and American Marxist parties through a video conference. Representatives of more than 20 European and American Marxist political parties and left-wing political organizations from Spain, Britain, the United States and other countries attended the meeting.

Song Tao, head of CCP’s International Liaison Department, said, “The CCP is willing to strengthen exchanges with Marxist parties around the world and promote the continuous development of the world socialist cause.”  Song also relayed the remarks of Xi Jinping on the CCP’s concept of democracy.

According to the official People’s Daily, leaders of European and American Marxist parties spoke highly of the great developmental achievements that China has made under the leadership of Xi Jinping’s CCP Central Committee, and they endorsed Xi’s idea of democracy. They also expressed their willingness to strengthen cooperation with the CCP, uphold multilateralism, and jointly promote the cause of world socialism.

Source: People’s Daily, December 17, 2021
http://paper.people.com.cn/rmrb/html/2021-12/17/nw.D110000renmrb_20211217_7-03.htm

Radio France Internationale (RFI) Chinese Edition recently reported that, according to officials from the Iraqi Ministry of Construction and Housing, Iraq needs to build a total of 8,000 schools “to fill the gap in the education field.” Iraq’s payment method will be petroleum products. Not long ago, with the Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Kazimi as a witness, Iraq signed 15 agreements with two Chinese companies. China Power Construction Group will build 679 schools, and Sinotech will build 321 schools. These school construction projects are part of the cooperation framework agreement between the governments of China and Iraq. The first batch of school buildings will start soon and will be delivered in one year. It will take two years to complete the construction of all 1,000 schools. This is the number of schools built in the first stage. Around 3,000 schools are expected to be built in the second stage, and 4,000 schools will be built in the final stage. There are 40 million people in Iraq. Of those, nearly 3.2 million school-age children are out of school. Iraq is a country with extremely rich energy reserves, but after decades of the war and corruption that has plagued the country, its infrastructure is declining.

Source: RFI Chinese, December 19, 2021
https://rfi.my/80uM

China News recently reported that eight people, including Jimmy Lai, the founder of the newspaper Apple Daily, and former members of the Hong Kong Legislative Council Li Cheuk-yan and Wu Chi-wai, were sentenced to from four to fourteen months of jail time. They were sentenced because, last year, they participated in and incited others to participate in an illegal assembly. According to BBC Chinese, the judge stated that last year’s June 4th rally had not been approved due to Covid-19, but the defendants ignored the risk of virus transmission and called on citizens to gather in Victoria Park. Ultimately, there was no large-scale transmission resulting from that gathering. Jimmy Lai submitted a personal letter of explanation. He reiterated that he did not participate in the June 4th Victoria Park rally last year. He only held a candle in front of reporters to remind everyone to remember that there was a group of young men and women in Tiananmen Square 31 years ago who sacrificed their lives for truth and justice. He also said that if he had been guilty of mourning the June Fourth Movement, he would be happy to be punished and share the responsibility of seeking truth and justice for the souls of the dead.

Sources:
(1) China News, December 13, 2021
http://www.chinanews.com.cn/ga/2021/12-13/9628861.shtml
(2) BBC Chinese, December 13, 2021
https://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp/chinese-news-59635861

Singapore’s primary Chinese language newspaper Lianhe Zaobao recently reported that Li Chenggang, China’s ambassador to the World Trade Organization (WTO), said that China will remain a developing country in the WTO, but will give up some of its preferential treatment for developing countries. This is a major change for China’s trading partners. Li said that, due to some persistent poverty issues, China still considers itself a developing country, but China will seek to divest itself in some areas such as agriculture and financial services. He also said that, as a major fishing country, China may waive all WTO exemptions. WTO members, including the United States, Australia, and Japan, criticized China in a WTO trade assessment in October, pointing out that China provides subsidies to state-owned enterprises. That violates the conditions under which China joined the WTO in 2001. However, Li argued that, in terms of lowering tariff rates and opening up the service industry, it has surpassed some WTO accession standards. He refused to disclose when and under what conditions China will completely abandon its position as a developing country. As the world’s second largest economy, China faces increasing criticism from its trading partners on the issue of China’s status as a developing country.

Source: Lianhe Zaobao, December 11, 2021
https://www.zaobao.com.sg/realtime/china/story20211211-1222073