Government/Politics

The Chinese Communist Party established a “Social Work Department” at the 20th National Party Congress. Xinhua News Agency reported that a “Conference of National Party Social Work Department Heads” was held in Beijing on February 22. According to the meeting’s announcement, all provinces have established “Party Committee’s Social Work Departments” and have begun to comprehensively fulfill their responsibilities.

A major responsibility of the Social Work Department is to “lead Party development at the grassroots governance level.” In 2024, “national social work” activities will focus on “developing and enhancing the grassroots-level governance.” It will also “ensure the Party’s comprehensive leadership over industry associations and chambers of commerce, and strengthen the Party work at national industry associations and chambers of commerce.” The plan is to make “solid progress on Party development in mixed-ownership enterprises, private enterprises, new economic organizations, new social organizations, and new employment groups,” and also to “improve the volunteer service system.”

Source: Xinhua, February 22, 2024
http://www.news.cn/politics/20240222/c7ec36396b7740acaaa8b3df2d356452/c.html

Beijing recently held the China Development Forum, where Xi Jinping met in person with representatives of  foreign companies on March 27th and showed an open attitude toward those companies. On March 28th, however, the Chinese Ministry of State Security released a short film warning the Chinese people to be vigilant about foreign consulting companies’ potential theft of sensitive information in key areas.

The ministry’s WeChat account posted the film under the title “Beware! ‘Secret’ Investigations Conceal National Security Risks.” The film charged that, in recent years, “foreign espionage and intelligence agencies” have conducted espionage operations, and that the movie was based on real cases.

The movie lasts about 8 minutes and 22 seconds and is divided into 4 segments for broadcast. It reveals how “foreign espionage and intelligence agencies” instructed “overseas investigative consulting companies” to take advantage when Chinese companies seek overseas investment. These consulting companies conduct comprehensive investigations on the company to “obtain core data and national secrets” resulting in “losses to national security and interests.” They use methods such as enticing company personnel to answer sensitive questions, accessing sensitive information beyond the scope of their work, and filming sensitive files related to core products.

The Ministry of State Security reminded the Chinese people about China’s “Counter-Espionage Law” and its “Regulations on Management of Foreign-Related Investigations,” emphasizing that “national security is everyone’s responsibility.” Citizens who discover “suspicious situations that endanger national security” should immediately call to make a report.

Source: Central News Agency (Taiwan), March 28, 2024
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202403280311.aspx

Recently, the State Council of China issued an “Action Plan for Promotion of Large-Scale Equipment Renewal and Trade-In of Consumer Goods” (the “Action Plan”). The Action Plan aims to implement the decisions of the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Economic Work Conference and the Fourth meeting of the Central Finance and Economic Committee.

The Action Plan proposes that, by 2027, equipment investment should increase by more than 25% over 2023 levels in the fields of industry, agriculture, construction, transportation, education, cultural tourism, and medical care. The adoption rate of digital R&D tools and the Computer Numerical Control (CNC) rate of key processes at large-scale industrial enterprises should exceed 90 percent and 75 percent, respectively. Compared with 2023 levels, the rate at which scrapped cars are recycled will double, sales of second-hand cars will increase by 45 percent, and the rate at which scrapped household appliances are recycled will increase by 30 percent.

The “Action Plan” specifies 20 key tasks in five categories. The five categories are:

1. Enable equipment renewal: Promote equipment renewal and transformation in key industries, accelerate equipment renewal in construction and infrastructure projects, support the renewal of transportation equipment and old agricultural machinery, and improve equipment used in the fields of education, cultural tourism, and medicine.
2. Implement trade-ins for consumer goods: Enable trade-ins of old cars and household appliances, promoting the use of new consumer goods for home renovation.
3. Recycle and reuse: Improve the network for recycling of used or scrapped products and equipment.
4. Improve standards: Accelerate improvement standards for energy consumption, emissions, and other technical standards, including technical standards for products.
5. Strengthen policy support: Increase fiscal policy support, improve tax support policies, optimize financial support, and strengthen support of innovation.

Source: People’s Daily, March 14, 2024
http://politics.people.com.cn/n1/2024/0314/c1001-40195328.html

China’s economic slowdown has adversely impacted government fiscal revenues. According to Taiwan’s Central News Agency, there are reports of salary cuts and clawbacks of government allowances. Starting in February, Inner Mongolia, Hunan, and Beijing successively introduced concrete “belt tightening” measures. These measures dictate that, when possible, old office furniture, computers, official vehicles, and other items should be repaired for continued use rather than being replaced.

Beijing took the lead in implementing such measures, announcing 19 initiatives in February. The measures include a directive to fully utilize public property warehouses for resource allocation, aiming to achieve a 50% year-on-year increase in quantity and transfer of stockpiled assets. Other directives include optimizing the use of relocated housing and land as well as improving the efficiency of official vehicle usage.

On March 8th, Hunan province announced 10 specific belt-tightening measures covering office space, official vehicles, receptions, and energy conservation by public institutions. Notably, the measures include a 40% reduction in office maintenance fees, capping property service costs at national standards and budgeted amounts. Additionally, official vehicles can only be replaced after 8 years of use and over 250,000 km driven (provided they remain serviceable).

In mid-March, Inner Mongolia unveiled a multi-part belt-tightening plan including measures for strict budget enforcement, regulation of government procurement, control over certain expenditure categories, lowering of operating costs, promotion institutional frugality, and strengthening of fixed asset management. Projects with favorable performance evaluations are to receive priority funding, while underperforming projects may face budget cuts. The plan emphasizes repair and reuse of office equipment when possible as well as a 20% reduction in external rentals by the local government.

China’s annual central economic meeting in December 2023 called on party and government bodies to “get used to belt tightening.” The Chinese Finance Minister underscored the necessity of fully implementing this requirement, stating “Any money that can be saved should be saved, and not a single cent should be spent unnecessarily. Financial resources should be concentrated on major undertakings.”

Source: Central News Agency (Taiwan), March 24, 2024
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202403240184.aspx