China

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Re: China

Post by blindpig » Sat Oct 16, 2021 2:31 pm

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Keith Lamb: Ecological civilization – there is no other way

This article by Keith Lamb in CGTN analyses Xi Jinping’s speech at the Conference of the Parties (COP15) to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity in Kunming, Yunnan, and highlights the importance of the ‘ecological civilization’ concept. The author urges the West to drop its ‘clash of civilizations’ propaganda and to join with China and the rest of the world in building what Xi refers to as ‘a shared future for all life on Earth’.

At the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP15) to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Kunming, southwest China’s Yunnan Province, Chinese President Xi Jinping gave a keynote speech that once again surpassed the outdated clash of civilizations narrative. Instead, by talking about “building a community of all life on Earth,” he spread the message of a common destiny of mankind where protecting biodiversity, sustainable development and environmental protection are a shared global responsibility.

In his speech, Xi more than once mentioned the concept of ecological civilization, which has become one of China’s key developmental principles. As China reflected on its rapid development, which came at the cost of severe environmental degradation, the urgency of building an ecological civilization became increasingly acute.

China realized that the nature of unfettered market forces, championed by the West, would not solve China’s problems, and the environmental degradation it brought would eventually lead to de-development, as the ecological base, in essence, is the underlying foundation for long-term development and humanity itself. Consequently, China witnessed the rapid greening of urban areas, and grey skies were replaced by blue ones; China continues to make efforts to cut out coal power and now leads the world in green technology. Furthermore, China has planted an unprecedented number of trees and has been successful in greening its deserts.

However, while the concept of an ecological civilization is a reaction to the negative impacts of China’s own market reforms, where it is increasingly noted that the wants of capital are diametrically opposed to a clean environment and as a consequence human life itself, it is meaningless without ecological civilization being a common global dream for all. This is because the ecological commons of the planet are collectively shared and, as such, there can be no clean sustainable China without a clean sustainable Earth.

With this in mind, Xi’s remarks stressing that ecological civilization is about “building a shared future for all life on Earth” represents China’s push to bind its clean developmental dream to a dream for all of humanity. This message of building an ecological civilization is a breath of fresh air when contrasting it to the constant “clash of civilizations” propaganda from the U.S.-led West, where difference outside of the liberal form is delineated as an enemy to be destroyed through war if necessary. These wars not only hinder our ability to tackle our shared environmental responsibilities, which acts as the true universal and human right that all civilizations can agree on, they also wreak havoc on the environment itself. Simply put, a clash of civilizations means a collapse of civilization.

For worldwide ecological civilizations to take form, the old neoliberal development model and its ideology need to be changed. Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, when talking about privatization and unfettered free market capital, said “there’s no alternative.” However, she was wrong. Neoliberalism, which shipped industry to Asia, for the sake of profit, merely shifted pollution to another part of our shared Earth. As such, Thatcher’s “no alternative” was the rallying call to the selfish interests of private capital to make a profit for the few rather than protect life for all. Actually, the “no alternative” mantra applies to escaping the current neoliberal developmental form by building in its place a development pattern characterized by a sustainable holistic relationship between man and nature.

Some will disagree believing that the selfish drive of capital, which puts profits before people and the environment, is somehow a natural occurrence that brings us the apex of human civilization. However, anyone who believes this is someone who wishes collective calamity on the environment and humanity. An ecological civilization where, as Xi says, we must “start a new journey of high-quality development for humanity” is not an unattainable Utopian dream, but one that is representative of the basic survival instinct of humanity, which is irrefutably a collective species with collective interests.

There simply is no other way. We can either choose the “death cult,” inherent within the capitalist mode of production, where war and the eventual destruction of the biosphere, as well as civilization, are acceptable results of a “human nature” characterized by avarice, and winner takes all, or we can consciously choose to work for the greater collective and global democratic good by seeing a sound ecology as “not just a natural asset, but also an economic asset.”

For this to be achieved, we firstly need global planning. Of course, the CBD represents part of this planning process. Secondly, we need leadership that is able to enforce this collective planning on a long-term basis. This leadership cannot be paid and controlled by the aforementioned elites who profit from pollution. This leadership must be able to counter the aforementioned “death cult” ideology and replace their nightmarish vision with a holistic dream that can motivate human civilizations onto a new balanced developmental model. Even more important is that this leadership must be able to command sufficient resources for this grand plan to save the Earth from impending environmental disaster.

https://socialistchina.org/2021/10/13/k ... other-way/

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Biodiversity Conference in China Adopts Kunming Declaration

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“This week, environment officials, diplomats and other observers from around the world gathered online, and a small group assembled in person in Kunming, China, for the meeting, the 15th United Nations biodiversity conference.” | Photo: Twitter @AugieEnviro

Published 14 October 2021

The purpose of the declaration is to strengthen the protection of global biodiversity threatened by climate change.


The Biodiversity Conference of the United Nations (UN), known as COP15, was approved on Wednesday, at the end of its high-level session, the Kunming Declaration, by which participants commit to the implementation of mechanisms to strengthen the protection of biodiversity.

The document takes its name from the Chinese city where COP15 is being held, the capital of the southwestern province of Yunnan.

Among the commitments included in the document is the strengthening of national environmental laws and their enforcement to protect biodiversity and the reform or elimination of subsidies and other incentives (to finance actions) that are harmful to biodiversity.

It also includes a pledge to increase actions to reduce the adverse effects of human activities on the ocean and implement an ecosystem-friendly strategy to address biodiversity loss.

The signatory countries, more than 190, also commit to restoring degraded ecosystems provided that such methods do not contradict priority actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions urgently.


The declaration states that these efforts aim to ensure that biodiversity is on the road to recovery by 2030 at the latest. The overall goal is “living in harmony with nature” by 2050, but no details were provided.

In a special mention of post-pandemic recovery, the signatories pledge that the recovery policies of their respective countries will contribute to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.

With the rate of loss of animal and plant species now the highest in ten million years, politicians, scientists, and experts have been trying to lay the groundwork for a new pact to save biodiversity.

The summit is being held until next Friday and virtually, is the first part of the 15th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biodiversity.

The second part is expected to be held in person in the same city between April 25 and May 8, 2022.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Bio ... -0022.html
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Re: China

Post by blindpig » Fri Oct 22, 2021 2:21 pm

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John Riddell: Effort for social equality in China arouses concern on Wall Street
We are very pleased to republish this insightful piece by the Canadian Marxist John Riddell, general editor of the Communist Publishing Project. The article, originally posted on the author’s blog, assesses the significance of ‘common prosperity’ and the anxiety it has induced among the imperialist ruling classes. John calls on socialists worldwide to oppose the evolving New Cold War and to demonstrate solidarity with China.
Addressing the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Committee on 17 August 2021, Xi Jinping, president of the Chinese People’s Republic, stressed the need for “common prosperity” as a fundamental requirement of socialism.[1] The Central Committee responded by calling on high-income individuals and businesses to “give back more to society.”[2]

Big-businesses media in the West have reacted to this development with expressions of concern. “The End of a ‘Gilded Age’: China is Bringing Business to Heel,” declared A New York Times headline. “Where once executives had a green light to grow at any cost,” the Times continued, “officials now want to dictate which industries boom, which ones bust.”[3]

From a capitalist viewpoint, it’s a troubling prospect. A study by the Brookings Institute, a U.S.-based corporate brain trust, warned darkly that the “common prosperity” policy could lead to a possible $1 trillion wipe-out of Chinese corporate market values.[4] In fact, stock markets in the People’s Republic of have remained stable.

According to Brookings, the government’s new regulatory measures provoked a public debate within China between “those favoring bold measures” and “more establishment-minded advocates” who support the nurturing of “innovation and entrepreneurship.”

Brookings highlighted the role of a “previously low-profile blogger” in China, Li Guangman, who called for a “profound revolution” to correct the inequalities capitalism has wrought.” According to Brookings, Li’s essay went viral and “was republished online by party and state-controlled media.”[5]

China’s commitment to “common prosperity” follows on two major social mobilizations aiming to put this principle into practice. Firstly, a massive campaign to end “extreme poverty,” more ambitious than any similar effort in world history, succeeded in lifting the living standards of hundreds of millions of Chinese citizens, assuring that each individual had access to food, shelter, clothing, basic medical care, and education.

In February 2021, China reported the achievement of these ambitious goals. The gains were made in large part through the efforts of a host of Chinese revolutionary cadres who spent months in the villages helping to work out individualized solutions for impoverished residents.

Even as the anti-poverty campaign was wrapping up, China was undertaking a new collective effort – this time to combat the Covid-19 pandemic. The People’s Republic has now become a unique pandemic-free zone embracing one-fifth of humankind.

These gains have been consolidated in the teeth of an ominous U.S.-led “cold war” marked by unprovoked trade, diplomatic, and military reprisals against China. China’s recent social achievements were recently evaluated by a global webinar of the International Manifesto Group, with participation of a prominent Chinese Marxist.[6]

China’s economic gains have been achieved though an economy in which capitalist market relations play a significant role – albeit under close government direction. Some observers within the international Left have publicized the social conflicts that arise in this environment. A comment received recently by this blog, for example, highlights the 2018 protest of workers at Jasic Technologies, which employs about a thousand workers at several locations in China. According to this submission, the response of state bureaucrats and repressive forces was to “fire the workers, beat the workers, jail their leaders and outlaw the various political groups” that began to form to support them.

This blog is not in a position to pass judgment on the events at Jasic. However, reports from a variety of sources indicate that social protests in China, often related to workplace relations, are relatively frequent.[7] Surely this is a testimony to the health of Chinese society. China’s 300-million-member trade unions are sometimes criticized as lacking independence. Still, the scope of labor representation in China contrasts favourably with the situation in the United States, where 90% of workers have no form of union whatsoever and labour protests are correspondingly infrequent.

The comment received by my blog went on to call on the Chinese proletariat “to sweep away the bureaucratic-military and capitalist classes which have sold their labor power by the tens of millions to foreign imperialists.” It is hard to find evidence that could lend credence to this projection. The population of China is on the Internet down to the village level. The country enjoys a culture of intense online discussion. Despite this fact, we do not see many reports of revolutionary anti-government groups in China. Political refugees from China are relatively few. The reported level of incarceration in China is no higher than that in Canada and only one-fifth of that in the United States.

The people of China travel freely: 166 million tourists left the country in 2019; more than 99% returned home. In recent years there have been close to 400,000 students from China studying in the United States. Most of them, after completing their education, return home. The Washington Post reports that there are fewer Chinese students in the U.S. these days, quoting a student from Hangzhou who abandoned his spot at the elite New York University: “America may be good, but it’s not too friendly to us nowadays,”

Eighteen months ago, I wrote on this blog that, given the prevalence of market relations in the Chinese economy, “the government, whatever its intentions, cannot avoid accountability to capital.” Social production, I added, “is shaped by capitalist ownership and exploitation, organized to maximize corporate profit and to withstand the challenge of cutthroat global competition and worker contestation. Predominantly capitalist production generates the all-too-familiar evils of inequality, alienation, and exclusion.”

In retrospect, I find that this statement gives insufficient weight to the social context in China or to prevailing class relations. Yes, Chinese society is marked by the contradiction between the capitalist sector of its economy and the needs of the people, between the goals of a handful of billionaires and those of a multitude of workers. But in China – unlike in the imperialist countries – the billionaires do not give instructions to the government. On the contrary, the government gives instructions to the capitalists.[8]

Elsewhere in my 2020 article, I described social inequality in China with reference to the “GINI” coefficient:

By the “Gini” measure (2016-17), social inequality in China (38.5), although less than in the U.S. (41.4), is considerably greater than in Canada (33.8).

Here it should be noted that the largest factor causing social inequality in China is the gulf between economic conditions in the city and those in the countryside. This factor looms large among most peoples emerging from colonial oppression. In advanced capitalist countries such as the United States and Canada, this economic divide was largely overcome many decades ago. In China, the campaign against extreme poverty has brought massive resources to bear to reduce this gap.

Another sentence in my article provides a better guide:

“Chinese society today rests on the heritage of a great socialist revolution 75 years ago … deepened and developed by the efforts of working people and the revolutionary government they established.”

Surely what is most significant about China today is the degree to which, through its great revolution and subsequently, it has made headway in resisting the dehumanizing tendencies of colonialism and capitalism.

As for the longer term outlook, there is much discussion today among China specialists in mainstream Western media regarding the challenges they say China will soon face in terms of demographic distortions, ecological barriers, and the structure of its work force. While these issues are important, China’s future will surely be decisively influenced by the evolution of global politics. We must take warning here from recent revelations that former U.S. President Donald Trump, during the final weeks of his presidency, spoke of launching an unprovoked nuclear attack on China.

Trump’s threats were recently revealed by Mark Milley, then chief of staff of the U.S. armed forces. The U.S. general took the danger sufficiently seriously to twice inform his counterpart in China that he would not permit the U.S. president to launch a nuclear strike on the People’s Republic of China.

All indications are that China will not be left in peace to develop socialism.

Socialists worldwide need to actively oppose the threats against China. In so doing we can help ensure that the Chinese people can freely choose among the many possible paths of development now open to them. Even more, solidarity with China is urgently needed to help protect the planet as a whole from nuclear and climate disaster.

China Solidarity Groups

The Canada China Council for Cooperation and Development seeks to promote a “positive and mutually beneficial relationship” with the People’s Republic of China.
The Qiao Collective is “a diaspora Chinese media collective challenging U.S. aggression on China.”
Friends of Socialist China is a platform “based on supporting the People’s Republic of China and promoting understanding of Chinese socialism.”
Notes
[1]. For a review of how the concept of “common prosperity” has been utilized during the history of the Peoples Republic of China, see Mick Dunford, “On Common Prosperity.”

[2]. Ryan Hass, “Assessing China’s ‘Common Prosperity’ Campaign,” at bookings.edu. Brookings also reported major donations by leading Chinese private corporations to support the “Common Prosperity” vision, including a donation equivalent to US $15.5 billion from technology giant Alibaba.

[3]. Paul Mozur in the New York Times, 5 October 2021.

[4]. The Brookings warning was based on an article in Wall Street Journal published on 5 August 2021, that is, prior to the “Common Prosperity” announcement. The WSJ article is concealed by a corporate firewall.

[5]. Brookings, op. cit.

[6]. See “State Capitalism or Market Socialism: The Social Character of the People’s Republic of China,” organized by the International Manifesto Group, of which I am a member.

[7]. For a critical report on workplace conflicts in China see China Labor Watch.

[8]. I owe this observation to Carlos Martínez.

https://socialistchina.org/2021/10/21/j ... ll-street/

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Hong Kong has strong new powers to fight wildlife crime

By Sophie Le Clue and Christine Loh | China Daily Global | Updated: 2021-10-21 08:58
On Aug 18, a major change took place in Hong Kong without much fanfare. The world should take note, as it could have a huge impact on fighting crime.

Wildlife crimes can now be treated among the most serious crimes in Hong Kong. The city's legislature incorporated wildlife crimes, including trafficking, into the Organized and Serious Crimes Ordinance, which is primary legislation that empowers investigation of organized crime, permits the confiscation of the proceeds of such crimes, and allows heavy sentences.

This was a major move because Hong Kong had been reticent to acknowledge that wildlife traffickers use the city as a strategic hub to serve illicit markets in Asia.

The traditional way of dealing with the problem was for the authorities to seize endangered species from time to time to show that such crimes were not being ignored.

However, without the ability to use the right investigatory tools for organized crime, and the determination to root out crime syndicates managed by powerful criminals whose activities include trafficking in endangered wildlife, these criminals will remain free to continue their activities year after year.

Often, endangered species are relatively low-risk contraband that provide additional profit to running drugs and arms. The criminals don't care about species extinction or the negative effect on ecosystems.

That's why the Organized and Serious Crimes Ordinance needed to be amended to include wildlife crimes, which must be subject to the same investigative powers as other organized and serious crimes.

Hong Kong started to move in the right direction during the previous term of government when it made the momentous decision to phase out the local ivory trade, as well as introduce increased penalties for wildlife offenses.

Yet that wasn't enough, because the illegal trade continues unabated, as attested to by the volume and range of species trafficked, as well as the multiple record-breaking seizures of wildlife, such as totoaba fish maws, pangolin scales, shark fins and rhino horns.

Typically, those who were caught in wildlife trafficking were low-paid individuals, while their masters remained beyond the reach of the law. There are always other people in dire circumstances who are willing to do the bidding of gangs.

Hong Kong's investigations had repeatedly fallen short of providing sufficient evidence for prosecution even in the most significant seizures. With the more-powerful investigatory tools in the Organized and Serious Crimes Ordinance, the authorities should do better in collecting evidence to secure convictions.

The United Nations has repeatedly called on countries to strengthen wildlife crime legislation. In May, the UN Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice called for "strengthening legislation, international cooperation, capacity-building, criminal justice responses and law enforcement efforts aimed at (among other things) dealing with transnational organized crime, corruption and money laundering "linked to environmental crimes, including wildlife crimes, and the "illicit financial flows derived from such crimes, while acknowledging the need to deprive criminals of proceeds of crime".

In July, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution calling on all countries to combat wildlife trafficking, recognizing the associated economic, social and environmental impacts. This resolution urges countries to take decisive steps to prevent, combat and eradicate the illegal trade in wildlife, including strengthening local legislation. In particular, it encourages states to make trafficking in protected species of wild fauna and flora involving organized criminal groups a serious crime.

Hong Kong's amendment of the Organized and Serious Crimes Ordinance means that, unlike many jurisdictions worldwide, the city is not just moving in the right direction but is squarely on the right track. It has assumed a leadership position and is aligned with the Chinese mainland, where the punishment for wildlife trafficking could be life imprisonment.

Enforcement authorities now have access to the ordinance's strong powers. They now need to demonstrate their commitment to act. They must not continue the limited focus on "pawns", "mules" and "small fry", but must go after the bosses and gangs.

Hong Kong already works with mainland authorities on dealing with cross-border crimes. The mainland has made biodiversity preservation one of its main policy planks. There will be new targets and regulations, which can be mirrored in Hong Kong.

Furthermore, the UN directives enable Hong Kong and the mainland to work with regional neighbors, such as Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Indonesia, to stop wildlife trafficking through enhanced cooperation.

Hong Kong's secretary for security, Chris Tang Ping-keung, a seasoned policeman who commands all the city's disciplinary forces, together with the commissioner of police, Raymond Siu Chak-yee, can now bring forward a first case to show the world that Hong Kong means business in catching wildlife traffickers.

http://global.chinadaily.com.cn/a/20211 ... 703a3.html

Oh noes, them evil commies are crushing Hong Kong's freedom again! Cause the freedom to exploit humans and nature are the very essence of bourgeois 'freedom'. Hong Kong has been a nexus of the wildlife trade, legal and otherwise, for decades. The Kowloon district was particularly infamous, you could buy anything there from orangutans to snow leopards to Komodo Dragons and literally hundreds of other species besides. Past time the Chinese government got a handle on this but the Chinese are methodical and this move is a piece with the over-all integration of the imperialist outpost into the Chinese whole.

China got some deservedly bad press for some of the measures taken to jump start their economy in previous decades. In retrospect they did what they had to do to preserve their revolution and now, with that mostly accomplished they have the means to address larger issues such as climate and biodiversity. And they are grasping the issues with both hands, unlike the mealy-mouthed hypocrisy we get from the bourgeoisie here.
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: China

Post by blindpig » Fri Oct 29, 2021 1:50 pm

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Zheng Zeguang: China will honour its climate pledges – look at the changes we have already made

We are pleased to republish this article by Zheng Zeguang, Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to the United Kingdom, originally published on The Guardian website on 27 October 2021.

The article explains that a national consensus already exists in China around tackling climate change and protecting biodiversity. It details the progress China has already made in terms of climate action and its plans for the coming decades; however, Ambassador Zheng also makes the point that China, still a developing country, cannot be expected to decarbonise as quickly as the developed countries.


In the run-up to the climate conference in Glasgow, there are suggestions that without real participation and greater contribution from China, neither the conference nor the global response to climate change will get anywhere. The unstated worry is this: will China honour its pledges to reduce emissions?

This anxiety is unnecessary. Anyone who knows China well is sure that my country is serious about reducing carbon emissions and pursuing green development, and that we mean what we say.

In China, it is already a national consensus that “lucid waters and lush mountains are mountains of gold and silver” – an idea proposed by our president, Xi Jinping. Ecological conservation has been one of the “five prongs” of the overall plan for the country’s development since the 18th congress of the Communist Party of China in 2012, the other four being economic, political, social and cultural development. This means preserving the environment is written into the guidelines of China’s governing party.

Last year, my country announced that it will strive to peak carbon emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060. These commitments were reiterated last month at the UN general assembly, with the further announcement that China will not build any more coal-fired power stations overseas. Earlier this month, at the UN biodiversity conference Cop15, President Xi called for joint efforts in building a community of all life on Earth, and proposed four major policies for the preservation of biological diversity (harmony between man and nature; green transition and global sustainable development; social equity and justice; and a fair and equitable international governance system based on international law). As a result of China’s leadership, the Kunming declaration has been adopted and the Kunming biodiversity fund set up, with China committing an initial capital contribution of 1.5bn yuan (£170m). This is a testimony to the resolve and determination of China’s top leader to protect the ecosystem and tackle climate change.

Anyone familiar with China’s political system knows that once decisions and goals are set by the CPC central committee and the top leader, they are incorporated into the overall national development programme, turned into feasible action plans and delivered faithfully by local governments and competent departments. That is how the country has achieved its development miracle over the 72 years since the founding of the People’s Republic.

In terms of climate action, China met its target for 2020 ahead of schedule. By the end of last year, carbon emissions intensity had come down by 48% compared with 2005, and non-fossil fuels accounted for 16% of primary energy consumption.

China is putting in place a top-level “1+N” policy framework, across a number of sectors in the economy, to manage the journey through peak carbon to carbon neutrality. It has launched an emissions trading system and is building a nuclear power generating system, both the largest in the world. The planning and building of large-scale wind power and photovoltaic bases will be accelerated in deserts and other uninhabited areas. The first phase of such projects started recently in a smooth fashion, with an installed capacity of approximately 100 gigawatts.

We are also doing what we can to help build up climate response capabilities in developing countries. From supporting Africa in monitoring the climate system with satellite technology and building low-carbon pilot zones in south-east Asia, to introducing energy-saving bulbs to small island countries, China’s cooperation with less developed regions of the world has produced tangible results. China has also launched green action initiatives that encourage green infrastructure, energy, transportation and finance under the belt and road initiative (BRI) framework. In 2020, 57% of China’s energy investment in BRI partner countries went to renewable energy projects, up from 38% in 2019. Such efforts will continue.

Something that the international community should recognise is that, for a developing country with a population of over 1.4bn that has not completed industrialisation or urbanisation, the nationally determined contributions (NDCs) and the supporting policy measures that China has adopted voluntarily have not been easy. Developed countries with a couple of hundred years of industrialisation behind them and historical environmental debts should make bigger contributions to tackling pollution and protecting the environment, instead of pinning the responsibility on China and other developing countries.

China and the UK should work together to implement the important understanding between the leaders of the two countries, so as to strengthen the synergy between Cop15 and Cop26, contribute to a successful conference in Glasgow, and promote full and effective implementation of the Paris agreement.

All the parties need to follow the principles and requirements under the UN framework convention on climate change and the Paris agreement, and aim to complete the negotiations of the Paris rulebook (market mechanisms in article 6 in particular) and push for progress on issues of concern to developing countries, namely adaptation and financing. The principles of equity – common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities – should be upheld.

Developed countries must shoulder their obligations and take the lead in drastically cutting emissions – a key to achieving global net-zero emissions. They also need to help developing countries speed up the green and low-carbon transition by significantly increasing support to them through financing, technology and capacity building, and avoid putting up green trade barriers.

Commitments should be honoured in order to strengthen international mutual trust. The longstanding pledge by developed countries to provide $100bn a year in climate finance to developing countries by 2020 has yet to be fulfilled. All countries must keep their word rather than just pay lip service.

As countries of global influence, both China and the UK need to contribute more to human progress. There is enormous potential for cooperation on biodiversity and climate between the two, including working with the rest of the world to promote policy dialogue, coordination and practical cooperation. The people in both countries stand to gain. So will all life on Earth.

https://socialistchina.org/2021/10/29/z ... eady-made/

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China’s climate change white paper confirms its green commitments

This timely article from CGTN by Andrew Korybko, written in the lead-up to the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26), provides a summary of the newly-released white paper Responding to Climate Change: China’s Policies and Actions, issued by the State Council Information Office of China. The paper reiterates China’s strong continuing commitment to tackling climate change and its leadership in the development and deployment of renewable energy. It also emphasises that China is still a developing country and must forge a path that combines its development needs with protecting the environment. The paper reaffirms China’s adherence to the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities in which the developed countries, responsible for the bulk of cumulative greenhouse gas emissions, to move fastest towards zero-carbon.

China released its white paper on “Responding to Climate Change: China’s Policies and Actions” on October 27. The State Council Information Office (SCIO) then held a press conference discussing this very important document, with Vice Minister of Ecology and Environment Ye Min elaborating on its main points and answering the press’ questions. He emphasized how the white paper is based on Xi Jinping Thought’s concept of ecological civilization envisioning global solutions to this challenge in order to create a community of common destiny.
http://www.scio.gov.cn/zfbps/32832/Docu ... 715506.htm

It’s divided into four sections: China’s new response to climate change; the implementation of its national strategy; significant changes in its position over time; and efforts to build a fair, rational, and win-win global climate governance system. The purpose of this paper is to enhance domestic and international understanding of China’s policies and actions towards this crucial issue of existential importance for mankind. It’s the second such national white paper after the first one was published a decade ago in 2011.

Since then, Chinese President Xi Jinping has prioritized China’s campaign against climate change. Last year he made an important announcement about reaching carbon neutrality in 40 years, which influenced the white paper. This systematic review of China’s position addresses mid- and long-term policies that are built upon the progress that’s been achieved so far. The country adjusted its industrial structure, increased energy efficiency, lowered emissions, strengthened its adaptation capacity, and launched a national carbon trading market.

In fact, China’s carbon emissions per unit dropped by 48.4 percent last year compared to its 2005 levels, which exceeded its promises. Coal also provides for 56.8 percent of Chinese energy compared to 74 percent during that same period, and 15.9 percent of the country’s energy comes from non-fossil fuel sources, generating 98 million kilowatts of energy. This makes China the world leader in this industry for the sixth year in a row. By 2030, it plans to increase this to 25 percent of the total by bringing 1.2 billion kilowatts of solar and wind energy online.

These unprecedented green advancements have been made possible because of how sincerely China prioritizes its campaign against climate change. President Xi taught his compatriots that this issue is among humankind’s most important ever and inextricably tied to their country’s sustainable socioeconomic development. A community of shared future for mankind cannot be constructed without successfully dealing with this, to which end China is leading global efforts to build a fair, rational, and win-win global climate governance system.

Its expectations for COP26 in Glasgow are that negotiations will be completed on Article 6 of the aforesaid accord for creating a global carbon trading market. China’s guiding principle is one of common but differentiated responsibilities that realistically assess each country’s different levels of development and related environmental challenges. It hopes that developed countries won’t shift blame to developing ones and that true multilateralism will prevail.

On the topic of developing countries, observers shouldn’t forget that China is the world’s largest such state. It accordingly has a responsibility to help its developmental peers, which is why it pledged to support their low-carbon development and accelerate the pace of implementation for such policies. This is an ambitious but nevertheless feasible goal because China is the world’s largest clean energy equipment producer. It also decided not to build coal plans abroad anymore either, which will incentivize its partners’ energy diversification.

That being said, developing countries like China cannot implement all these policies overnight no matter how systemic and holistic their approach is. They must prepare for all risks while guaranteeing their people’s living standards during this global green transformation. For that reason, observers shouldn’t impose unrealistic timelines and standards on China and its developmental peers. They’re on a steady path to results that will take time to achieve, but gradual progress of a tangible nature is nonetheless being made and is undeniable.

All in all, China’s climate change white paper sets the global standard for transparency and vision when it comes to this urgent issue. Vice Minister Ye clearly articulated its main points during Wednesday’s press conference, which conveniently summarized this document for the masses. The world is now more aware of the pivotal role that China is playing in helping all of humanity. As long as the international community remains as committed to true multilateralism as China is, then climate change can be successfully countered.

https://socialistchina.org/2021/10/28/c ... mmitments/

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Infographic: China leads the fight against climate breakdown

With COP26 coming up, Western media and politicians are trying to shift responsibility for the future of the planet on to China, as the world’s biggest emitter (in absolute terms) of greenhouse gases.

They present a distorted and hypocritical narrative that fails to mention some important facts:

China’s per capita emissions are less than half those of the US, and its average household power consumption is 1/8th that of the US.
China is the world leader in renewable energy, with a total capacity greater than the US, EU and Britain combined.
China’s target of peak emissions by 2030 and carbon neutral by 2060 will be the fastest journey from carbon peak to carbon neutral in history.
China is making a concerted effort to reduce its reliance on coal. Coal is currently 56% of China’s power mix, down from 74% in 2005.
China’s forest coverage has increased from 12% in the early 1980s to 23% today. It has established national parks covering 230,000 km squared.
China leads the world in electric cars, trains and buses – around 99 percent of the world’s 400,000 electric buses are in China.
In summary, China is making remarkable progress on climate change. Let’s shift the focus back to the developed countries – which are responsible for the bulk of cumulative atmospheric greenhouse gas – to show leadership and provide support to the rest of the world.

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Re: China

Post by blindpig » Sun Oct 31, 2021 2:33 pm

The Truth Behind the Myth of the ‘Tiananmen Square Massacre’
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on JUNE 5, 2019
Dr. Dennis Etler

Although it has been well established that no “massacre” actually took place in Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989, the term is still widely used to refer to the violence that did occur in Beijing that fateful night. As is well documented the violence was instigated by agents provocateurs, mostly unemployed youth who were set adrift as China transitioned from the command economy of (Chairman) Mao Zhedong era to the socialist market economy of the (Chairman) Deng Xiaoping era. Mobs of these disaffected young people were set loose, firebombing PLA vehicles, incinerating their occupants and torching whole convoys of army vehicles sent to secure order in the capital. There should be no doubt in any thinking person’s mind that agents of the U.S. CIA and the Taiwan based Guomindang were involved in recruiting them. But what led to this insurrection that the West refuses to let go of?

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Protesters Set Fire to PLA Army Armoured Vehicle

After the Cultural Revolution, but before Deng’s economic reforms kicked in, China was betwixt and between, without any ideological moorings. The old ways of doing things were discredited but new approaches to organizing the economy and society were not yet fully developed. Western liberal ideas of “freedom” and “democracy” found support among a growing segment of students and intellectuals. Many others were fearful of losing the social and economic benefits, known as the “iron rice bowl” that they had become accustomed to when the state fully controlled China’s economy. The times they were fast changing. The Soviet Union and the socialist bloc were imploding and China seemed to be the last Communist state standing. If China succumbed it was unlikely that the other surviving socialist states, North Korea, Vietnam and Cuba would last much longer. Thus, the U.S. was chaffing at the bit, hoping to push China over the precipice like what was happening in the USSR and Eastern Europe. They were looking for a Chinese Gorbachev, and they found him in former Chinese Premier and then current General Secretary of the Communist Party of China Zhao Ziyang. As will be seen the U.S. was well placed to foment what would later be called a “color revolution” in China. So, let’s delve a bit deeper into the cast of characters behind the scenes of what would eventually be called the ‘Tiananmen Square Massacre.’

James R. Lilley, top CIA Asia operative, was U.S. ambassador to China before, during and after the Tiananmen incident. George Soros, instigator of later “color revolutions” had a China based NGO called the Fund for the Reform and Opening of China that supported the protests and General Secretary Zhao Ziyang – a neo-liberal in waiting who would later be called China’s Gorbachev. Ambassador Lilley had a fascinating history, being born in China to a U.S. oil executive stationed there in the pre-WW2 years. He had a Chinese nanny and was thus a native speaker of Chinese. Returning to the United States before the U.S. entered WW2 he subsequently went to Phillips Exeter Academy prep school and Yale University. His fluency in Chinese and upbringing led him to the CIA where he became its top Asian operative. “As a CIA operative, Lilley worked in countries across Asia, including Laos, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and China. In Laos, he worked to undermine the Communist insurgency, and he helped to insert a number of CIA agents into China. By 1975, Lilley was appointed to the position of national intelligence officer for China, which made him the highest-ranked expert on China in the American intelligence community. Early in the administration of Ronald Reagan, he was appointed to the National Security Council, where he served as the senior expert on east Asia. From 1981-1984, he served as Director of the American Institute in Taiwan, which serves as the unofficial diplomatic liaison to the government of the Republic of China..” So much for Lilley.

George Soros’ anti-communist credentials are also well-documented and his sponsorship of neo-liberal causes, think tanks and NGOs well known and documented. “Soros is a well-known supporter of progressive-liberal political causes. He played a significant role in the peaceful transition from communism to capitalism in Hungary (1984–89) and provided one of Europe’s largest higher education endowments to Central European University in Budapest. Soros is also the chairman of the Open Society Foundations.” As documented by Godfree Roberts in ‘Tiananmen Square, 1989 – Revisited‘: “In 1986 Soros endowed his Fund for the Reform and Opening of China with one million dollars – a huge sum for China those days – to promote cultural and intellectual exchanges with Zhao’s Institute for Economic Structural Reform. In 1988 the National Endowment for Democracy opened two offices in China, gave regular seminars on democracy, sponsored select Chinese writers and publications and recruited Chinese students studying in US. In February 1989, two months before the CIA launched its Tiananmen destabilization campaign, President Bush paid his first and only visit to China.

“When the student protests erupted in late April the NED mailed thousands of inflammatory letters from Washington to recipients in China and aroused public opinion through Voice of America (VOA) shortwave radio broadcasts, in Mandarin, across China on the days of the protests. In Nanjing, university students had boom-boxes turned high as the VOA described events in China. “Deng had CIA strategist Gene Sharp arrested and expelled to British Hong Kong, whence he directed the insurrection, as he recounts in his memoir, Non-Violent Struggle in China. Another CIA operative, VOA’s Beijing chief, Alan Pessin, provided encouragement, provocation, strategic guidance and tactical advice in round-the-clock broadcasts and students who were there still talk of the VOA’s promised land of “freedom and democracy”. […]” So much for Soros.

Zhao Ziyang, former Chinese Premier and General Secretary of the Communist Party of China at the time of the Tiananmen protests was China’s Gorbachev. Zhao in his memoir stated that “China should adopt a free press, freedom to organize, an independent judiciary, and a multiparty parliamentary democracy.” He also called for “the privatization of state-owned enterprises, the separation of the Party and the state, and general market economic reforms.” Some of his economic program was implemented, but his complete economic and political package of reforms would have led to the formation of a multi-party social democracy to replace the unitary socialist state ruled by the CPC. So much for Zhao.

Thus it can be seen that Lilley, Soros and Zhao formed a perfect triumvirate both inside and outside the CPC that was extremely well-placed and well-versed in destabilizing and overthrowing established socialist states, by hook or by crook. To think that when the Soviet Union and other socialist states ruled by Communist parties were imploding the likes of Lilley, Soros and Zhao Ziyang were not actively conspiring to bring down the PRC and convert it into a vassal state of the U.S. is beyond the bounds of credulity. So what would have been the result if the CPC had not intervened and quelled the unrest and Zhao Ziyang and his supporters, both foreign and domestic, had been able to implement their “pro-democracy” agenda? According to David Shambaugh, a so-called “China expert,” China would be a better place if Zhao’s neo-liberal economic and political reforms had been enacted. To quote, “Had Zhao remained in power and been able to pursue this twin-reform strategy, it is an open question whether he and China would have wound up with the same fate as Gorbachev and the former Soviet Union, or whether this strategy would have worked in China, where it did not in the U.S.S.R.” But, as far as the U.S. and the West in general is concerned the strategy did work in the USSR. And, they would have done everything possible to have made sure it worked in China as well if Zhao had implemented his counter-revolutionary agenda. Luckily the “éminences grise” of the CPC were able to thwart the machinations of Zhao’s puppet-master George Soros of color revolution fame.

What would China be like today if Zhao Ziyang had retained power? It would be a compliant vassal of the U.S. in East Asia.

As Shambaugh et al. state, China would have a “much more open civil society and media (i.e. controlled by U.S. neo-liberal NGOs and corporate conglomerates); tolerated some dissent (i.e. anti-communist quislings); enfranchised the eight “democratic parties” (i.e. allowing them to be infiltrated by foreign agents) and empowered the National People’s Congress and provincial people’s congresses (i.e. destroying China’s system of consensual democracy); established a Hong Kong-style professional civil service (i.e. allowing anti-communist sinecures to metastasize within the state apparatus); separated Party from state (i.e. ensuring the collapse of Party control and the establishment of an oligarchic “representational democracy”); made the military beholden to the state and constitution rather than a tool of the Communist Party (i.e. allowing for a military coup whenever the U.S. felt it necessary); more strictly controlled opportunities for corruption and strengthened the non-Party control mechanisms (i.e. by making corruption an integral part of the system as in the U.S. and other Western democracies); encouraged greater “inner Party” feedback mechanisms (i.e. encouraging factionalism); and (finally) proceeded with gradual direct government elections up to and including central-level officials (i.e. allowing politicians to be bought and sold to the highest foreign bidder). In other words a neo-liberal’s wet dream. China would have descended into the hell that overtook the Soviet Union and remained as underdeveloped as the world’s largest democracy, India.

Thus, if the Tiananmen protests had succeeded and the program of Lilley, Soros and Zhao had been fully implemented, the state led economic miracle of the last 30 years would have been still born and China would have been neutered as a potential rival of the U.S. as it is increasingly becoming. That is why the U.S. and its captive media still rue the day that the CPC came to its senses and derailed the U.S. inspired counter-revolutionary movement that the Tiananmen protests had become. And that is why the Western media and politicians continue to harp on its suppression 30 years later.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2019/06/ ... -massacre/
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Re: China

Post by blindpig » Fri Nov 05, 2021 2:28 pm

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Biden targets China: Turning Taiwan into a military outpost
We are pleased to republish this valuable article by Gary Wilson in Struggle for Socialism providing an overview of the history of US support for Taiwanese separatism. This support has received a boost recently with Biden and Blinken’s talk of bolstering Taiwan militarily and calling for it to be recognised within UN institutions. Such activity on the part of the US government is simply an attempt to reimpose on China the imperialist domination that was overthrown with the founding of the People’s Republic in 1949.
The Guardian reports that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken threatened a U.S. military buildup in Taiwan in a “side meeting” at the G20 summit in Rome on Oct. 31.

The Guardian added that Blinken’s threat “came a week after Biden said the U.S. may support Taiwan’s independence militarily and Blinken called for Taiwan to be recognized within U.N. institutions.”

On Oct. 7, the Wall Street Journal reported that about two dozen U.S. special operations and support troops were “secretly operating in Taiwan to train military forces there for at least a year.”

The U.S. government officially recognizes that Taiwan is a province of China, not a separate nation. By a 1979 agreement, the U.S. promised to remove all military personnel from Taiwan.

Therefore, what the Biden administration is now doing — secretly sending military forces into the Chinese province — is in violation of both U.S. and international law.

The Chinese province of Taiwan, once a colony of Japan, now calls itself the Republic of China. The U.S. government decided to designate Taiwan as the government of all China after Mao Zedong proclaimed the People’s Republic of China on Oct. 1, 1949. Taiwan was never the capital of China, but it has been part of China for millennia.

To the people of China, Blinken probably sounds like a reminder of the European and Japanese colonialists of the 19th century who had seized Taiwan and other parts of China and used military force to “protect” their possessions.

Century of colonialism

In China it’s known as the “century of humiliation”: the years of dismemberment and subjugation by the European and Japanese imperialists from 1839 to 1949.

The First Opium War began in 1839. Britain grew opium in India and sold it in China, using the profits to purchase Chinese goods, including porcelain, silk and tea. When the Qing government in China tried to stop the importation of opium, Britain launched the “Opium War” to keep the drug flowing into China.

In the century of colonialism, China was fractured, with Outer Manchuria, parts of Northwest China and Sakhalin seized by Tsarist Russia; Jiaozhou Bay by Germany; Hong Kong and Tibet by Britain; Macau by Portugal; Zhanjiang by France; and Taiwan by Japan.

Japan was a relative latecomer to the imperialist club. Taiwan was its first colony. Japanese rule of Taiwan lasted from 1895 to the end of World War II in August 1945.

At the end of the war in 1945, the U.S. military, led by General Douglas MacArthur, occupied Japan and took charge of Japan’s colonies, particularly Korea and Taiwan. The U.S. military forces put Taiwan under the administrative control of the Kuomintang-led Republic of China, with Chiang Kai-Shek at the head. This was a confirmation that Taiwan was a part of China.

Retrocession Day is the name given to the annual observance and former public holiday in Taiwan to commemorate the end of Japanese rule of Taiwan, and the retrocession (“return”) of Taiwan to the Republic of China on October 25, 1945.

From the end of World War II in 1945 to 1949, a war of liberation was fought by the People’s Liberation Army and the Communist Party of China, which led to the founding of the People’s Republic of China. In 1949, Chiang Kai-Shek and the Kuomintang army fled to Taiwan under U.S. military protection.

The U.S. strongly supported the Kuomintang forces against the Chinese Revolution. The Kuomintang received $4.43 billion from the U.S., most of it military aid, according to William Blum in his book “Killing Hope.”

In June 1950, when the U.S. launched its war on Korea, the U.S. government also sent the Seventh Fleet into the Taiwan Strait with the Chinese mainland as its target. At the time, MacArthur wanted to use nuclear weapons against China — in an interview he said he would have dropped “30 or so atomic bombs.” MacArthur also wanted to use Chiang Kai-Shek’s forces in Taiwan to invade the mainland.

In 1949, Chiang Kai-Shek and the Kuomintang had declared martial law in Taiwan, imposing a brutal military regime that wasn’t lifted until 1987. During these decades of martial law, some 140,000 Taiwanese were arrested, tortured and imprisoned, according to a 2008 report by the Executive Yuan (government) of Taiwan. Some 4,000 people were executed.

Secret U.S. military operations

In the early 1950s, a secret group of U.S. military “advisers,” led by retired Adm. Charles M. Cooke, former commander of the Seventh Fleet, launched covert military operations in Taiwan to prop up the unpopular and weak Kuomintang regime.

The struggle over Taiwan has continued to this day.

After the victory of the Chinese Revolution and the formation of the People’s Republic of China, Washington proclaimed the military dictatorship in Taiwan to be the “Republic of China” and the government of all China. The Taiwan military regime was even given China’s seat in the imperialist-dominated United Nations!

The U.S. didn’t change this policy until 1972, when it was losing the Vietnam War.

In the 1972 Shanghai Communiqué, the U.S. agreed “that all Chinese on either side of the Taiwan Strait maintain there is but one China and that Taiwan is a part of China. The United States Government does not challenge that position. It reaffirms its interest in a peaceful settlement of the Taiwan question by the Chinese themselves.”

This was followed by the Normalization Communiqué of 1979, with the U.S. formally ending recognition of the “Republic of China” and agreeing to withdraw all U.S. military personnel from Taiwan.

However, the U.S. never stopped arms sales to Taiwan. These arms sales are supposed to be public and of a “defensive nature” only. The list of U.S. arms sales is publicly available on the Federal Register. Secret arms sales or operations are forbidden, which is what makes the Biden administration’s secret deployment of military special operations trainers a clear escalation of hostilities.

Following the 1979 communiqué, U.S. arms sales to Taiwan have increased every year. In 2020, the Pentagon announced more than $1.8 billion in arms to Taiwan, including 135 precision-guided cruise missiles and rocket launchers.

Separatists vs. Indigenous Taiwanese

Following the end of martial law in 1987, a new political party emerged in Taiwan to challenge the Kuomintang. The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is a Taiwanese nationalist party and currently controls the presidency and the Legislative Yuan. The Kuomintang remains as the second major party in Taiwan.

While the Kuomintang agrees there is only one China and opposes Taiwanese “independence,” the DPP claims Taiwan to be a separate nation. The Kuomintang is based on the mainland Chinese population that came with Chiang Kai-Shek’s military occupation force; the DPP is led by the Chinese who had preceded them.

Over 95% of Taiwan’s population of 23.4 million consists of Han Chinese, whose traditional ancestral homes are in the southern part of Fujian, China.

The Indigenous peoples in Taiwan are Austronesian Taiwanese, who make up 2.3% of the total population. The DPP does not represent the Indigenous population and, in fact, is considered to be hostile to the Indigenous Taiwanese.

In 2016, during a legislative committee meeting, a DPP legislator used a racist, anti-Indigenous slur in responding to a request made by Indigenous legislators who opposed a move to lift a ban on Japanese food imports from the prefectures surrounding the Fukushima nuclear power plant.

The DPP’s secessionist claim is getting support in the U.S., with Washington stepping up military and diplomatic support for the island’s government. This is part of the new Cold War the U.S. is waging against China.

The U.S. has expanded its naval operations in the South China Sea and Strait of Taiwan. The increasing frequency of the exercises by aircraft carrier strike groups is extremely provocative.

The recent sale of nuclear submarines to Australia as part of the formation of the AUKUS bloc was another aggressive move. AUKUS is an alliance between Australia, Britain and the United States that is clearly aimed at confrontation with China.

The reunification of China after the “century of humiliation” has always been seen as an essential part of building socialist China. The Chinese constitution states: “Taiwan is part of the sacred territory of the People’s Republic of China. It is the lofty duty of the entire Chinese people, including our compatriots in Taiwan, to accomplish the great task of reunifying the motherland.”

Without warfare or any kind of military incursion, China carried out the reunification of Hong Kong and Macau using an approach called “One Country, Two Systems.” Something like this was expected to happen with Taiwan, leading to a gradual reintegration. The Communist Party of China has always stressed its desire to achieve a peaceful reunification with Taiwan.

https://socialistchina.org/2021/11/04/b ... y-outpost/
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Re: China

Post by blindpig » Fri Nov 12, 2021 3:07 pm

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Carlos Martinez: Shifting blame onto China means the West not taking its own responsibilities seriously
We republish below an interview with Friends of Socialist China co-editor Carlos Martinez in Xinhua about the attempts by the US and its allies to shift responsibility for the climate crisis onto China. The interview was first published on 9 November 2021 in English and Chinese.
China has made remarkable progress on climate issues and will continue to do so, so the West’s shifting blame onto China just means they are not taking their own responsibilities seriously, Carlos Martinez, a British author and political commentator, told Xinhua in a recent interview.

Martinez greatly appreciated the fact that China met its target for 2020 ahead of schedule, elaborating on a wide range of progress that China has made on the environment.

“So I think it’s very clear China has been taking green sustainable development very seriously for many years, and has developed the concept of ecological civilization,” he said. “China’s been putting significant resources into all of these projects.”

“China is in the habit of setting itself targets that it knows it can achieve, and actually keeping its promises,” Martinez said.

While talking about the commitments China made on peaking emissions by 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2060, Martinez firmly believes that China will “continue to make remarkable progress towards the goals, which are obviously very ambitious and will be very difficult to achieve.”

Meanwhile, he criticized some Western countries’ performance on climate change, such as the United States.

“The U.S. is a developed country, China is a developing country, but the U.S. is a long way behind China when it comes to renewable energy production and installation,” he said.

Talking about the fact that some Western media had blamed China on climate issues, Martinez said “it’s quite shameful, and it’s obviously incorrect.”

By blaming China, some Western countries and media are “taking the responsibilities away from themselves,” he added.

“For the Western powers and Western media to be shifting the blame onto China (it) means that they’re not taking their own responsibilities seriously,” he said. “That’s very damaging.”

Instead of pointing fingers at others, the Western countries should change their behavior, cut out fossil fuels, improve their energy efficiency and take the lead, Martinez said. “Furthermore, they should actually be providing finance and assistance to developing countries.”

Asked about what the most urgent thing is in combating climate change, Martinez said “the essential thing we need to do is to uphold multilateralism.”

“We need to start working together, stop playing blame games,” he added.

https://socialistchina.org/2021/11/09/c ... seriously/

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Landmark resolution charts path to future
By CAO DESHENG | CHINA DAILY | Updated: 2021-11-12 06:50

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, delivers a speech at the sixth plenary session of the 19th CPC Central Committee in Beijing, which was held from Monday to Thursday. JU PENG/XINHUA
Communique of the Sixth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China

CPC Central Committee reviews major historical achievements as Party looks ahead to next century of progress for China

A key Party meeting has adopted a landmark resolution on the major achievements and historical experience of the Communist Party of China's endeavors in the 100 years of its glorious journey, urging all Party members to stay true to the Party's founding mission to better uphold and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era.

The four-day sixth plenary session of the 19th CPC Central Committee, which ended on Thursday in Beijing, also adopted a resolution on convening the 20th CPC National Congress in the second half of next year in Beijing.

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, delivered a work report at the meeting on behalf of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee. He also explained the draft of the resolution on the major achievements and historical experience of the CPC's 100 years of endeavors.

Reflecting on the major achievements and historical experience of the Party is essential in embarking on the new journey of comprehensively building China into a modern socialist country and upholding and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era, said a communique released after the meeting.

It is also important to advance the Party's self-reform, improve its ability to cope with risks and challenges, always maintain its vigor and vitality and continue to unite and lead all of the Chinese people to strive to realize the Chinese dream of national rejuvenation, the communique said.

All Party members should fully understand from the CPC's 100 years of endeavors why it was successful in the past and how it can continue to succeed in the future, the communique added.

The participants in the meeting reflected on the great achievements the Party has made in the country's new-democratic revolution, socialist revolution and construction, reform and opening-up as well as socialist modernization process, saying that the endeavors of the Party and the people over the past century represent the most magnificent chapter in the millennia-long history of the Chinese nation.

They stressed the significance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era in advancing the cause of the Party and the State, and said the Thought is the Marxism of contemporary China and of the 21st century. "It embodies the best of the Chinese culture and ethos in our times and represents a new breakthrough in adapting Marxism to the Chinese context," the communique said.

The participants in the meeting highlighted Xi's core position on the CPC Central Committee and in the whole Party, saying that it demonstrates the common will of the Party, the armed forces and the Chinese people of all ethnic groups. It is of decisive significance for advancing the cause of the Party and the State in the new era and for driving forward the historic process of national rejuvenation, according to the communique.

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Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, and the six other members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee vote during the sixth plenary session of the 19th CPC Central Committee in Beijing. LI TAO/XINHUA

During the meeting, the participants hailed what the Party has achieved since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012 in the fields of Party building, economic growth, reform and opening-up, ecological conservation, cultural and social progress, national defense and foreign affairs, as well as in promoting law-based governance, safeguarding national security and upholding the policy of "one country, two systems" and advancing national reunification.

"We uphold the one-China principle and the 1992 Consensus. We firmly oppose separatist activities seeking 'Taiwan independence'. We firmly oppose foreign interference. We have maintained the initiative and ability to steer cross-Straits relations," the communique said.

The meeting required all Party members to "have a precise grasp of historical trends, stand firm in our ideals and convictions, and stay true to our Party's founding mission", guard against arrogance and rashness, not be intimidated by any risks or led astray by any distractions, and avoid making catastrophic mistakes on fundamental issues.

In the new development stage, efforts should be made to apply the new development philosophy, foster a new development paradigm and promote high-quality development, said the communique.

While underlining the importance of deepening reform and expanding opening-up across the board, the participants in the meeting stressed the need to promote common prosperity for all, and build up the country's strength in science and technology.

"We should develop whole-process people's democracy and ensure it is the people who run the country," the communique said. "We need to balance development and security imperatives, move faster to modernize national defense and the armed forces, and take well-coordinated steps toward making our people prosperous, our nation strong, and our country beautiful."

Highlighting the importance of continuing to advance the great project of Party building in the new era through exercising full and rigorous self-governance, the meeting asked all Party members to remain committed to improving their conduct, upholding their integrity and combating corruption.

"The entire Party must forever maintain close ties with the people and act in line with the people-centered philosophy of development, so as to better realize, safeguard, and advance the fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority of the people," the communique said.

A total of 197 members and 151 alternate members of the CPC Central Committee attended the meeting. Members of the Standing Committee of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and leading officials of other relevant departments, some grassroots representatives who were delegates to the 19th CPC National Congress, along with experts and scholars, attended the meeting in a non-voting capacity.

http://global.chinadaily.com.cn/a/20211 ... 74da9.html
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Re: China

Post by blindpig » Sat Nov 20, 2021 3:15 pm

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China rejects capitalist democracy and continues to develop its socialist democracy
This article in the Global Times quotes Jiang Jinquan, director of the Policy Research Office of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, discussing the question of democracy at a press conference on the sixth plenary session of the 19th Central Committee of the CPC. He observed the weaknesses and limitations of Western capitalist democracy and noted the hypocrisy of attempting to impose this model on other countries via colour revolutions. Jiang Jinquan affirmed that China will continue to develop its own whole-process people’s democracy rather than attempting to copy the Western model.
The US’ democracy summit convened next month with the attempt to “revive” Western democracy amid mounting democratic problems in their countries is a huge irony, as its purpose is simply to suppress other countries and divide the world into different camps, a senior Chinese official said on Friday.

Jiang Jinquan,director of the Policy Research Office of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, made the remarks at Friday’s press conference on the sixth plenary session of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

He said democracy is not a patent of the West, nor can it be defined by the West. Western democracy is a democracy dominated by capital, a democracy of the rich, not true democracy.

Some Western countries have shown a hollowing out of democracy,triggering dissatisfaction among their fellow people, but they are still trying to impose their democratic model on other countries. Color revolutions in recent years have resulted in disasters to local people, which the people of the world have become increasingly aware of, Jiang said in response to a question on comparison between China’s whole-process people’s democracy and Western democracy.

Jiang listed several polls as an example. According to a new survey from the Pew Research Centre, 57 percent of global respondents and 72 percent of Americans said that US democracy used to be a good example but has not been recently.

According to an NPR poll, 81 percent of US adults say the future of US democracy is under threat.

In contrast, two recent polls released by a US polling agency show that Chinese people’s satisfaction with the CPC and the Chinese government is 95 percent and 98 percent, respectively.

Democracy is not for decoration, but for solving people’s problems. Whether a country is democratic or not depends on whether its people are the masters of the country, whether its people have the right to vote and more importantly, whether they have the right to participate widely. It depends on what promises are made during the election process, but more importantly, it depends on how many of these promises are fulfilled after an election, Jiang said.

“Democracy is not true if the people are awakened only at the time of voting and then fall into hibernation, if they can only listen to the election slogans but have no say after the election, if they are favored only at the time of campaigning and then are left out after the election,” Jiang said.

Jiang said the CPC has realized that China’s political civilization and political system must be deeply rooted in the mind of Chinese society. Copying other countries’ political systems will not work and may even destroy the country’s future.

Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has adhered to the path of political development under socialism with Chinese characteristics and upheld the leadership of the Party and the position of the people as masters of the country, has resolutely resisted the erosion and influence of the Western political trend of so-called “constitutionalism”, ruling party rotation, and developed a democratic road of whole-process people’s democracy, Jiang said.

The Chinese people have a high degree of confidence in their political system, and the fundamental reason lies in the fact that whole-process people’s democracy is highly democratic, fully fledged and deeply welcomed by the Chinese people. This is true people’s democracy, Jiang said.

https://socialistchina.org/2021/11/13/c ... democracy/

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China and Solutions to Climate Change
November 18, 2021
By K.J. Noh and Michael Wong – Nov 16, 2021

The Earth’s greenhouse gas concentrations are at their highest levels in 2 million years, driving catastrophic climate change, and creating an existential threat to the planet. But there is a way out.

Last year, President Xi Jinping, pledged that China’s CO2 emissions would peak before 2030, and China would become carbon neutral before 2060.

China has a track history of setting ambitious, nearly impossible goals and then achieving them–often before deadline–so this pledge is significant. Under the CPC, China has already created “an economic miracle” in transforming China into the largest economy in the world. It ended extreme poverty while creating the largest middle class in the world. It has virtually eradicated Covid through non-pharmaceutical methods, while vaccinating up to 20 million people daily, and pledging the largest number of vaccines (2.2 Billion) and distributing over 1 Billion-to the rest of the world. It has also been applying this incredible focus and national resolve to tackle Climate change.

China has the greatest program of renewable energy of any country. It generates more renewable power than North, Central, and South America–42 countries–combined. It has more solar parks and wind farms than any other country. Last year it built more wind power than the rest of the world combined.

It has more electric vehicles than any other country: it operates 420,000 electric buses, 99% of the world’s total; Shenzhen alone has 16,000 e-buses and 22,000 e-taxis. It aims to have 325 million electric vehicles operating by 2050. Its high speed rail network of 38,000 km is so extensive and effective that domestic air travel is starting to become obsolete. No country has as dense, large, and efficient system of clean public transportation and high-speed rail as China.

In addition, China also has the greatest carbon-sequestration afforestation program in the world, creating forests the size of Belgium every year. It has doubled its forest coverage to 23% over the past 40 years. Satellite analysis by NASA’s Ames Research Lab proves that China has contributed more to greening the planet than any other country in the world.

In other words, by almost every sustainability index, China a world leader–far ahead of the US–and is pioneering a way forward for the planet. It will likely hit its targets ahead of time.

These things are happening because the CPC has written sustainability and ecological development directly into its constitution. This is then implemented into regional and local policy, such as sustainable eco-city mandates, transportation policy, energy infrastructure, advanced research, as well as dedicated funding for alternative energy development for companies to start up and build clean energy technology.

These commitments exist despite the fact that China’s historical and per capita GHG and CO2 emissions are a fraction of the world’s total. According to the World Bank, on an annual per capita basis, China share is less than half of the United States; its household energy consumption is 1/8th of US’s.

Even more important, here’s a chart showing the cumulative emissions by country.

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Source: Carbon Brief/No Cold War.

Cumulative historical amounts matter because CO2 does not dissipate but accrues in the atmosphere: stocks, not flows, are what matter. In accounting, you look at a person’s total accrued debt, not their daily credit expenditures, to determine what they owe to others. Likewise, you have to look at historically accrued GHG to accurately understand harms, liabilities, and mitigation responsibilities.

Note also, between 14–33% of China’s annual GHG emissions–are the West’s that has been offshored through manufacturing. This way, the West gets to have its cake and eat it, too: consume, pollute and destroy the planet, while virtue-signaling and blaming developing countries like China for the cost of its consumption.

Much, too, has been made of China’s coal plants, but the fact is that China’s plants are advanced supercritical or ultra-supercritical plants, which means they are much more efficient and cleaner than many of the industrial-era legacy plants of the US. China has a more sustainable approach along the entire chain of production and consumption. That said, China understands coal as a transitional source that it wants to phase out, except that the US has an explicit military plan to choke off China’s alternative fuel imports at the South China Sea. China needs to maintain back-up capacity in clean coal, as it leapfrogs into renewables, which will constitute fully 80% of its energy portfolio by 2060. As for overseas coal plants, 87% of that funding comes from the West or Japan, and China has committed to not fund any foreign coal plants. With these commitments, China has demonstrated that it is dedicated and committed to both national and global sustainability and carbon neutrality.

Lastly, most calculations of GHG emissions leave out the US military boot print, the single largest institutional emitter in the world, ranking higher than the emissions of 140 nations. Add the cost of endless US wars, and subtract offshored GHG from the West from China’s total, you get a different picture of responsibility for global emissions.

Despite the hypocritical finger-pointing at China at COP 26 by the worst polluters, the US and the West, the simple facts refute the lies. China is a net GHG creditor nation, not a debtor. The Lancet showed that 92% of emissions above the safe level of 350ppm can be attributed to the Global North, of which 40% of these emissions are the US’s alone. By contrast, China is a net creditor nation. In other words, the atmosphere (atmospheric carrying capacity), a global commons, has been colonized and monopolized by the West to the detriment of the rest of the world. In this, the US bears the greatest individual responsibility for the Global Climate crisis.

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Despite all this, China leads in solutions–in technology, policy, transition planning, and implementation. It is not only pulling its weight, it is showing the world a way forward.

This is in stark distinction to the US, where 25% of the US Congress still refuses to believe in human-caused climate change and where the last President claimed that “Global warming was a Chinese hoax”. The US was also responsible fordisabling the original 1997 Kyoto protocol by lowering targets, engineering carbon indulgences (“carbon trading”), exempting military emissions, and unjustly trying to offload responsibility to developing countries. (After all this cynical, rapacious, profit-driven sabotage, led by Al Gore, the US still refused to ratify, demoralizing global efforts for decades). These cynical actions by US leadership, along with US overshoot of its share of the carbon budget, bear a large responsibility for the current critical state of affairs.

Despite decades of denialism, evasion, and sabotage by the US, there is still a path forward to tackle Climate change. But the US needs to step up to do its part and it needs to engage honestly with China’s sustainable, ecological model of development. With low-carbon eco-cities with 40% greenspace, pollution-free mass transit, mass afforestation, GHG capture technologies, mass shift to renewables, ecological mandates written into their constitution, China offers an inspiring and feasible policy model.

But this cannot happen if the US continues to threaten China militarily, encircle it with hundreds of bases–all emitting GHG–and resorts to carbon intensive military Keynesianism and neoliberalism, and denigrating and attacking everything positive China does. By constantly bashing and attacking China, instead of engaging and learning from the structural solutions they are implementing, the US is abdicating its duties as a responsible global stakeholder and undermining—yet again–the world’s chances of tackling Climate Change.

In the recent China-US Joint Glasgow Declaration on Enhancing Climate Action, the US momentarily dropped its China-bashing, and pledged to strengthen implementation of the Paris agreement.

However, the constant demonization of China by the US leadership, not only on Climate change, but on all fronts, along with endless echo-chambering in the MSM, would suggest that this is not a good faith change of heart, but only a temporary tactical reset. The fact that the US still bans Chinese polysilicon for environment-critical solar panels on fraudulent charges is evidence of this dishonest opportunism.

For the sake of the planet, sanity must prevail to seek real win-win cooperation on all fronts to tackle the existential threat of our time. China is doing its part by demonstrating what an ecological, sustainable civilization based on socialist common prosperity could look like.

Will the neoliberal West and the US follow suit, learn and cooperate, or will they play at politics and war, doubling down on the suicidal Carbon-fueled endgame?

Clear-sighted citizens must challenge the lies, the mendacity, and the escalating demonization, and urge their governments to work for peace and cooperation.

The future of the world depends on it.



Featured image: Panorama of Envision’s wind farm in Shanxi, China. Photograph Source: Hahaheditor12667 – CC BY-SA 4.0

(Counter Punch)

https://orinocotribune.com/china-and-so ... te-change/

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Ecological civilization flourishes under Xi's vision
By HOU LIQIANG | CHINA DAILY | Updated: 2021-11-19 07:00

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An excited girl feeds a black-headed gull on a riverside walkway in Kunming, Yunnan province, on Sunday. The Communist Party of China and the entire nation have made great efforts and progress in pursuing green development. [Photo by Yang Zheng/For China Daily]

The Communist Party of China, with General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee Xi Jinping at the core, has made unprecedented endeavors in the history of the development of mankind to promote institutional design for ecological civilization, according to a document. Xi promoted a concept for balanced and sustainable development that features harmonious coexistence between man and nature.

Since the Party's 18th National Congress in 2012, the CPC Central Committee has made greater efforts than ever before on ecological civilization, said a landmark resolution on the major achievements and historical experience of the Party over the past century.

"The whole Party and the entire nation have become more conscious and active in pursuing green development, and made significant progress in building a Beautiful China," said the document, which was issued on Tuesday and adopted at the sixth plenary session of the 19th CPC Central Committee, held in Beijing from Nov 8 to 11.

The 18th CPC National Congress was key to China's environmental governance progress, said Qian Yong, director of the Research Center for Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization.

"Ecological civilization construction and the institutional systems for environmental protection have been promoted in an accelerated manner since then," he said.

The congress saw ecological civilization inscribed into the CPC's Constitution. In addition to giving high priority to ecological development, the congress pledged to incorporate ecological civilization into all aspects of economic, political, cultural and social advancement.

Qian said the Chinese government has been advocating and working to advance ecological civilization against the backdrop of the serious challenges presented by industrialization, such as environmental pollution and ecosystem degradation.

In 2017, Xi said in his report to the 19th CPC National Congress that building an ecological civilization is vital to sustaining China's development.

"We must realize that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets and act on this understanding, implement our fundamental national policy of conserving resources and protecting the environment, and cherish the environment as we cherish our own lives," Xi said.

In 2018, ecological civilization was included into the nation's Constitution. At a tone-setting national ecological and environmental protection conference held in the year, Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization was officially established.

Addressing the national conference, Xi said China will push for coordination between economic and social development and ecological civilization.

The country will channel more energy into promoting ecological civilization and resolving environmental problems, backed by the political advantages of the centralized and unified leadership of the CPC and the socialist system, as well as the achievements made during the 40 years of reform and opening-up, he noted.

Thanks to all-out efforts of the CPC, a series of institutions for the construction of ecological civilization have been established in the country, according to the recent landmark resolution.

"We have promoted the enforcement of red lines for ecological conservation, set benchmarks for environmental quality, imposed caps on resource utilization, and launched a whole raft of pioneering initiatives that will have fundamental and far-reaching significance," it said.

It said China has set up effective systems in many areas, including performance evaluation and accountability for ecological conservation, compensation for ecological conservation, and the designation of river, lake and forest chiefs.

Hu Kanping, a researcher at the Chinese Ecological Civilization Research and Promotion Association, said people can hardly find another country like China that sees its central leadership vigorously promoting top-level design for ecological civilization.

http://global.chinadaily.com.cn/a/20211 ... 762a0.html

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China’s sponge cities are a ‘revolutionary rethink’ to prevent flooding
We republish below this interesting article from Euronews about China’s innovation and investment in the development of sponge cities – an urban water management system that conserves water and protects natural habitats.
The survival and development of human society depends on water. In fact, global water demand increased nearly eightfold between 1900–2010 as a result of factors like population growth, economic development and a shift in diet.

But in China, one of the world’s fastest growing economies, the vital resource is running out. The country’s 1.4 billion population needs water to thrive but it has become limited and unevenly distributed.

After decades of urbanisation and pollution, the country is now faced with both water shortages and flooding – only made worse by the effects of climate change.

And pollution is making water quality worse, meaning much of the water available is unusable. Insufficient management of local resources plays a part too.

North China is particularly impacted. It suffers from water shortages throughout the year, whereas South China, despite sufficient quantities, experiences only seasonal scarcity. One of the problems is that 80 per cent of water is concentrated in South China, yet the North is the core of national development.

Flooding is also a huge problem. Climate change is causing heavier rainfall and storms, affecting large areas of southern China including the Yangtze basin and its tributaries. In July 2021, the Chinese city of Zhengzhou, Henan, battled the heaviest rain in a millennia and devastating floods that killed at least 300 people and displaced 1.24 million residents, according to the NY Times.

So what is being done to address this water crisis and stop flooding from getting worse?

‘Sponge cities’ are trying to solve the water crisis

A ‘sponge city’ is a nature-based solution which uses the landscape to retain water at its source, slow down water flow and clean it throughout the process.

The focus is to retain rainwater in urban areas by waterproofing the paved floor so that part of it evaporates and the rest is gradually drained. As well as proofing the roads and pavements, more trees are planted and smart buildings are constructed to adapt to the city’s sponge. This means roofs are covered in grass for greater absorption of water and buildings are also painted in light colours to reflect more heat instead of absorbing it.

The point is that this keeps floods at bay.

These are being built as new eco-cities and offer a strategy to incorporate the water cycle into town planning.

The sponge city concept was proposed by Chinese researchers in 2013 and Professor Kongjian Yu is the mastermind behind it.

Yu is an ecological urban planner and landscape architect. He’s also a professor of landscape architecture at Peking University and the founder of the planning and design office Turenscape in Beijing.

Taking inspiration from international integrated urban water management (IUWM) strategies, including sustainable drainage systems (SuDS) seen in the UK or low-impact developments (LID) in the US, Yu’s sponge cities aim to control urban flooding, water pollution and recycle rainwater.

Scientifically speaking, the main features of the sponge city include being:

*Environmentally adaptive
*Systematic and comprehensive
*Environmentally friendly
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“Though grey infrastructure of concrete, steel, pipes and pumps, can be necessary to solve urgent individual problems, it consumes huge amounts of concrete and energy, lacks resilience and often accumulates a higher risk of disaster. It breaks the connection between man and nature,” Yu tells Euronews Green.

“More than ever, facing global climate change and destructive industrial technologies, we have to rethink the way we build our cities, the way we treat water and nature, and even the way we define civilisation.

“Sponge Cities are inspired by the ancient wisdom of farming and water management that use simple tools to transform the global surface at a vast scale in a sustainable way.”

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Qnuli Stormwater Park, China

Where are China’s sponge cities?

The 34-hectare ‘Qunli stormwater park’ in the city of Harbin in northern China is one example of a successful sponge city. It collects, cleanses and stores stormwater, while also protecting the native natural habitat and providing a beautiful green public space for recreational use.

“A sponge city follows the philosophy of innovation: that a city can solve water problems instead of creating them. In the long run, sponge cities will reduce carbon emissions and help fight climate change,” Qiu Baoxing, a former vice-minister of housing and urban-rural development, told the Guardian.

The Chinese government has already chosen 16 pilot cities and allocated to each of them between 400 and 600 million yuan (around €55 million) for the implementation of innovative water management strategies. These include Wuhan, Chongqing and Xiamen.

With more and more demand growing for the sponge city model as we near 2030, 70 per cent of Chinese cities are scrambling to draw up plans, according to design company Turenscape.

“China is implementing these projects on the district and city scale, e.g. urban wetlands or eco-corridors,” ​​Nanco Dolman, who works in the Water Resilient Cities group at the Dutch civil engineering firm Royal Haskoning DHV, tells Turenscape.

“It is showing that ecological design can be about more than just green roofs and rain gardens – it can be a revolutionary rethink of the very texture of a city.”

https://socialistchina.org/2021/11/18/c ... -flooding/
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Post by blindpig » Mon Nov 29, 2021 2:36 pm

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The significance of the new road of Chinese style modernization and its positive role in the world socialist movement
This interesting paper was presented by Guan Wei of the School of Marxism, Dalian University of Technology (DUT) at the School’s Cloud International Workshop on ‘New Forms of Human Civilisation from a World Perspective’, held October 29-31 2021.

Guan argues that: “Since the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the drastic changes in Eastern Europe, the world socialist movement has fallen to a low ebb. Through unremitting efforts, socialism with Chinese characteristics has become the mainstay of the world socialist movement in the 21st century… China has opened a new path of Chinese modernization and a new prospect for the development of world socialism.”

Thanks to the DUT Translation Team and to Professor Roland Boer for subediting.
Abstract: In the “7.1” speech delivered at the 100th anniversary of the Communist Party of China, Comrade Xi Jinping pointed out that China adheres to and develops socialism with Chinese characteristics, and has created a new road of Chinese style modernization and a new form of human civilization. This important exposition breaks through the theoretical and practical model of modernization with the West as the core, and puts forward a new path of Chinese modernization based on the practice of socialist modernization with Chinese characteristics. Since the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the drastic changes in Eastern Europe, the world socialist movement has fallen to a low ebb. Through unremitting efforts, socialism with Chinese characteristics has become the mainstay of the world socialist movement in the 21st century. Especially since the global economic crisis in 2008, China’s developmental achievements are obvious to all. With the achievements of its own development and its own practice of construction, China has opened a new path of Chinese modernization and a new prospect for the development of world socialism.

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Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (2012), socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era, and China has opened up a new prospect for socialist development with its own developmental achievements and practice in construction. Especially since the global economic crisis in 2008, China’s development achievements are obvious to all. In his “7.1” speech, delivered at the 100th anniversary of the Communist Party of China, Comrade Xi Jinping pointed out that China adheres to and develops socialism with Chinese characteristics, and has created a new path of China’s modernization and new form of human civilization.

Part 1

Under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, the Chinese people have constantly conducted theoretical research and practical exploration in accordance with the changing situation, and have demonstrated the superiority of the socialist system through its brilliant achievements. The construction achievements of socialist countries represented by China reveal the vitality and influence of the socialist system.

The superiority of the socialist system and the achievements of socialist economic construction have been very well represented since the 2008 economic crisis. In order to cope with the global economic crisis, spring out of the vicious circle of capitalist economic crises, and lead the theory and practice of global economic development, the Communist Party of China has led Marxist theoretical workers to study and analyze the challenges faced by China’s economy by deploying Marxist political economy and create new conditions for China’s economy. As a socialist country, China’s practical exploration and the accumulation of theoretical insights in relation to socialist construction may point out the future direction of development for the people of the world.

The socialist countries represented by China inherit the great achievements of the October Revolution, draw lessons from the historical experience of the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the drastic changes in Eastern Europe, combine the basic principles of Marxism with the concrete realities of specific countries, and promote the continuous improvement and development of the socialist system, so as to promote the long-term development of the country and meet the growing material and cultural needs of the people. In doing so, it has won the support and esteem of the people. The Communist Party of China has led the Chinese people in trying to find a socialist construction path suitable for their own country and national characteristics, and achieved unprecedented success. It has reestablished the prestige of socialism in the world, enriched and developed Marxist theory, and provided a practical model for the people of the world to understand, support, and strengthen their socialist ideals and beliefs.

Today’s world is still dominated by a few developed capitalist countries. By contrast, from the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union and the drastic changes in Eastern Europe, the world socialist movement has remained at a low ebb. However, the global economic crisis in 2008 has enabled the broad masses of people around the world to have a clearer understanding of the capitalist system, have stronger aspirations for a better human society, have higher aspirations and undertake actions to change their own capitalist systems, and pay more attention to the actual construction of socialist countries. As a result, the desire to understand Marxist theory has become stronger. At present, the theme of peace and development has not changed fundamentally, and this provides a rare historical opportunity for the development and growth of socialist forces. Socialism should give full play to its institutional advantages, promote the development of science and technology, enhance the ability of scientific and technological innovation, grasp the commanding heights of productivity and enhance the competitiveness of the system. The new road of Chinese style modernization was opened up in this process, and its superiority and historical significance will be tested in the course of the development of human society.

To strengthen socialism with Chinese characteristics, we need to “practice diligently our internal skills”: do a good job in China’s socialist construction in the new era and further consolidate the realistic foundation of the new road of Chinese style modernization. But we also need a world outlook, starting from the development and evolution of the world socialist movement and the capitalist system, further confirm the superiority of the socialist system and strengthen the ideals and beliefs of socialism.

Part 2

Today’s world is undergoing great changes that have not been seen for a century. In a world undergoing major development, transformation, and adjustment, China is faced with the historic task of promoting the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. The transfer of world power, the adjustment of the global pattern, and the reconstruction of global discourse, have not only brought more challenges to socialism with Chinese characteristics, but also provided more opportunities for development. The new road of Chinese style modernization is gradually becoming clear and showing its strength and influence.

The new road of Chinese style modernization is different from the modernization process centred on the West in the modern era. It is a modernization road based on the development achievements since the founding of the New China and based on the socialist development model. Since the emergence of the modern era, Western civilization has made great contributions to the world, but when humankind entered the 21st century, the disadvantages of the Western capitalist civilizational model and its road of modernization have become increasingly apparent and revealed profound internal limitations. Further, some major capitalist countries have not been able to lead the world out of these problems, but have instead become destablizing factors in the world, increasing the risks and challenges to the peaceful development of humankind. Reflecting on the road of Western modernization and its ideological and theoretical forms makes us deeply aware of its inherent limitations, that is, the hypocrisy of Western-centrism, liberalism, and the development dilemma dominated by capitalism. Western-centrism entails not only the presupposition of the master-slave relationship, but also the perspective of measuring other countries and civilizations with the West as the standard. It sets itself up as the subject and others as the object. This dualistic world outlook and mode of thinking has not only caused a serious imbalance in the standards of global evaluation, but has also made it difficult for the West itself to objectively and correctly view and understand other countries and civilizations.

Western liberalism maximizes the individual’s pursuit of his or her own interests and elevates it to a sacred and inviolable dogma. Its essence is to put the private individual above the whole and the collective, thus maximizing individual interests with far-reaching social consequences. This resolute pursuit of maximizing personal interests not only fails to promote the interests of the whole, but also leads to serious social problems, cultural difficulties, and moral hazards. The complete dominance of capital in the whole of social life also ensures that Western modernization becomes the modernization of capitalism. The social rule of capitalism controls not only social resources, but also people’s ideology. As Marx revealed, Western modernization led by capitalism cannot create a better tomorrow for humankind.

The new road of Chinese style modernization and the construction of a community with a shared future for humankind that is advocated all over the world offer new ways and new ideas to solve global problems and promote global development. The new road of Chinese style modernization is the product of the creative transformation and innovative development of China’s excellent traditional culture. China’s excellent traditional culture is not only an important product of its material civilization, but also an important achievement of human moral and ethical civilization. On ethical issues, it takes family ethics as the internal pillar, people-centredness as the national concept, and world harmony as the common ideal. The reason why the new road of Chinese modernization surpasses Western civilization is that it not only inherits China’s excellent traditional culture, but also combines Marxism with China’s reality. It takes the people as the centre and goes beyond the capitalist logic and individualism of the Western capitalist system. It transcends Western-centrism and its disadvantages by means of the community of a shared future for humankind. With the coordinated development of the five types of civilization, it goes beyond the one-way development model of liberalism.

The new path of Chinese style modernization has created a new form of human civilization. Marx once proposed the theory of the development of human society, which provides us with important theoretical resources to reflect on the development of human civilization. The new path of Chinese style modernization highlights “promoting the coordinated development of material civilization, political civilization, spiritual civilization, social civilization and ecological civilization,” thereby creating a new form of human civilization (Xi Jinping on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the CPC). In terms of a world outlook, it means understanding the world in terms of unity in diversity, pursuing the common interests of humankind through differences. From a national perspective, it advocates that each country should respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of other countries, and respect the equality of its development path and opportunities. From the perspective of civilization, it advocates the exchange and mutual learning of different civilizations. In terms of development, it advocates inclusive growth and development, and so on. The new road of Chinese style modernization belongs not only to China, but also to the world, not only to today, but also to the future.

Part 3

Socialism with Chinese characteristics has become the mainstay of world socialism in the 21st century. The new road of Chinese style modernization is not only of great significance to people all over the world who are eager to care about and understand the socialist road, but also provides a reference point and resources for the people all over the world to find a way out of their practical difficulties.

The new road of Chinese style modernization is based on China and serves the world. The construction achievements of socialist countries represented by China have, to a certain extent, provided realistic conditions for replacing capitalism, and so prove that the law of socialism replacing capitalism is still effective. In particular (and as mentioned earlier), in order to cope with the global economic crisis, spring out of the vicious circle of capitalist economic crises, and lead the theory and practice of global economic development, the Communist Party of China has led Marxist theorists to study and analyze the challenges faced by China’s economy by deploying Marxist political economy, which not only created new conditions for China’s economy, but also made great contributions to the rapid recovery of the global economy. At the same time, the economic crisis poses a great challenge to human development and peace, raising a new opportunity for people worldwide to reflect on the future and destiny of human society and transcend the real plight of the capitalist system. The practical difficulties faced by human society require socialist forces to promote the development of human society, re-examine the realistic foundation and development prospects of world socialism in the face of new problems and new situations, and build a new development model to lead world socialism. The creation of a new path of Chinese style modernization is conducive to the unity and cooperation of progressive forces around the world. The new road of Chinese style modernization is not only rooted in the great achievements of socialism with Chinese characteristics, but also firmly expresses – from a long-term perspective – China’s assessment and pursuit of the prospects for the peaceful development of humankind, as well as the direction of the development of human society. In this way, it helps in further coordinating and promoting the thoughts and actions of the progressive forces of human society. The new path of Chinese style modernization is not only China’s, but also the world’s.

The new road of Chinese style modernization serves not only the Chinese people, but also the peaceful development of the world. As mentioned earlier, the systemic crises of capitalism have led to the broad masses of people around the world have a clearer understanding of the capitalist system, strengthened their desire for a better human society, increased their desire for action to change the capitalist system, led them to pay more attention to the actual construction of socialist countries, and encouraged them to develop a stronger desire to understand Marxist theory. At the same time, with terrorism, regional protectionism, local conflicts and war clouds all over the world, there is an urgent need for a new discourse, a unity of thought and action, so as to guide people out of the maze and achieve peaceful development. From a worldwide perspective, the construction achievements of socialist countries provide a realistic ground for these countries to showcase their own advantages.

However, the difficulties and challenges faced by socialism are also unprecedented – not only in terms of facing the problems of self-construction and development, but also the low tide of the world socialist movement, the problems produced by the international political and economic pattern dominated by capitalism, and so on. In 2018, Comrade Xi Jinping asked: “Where is the future of human society in the face of complex changes? Where is the future of Asia? I think, in answering these questions in these times, we should not be afraid of clouds covering our eyes. Instead, we must be adept at seeing the sun through the clouds, grasp the laws of history and have a clear understanding of the trend of the world.” This trend is the peaceful development of human society. This general trend not only provides a rare historical opportunity for the development and expansion of socialist forces, but also lays a solid foundation for the peaceful development of human society. The new road of Chinese style modernization proposed by Comrade Xi Jinping has not only given expression to China’s confidence, but has also taken a worldwide view so as to further recognize the superiority of the socialist system and confirm the direction of development and progress of human society.

Finally, the world’s socialist forces have always been a progressive force for promoting the peaceful development of human society. The new road of Chinese style modernization will help lead the world’s socialist forces to promote jointly the development and progress of a new human society. The new road of Chinese style modernization adheres to the value ideal of promoting people’s all-round development, which is in line with the common interests and pursuits of the people of the world.

https://socialistchina.org/2021/11/25/t ... -movement/

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Keith Lamb: Blocking China’s semiconductor industry is an attempt to impede the construction of socialism
We republish below an important piece of analysis by Keith Lamb, originally published in CGTN on 23 November 2021, seeking to understand the US’s motivations in imposing restrictions on China’s semiconductor industry. The author concludes that semiconductor technology is crucial for China’s goal of building a modern socialist country by 2049, and that the US and its allies are determined to impede – or ideally prevent – any further economic breakthroughs for socialist China.
Since 2015, the U.S. has introduced technological restrictions preventing China from both competing openly in consumer markets and acquiring technology. Restrictions have focused on the semiconductor industry and correlated sectors. For example, the Chinese chipmaker Semiconductor Manufacturing International (SMIC) was blacklisted in December 2020, and, just before this, U.S. and non-U.S. chipmakers who use U.S. semiconductor technology, were forced to comply with U.S. sanctions meaning they could no longer take orders from companies like Huawei.

The U.S. has justified its actions by citing China’s civil-military integration where semiconductors can be used in advanced weaponry. However, even if true, considering the U.S. military and the microchip industry grew in tandem, this crossover wouldn’t be extraordinary. At any rate, it isn’t China’s military that surrounds the U.S., and nor does China seek to confront the U.S. which sits securely protected by two oceans and two compliant neighbors.

Another justification for countering China’s tech industry is based on spurious claims of human rights abuses. For example, Hikvision, which makes video equipment, was recently sanctioned due to linking it with Uygur “genocide” allegations. However, these assertions, just like Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction, have proven to be a contemptible hoax. Consequently, the Uygur atrocity propaganda is part of a “problem-reaction” stratagem where U.S. aggression, such as semiconductor sanctions, can be camouflaged, to Western audiences, as a reasonable reaction to a pre-existing problem.

Indeed, since 2015 when the tech war started, when it comes to human rights, China has improved. Wages have risen, cities are becoming cleaner, corruption has declined, welfare has improved, transport is more efficient and extreme poverty no longer persists. This has led to China’s governing system receiving mass support.

However, this begs the question, as to what are the real reasons the U.S. seeks to engage in a tech war and stifle China’s semiconductor industry? The answer is complex but often overlooked is an international class analysis where social emancipation requires advanced technology. In China’s case, the blocking of China’s semiconductor industry is an attempt to block the construction of socialism.

When it comes to socialism and capitalism, China and U.S. capital have long engaged in a chess game where technology has been central. For example, market reforms in the Deng Xiaoping’s era drove up Western capital’s profits that accessed new markets and extracted a large surplus from Chinese labor. While China was stuck at the low end of the technological hierarchy this inequality allowed China to acquire advanced production processes and the very technology necessary for building socialism.

Importantly, as the Chinese, with their historical material outlook, are well aware, technological advances lead to epoch-changing realities. China’s goal of building a modern socialist country by 2049 is predicated on mastering semiconductor technology which is the linchpin of the modern age making innovations, such as, self-driving electric vehicles; fully-automated AI production systems, and supercomputers possible.

Looking at how technology led to previous social transformations we see that feudal technology restricted labor to farming where only a fraction of the surplus could support artisans, and entrepreneurs. Mechanization transferred labor to the factory and the increased surplus supported more workers engaged in scientific pursuits which further quickened technological progress. Simply put, we make technology but technology remakes us which further opens up new avenues for social and technological development.

It does not require an Albert Einstein to envisage how semiconductor mastery, in the right hands, can lead to future socialist outcomes. One can well imagine how driverless, and ownerless, cars lead to greater efficiency because resources are not duplicated or wasted in needless privatized consumption and maintenance. Fully automatic production frees up industrial labor for creative and inventive work thus further speeding up technological development and giving full play to the fundamental resource which is the non-alienated human being.

Consequently, for those whose transnational class hegemony rests on maintaining the capitalist mode of production, through dominating the technological heights, China’s potential socialist success, rather than any military prowess or human rights abuse, is the threat. Firstly, it breaks capitalism’s technological hegemony which hitherto allows it to extract a greater surplus from the Global South. Secondly, if the U.S. no longer monopolizes the heights of weapons technology, U.S. hard power which has been used, both prolifically and irresponsibly, to subjugate the Global South is blunted. Thirdly, China’s socialist example would break the monopoly of Western developmental ideology providing an alternative example not only to the Global South but the Western working-classes who might also request a socialist future.

No doubt, some may be skeptical of my analysis because they have been indoctrinated with the historical vision that “liberal capitalism” is the apex system that provides for optimum technological progress. However, if this is true the U.S. needs not restrict China’s socialist development because systemic “deficiencies” should lead to failure that can only be rectified through adopting “liberal capitalism.” However, China, with their historical materialist outlook, which correlates technology to social transformation, has already, even before their 2049 socialist goal, achieved astounding successes.

Thus, the failure of liberal ideology and China’s material success, coupled with the U.S. tech-war to contain China, proves that transnational “liberal capital” which control the U.S. obviously no longer believe in their own system’s innate superiority. However, like former feudal lords, these elites will nevertheless, through hook and crook, seek to preserve their systemic privileges which rest on preserving global technological inequality.

https://socialistchina.org/2021/11/26/k ... socialism/
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Re: China

Post by blindpig » Tue Nov 30, 2021 3:04 pm

China makes billion-dose pledge to Africa to help overcome the coronavirus pandemic

Chinese President Xi Jinping tells Africa forum that Beijing will also advance billions of dollars for trade and infrastructure

In addition, Chinese medical teams and experts will be sent to help the continent
Jevans Nyabiage

Published: 10:30pm, 29 Nov, 2021


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Hong Kong’s Central business district. The markets in Asia on Monday took their cues from the US, where stocks saw heavy sell-offs on Friday because of the Omicron variant. Photo: Felix Wong

China has promised to donate a billion coronavirus vaccines, advance billions of dollars for African trade and infrastructure, and write off interest-free loans to African countries to help the continent heal from the coronavirus pandemic.

Speaking via a video link from Beijing during the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), Chinese President Xi Jinping said China would supply a billion doses to help Africa vaccinate 60 per cent of its population by next year.

Of those, 600 million would be via donations and the rest would be produced jointly by African countries and Chinese companies.

In addition, China would send medical teams to help the continent deal with the pandemic, Xi said, to the forum, which is being hosted by Senegal.

“China will undertake 10 medical and health projects for African countries and send 1,500 medical personnel to Africa,” Xi said.

Most countries in Africa have not vaccinated their citizens. The World Health Organization says while many high-income countries reported more than 60 per cent vaccine coverage, just over 7 per cent of Africa’s population is fully vaccinated – despite a recent rise in shipments to the continent.

The low coverage was likely because of limited vaccination services, especially in rural areas, as well as vaccine hesitancy, the WHO said.

China had provided more than 1.7 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines as of November 12 to more than 110 countries and organisations, including 50 African countries and the African Union Commission.

Xi said Beijing would pump US$10 billion into African financial institutions for onward lending to small and medium enterprises. He promised to extend another US$10 billion of its International Monetary Fund allocation of special drawing rights, which would help stabilise foreign exchange reserves.

Further, China will write-off interest-free loans due this year, to help the economies that had been ravaged by the pandemic. Last year, China also promised to write off interest-free loans due at the end of 2020.

Beijing pledged US$60 billion to finance Africa’s infrastructure at the forum in Johannesburg in 2015, and a similar amount when the gathering was held in the Chinese capital in 2018. But in the past few years, Chinese lenders, including the policy banks – Exim Bank of China and China Development Bank – have become more cautious and are now demanding bankable feasibility studies amid debt distress in the continent.
China still committed to Africa despite Covid-19 disruption, minister says

However, the Dakar meeting is happening amid turbulence caused by Covid-19 which has hit African countries hard.

Besides seeking more money for projects, African countries are pushing to grow exports of agricultural products into China.

Xi said China would encourage more imports of African agricultural products, and increase the range of zero-tariff goods, aiming for US$300 billion of total imports from Africa in the next three years.

China would also advance US$10 billion of trade financing to support African exports into China. He said the country would also advance another US$10 billion to promote agriculture in Africa, send 500 experts and establish China-Africa joint agro-technology centres and demonstration villages.

Currently, Beijing maintains a massive trade surplus over the continent. African imports from China include machinery, electronics, construction equipment, textiles and footwear.

China sources a substantial amount of raw materials such as oil, cobalt and copper, and also buys some agricultural products such as chillies, cashews, sesame seeds and spices from Africa.

China overtook the United States in 2009 to be the largest trading partner with the continent.

In 2019, two-way trade reached US$208.7 billion before it slightly fell to US$186.97 billion due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic after countries imposed restrictions to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

However, trade rose in the first nine months of 2021, growing by 38.2 per cent year on year to a high of US$185.2 billion, which according to Chinese vice commerce minister Qian Keming.

Further, China’s direct investment in all industries in Africa amounted to US$2.59 billion, increasing 9.9 per cent year on year. The growth rate was 3 percentage points higher than that of China’s total outbound investment, and above the level of the same period in 2019 before the Covid-19 outbreak.

Chinese companies signed US$53.5 billion worth of new contracts in Africa, and posted a turnover of US$26.9 billion, up 22.2 per cent and 11.6 per cent, respectively.

On climate change, Xi said China would support green development projects. “We need to advocate green initiatives, promote solar, wind and other sources of renewable energy and work for effective implementation of the Paris Agreement on climate change,” he said.

Senegalese President Macky Sall, the co-chair of the forum and host, called on FOCAC to focus on strengthening Africa’s pharmaceutical and medical sovereignty, including by developing local skills, research and production capacity.

He hailed China’s support for helping Africa to develop infrastructure.

He also urged African countries to develop industrial capacity to enable production of products that could be exported into China. “We encourage Chinese enterprises to invest in Africa,” Sall said.

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Re: China

Post by blindpig » Fri Dec 03, 2021 2:19 pm

A NEW DIPLOMACY FOR CHINA
Sergio Rodríguez Gelfenstein

2 Dec 2021 , 9:25 am .

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No one will be able to say that China is trying to impose its model on the world, attack another country, organize coups, assassinate presidents, exert pressure by armed means or install military bases in other countries (Photo: Financial Times)

The VI Plenary of the XIX Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), recently concluded in Beijing, made official a new policy that is underway in the Asian country. Perhaps the most important thing has been that - regardless of whether interested or skeptical observers do not want to see it - the debate has been closed around the question of: Where is China going?

If this were not the case, it would be valid to ask why so much nervousness in the western capitals in the face of what they have belatedly confirmed in relation to the fact that China's economic, technological, scientific, social and defense advances aim to solidify and make the system indestructible socialist and irreversible its construction. The same goal of the United States when it set out to destroy the Soviet Union cannot be replicated in China.

Late has also been the discovery that China's utilization of successful capitalist management methods, and attracting financial and technological resources from the West, had tactical content as it struggled out of underdevelopment and poverty to create a better standard of living for the people. citizens, essential foundation to advance towards the construction of socialism. It is what is taking root now and the VI Plenary is a turning point in this regard.

If the Covid19 pandemic has made one thing clear, it is to show the priorities and capacities of each health system to face the virus. China has put the full potential of the State at the service of the citizens, placing the life of the people at the center of concerns, while in the West the economic interest, profit and profit of the big capitalists prevailed. Before that, the governments knelt without restraint.

On the other hand, the VI Plenary Assembly put on the table the entrance to a new stage after verifying that the period started in 1978, which established the policy of "reform and opening" as its axis, has begun to end, which is why it is necessary to make adjustments in the system. This has arisen from the verification that the current situation, characterized by the increase in conflict with the United States and the global economic crisis that has had a new impulse with the pandemic, has forced new challenges and new commitments that must be assumed.

However, it is worth saying that the internal transformation process in China has begun to undergo some time ago. In May of last year, the "dual circulation strategy" was launched, which gives greater prominence to the domestic economy with respect to its interaction with global markets, although without abandoning them. Likewise, China has proposed to move from an economy of "growth at any cost" to one of "high quality growth" by establishing higher levels of environmental control.

These decisions are integrated with the implementation of a "welfare state" that is aimed at reducing the income gap, increasing the delivery and quality of services for the population and raising the consumption capacity until 2049 the totality of the population has average levels of income. To achieve this, the country intends to develop its own technology that allows it to limit its dependence on abroad to the bare minimum.

In terms of the political structure of the state, the proposal points towards a more equitable distribution of income, avoiding the existence of monopolies and "the disorderly expansion of capital" as pointed out in the November 13 editorial of the Chinese newspaper Global Times .

The publication explained that China intends to build a model of socialist democracy in which economic growth, the obtaining of social achievements for the entire population, the elimination of poverty and social justice must converge, that is, a system that is oriented towards solve the needs of the majority, not of an exclusive minority of the population, as is the case in the West. With this, it is about enforcing article 2 of the National Constitution that establishes that: " All power in the People's Republic of China belongs to the people."

In addition to being representative, democracy in China is participatory and consultative, for which institutional mechanisms have been established that are also firmly established in the Constitution. But there is nothing so longed for by the Chinese as the maintenance of unity and stability. Around these two categories all the work of the institutions of the State, the government and the CCP revolves. This idea establishes a clear difference with the West where democracy does not go beyond being representative, which is a mere "smokescreen", since the elected do not have any responsibility with the voters. Accountability in China is constitutional. Failure to do so carries harsh penalties.

These transformations, which have had an accelerating momentum since the arrival of Xi Jinping as the CCP general secretary in 2012, are also manifested in the field of foreign policy. The traditional passivity and complacency of Chinese diplomacy in the times of Deng Xiaoping, which was characterized by the phrase "hide the force and bide the moment" and which was oriented almost exclusively to attracting investment and trade, is remaining in the last.

From this perspective, it could be said that a complicated stage of transition is being experienced between this "low-profile" diplomacy to a more leading one in which diplomats have greater autonomy in the field that corresponds to them to act. Of course, they are transmitters of a history and a culture and of principles that per se entail a different way of seeing the world and therefore contradict the "universal" norms that Eurocentric Western diplomacy has imposed on the world.


It also seems that the latest events in Hong Kong, the accusations regarding Xinjiang and the blatant interference in China's affairs regarding Taiwan, have sent a strong signal to the Beijing leadership that the West and especially the United States will resist the advancement of China with all the instruments at its fingertips, be they legal or not. This has led to the fact that, maintaining a tradition that is oriented towards the search for balance and harmony, and that establishes that international cooperation must be executed under the win-win principle, diplomacy is aligned with the new challenges posed in defense of the vital interests of the Chinese nation.

Gradually, a new style is being imposed that places broader purposes of society and the State on the table. In this way, Chinese embassies are ceasing to be mere commercial offices to add the attributes that correspond to a country that is a permanent member of the UN Security Council and the second largest economic power on the planet.

To this extent, in the recent past, China has assumed a fierce defense of its interests without skimping on the methods or forms it has used to do so. Witnesses to this novel way of behaving have been Canada, Lithuania, Australia, Sweden, the Czech Republic and Brazil, among others. But it has also adopted a much more active and responsible role in the management of matters of global interest such as the fight against the pandemic, the defense of the environment and the search for peace on the planet, acting from an autonomous position and of own.

In the West they have accused the impact of the change and have even coined a term to refer to the new generation Chinese diplomats whom they have called "wolf warriors", a name taken from a series of Chinese war action films that were released in the year 2015 and whose second film became the highest grossing in Chinese history.

The representatives of the new Chinese diplomacy do not skimp on the use of irony, satire and even mockery through social networks and other publications in order to defend the interests of their country without limiting or restricting themselves in the use of language. The United States had the opportunity to experience this practice firsthand when insecure Secretary of State Anthony Blinken was directly targeted by "poisoned" Chinese darts fired in Anchorage, Alaska in March of this year by State Councilor Yang Jiechi and the Minister of Justice. Foreign Affairs Wang Yi. Blinken and his delegation, who had wanted to overwhelm the Chinese delegates during their speech at the meeting, were so dumbfounded and stunned that they were forced to call for a momentary suspension of the "dialogue"

However, no one will be able to say that China is trying to impose its model on the world, attack another country, organize coups, assassinate presidents, apply armed pressure or install military bases in other countries to interfere in their internal affairs.

Without aspiring to hegemony that is constitutionally rejected in the very preamble of the Magna Carta, it even seems that in this area, transformations are beginning to manifest themselves, at least from the rhetorical point of view. After the coup in Guinea on September 5, carried out by a group of soldiers, in an unusual statement, Beijing condemned the incident and demanded the release of President Alpha Condé.

This action would have been impossible in the recent past. During the diplomacy of the stages under the leadership of Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping, China adhered with absolute apathy to the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries, remaining impassive in the face of aberrant human rights violations and without condemning monstrous interruptions to democracy. .

The modification of the discourse should be understood as bringing China's interests to the fore on the international stage. In this sense, the confrontational rhetoric adopted by Chinese diplomats is related to the need to begin to show cultural and civilizational traits that intend to make it clear that "China exists" and that it will begin to play a relevant role in global problems. , either in the multilateral arena or in its ties with other countries.

It is now up to him to be able to show differences with respect to the usual aggressive behavior of the powers that throughout history have exhibited an imperialist and colonialist disposition. If China wants to behave differently, it will have to show it in action. The substantial changes that have occurred internally that aim to build a more just, equitable and supportive society must have their correlation on the international scene.

There is no doubt that this is what China has tried to do in recent years, but it is still insufficient. In the case of Latin America and the Caribbean, ignorance of the general and specific reality of each country and its isolationist policy that has led it to maintain almost exclusive relationships with governments, parliaments and businessmen, has led to a distancing from society that He continues to perceive it as a strange entity that seeks to replace the United States. Your work should be aimed at changing that perception, if you are interested not only in having good relations with governments and businessmen, but also with the people.

https://misionverdad.com/globalistan/un ... para-china

No doubt the veiled criticism of the last paragraph is justified by some behavior of Chinese business overseas. Just as at home the Chinese understood that capitalists must be given some latitude in order to function maximally and this had sometimes had negative aspects. But as the capitalists at home are being reined in as their primary function for Chinese society is being accomplished so will those operating overseas and we can expect this trend to accelerate are China increasingly assumes world leadership. Give it a minute.
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