Public screening of President Xi Jinping give the report at CPC’s 20th National Congress [SCMP]
Dear readers,
This week, Tings Chak talked with The Socialist Program‘s Brian Becker about the key takeaways from the CPC’s 20th National Congress report and Biden’s recent singling out of China in his National Security Doctrine (English).
Marco Fernandes was interviewed by China Radio International about the history of the CPC, Xi Jinping government’s ten years on, and some challenges for the future of the country and its relations with the Global South (Portuguese). Marco also talked with José Reinaldo, from Brasil 247, about important aspects of the 20th National Congress report and the policy to control the “disorderly expansion of capital” in China (Portuguese).
Recently, The Crane podcast co-hosts Mika Erskog and Amadeus Musumali were interviewed by Quartz Africa on bringing young African voices to the Africa-China debate. Read here.
Finally, this week we launched the second video in a series on Chinese politics, society, economy, environment, and culture. In this video, we explain how the Chinese political system works and explore the question: Is China a dictatorship, as many in the West claim? (English).
—Dongsheng editorial collective
Geopolitics
Biden’s new sanctions target US citizens working in Chinese semiconductor companies, in addition to exports to China
New restrictions place chip sector workers in China on par with nuclear, biological, and missile proliferation activities, forcing many US workers – often Chinese-Americans in key technical positions – to choose between their jobs and citizenship
Science and Technology
China’s CATL, the world’s largest maker of electric car batteries, continues to supply US firms
CATL struck a deal to supply to the Gemini project in Las Vegas, one of the largest solar energy storage facilities in the US, which will receive a US$1.2 billion investment and generate power for 400,000 homes; CATL will also sell 10,000 MWh of advanced lithium energy storage to Flexgen for a three-year period
National Politics
In a report to the 20th CPC Congress, President Xi Jinping highlights the economic achievements of the last 10 years, with China’s GDP now representing 18.5% of the world economy
The report highlighted the elimination of extreme poverty and announced that the country should improve income distribution; Xi also stated that the Taiwan issue should be solved by the Chinese and that he does not rule out the use of force
Delegates to the 20th CPC National Congress were chosen by a bottom-up method of election, combining high-level and grassroots members
Before the beginning, the chair of the 20th Congress confirmed the qualifications of the 2,296 delegates and invited 83 special delegates; in addition, 354 party leaders and non-CPC figures were invited as non-voting participants
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China, 15.10.2022
Economy
China’s six largest banks issued about 9.53 trillion yuan (US$1.32 trillion) in new loans in the first three quarters
Government measures aim to encourage the real economy (such as manufacturing and infrastructure) and stabilize economic development; large state banks say they are prepared to play a bigger role in financing for the rest of the year to help boost the economy
Several Chinese cities cut mortgage rates to below 4%, in a move to recover the housing market
City governments also reduce interest rates for housing provident fund loans and increase subsidies for home purchases; the measures are short-term and aim to solve problems that have arisen in the last two years, such as defaults by some developers and an imbalance between supply and demand
Agriculture and Environment
Production of rice growing in salty, alkaline soil has more than doubled in three years, increasing productivity to more than 10 tons/hectare by 2022
Annual rice production in China has more than tripled since 1970, thanks to Yuan Longping, the “father of hybrid rice”; to advance food security, up to 13 million hectares of arid land can be reclaimed for rice cultivation
Hydrogen produced from industrial byproducts can help develop the sector, which still relies heavily on fossil fuels
China produces ⅓ of world’s hydrogen, which is cheap to manufacture and emits no carbon as an energy source, but hydrogen gas is still sourced from coal (62%), natural gas (19%), and by-products (18%); China aims to create an initial hydrogen economy running by 2025, relying mostly on by-products and renewables
People’s Life and Culture
20th CPC National Congress dominates China’s social media with related hashtags receiving up to 760 million views
Phrases from Xi Jinping’s report trended on Weibo and Douyin, including “Solving the Taiwan problem is up to the Chinese themselves” and “China will never seek hegemony or engage in expansion”; the report was also discussed on Xuexi Qiangguo, the app for studying the CPC and Xi Jinping thought
Thirteen-year-olds in rural China are 7.5cm taller and 6.6kg heavier than a decade ago
Thanks to a nutritional improvement launched in 2012, as part of the poverty alleviation program, the average increase in children aged 6-15 was 3cm and 1kg; good nutrition and funding remain challenges; between 1985 and 2019, male height increased by almost 9cm and female height by 6cm, according to The Lancet
Children in China [Sohu]
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