How China Is Governed: An Inside Look at the Politics of the World’s Economic Powerhouse

By Royal Collins Publishing Company

The book comprises thirty selected articles from Beijing Review magazine that discuss critical issues on China' s development over the past decade. These include its governance and democratic model, the challenges the ruling Communist Party of China faces and the achievements it has made, and the country' s role in promoting global peace and cooperation in the post-pandemic world.

The articles provide information on Chinese politics under the leadership of President Xi Jinping. The uniqueness of this book is that most of these selected articles were written by international experts based on their observations and research. Its purpose is to be a reference for researchers and anyone interested in learning about China.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Royal Collins Publishing Company
• Release date: Mar 1, 2023
• ISBN: 9781487810368

Book preview

Preface

The book consists of thirty selected articles from the Beijing Review magazine that discuss various critical issues on China’s development over the past decade. These include China’s efforts to eradicate poverty, China’s governance and democratic model, leadership and shared prosperity, the challenges faced by the Communist Party of China (CPC), efforts to combat corruption, China’s contribution to international peace, China’s role in the United Nations, cooperation in the post-pandemic world, the development of cross-border railway networks, the Belt and Road Initiative and its links with Latin America. The prologue consists of an interview with Kishore Mahbubani, a senior Singaporean diplomat and author of Has China Won? , to share his insights on the CPC and China.

These topics are not easy and are sometimes controversial but what is interesting is that most of the contributors to the selected articles are non-Chinese citizens. They come from all over the world and from various backgrounds, including academics, think tanks, political activists, editors, and well-known publishers. The uniqueness of this book is that most of these selected articles were written by international experts based on their fair observations and scientific research on China.

Therefore, the articles in this book were selected from Beijing Review to provide information on Chinese politics and governance under the leadership of President Xi Jinping. In addition, it also discusses China’s relations and cooperation with other countries in international politics. The book’s purpose is to be a reference for researchers, and anyone interested in learning about China. Beijing Review is a prestigious English-language newsweekly that has been around for over half a century since 1958. It is now published both in print and online.

Associate Professor Dr. Roy Anthony Rogers

Department of International and Strategic Studies

Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

University of Malaya

I

A People-Centered Approach

1

People First, the Guiding Principle

By Swaran Singh

The primacy of the people and the centrality of the Communist Party of China (CPC) have continued to be the running themes of President Xi Jinping’s speeches and writings. Together, they project his being deeply grounded in China’s civilizational and intellectual heritage and traditions while having an equally strong grip on the world’s classics of philosophy and contemporary political trends. But it is his deeply felt indebtedness to his predecessors and his consciousness of the emerging national and global challenges that underlie Xi’s continuing pursuit of people-first governance strategies.

Speaking at the 110th birth anniversary of the country’s late leader Deng Xiaoping (1904–97), Xi recalled Deng saying that the goal of all policies must be people’s satisfaction; and that all brilliant ideas emerge not out of one single mind but from the collective wisdom and practices of people. Xi has often credited former President Jiang Zemin for first visualizing in 2002 the goal of achieving a moderately prosperous society that Xi’s leadership managed to finally fructify by 2020—a full ten years before the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals’ target of eliminating acute poverty by 2030. China’s economic growth during the pandemic, which witnesses economic disruptions and deceleration in most other nations, has been another unique silver lining defining Xi’s governance style and substance.

The legacies of Xi’s predecessors remain especially writ large in Xi’s articulations of the two centenary goals (to complete building a moderately prosperous society in all respects when the CPC marked its centenary and to make China a great modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious and beautiful by the time the People’s Republic of China celebrates its centenary) and in Xi’s proposal of the Chinese dream of national rejuvenation. Xi proposes to achieve these centennial goals through further reforms by strengthening the rule of law and reviving and reinforcing the Chinese people’s organic linkages with the Party and its central leadership.

Corruption was another big challenge that defined at least Xi’s first term in office. This saw him working relentlessly to weed out corrupt practices from China’s governance system involving both tigers and flies, or high-ranking politicians and lowly officials guilty of misconduct, as he often describes them. This saw millions of officials, including dozens of very senior leaders facing the wrath of anti-graft regulations. This process has since not just created strong deterrents but also promoted loyalty, integrity, and professionalism. The Party under his leadership seeks to ensure effective, high-caliber, clean governance for greater prosperity at home and an impactful presence worldwide.

Economic development has remained Xi’s powerful locomotive for ensuring innovative, high-quality, and efficient governance structures. He has repeatedly underlined the need to improve income distribution systems and expand the middle-income group by providing health, education, and employment for people to empower them to realize their full potential. From the beginning, his strategies for economic, political, cultural, social, and ecological rejuvenation began by identifying areas of weakness to be addressed first. And now, he continues to emphasize supervision, publicity, implementation, and evaluation and seeks input from the beneficiaries of various initiatives.

As regards China’s ever-expanding role beyond its borders, being both a contributor to and beneficiary of globalization, China continues to adapt to emerging trends. China’s ever-increasing involvement with global affairs—so visible during the pandemic period and in post-pandemic resilience efforts—has seen China deeply engaged in providing relief and resilience to friendly nations while also contributing to the strengthening and transformation of the global governance processes and mechanisms. It has required forging wider networks of connectivity and new global partnerships to enhance China’s contribution to improving humanity’s shared future. It has seen China playing a leading role in implementing green, circular, and low-carbon development using innovation and frontier technologies to ensure harmony between man and nature.

This is also seen in Xi’s reforms of environmental management that seek to empower grassroots-level agencies and experts to implement mitigation and adaptation strategies. This people-first strategy aims to ensure what Xi calls clear waters and green mountains. Given China’s track record of unprecedented economic rise that has made it the world’s leading manufacturing nation, ecological and environmental protection has come to be the top priority for China’s leaders. While admitting that rapid development over the last four decades did accumulate problems of ecological degradation and pollution, China today has the resources and capabilities to address these triggers of public disaffection.

Also, the Belt and Road Initiative has made substantial contributions in the redeeming of the global economy that had faced a decade-long deceleration from the 2007–08 financial crisis and, more recently, in the post-pandemic efforts for economic resilience. This has seen China staying on course as a potent engine for boosting connectivity and growth for all. Globally, this pandemic period sees China closing the gap with the United States and advancing to become the world’s largest economy in current dollar terms. However, in purchasing power parity terms, China has already become the world’s largest economy from 2016.

Finally, Xi in his speeches and writings has often underlined his vision of consultative democracy, representing a unique strength of socialism with Chinese characteristics and embodying the CPC’s mass line that guides China’s people-first governance strategies. In the spirit of the united front, Xi always takes into consideration suggestions from non-Communist parties and personalities as well as the ethnic and religious diversities of this large ancient nation. Socialist art and literature that cater to this increasing worldwide curiosity about understanding China’s rise are seen as grounded in people’s cultural needs, reinforcing Xi’s people-first principle.

The author is a visiting professor at the University of British Columbia (Vancouver), a professor at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (New Delhi), and an adjunct fellow of the Charhar Institute (Beijing).

2

The Nonstop Fight for the Nation’s Well-being

By George N. Tzogopoulos

China’s herculean task in alleviating poverty has borne results. As U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said when addressing the Beijing Forum in December 2020 via video link, China has been a leader [in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals] by helping hundreds of millions of people get out of poverty. Guterres said that was the greatest anti-poverty accomplishment in history. Chinese President Xi Jinping attended a gathering in Beijing on February 25, 2021, to mark the country’s accomplishments in poverty eradication.

It resulted from implementing systematic policies that lasted decades and were intensified in recent years. After the 18th Communist Party of China National Congress in late 2012, progress was remarkable. An average of more than 10 million people were brought out of poverty per year from 2012 to 2020. The human-centered approach has been combined with tailored measures according to families’ needs and their villages’ capacity.

A new journey starts with optimism but is complete with challenges and difficulties for China. The consolidation of the success could be more complicated than the goal itself. The continuation of the pandemic and persisting risks such as climate change and food insecurity could lead to setbacks. The Chinese Government’s priority is to ensure that families will not slip back into poverty.

While safeguarding prior achievements, the Chinese Government is also expected to act to reduce societal inequalities. The eradication of poverty does not mean that the level of fairness Xi is envisaging for China’s future has been obtained. Gaps in salaries and pensions, for example, constitute a problem. Additionally, those who have left their villages to work in cities often need time to adjust to new living conditions. Their children, in particular, need to enjoy better education opportunities.

Xi believes the Chinese Government must meet the people’s expectations for a better life. This was the title of a speech he gave in 2017 when he addressed a meeting with world political parties. Chinese citizens have witnessed an increase in their income. Specifically, the per-capita disposable income of residents was 32,189 yuan ($4,961) in 2020 and 35,128 ($5,523) in 2021. People, who have been removed from poverty, are grateful but could expect a new boost in their lives.

Improving infrastructure, public services, and living conditions in China cannot alone provide solutions and set the way forward. An ambitious modernization plan is required to empower the competitiveness in Chinese regions that lag behind. Rural areas, for