Sim succeeds Chow as state party chairman after polls at ordinary convention
GEORGE TOWN: A wind heralding change has blown through the halls of power in Penang.
The collective force of the 1,500-odd delegates of Penang DAP who cast their votes yesterday indicated a shift away from the powerful “Lim family” in the party.
Not all candidates known to be aligned with party chairman Lim Guan Eng scored enough votes to win a coveted seat in the state party committee – a sign that there are complex workings in the party that outsiders cannot measure.
Human Resources Minister Steven Sim became the new Penang DAP chairman from now until 2027 after scoring the second highest number of votes from state party delegates (1,237 votes).
Sim was asked to comment on the fact that assuming the post meant he could be the chief minister designate.
The Bukit Mertajam MP picked the middle ground: “We focus on the working on the ground first, make sure we win the next election and establish the government together.
“All that can be discussed later; we focus on working on the ground. Thank you,” he told the media in a minute-long press conference.
Penang DAP had its ordinary convention yesterday, requiring 1,500-odd delegates to vote in 15 out of 31 nominees to be in the state liaison committee.
After their votes were tallied and the 15 members were determined, the 15 then enter closed doors to thrash out who would be the chairman, deputy, secretary, treasurer and other office-bearers.
When the doors were opened, reporters got the news they had expected: Sim would take over from Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow as the new chairman.
Sim’s deputy is now Ramkarpal Singh, a son of the late party stalwart Datuk Seri Karpal Singh, who actually gained the most number of votes from Penang DAP delegates (1,247 votes).
Guan Eng’s sister Hui Ying, who is Deputy Finance Minister and Tanjong MP, retained her post as Penang DAP secretary. But she only garnered 827 votes.
Komtar assemblyman Teh Lai Heng, who used to be Chow’s political secretary, climbed up and became state party treasurer.The combination of Sim and Hui Ying as the chairman and secretary had earlier received open endorsement from DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke.
Among biggest casualties were Deputy Chief Minister II Jagdeep Singh Deo and state Tourism and Creative Economy Committee chairman Wong Hon Wai.
Other state assemblymen who did not make the cut were Heng Lee Lee (Berapit), Joseph Ng (Air Itam), K. Kumaran (Bagan Dalam) and Ong Ah Teong (Batu Lanchang).
These were among personalities believed to be attentive to Guan Eng’s opinions.
Guan Eng, who was Penang chief minister from 2008 to 2018, had never been the Penang DAP chairman. But a convention exists in that the “chief minister designate” is usually the chairman of the leading party in a given state.
State exco member Zairil Khir Johari (fourth, 1,166 votes) and Datuk Yeoh Soon Hin (third, 1,225), a former state exco member, were appointed as the state party vice-chairmen.
State party assistant secretary post went to H’ng Mooi Lye, the Penang local government executive councillor.
The assistant treasurer post will be held by Lay Hock Peng.
The organising secretary is now Phee Boon Chee, the younger brother of Penang DAP veteran Datuk Seri Phee Boon Poh, while the assistant organising secretary post will be held by both Lee Wei Seang and Lim Siew Khim.
The state DAP publicity secretary is now Joshua Woo and the assistant publicity secretary is Datuk Soon Lip Chee.
The director of political education is Daniel Gooi, who is the Penang state exco member for youth, sports and health.
The six committee members are Datuk Seri S. Sundarajoo, RSN Rayer, Phee Syn Tze, Ooi Yong Woi, Teh Chuann Yien and Foo Yu Keong
Leading the pack: Tan beats Cook, Musk and Zuckerberg in the analysis by the WSJ. — Photo from Broadcom Inc
Tan tops list of highest paid executives in the US last year
PETALING JAYA: The highest-paid chief executive officer in the United States is neither Apple’s Tim Cook nor Tesla’s Elon Musk, but Malaysian-born businessman Tan Hock Eng.
Tan, 71, also surpassed Meta Platforms’ Mark Zuckerberg by earning US$162mil (about RM760mil) in compensation last year, according to South China Morning Post, which quoted an analysis by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) this week.
“Tan, who is a US citizen, is the CEO of semiconductor company Broadcom Inc and has been topping the pay charts since 2006, receiving US$103mil in 2017,” said WSJ.
However, the pay package comes with several conditions, including the company’s stock hitting a certain level by next year. Tan must also remain as CEO for an additional five years, and he will not receive any more equity or cash bonuses during that period.
The semiconductor company’s shares rose 106% over the past 12 months, bringing its total market capitalisation to US$655bil (RM3 trillion).
Tan is also a board member of Meta Platforms, the US-based company that owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp among others.
Tan, who hails from Penang, completed his undergraduate studies in mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
He also has a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the National University of Singapore. He then earned a Master of Business Administration from Harvard University. After returning to Malaysia, he was involved with Hume Industries between 1983 and 1988.
He then moved to Singapore as managing director of venture capital firm Pacven Investment.
He reportedly relocated back to the United States in 1992 and assumed the role of vice-president of finance for PC maker Commodore International.
People celebrate the 100th founding anniversary of the Communist Party of China, in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, on July 1, 2021. Photo: VCG
A survey released on Saturday at the 2023 Global Times Annual Conference showed that more than 62 percent of participants around the globe believe that China's influence is rising, double the number that believes the US' influence is rising, and more people expect that the China-US tension is likely to turn into "conflict" rather than "easing."
On shared global issues, concerns over inflation, war, energy and the food security crisis have surpassed concern over the COVID-19 pandemic, with analysts saying the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the following serious impact to the world economy have brought more urgent problems and impending dangers to the world, while most countries and people are showing less worry toward the impact brought by the pandemic, which is into its third year, as the virus has become less harmful.
The survey is released annually and conducted by the Global Times Research Center. This year, from October 29 to December 6, the survey which covered 30 questions related to China-US relations, global security and development, received more than 36,000 effective samples from 33 countries all over the world including China, the US, Russia, France, the UK, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt, Nigeria, Kenya, Pakistan, India, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Japan, Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia and South Korea.
Analysts said the survey reflects that the world welcomes and has strong confidence in China's development and Chinese modernization, even though the US and some of its allies are trying to spread the China threat theory, still more and more people are losing faith in the US and globalization that is dominated by US hegemony.
Which is more influential?
On the question "How has the US or China's international influence changed in the recent year?" more than 30 percent among all participants worldwide believe the US' influence is rising, while a similar number of participants believe the US' influence is declining. More than 62 percent believe China's influence is rising.
In countries like Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria, Austria, Poland and India, more people believe that the US' influence is rising rather than declining. In the US, 32 percent of participants believe their country's international influence is rising while another 32 percent believe the US' influence is declining, while 56 percent believe China's influence is rising.
"Judging from real national strength, the US still has the upper hand in terms of military, economy and science and technology, but if viewing 'international influence' from a perspective of being a leader to represent values shared by humanity, or the popularity and favorability among other countries, the US' influence is certainly decreasing," Shen Yi, a professor at the School of International Relations and Public Affairs of Fudan University told the Global Times.
Lü Xiang, an expert on international relations and research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times there are two main reasons why the majority of the participants worldwide believe China's influence is rising - first, China's sustainable and fast development as well as the powerful national strength are most convincing evidence; second, China's ideas for global development and security have been accepted well worldwide.
China's principles of not seeking hegemony and non-interference, as well as standing with developing countries forever, have been set very long ago. When China was a weak and undeveloped country, other countries did not really care about what China said, according to the expert. Today China has become a major world power with undoubted national strength, and more and more countries have found that China keeps its promise of not seeking hegemony, Lü said.
The China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative have continually brought benefits and development to China's partners worldwide, comparing the destructions and instabilities caused by the US hegemony around the globe, it's very natural for the countries around the globe to be more favorable on China's rising influence, Lü noted.
Although more people in African countries like Kenya, South Africa and Nigeria, as well as some European countries like Poland and Austria believe the US' influence is rising rather than declining, the vast majority in these countries (from 56 percent in Poland and 70 percent in Austria, to 78 percent in South Africa and 76 percent in Kenya) also firmly believe that China's influence is rising.
For China's rising international influence, Shen said it could be interpreted from two perspectives. One is that countries around the world do have a better impression about China and they hope China will play more important roles in the future as they have benefited from ties with China, or they want China to be more powerful to balance the negative impacts brought by US hegemony, Shen said.
But in some Western countries, especially the US' allies that follow Washington closely, the reason why they believe China's influence is rising is because of the long-existing hyping of the "China threat" theory in their countries, and they are afraid of the rising influence of China as US propaganda tries to shape an aggressive image of China around the globe, Shen noted.
"The US is not in its prime of life, no longer the protagonists of Hollywood action movies who are handsome, elegant, quick in action and reaction. Today's US is like 'a mafia boss in his later years who can barely walk but still holds particularly large power among the gangsters. Today, the US' position is largely determined by the system it built long ago," said Jin Canrong, associate dean of the School of International Studies at the Renmin University of China.
China-US relations
The survey also shows that the world is concerned about China-US tension. More of the participants in 19 countries, including the US, expect China-US relations to "maintain the status quo."
In China and the US, the survey results show that 45 percent of Chinese participants expect the China-US tension to ease, and 39 percent expect to maintain the status quo, but only 11 percent in the US expect the two sides will see an easing of tensions in the future, and 44 percent of American participants expect the status quo to remain unchanged.
Lü said China does not have an anti-US propaganda now, while all news reports about China-US relations are objectively introducing the facts and also trying to guide the public to understand the China-US relations based on good will. "But in America, the two major parties are trying their best to make China look like an enemy," and to use Sinophobia to cover their incompetence in internal affairs.
"If you read US mainstream media, you will see their reports are hyping and inciting conflict between the US and China every day, whether in politics or the economy, so US politicians and media should be held accountable for the worsening China-US ties that make the world concerned," Lü noted.
Among the samples collected from the 33 countries, 23 percent of them believe that the most likely cause of a potential conflict between China and the US is that "China imposes more retaliation against the US," about 22 percent believe it would be "troublemaking by Taiwan secessionists" and 19 percent consider it would be "the US strengthening its containment strategy against China."
Chinese analysts said it seems like the most realistic task for China and the US in the future is to keep managing their differences and competition to keep the current situation from losing control, and it would be very difficult to completely ease tensions in the short term.
The US elites should be aware of the danger of China-US conflict, especially on sensitive affairs like the Taiwan question, and to what extent the two major powers can avoid conflict depends on the US' attitude toward China. If the US stops its containment strategy, China does not need to retaliate the US at all, experts stressed.
Future globalization
The survey result also shows that the world is increasingly worried about the danger of conflict between the two biggest economies, while most participants around the globe believe that the world needs to find a new or better way to develop globalization. Chinese interviewees are very confident in "achieving satisfactory globalization in the next 10 years" and they are less concerned than other countries' participants on the problems like "war," "prices rising" and "food and energy crises."
Experts said this shows that China has protected Chinese people well when the world is suffering from the turbulence in recent years, so Chinese people have sensed less negative impacts of the current globalization. This also proves that China is qualified to share its wisdom and experiences to the world to overcome common challenges, and the people around the globe expect China to be more active in providing public goods to reform the problematic world order.
China will eye rapid economic growth next year, said economists when attending the 2023 Global Times Annual Conference
UN biodiversity deal adopted at COP15 at watershed moment
Pushing forward deal highlights China’s leading role in preserving biodiversity: experts
Chinese Minister of Ecology and Environment Huang Runqiu (centre-rignt), Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, David Ainsworth (centre-left), Executive Secretary of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, Elizabeth Maruma Mrema (2nd right) and Inger Andersen Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Program (right) during a plenary meeting at the 2022 UN Biodiversity Conference, known as COP 15, in Montreal, Canada on Monday. Photo: AFP
Nearly 200 countries adopted a landmark deal set to reverse environmental destruction and preserve global biodiversity over the next decades at a marathon UN biodiversity summit on Monday.
The successful adoptionof the deal, under China's presidency, signals the country's leading role and commitment in converging and pushing forward global efforts in protecting the world's biodiversity at a watershed moment, said experts.
Now that the targets have been set, what matters most is whether nations follow through, said experts. The thorniest issue is still finance, and experts have called for this burden to fall largely on developed countries, which are equipped with technology and funds to help developing countries.
A UN biodiversity deal, entitled Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and aimed at reversing biodiversity loss and setting the world on the path to recovery, was adopted on Monday at the UN biodiversity conference, COP15, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Monday.
"The package is adopted," Chinese Environment Minister Huang Runqiu, the chair of the COP15 nature summit, declared at a late-night plenary session in Montreal as he struck his gavel, sparking loud applause from assembled delegates, the AFP reported.
The framework sets the target of effective conservation and management of at least 30 percent of the world's lands, inland waters, coastal areas and oceans, with emphasis on areas of particular importance for biodiversity and ecosystem functioning and services, according to the final release the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity sent to the Global Times on Monday.
The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework prioritizes ecologically representative, well-connected and equitably governed systems of protected areas and other effective area-based conservation, recognizing indigenous and traditional territories and practices. Currently 17 percent and 10 percent of the world's terrestrial and marine areas respectively are under protection, according to the release.
It also called for the progressive phasing out or reform by 2030 of subsidies that harm biodiversity by at least $500 billion per year, while scaling up positive incentives for biodiversity's conservation and sustainable use. The scheme is set to raise international financial flows from developed to developing countries, in particular the least developed countries, small island developing states, and countries with economies in transition, to at least $20 billion per year by 2025, and to at least $30 billion per year by 2030.
After the adoption, EU Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevicius tweeted, "DEAL Tonight, we make history at#COP15. The Kunming-Montreal deal for Nature & people all over the world. 30% degraded ecosystems on land & sea to be restored by 2030;30% terrestrial & marine areas conserved & managed by 2030."
A statement the UN Development Programme (UNDP) sent to the Global Times on Monday said it welcomes the historic agreement reached at COP15."This agreement means people around the world can hope for real progress to halt biodiversity loss and protect and restore our lands and seas in a way that safeguards our planet and respects the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities," reads the statement.
The agreement reached today in Montreal is a significant breakthrough for biodiversity. It reflects never-before-seen recognition from countries at all income levels that biodiversity loss must be stopped through high-ambition changes to our society's relationship with nature and the way our global economy operates. It also reflects a determination from political leaders around the world to make this happen, Carlos Manuel Rodriguez, CEO and Chairperson of the Global Environment Facility, said in a statement sent to the Global Times on Monday.
After four years of negotiations and 12 years since the last biodiversity targets were agreed in Japan, the Chinese president ofCOP15put forward its recommendations for a final agreement after two weeks of intense negotiations among 196 countries.
Reaching a consensus on global environment issues, such as protecting biodiversity and climate change, were never easy, as nations' interests on those topics always conflicted, Lin Boqiang, director of the China Center for Energy Economics Research at Xiamen University, told the Global Times on Monday.
"That is why China put forward such a draft that had won wide applause among delegates from so many countries," said Lin. "This can be seen as a remarkable first step toward global biodiversity protection for the next decades, and this has highlighted China's leading role in this field."
Implementation matters
Speaking at a Saturday conference, Huang admitted that the most challenging remaining divergences lie in the financial mechanisms, resource mobilization and the goals of the framework. "Targeting these three problems, we have invited minister-level officials from Rwanda, Chile, Egypt, Germany, Norway and Canada, and have set up three coordination working groups," Huang said.
The final release said by 2030 at least $200 billion per year in domestic and international biodiversity-related funding from all sources - public and private are to be mobilized.
Developing countries previously pushed for half of that̶$100 billion per year̶to flow from wealthy countries to poorer nations, Reuters reported on Sunday.
Lin pointed out that the proposed targets show China's ambition and pragmatism in pushing forward a workable scheme, as setting the financial targets too high may backfire as many developed countries may refuse to pay.
"Setting up an agreement is for everyone to work on. Yet judging by developed countries' blustery promises on climate issues, whether they will pay the money on biodiversity remains questionable, so the final release lowered the target for developed countries to pay at least $20 billion per year by 2025," said Lin.
The developed countries still haven't fulfilled their pledge of providing $100 billion per year for developing countries to tackle climate damage.
Developing nations have limited capacity to achieve goals set at the current stage, thus the financing onus falls largely on those developed countries that have the technology and money to help, said Lin.
Huang Runqiusaid at a conference last week that the most important factor for a successful COP15 is reaching a framework of protecting biodiversity. What kind of framework is successful depends not only on how much we have agreed, but also how much we will realize, said Huang.
As presidency of the conference, China hopes that all the goals and promises are acceptable to all participants, and will endure the test of time, said the Chinese environment minister. He hoped that both developed and developing countries will feel they have fulfilled their promises by 2030, and only those goals and promises can be counted as a real success.
Xinhua file photo of a B-52 strategic bomber After a series of failures, the US Air Force on Monday nnounced that it has finally succe...
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During the ongoing 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), an official in charge of the National Development and Reform Commission said at a press conference that judging from the current situation, China's economy rebounded significantly in the third quarter, and from a global perspective, China's economic performance is still remarkable. Although affected by changes in the domestic and external environment, there are still some outstanding contradictions and problems in the current economic operation. However, China has a population of more than 1.4 billion and coupled with basic conditions such as a complete industrial system and a comprehensive industrial chain, "China's economic stabilization and improvement will be further consolidated."
We have noticed that the assessments that some well-established international agencies made recently on China's economy coincide with China's own remarks. A well-known consulting agency said that most preliminary economic data indicated that China's economy recovered in the third quarter. Experts from the Economist Intelligence Unit also believe that compared with the economic difficulties of various countries in the world, "China has some unique advantages at the moment," which enables China's economy to maintain positive growth even when faced with great internal and external pressure.
Of course, when people pay attention to and discuss China, there are also negative and pessimistic arguments, and some even regard China's development and security, government and market, openness and independence as contradictory to each other. Part of it comes from taking wishful thinking as fact, because it has long been "standard configurations" for some US and Western public opinion to downplay China; at the same time, part of it results from looking at "speed" with the outdated thinking and vision, without understanding the deep logic of China's high-quality development.
If we observe the Chinese economy from the perspective of quality development, we will look through the complicated and indistinguishable superficial information to see the ongoing evolution and the improvement of the Chinese economy. In recent years, although the growth rate of China's economy has declined a bit compared with some periods in the past, its economic structure has been continuously optimized and its development momentum has been enhancing. In particular, the development speed of high-tech industries is equal to doubling the average development speed of the entire industry. Some major technological fields have made their ways to the global frontier, transformed by innovation-driven factors instead of the factors such as land, capital and labor in the past. At the same time, the energy consumption per unit of GDP has continued to decline. The sky is bluer, the mountains are greener, and the water is clearer. Although facing some temporary challenges and difficulties, China has enhanced its ability to overcome difficulties in its economy.
Illustration: Chen Xia/GT
The report to the 20th CPC National Congress stressed that "To build a modern socialist country in all respects, we must, first and foremost, pursue high-quality development." If the Chinese people are to live a better life and the Chinese nation is to realize its great rejuvenation, maintaining economic growth is of course very necessary. At the same time,the Chinese people have a broader and more comprehensive understanding of growth. And high-quality development is a new concept in which "innovation is the primary driver, coordination is an endogenous trait, eco-friendly growth prevails, openness to the world is the only way, and shared growth is the ultimate goal." This is also China's proactive pursuit of following the laws of economic development, adapting to changes in major social contradictions, and maintaining sustainable and sound economic development.
Compared with the past, China now puts more emphasis on maintaining national security, because the global security situation today has become more complicated, especially when the US is fanning flames and creating geopolitical crises everywhere and treating China as its No.1 strategic competitor. Against the backdrop of a sudden increase in external risks and a more insecure world, where can development come from without the overall favorable environment of national security? Some US and Western public opinions have deliberately put development on the opposite side of security, simply because in their hearts, they do not want China to be secure, nor do they want China to grow and develop.
The giant ship of China has always pointed to a determined direction, never going off its course nor turning around. In the new era, the CPC, in accordance with the changes in reality at home and abroad, has taken precautions and foresight to extend and develop the experience summed up in the past decades, and then has established a new development concept and strategic plan, which is coherent and consistent with the past development direction.
One thing that is absolutely certain is that China cannot copy the Western model for its development, and anyone expecting China to follow that path is bound to feel disappointed and will complain that "China has changed." But in fact it's not China that has changed. Instead, it is that they have made a wrong judgment from the very beginning; it can even be said that those who have been bad-mouthing China are disappointed, which just shows that China has done the right thing.
Although China is already the second largest economy in the world, its per capita income is still far behind that of developed countries, which means greater economic growth space.
Implementing the spirit of the report to the 20th CPC National Congress, insisting that development is the "first priority" and high-quality development as the "primary task," we have ample reasons to maintain confidence in the Chinese economy.
The
20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), which will convene in Beijing on Sunday, marks the start of a new journey for
China's development and its role in international affairs, and the event takes place at a time when the world is experiencing profound changes not seen in a century. For people around the globe observing the historically significant political event, how China, under the strong leadership of the CPC, overcomes challenges to the country's development and contributes certainty to a world in turbulence has become a key interest.
In 2021, the CPC accomplished the First Centenary Goal for China - building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, or xiaokang in Chinese. The 20th CPC National Congress will be held at a historic juncture as the Party and the country continue marching forward to the Second Centenary Goal based on the achievements and experience gained from its past journey.
The Second Centenary Goal, set by the CPC at its 18th National Congress and further defined by the CPC at its 19th National Congress in October 2017, seeks "to develop China into a great modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious and beautiful by the middle of the 21st century."
Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, said in 2017 that following the realization of a moderately prosperous society, the whole Party and people of various ethnic groups across the country would be motivated to build a modernized socialist country by 2049, the centenary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.
Since China's
extraordinary achievements over the past 10 years have been widely acknowledged to have raised living standards at home and bolstered global development, the world is paying close attention to what more China can do for itself and the world in the next phase, especially as the world suffers from challenges including the COVID-19 pandemic, energy and food crises caused by the geopolitical turbulence in Ukraine, and the Western sanctions against Russia, as well as the intensifying tension between the two biggest world economies caused by Washington's hostility against China's peaceful development.
Lujiazui, a financial zone in Shanghai Photo: VCG
Changes and challenges
The COVID-19 pandemic has already taken more than 6 million lives worldwide
in the past three years, bringing an unprecedentedly severe impact to humanity. A World Bank report said in 2020 that the pandemic caused the
worst global economic recession "since World War II," and as central banks across the world simultaneously hike interest rates in response to
inflation, the situation in 2023 could be even worse, and a string of financial crises in emerging market and developing economies will do
them lasting harm, according to the World Bank on September 15.
The Russia-Ukraine conflict that started early this year also adds a new
challenge to the severe situation. Observers around the globe believe that the conflict is profoundly changing the international political
order, and the ensuing unilateral Western-launched sanctions led by the US have also caused huge damage to the international trade system and
global supply chains. Many major EU members are now suffering from high energy prices, inflation, and strikes, while many developing countries
are facing a serious food crisis.
Xu Bu, president of the China Institute of International Studies and secretary-general of Xi Jinping
Thought on Diplomacy Studies Center, told the Global Times that "at present, the pandemic still exists, the international security situation
is in turbulence, global economic recovery is fragile, and many crises are taking place. The world is entering a period of profound and complex
change, and the journey to realize the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation has encountered new challenges."
In such a complicated and challenging period, cooperation between major powers has failed to emerge, but bloc-to-bloc confrontation and a zero-sum mentality are deeply affecting international relations, making the challenges more severe, analysts said.
Shen Yi, a professor at the School of International Relations and Public Affairs of Fudan University, told the Global Times that China has already developed to what it looks like today, and if it continues its growth and development, the international power comparison will surely change.
"The US and some of its Western followers who still dominate the current international system have already launched comprehensive suppression against China. This is the biggest risk and challenge that we are facing right now," Shen said.
US China Illustration: Liu Rui/GT
Xu echoed the view that the top external challenge for China is the interruption to the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation caused by
hegemony and power politics, and the US hegemonic and unilateral strategy is not only threatening China, but also the world.
The US has unilaterally sanctioned about 20 countries and regions worldwide. These sanctions are not only against governments, but have
also been imposed against individuals and nongovernmental sectors like companies and academic institutes such as universities, with human rights observers and experts raising concerns that the US and other Western-launched unilateral coercive measures constitute "one of the most serious challenges to solidarity, universality, development and human rights protection."
The US is seeking "decoupling" from China in many aspects to serve its major power competition strategy, including imposing additional tariffs against Chinese goods and launching export controls of chips to contain China's sci-tech development, and has also launched cyberattacks against Chinese institutes such as universities. The US also repeatedly provokes and challenges China's sovereignty and core interests on sensitive matters including the Taiwan question, Xinjiang, and Hong Kong region, putting the peace and stability of the Asia-Pacific region in danger, said experts.
In Europe, the US continues to fan the flames of the Ukraine crisis which was fundamentally caused by US-led NATO expansion, and the continent is now experiencing its most dangerous situation since the Cold War, and with the unilateral anti-Russia sanctions dominated by the US, global supply chains have been seriously damaged and many
countries have suffered from rarely seen high inflation, Xu said.
Facing such an unprecedented, complicated external situation, the CPC still needs to make sure that the Second Centenary Goal it promised to the people of China can be accomplished, and analysts say this requires the CPC to have very high capability in both internal governance and in handing external affairs.
Wang Yiwei, director of the Institute of International Affairs at the Renmin University of China, told the Global Times that "in the previous era from the end of the Cold War to the early 2000s, the world was generally stable, and major powers still had some consensus on development and security. China was following the trend of globalization, but now, the situation has changed, and the Western-dominated globalization sees many problems and potential risks."
"It's time for China to actively guide the direction of the reform and improvement of globalization," Wang noted.
"The world is expecting China, a responsible major power with strength and wisdom, to provide solutions to the problems troubling the globe. China won't dominate the world order like a hegemon, but it can contribute certainty and stability to balance out the damage caused by the chaos and turbulence worldwide, because China is approaching the center of the international arena," said Zhang Shuhua, director of the Institute of Political Sciences of the hinese Academy of Social Sciences.
The upcoming 20th CPC National Congress will provide the Party's answer to questions from not only the Chinese people, but also the world about China's future.
The seventh plenary session of the 19th CPC Central Committee that ended on October 12 has analyzed the current situation and tasks, and hosted in-depth discussions on major issues including upholding and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics on the new journey in the new era, and building a modern socialist country in all respects. It has made full reparations for
the upcoming 20th CPC National Congress, according to the communiqué of the plenary session.
People visit an exhibition about China's victory over poverty at the National Museum of China on April 8, 2021. Photos: IC
Promises and tasks
On its new journey toward the Second Centenary Goal, the CPC has made a clear and encouraging plan to reach such a great goal stage by stage.
In his report delivered at the 19th CPC National Congress in 2017, President Xi said, "Based on a comprehensive analysis of the international and domestic environments and the conditions for China's development, we have drawn up a two-stage development plan for the period from 2020 to the middle of this century."
"In the first stage from 2020 to 2035, we will build on the foundation created by the moderately prosperous society with a further 15 years of hard work to see that socialist modernization is basically realized," and "In the second stage from 2035 to the middle of the 21st century, we will, building on having basically achieved modernization, work hard for a further 15 years and develop China into a great modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious and beautiful," Xi said.
Shen said the upcoming 20th CPC National Congress will have a clear systematic arrangement for the core leadership of the Party, and this will guarantee stability, certainty and consistency for the next stage.
President Xi said in November 2020 that "China's economy has the hope and potential to maintain long-term stable development."
Residents in Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong Province, enjoy the sunrise in the Shenzhen Bay Park on October 1, 2022. Photo: VCG
It is "completely possible" for China to meet the current standards for high-income countries by the end of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) period and to double the total economic volume or per capita income by 2035, Xi said.
Zhu Guangyao, former Chinese vice minister of finance, told Xinhua that this means the per capita GDP in 2035 would at least have doubled the volume in 2019 and reach $20,000.
Wang said that in order to accomplish such a task, China will no longer maintain the old development model and will require a new one driven by innovation with a greater global vision. "China's reform will promote the reform of the world, and China's high-quality development will boost the high-quality development alongside the routes of the Belt and Road, and will also guide the new rules-making for the future globalization and regional integration. This is a challenge we will face but also a
mission that we must accomplish in the next stage."
Shen echoed that the new development model will be "green and sustainable," and
after realizing the economic growth, the Party needs to make the growth transfer to the concrete wellbeing and livelihood improvement, so it
requires a more advanced distribution system, which makes the distribution process and result fairer and more rightful.
In the field of science and technology, China needs to tackle its weaknesses and utilize its advantages to effectively overcome the problem of being suppressed by hegemonic sanctions in specific high-tech areas, Shen said.
According to the report of the 19th CPC National Congress, by the end of the first stage from 2020 to 2035, "China's economic and technological strength will have increased significantly, making China a global leader in innovation."
The biggest challenge to such a goal, domestically, is the contradiction between unbalanced and inadequate development, which requires more decisive reforms; externally, it's the suppression and containment strategy launched by the US, and China needs to find more effective solutions in the next stage, analysts said.
The national reunification would also be a mission that must be accomplished. According to the report of the 19th CPC National Congress, "achieving China's full reunification is essential to realizing national rejuvenation."
There is no timetable or deadline so far to clearly state when the Taiwan question will be solved, but Shen said that after the 20th CPC National Congress, the roadmap for China to solve this question will be much clearer and distinct, because this question won't last forever, and "the question won't be left to the next generation, as it's likely to be solved in this generation."
In order to accomplish these missions, the Party and the country need a loyal, powerful and modernized military force with undoubtable combat capability that's able to deter and defeat all kinds of enemies and external threats, and to safeguard China's sovereignty and territorial integrity. In other words, it provides
strategic support to the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, experts said.
The People's Liberation Army (PLA) will celebrate
its centenary in 2027, and by that time, the Chinese military force will see significant improvement, and experts believe that in the upcoming
20th CPC National Congress, the Party will further define the tasks and missions for the military in the next stage.
Source of strength
From economic growth to sci-tech development and military modernization, as well as reform on governance system, there is no easy task and all of them require efforts, wisdom and courage, especially under the impact of the pandemic and in a world with profound change and serious turbulence. Apart from China, there is hardly any other major power able to set such an ambitious goal.
Why is China so confident? Analysts said the most fundamental reason is that China has the leadership of the CPC, and the CPC has a strong core of leadership, and
this is also the reason why China has achieved extraordinary goals in the past 10 years and also the past century.
Having a strong core
leadership has always been the Party's key advantage that has helped it overcome serious challenges, such as finishing the Long March in the
1930s and winning the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea in the 1950s. It's also a key strength that allowed the Party to achieve
historic goals such as the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949 and kicking off the reform and opening-up in 1978, analysts said.
Strong cores of leadership like Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping have guaranteed the Party's survival and victories again and again, and in the new era and the new journey amid the world with profound change unseen in a century, such rich experience and tradition will surely be inherited, experts said.
A visitor looks at statues of earlier generations of revolutionaries at the site of the First National Congress of the CPC in Shanghai on Thursday when restoration at the site finished and it is reopened to the public as a museum. Photo: Yang Hui/GT
Shen said a strong core of leadership with high certainty is a great comparative advantage for the CPC and China, which allows China to maintain consistency and stability on its strategy and policy-making.
Chinese analysts said that with General Secretary Xi at the core of the CPC Central Committee and the whole Party, the CPC has proved that it is able to handle serious challenges and achieve historic goals.
Without such a strong core of leadership to continually lead the whole Party and the country, China might not have been able to successfully control the COVID-19 epidemic and prevent its huge impact on the economy and
people's lives like what happened in many Western countries, especially the US which so far has recorded more than 1 million COVID deaths, and
China might not have been able to handle the trade war launched by the US in 2018 and retaliate US' provocations in the South China Sea and on
the Taiwan question, and also might not even have been able to successfully restore peace and order in Hong Kong after the 2019 turmoil, analysts said.
For a great nation with a huge population and territory like China, many policies will need years or even decades to show effects, so it's essential to maintain stable leadership, so that the country will have a more long-term and consistent policymaking strategy, and many goals that require long-term efforts can also be realized, Shen noted.
In comparison with the US, China's political system with one ruling party that has a strong and consistent leadership is definitely better than the two-party system that frequently changes leadership with great uncertainty, Shen said.
The upcoming 20th CPC National Congress will elect a new CPC Central Committee and a new CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, according to Xinhua.
The congress will be an event with historic significance in the new journey that the Party and all Chinese people will take marching toward the Second Centenary Goal, and the leadership of the CPC is the biggest advantage of the Socialism with Chinese Characteristics, Xu said.
Xu stressed that "the congress will make scientific arrangements and plans for the Party and the country's development in the next five years and even a longer period and for the future of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation."
