In smoky backrooms and hotels, world leaders are negotiating carbon emission targets at the COP26 climate conference. The Chinese Communist Party’s plenary meeting will be a defining moment for the country’s political future, says President Xi Jinping, who remains in Beijing. Parties are notorious for keeping their plenary meetings secret.
Top Chinese leaders meet in Beijing every year to discuss the country’s future. The countrymen they rule find out nothing about the proceedings except for a quick and perfunctory press release. It is still possible to reach the goals President Xi wants to accomplish this week, despite this.
Let’s start with what we know. Beijing’s ruling elite has indicated that President Xi has introduced a historic resolution on the “major achievements and historical experiences” of the Chinese Communist Party. The Party has often used historical resolutions to state its views on its history, achievements, and failings in the arcane world of Chinese politics. In 1945 and 1981, only Deng Xiaoping and Mao Zedong introduced similar resolutions.
Deng Xiaoping used such a resolution to call for an end to Mao’s Cultural Revolution, which threw Chinese society into chaos and claimed millions of lives. Two things can be concluded about Xi’s intentions from his attempt to redefine Chinese history. A great deal of effort has gone into promoting the Chinese President as a transformational figure in Chinese politics with the introduction of this resolution.
Xi has amassed power in the Chinese society like no leader since Mao, beginning with his designation of himself as a “core leader” at a plenary meeting in 2016. To extol his leadership and achievements, he is reinterpreting the history of the CCP, a tool that was used only by Deng and Mao before him. The second possibility is that Xi will use this opportunity to define the ideology and goals of the CCP, and therefore of China. The 1981 use of a historical resolution by Deng played a crucial role in establishing that the Maoist era had ended and laid the groundwork for a transition of China’s economy and political system. We have high expectations from Xi.
A New Economic Model For China
In recent months, the CCP has never been far from the global headlines. An unprecedented wave of change is sweeping China with the crackdown on tech czars, pop stars, and private education providers, a drive to build self-sufficiency in key technologies, and a refusal to bail out banks with massive debts. Chinese officials have defined these changes with obscure phrases such as “common prosperity”, “national rejuvenation”, and “the China dream”. Jude Blanchette put it well when he said that Xi’s ultimate goal is to build a 3.0 version of the People’s Republic of China.
The gap between rich and poor has risen, living standards have stagnated, and ecosystems have been greatly damaged. China’s new economic model must prioritize equitable distribution as much as rapid growth at the plenary meeting, according to Xi. This can be observed to some extent in the “New Development Framework,” which has chosen to de-emphasize a blind pursuit of higher GDP in favor of monitoring innovation, environmental standards, and productivity as far as growth is concerned.
Beijing is also hesitant to bail out Evergrande because it is seeking a more sustainable business model. Evergrande’s troubles represent the past when businesses threw caution to the wind and pursued growth with the idea that Beijing would pick up the tab in case of failure. Increasing skepticism of consumer platform companies like Alibaba, Meituan, and Didi also contributed to Beijing’s crackdown on major players in China’s tech ecosystem.
There has been an increasing desire to divert private funding away from capital guzzling platform companies to general-purpose technologies like AI and 5G despite the cult-like following enjoyed by tech tycoons like Jack Ma. China’s private sector must toe the line and assist the CCP’s goals as Xi has cracked down on a range of private companies across sectors. Xi’s message has been received clearly by China’s billionaires and celebrities, who are lining up to donate massive sums to a range of charitable causes. A more equal and sustainable model will replace China’s gilded age.
Xi’s Vision For China 3.0
China faces an increasingly hostile international environment in Xi’s vision for a “PRC 3.0”. Global perceptions of China have shifted from positive to negative, while great power rivalry with the US and aligned powers like India has intensified. Xi has envisioned a world of competition in his much-vaunted “Dual Circulation” strategy and other elements of the Chinese government’s 14th Five Year Plan (FYP).
Through the latter, China hopes to become less dependent on international markets and more centered on domestic demand. With increasing dismay, Beijing has watched the bruising trade war between the United States and the EU, as well as global efforts to sever supply chains originating in China. Beijing’s leadership has been shaken to its core by the US actions against Huawei and ZTE.
He has realized that technology is national security and will, undoubtedly, include that in his vision for PRC 3.0 so as not to lose out in the high technology battle. Beijing’s attempt to make China an innovation leader by 2035 is evidenced by its push to localize data, increase investments in basic and advanced research and build self-reliance in key areas such as semiconductors. Xi’s PRC 3.0 will also see technology deployed to serve their national security interests despite its economic competition with the United States and its allies.
Beijing’s technological advancements will help magnify growing Chinese power in defense and national security as efforts to integrate the private sector with defense needs increase. This is commonly referred to as Military-Civil Fusion. The absence of Xi from the climate negotiations exemplifies his vision better than anything else. While world leaders attempt to chart the future of climate policy in Glasgow, Xi remains ensconced in Beijing in a hut focused on domestic change. China First is Xi’s understanding of the need for his country’s rise to become a solid reality. China will engage with the world on its terms when it engages with the world again.
edited and proofread by: nikita sharma
