By Chu Yang and David L. Bandurski of the China Media Project The tonal shift that much international coverage of the Biden-Xi meeting has noted in November could persist to some extent in the months to come, with increased attempts in the official discourse to build on the foundation of constructive friendship perhaps firmed up in California. But as Chinese dissident and political commentator Chen Pokong (陈破空) noted in an interview with Radio France International over the summer, the CCP has long pursued a “two-handed strategy” (两手策略), combining “one soft hand” with “one hard fist” (一手软). Chen suggested that the strategy moving forward might be characterized as “simultaneously struggling and negotiating.” While the hard fist may be pulled back for a time following the Biden-Xi meeting, it is bound to return as the two sides continue to grapple with deeper and more intractable concerns — including sanctions and export controls, the war in Ukraine (and China’s alignment with Russia), and of course Taiwan. As Biden said coming out of the November meetings, "We have real differences with Beijing."
Further to the "rule of law" in China, still another Chinese dissident-journalist allegedly killed by the CCP security apparatus. According to RSF, "China ranks 179th out of 180 in the 2023 RSF World Press Freedom Index and is the world's largest captor of journalists and press freedom defenders with at least 123 detained." And still we drool and grovel for the China "market." To borrow from a folk song of years gone by, "When will we ever learn?"
"In fact, the “list system” had been included as a priority for national governance in the Plan for Building China Under the Rule of Law (2020-2025), released in January 2021, and in the political report to the 20th National Congress one year ago the role of “leading cadres” as model examples (示范带头作用) was mentioned as a priority."
I wonder how the CCP can speak of the rule of law without blushing. The party and XJP are increasingly parodies of themselves. If they weren't so capable of breaking things, lots of things, and around the world, it would be comic.
No clear explanation yet re: how was it that LS and especially QF failed at upholding Party discipline, especially if as argued on this piece “discipline” is upholding XJP Though on RoL (and I assume his position as core of CPC). In what way did they fail at this? We only have rumors and assessments that look more like educated guesses… I struggle with understanding how news in official media are taken as a tacit recognition of internal conflict: what’s the leadership’s rationale behind this? Especially when we admit that the messaging is very cryptic… amazingly assuming that all the population has political discourse acumen…
Further to the "rule of law" in China, still another Chinese dissident-journalist allegedly killed by the CCP security apparatus. According to RSF, "China ranks 179th out of 180 in the 2023 RSF World Press Freedom Index and is the world's largest captor of journalists and press freedom defenders with at least 123 detained." And still we drool and grovel for the China "market." To borrow from a folk song of years gone by, "When will we ever learn?"
https://rsf.org/en/beaten-death-state-security-rsf-shocked-gruesome-murder-independent-journalist-china
"In fact, the “list system” had been included as a priority for national governance in the Plan for Building China Under the Rule of Law (2020-2025), released in January 2021, and in the political report to the 20th National Congress one year ago the role of “leading cadres” as model examples (示范带头作用) was mentioned as a priority."
I wonder how the CCP can speak of the rule of law without blushing. The party and XJP are increasingly parodies of themselves. If they weren't so capable of breaking things, lots of things, and around the world, it would be comic.
No clear explanation yet re: how was it that LS and especially QF failed at upholding Party discipline, especially if as argued on this piece “discipline” is upholding XJP Though on RoL (and I assume his position as core of CPC). In what way did they fail at this? We only have rumors and assessments that look more like educated guesses… I struggle with understanding how news in official media are taken as a tacit recognition of internal conflict: what’s the leadership’s rationale behind this? Especially when we admit that the messaging is very cryptic… amazingly assuming that all the population has political discourse acumen…