7-20 May 2023

Fortnightly newsletter tracking high-level policy signals sent by China’s top leaders. For more information, visit About Five Things.

Commentary

China’s official media regularly offers overviews of how Xi Jinping wants China to be. Even by those standards, however, the most widely circulated reports of the last fortnight saw a focus on things that appear far more on his mind than those of the rest of China’s leaders – Chinese-style modernization, the construction of the Xiong’an New Area, diplomatic relations and international cooperation, and military strength.

The highlight of coverage, featured in three of the ten articles, was Xi’s pet project, the Xiong’an New Area, the project aimed at building a brand-new techno-industrial-ecological metropolis across a swathe of Hebei province 100 kilometres south-west of Beijing.

In the principal piece on the area, “How General Secretary Xi Jinping guides the planning and construction of Xiong’an New Area” (original, machine translation), Xi says how 40 years ago, at the start of China’s reform and opening period, “Shenzhen speed” was what China needed; today, the priority has to be “Xiong’an quality” (“雄安质量”).

The word “quality” featured ten times through the article; also prominent were the role of planning and the importance of ecology for the scheme, between them capturing Xi’s vision of a China that can harness technology and state direction to create a sustainable society.

So far, the city’s development has been almost totally state-dominated, driven by investment of more than Rmb500 billion ($70 billion) in infrastructure and housing. The first stage of the city’s construction is scheduled to be completed by 2035, the same year China has targeted for a range of development objectives in recent years.

The area looks set to embody Xi’s vision of Chinese modernization: built around control that instils order, with a scale that will make its momentum impossible to withstand, and with little input from below. The imperatives of this vision are spelt out in the article’s final paragraph:

Under the strong leadership of the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core, adhere to the big historical view, maintain historical patience, sustain work momentum, ensure that a blueprint is drawn to the end, and strive to create “Xiong’an quality” where Chinese-style modernization will unfold with its more and more beautiful stories.

A report on Xi’s visit to Shaanxi (original, translation), the fortnight’s most widely circulated story, rounded out the list of tasks Xi expects China’s local governments to be addressing: “strengthening scientific and technological innovation and building a modern industrial system”, and addressing rural shortcomings (“in building a modern socialist country in an all-round way and solidly promoting common prosperity, the most arduous and difficult tasks still lie in the countryside, [where] the gap between urban and rural areas must be gradually narrowed.”)

As is often the case, what is presented through China’s official media during the last fortnight can usefully be contrasted with what was not highlighted. Notably absent from the fortnight’s stories were areas of China’s life where officials might look for greater guidance from above to see what they should be doing, for example, in discussions of the economy. Coverage of the visits of Xi’s handpicked envoy, Li Hui, to Ukraine, was also low key, perhaps suggesting low expectations of his visit.

Two things are noteworthy here. First, that it feels like the messaging around Xi is more and more aimed backed at him rather than a wider audience in China or the rest of the world. For Chinese propaganda officials, such an approach may make sense. But for those down the hierarchy having to transform top-level directives into action, or for foreign diplomats looking for give and take in their engagement with China, what concrete outcomes should they be aiming at?

And second, what happens if Xi’s projects – be they a techno-metropolis or a Chinese-style brand of modernization – don’t work out? Top-down schemes can often continue for a while, but if they become too disconnected with the everyday life of too many people, they have to be abandoned, but usually far too late. The trajectory of Xi’s zero-Covid policy is a case in point.

Top-ranked articles for 7-20 May 2023
% = percentage of publications carrying the article

1. Focus on the overall situation of the country, give full play to its own advantages, and clarify the main direction of attack, Strive to write a chapter in Shaanxi for Chinese-style modernization
着眼全国大局发挥自身优势明确主攻方向  奋力谱写中国式现代化建设的陕西篇章
Xinhua News Agency, 17 May 2023
Chinese / Machine translation / 54%

2. Be firm in your confidence, maintain your concentration, be steady and stable, Promote the construction of Xiong’an New Area to continuously make new progress
坚定信心保持定力 稳扎稳打善作善成  推动雄安新区建设不断取得新进展
Xinhua News Agency, 10 May 2023
Chinese / Machine translation/ 48%

3. “Seeking Truth” publishes important article by General Secretary Xi Jinping: “Speech at the Fourth Collective Study of the Political Bureau of the 20th Central Committee”
《求是》杂志发表习近平总书记重要文章  《在二十届中央政治局第四次集体学习时的讲话》
Xinhua News Agency, 15 May 2023
Chinese / Machine translation / 46%

4. Xi Jinping’s reply letter to Central Asian students studying at China University of Petroleum (Beijing)
习近平复信中国石油大学（北京）的中亚留学生
Xinhua News Agency, 15 May 2023
Chinese / Machine translation / 45%

5. Xi Jinping holds talks with Eritrea’s President Isaias Afwerki
习近平同厄立特里亚总统伊萨亚斯举行会谈
Xinhua News Agency, 15 May 2023
Chinese / Machine translation / 43%

6. Xi Jinping chairs first China-Central Asia Summit, delivers keynote speech
习近平主持首届中国－中亚峰会并发表主旨讲话
Xinhua News Agency, 19 May 2023
Chinese / Machine translation / 42%

7. Xi Jinping meets representatives of 10th World Overseas Chinese Association Friendship Conference
习近平会见第十届世界华侨华人社团联谊大会代表
Xinhua  News Agency, 8 May 2023
Chinese / Machine translation / 40%

8. Strive to forge comprehensive and excellent underwater pioneers, Make greater contributions to the realization of the military’s 100-year goal
努力锻造全面过硬的水下尖兵  为实现建军一百年奋斗目标作出更大贡献
Xinhua News Agency, 11 May 2023
Chinese / Machine translation / 38%

9. Promote various tasks with a more vigorous and promising spirit to promote the coordinated development of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei to a new level
以更加奋发有为的精神状态推进各项工作推动京津冀协同发展不断迈上新台阶
Xinhua News Agency, 12 May 2023
Chinese / Machine translation / 37%

10. How General Secretary Xi Jinping guides the planning and construction of Xiong’an New Area
习近平总书记指引雄安新区规划建设的故事
Xinhua News Agency, 11 May 2023
Chinese / Machine translation / 35%

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