Chinese leadership gather at Beidaihe for the Communist Party’s annual summer retreat. Leadership crisis in the People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force. Extreme floods affect Hebei province, Beijing’s capital region. China doesn’t want economists to discuss negative trends. Chinese vice premier He Lifeng calls to build an ‘upgraded version’ of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. Chinascope brings Xi Jinping’s weekly report card — from his handling of floods at home to finding peace in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
China over the week
Every August, China’s top leadership goes to the beach town of Beidaihe for roughly two weeks for a summer retreat. Usually, the retreat’s commencement is signalled by the top leadership’s absence from public view, but this year we got a more public hint.
Xinhua News Agency reported that Xi’s chief of staff, Cai Qi, was seen meeting 57 of the country’s top researchers, scientists, and experts on Thursday at Beidaihe. The public appearance acknowledged the Beidaihe meeting getting underway.
The Beidaihe retreat has somewhat lost its meaning as Xi has consolidated power over the past few years, but the latest apparent dual crisis within the foreign ministry and the Rocket Force would cloud the retreat.
China’s elite Rocket Force saw a shake-up of the top leadership, confirming some of the rumours about an investigation into its previous commanders.
The Rocket Force is an elite force at the heart of Beijing’s deterrence strategy in a complex geopolitical environment. It manages China’s nuclear weapons arsenal and is said to lead the modernisation of nuclear weapons.
Late last month, South China Morning Post reported an anti-corruption investigation into former Rocket Force commander Li Yuchao and his deputy. At least ten current and former officers of the Rocket Force, including Yuchao and his deputy Liu Guangbin have disappeared from public view, according to a report by Financial Times.
By the end of July, Wang Houbin, previously the deputy commander of the PLA Navy, had been promoted as the new commander and Xu Xisheng was promoted to the political commissar of the Rocket Force. Wang’s promotion has surprised many.
Coupled with the disappearance of former foreign minister Qin Gang, the crisis in Rocket Force shows that Xi will take even more stringent measures to signal control over the party in the coming months.
As the Beidaihe meeting began, the province of Hebei and the Beijing area were hit by the worst floods experienced in decades. At least one million people have been displaced in the Hebei province.
The worst hit was Zhuzhou city. Images of entire parts of it covered under water were widely circulated across social media platforms.
A politician’s comments about flood management angered Chinese social media users.
Party Secretary of Hebei Ni Yuefeng suggested that Hebei should act as a moat around the capital city, and the priority was to protect Xi’s signature urban project, Xiongan city. The project remains under construction, but it is now surrounded by flood water.
Residents of Hebei feel they were abandoned as the downstream water was released into the province to protect Beijing’s capital area.
The death toll continues to rise and the officially reported number may not capture the scale of the disaster.
The northeastern corner of China is also afflicted by heavy rain. The hashtag “Heavy rains have killed 14 people in Shulan” was the number one trend on Weibo. Shulan is a small county-level city in Jilin province, over 949 km north of Beijing. Millions have also been affected in the Jilin province.
Even the capital city area of Beijing wasn’t spared as the intense levels of rain broke 140 years of record. Between 29 July and 2 August, Beijing recorded 744.8mm of rainfall.
The floods were caused by typhoon Doksuri and a subtropical high which caused extreme rain in Northern China, not seen since 1964.
The Chinese government is telling its economists and brokerage analysts to ‘avoid speaking negatively’ about the economy, according to Financial Times. Beijing is concerned about capital fleeing from China amid a weak recovery of the economy and myriad domestic challenges.
The authorities are particularly concerned about economic deflation — no mentions are entertained as there is a possibility it could become a reality this year.
Fan Jianping, the former chief economist of the State Information Center, told a gathered crowd that China was likely heading towards deflation and didn’t trust official statistics.
Pan Gongsheng, the new governor of the Central Bank, has vowed to provide more support to the private sector as the engine of the Chinese economy doesn’t appear to be getting back online.
“Financial institutions should actively create a positive atmosphere to support the development and growth of private firms … and increase willingness to lend,” he said.
Signs of a struggling Chinese economy will be hard to hide for too long, but this won’t stop Beijing from ‘adjusting’ statistics to tell a slightly different story of its growth.
Also Read: What a sacked Chinese foreign minister & his boss have to do with India-China relationship
China in world news
China has signalled its interest in doubling the efforts to seek peace in the Russia-Ukraine war by sending its envoy Li Hui to Saudi Arabia for peace talks.
Russia is likely “bound to be defeated”, said Shen Dingli, an international relations scholar based in Shanghai, according to Reuters.
Beijing had previously declined to join the NATO-led peace talks held in Denmark. A collapse of Russia’s internal political system would be detrimental to Beijing’s long-term interests. Gunning for a humbled Russia — at least standing on its legs — would be a better outcome for Beijing.
He Lifeng, China’s vice premier, was in Islamabad to mark the 10th anniversary of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) as the country’s economy continues to struggle. Just before his visit, China rolled over a $2.4 billion loan to help ease the South Asian country’s financial strain.
“Looking into the future, we must conscientiously implement the spirit of President Xi Jinping’s congratulatory letter, strive to build an ‘upgraded version’ of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor,” said He Lifeng reading a letter by Xi Jinping for the 10th anniversary of CPEC.
Pakistan’s growing reliance on China is a bad story for India as Beijing gains more leverage over Islamabad. The Pakistanis even shut down the entire Islamabad city area for He Lifeng’s visit.
Also Read: China’s new foreign affairs law says it will target India if relations go worse
Must read this week
NGOs try to bridge Taiwan’s civil defence gap – Jordyn Haime
How much of a gamechanger is China’s new chip technology? – Diego Mendoza
A Global Web of Chinese Propaganda Leads to a U.S. Tech Mogul – Mara Hvistendahl, David A. Fahrenthold, Lynsey Chutel and Ishaan Jhaveri
Muting Zoom – Bethany Allen
The Chip Titan Whose Life’s Work Is at the Center of a Tech Cold War – Paul Mozur and John Liu
The author is a columnist and a freelance journalist. He was previously a China media journalist at the BBC World Service. He is currently a MOFA Taiwan Fellow based in Taipei and tweets @aadilbrar. Views are personal.
(Edited by Theres Sudeep)