Today’s opening of #China’s Communist Party Congress will be dominated by a long speech from Xi Jinping which will sound turgid and formulaic but the choice of words has been workshopped for months and analysts will be pouring over it for any signs of policy shifts.
People will be searching for any shifts in economic policy priorities or any moves regarding #China’s foreign policy, especially say in relation to the #US. Naturally, Chinese people will be looking out for any signs of light at the end of the Zero-#Covid tunnel.
Looks like no changes to Zero-#Covid in #China in a hurry. Xi Jinping just said "people's lives come first; we will not waver in our Zero Covid policy".
Re #HongKong Xi said: “We’ve fully implemented the policy of one country two systems… we’ve helped Hong Kong enter a new stage in which order has been restored”.
typo in the thread above: pouring should have red poring over.
Xi Jinping spoke about his crackdown on corruption in the Party and how it had "tackled hedonism". In terms of #China overall he said, "We must not lose sight of our shortcomings and tackle problems..." (but didn’t mention what these problems are).
Xi Jinping spoke about his crackdown on corruption in the Party and how it had "tackled hedonism". In terms of #China overall he said, "We must not lose sight of our shortcomings and tackle problems..." (but didn’t mention what these problems are).
He said that "religions must be Chinese in orientation". This is a justification for demolishing mosques and various mosque structures, especially in #Ningxia and #Xinjiang. It's part of a push to make Islam in #China Chinese rather than having Arab-style art, structures etc
Re the environment X said: "We'll boost low carbon industries and promote low carbon ways of life. We’ll intensify pollution control. We’ll work to eliminate all serious pollution" (but coal not being eliminated yet because) "We'll build the new before discarding the old."
Xi said: "We’ll continue to promote economic links with #Taiwan... We’ll continue to sincerely pursue peaceful re-unification but we’ll never promise to renounce the use of force as an option..." then, without blinking, into the next subject with "Promoting world peace and..."
With youth unemployment nudging 20% for months in #China, Xi said, “Young people you should follow the Party’s guidance… You should strive to be the new era’s young generation building China into a modern socialist country. Your youth will blossom into full splendour”.
Near two hours after he started, Xi Jinping's speech has now finished with great applause at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. #China
Notable for what wasn't in Xi's speech: no mention of soaring youth unemployment; no mention of the property crisis; no mention of economic & social pain from Zero-#Covid in #China. Overall, it was 2 hours heavy on standard rhetoric and light on specific solutions to problems.
The headline for Chinese people though will be no easing of #China's Zero-#Covid measures. Lockdowns, mass testing, health code scanning and travel restrictions here to stay for the foreseeable future: bbc.com/news/world-asi…
A piece from me regarding today's events at the Communist Party Congress in #Beijing #China... bbc.com/news/world-asi…
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
