Third plenum, GDP growth misses forecast, and China suspends nuclear talks with US
+ robotaxis offer a peek into the future of intracity transport
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THROUGH THE LENS
IN FOCUS
The Future Is Now
In China, it’s possible to travel six miles in a driverless taxi for just about 50 cents.
Self-driving cars, commonly called robotaxis, are being popularized at cut-throat prices in Wuhan, a sprawling metropolis of over 11 million people in central China. It has ambitions to become the world’s first driverless city, even as the vehicles often struggle to navigate the streets.
“You’ll never have to buy a car,” a passenger inside one of the white robotaxi sedans said in a video that has been viewed over 80 million times on Chinese social media platform Weibo since last week.
The fleet of 500 vehicles operating in the city belongs to Apollo Go, a unit of Chinese tech giant Baidu (BIDU). They serve an area that covers roughly half of Wuhan’s population, according to a May company release.
A major selling point is the price. Base fares start as low as 4 yuan (55 cents), compared with 18 yuan ($2.48) for a taxi driven by a human, state media Global Times reported on Wednesday.
Read: Baidu’s Apollo Go: Super cheap robotaxi rides spark widespread anxiety in China
XINJIANG
The Erasure of the Uyghurs
China Books Review
Critiquing a regime that has already imprisoned a member of one’s family, or may do so in the future, requires great courage. Two recent memoirs shed light on the choices and costs involved in such acts of resistance. Both recount life in Ürümqi, Xinjiang’s capital, during different periods. Gulchehra Hoja’s A Stone Is Most Precious Where It Belongs (February 2023, Hachette) covers the two decades preceding her decision to leave China in 2001, when she was 28. Tahir Hamut Izgil’s Waiting To be Arrested at Night (August 2023, Penguin Press) focuses on the period from 2009 to 2017. Both authors worked in Xinjiang’s cultural sector: Gulchehra as a dancer, singer and TV presenter; Tahir as a poet and filmmaker. Both authors now live in the U.S. and have no prospect of returning to their homeland. Like many memoirs written by exiles, the main purpose of Gulchehra’s and Tahir’s books is to highlight the crimes of the regime from which they have fled. As with any act of protest, one might ask how much such narratives of victimhood can really affect the regimes they critique. But Gulchehra’s and Tahir’s narratives also raise questions particular to their genre: How can a writer fashion their individual story, and the larger story of their people, in a way that generates interest and sympathy? What kinds of thoughts and feelings does such fashioning facilitate — and what might it suppress?
THIRD PLENUM
China's Third Plenum concludes without major breakthroughs
DW
The Chinese Communist Party has wrapped up a series of high-level meetings with a communiqué that China watchers have described as vague and lacking detailed policies.
The meetings, called the Third Plenary Session, usually deal with major economic and political policy changes in China. This year, the session has approved decisions on "further comprehensively deepening of reform and promoting Chinese-style modernization."
[…]
Hsin-Hsien Wang, a professor at Taiwan's National Chengchi University's Institute of East Asian Studies, told DW that people shouldn't view the Third Plenum purely from economic and social perspectives, but rather focus on President Xi Jinping's positioning.
Wang believes that Beijing is essentially maintaining the policy direction set since the 20th Party Congress in 2022, with Xi Jinping "firmly grasping the dominant role in overall policy-making" and that by adding 2029 to the timeline, Xi could be implying "he would still be in power by then."
"He's setting the stage, suggesting that he may indeed have a fourth term," Wang told DW.
Xi began an unprecedented third term as China's leader in 2022, which is set to end in 2027.
Wen-Ti Sung, a non-resident fellow with the Atlantic Council's Global China Hub, had a similar observation.
"That tells you that the goal is for a continued, stable and durable leadership going into the next five years," said Sung.
"In that sense, the Third Plenum isn't so much about unleashing major new reform packages. It's more about driving home the point that the defining characteristic of the new era of reform is the centrality of core leadership," he added.
Full text: Communique of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China
Xinhua
It was stressed that, to further deepen reform comprehensively, we must stay committed to Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory, the Theory of Three Represents, and the Scientific Outlook on Development and fully implement Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. We must thoroughly study and implement General Secretary Xi Jinping's new ideas, viewpoints, and conclusions on comprehensively deepening reform and fully and faithfully apply the new development philosophy on all fronts. We must adhere to the general principle of pursuing progress while ensuring stability and continue to free our minds, seek truth from facts, move with the times, and take a realistic and pragmatic approach, as we work to further unleash and develop the productive forces and tap into and boost the vitality of our society.
Reform resolution is most important outcome of latest CPC plenum: official
Xinhua
The adoption of a reform resolution is the most important outcome of the third plenary session of the 20th Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, a senior official said Friday.
Tang Fangyu, deputy head of the CPC Central Committee Policy Research Office, made the remarks at a press conference on the guiding principles from the just-concluded plenum.
Promoting Chinese modernization faces many complex issues, necessitating further deepening reform comprehensively to better adapt the relations of production to the productive forces, the superstructure to the economic base, and national governance to social development, Tang said.
The resolution, with economic structural reform as the spearhead, comprehensively plans reforms in various fields and aspects, Tang said, adding that the resolution puts forward more than 300 important reform measures, all of which involve reforms on the levels of systems, mechanisms, and institutions.
Misreading China’s Third Plenum
The Diplomat
The recent Third Plenum of the 20th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) concluded with a communique that has sparked a spectrum of reactions from investment banks and foreign businesses. Critics lament the perceived lack of immediate, detailed reforms, yet such responses overlook the strategic depth and long-term vision the Third Plenum aims to establish.
The communique, though concise, serves as a foundational executive summary for China’s medium- and long-term development, with detailed proposals set to follow. An ensuing report comprising over 300 reform measures divided into three major sections, along with further details, is expected to be revealed in the coming months, starting with a Politburo meeting at the end of July.
Immediate market reactions – marked by declines in stock indices and currency depreciation – are misleading. The Third Plenum’s communique is not designed to deliver instant solutions but to outline a comprehensive strategy. The forthcoming details, hinted at during the press conference, include significant reforms such as opening service and manufacturing sectors to foreign businesses, fiscal and tax reforms, measures to boost domestic consumption, improvements to the pension system, and adjustments to urban-rural hukou (household registration) policies. Patience will be necessary to see these reforms fully unfold.
China’s leaders warn of economic risks and call for stronger social controls
Financial Times
The party’s Central Committee gave security the same level of importance as economic growth as it warned of geopolitical risks, saying China should “lead global governance” as it concluded the third plenum, one of its most important meetings, where it sets out medium- to long-term policies.
“It is necessary to co-ordinate development and security, implement various measures to prevent and resolve risks in key areas such as real estate, local government debt and small and medium-sized financial institutions,” policymakers wrote in a communiqué from the meeting.
They added that China must “weave a dense social security risk prevention and control network, and effectively maintain social stability” and step up state propaganda. “It is necessary to strengthen public opinion guidance and effectively prevent and resolve ideological risks,” they wrote.
The statement from the long-awaited conclave, which assembled the 363 members and alternate members of the Communist party’s elite Central Committee by President Xi Jinping, is regarded as a general summary of the meeting. More details of any reforms could be released in the coming days in a separate document.
China Communist Party policy meeting endorses leader Xi's high-tech vision for economy
AP
China’s ruling Communist Party wrapped up a top-level meeting on Thursday by endorsing policies aimed at advancing the country’s technological power and fortifying its national security.
A statement released when the four-day meeting ended provided only a broad-brush summary. More details are likely to emerge in the coming days.
“The current and future period is a critical time for comprehensively promoting the construction of a strong country and the great cause of national rejuvenation using Chinese-style modernization,” the statement said.
It said the tasks outlined in the meeting would be completed by 2029, the 80th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.
Third plenum exits show trust still an issue for Xi
The Strategist
The Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party has accepted the resignation of one of its own most highly ranked members, former foreign minister Qin Gang, highlighting Xi Jinping’s continuing lack of trust in some of his own hand-picked officials.
Qin’s exit, along with that of other senior officials dismissed from office in the past year, was confirmed on 18 July at a key Central Committee meeting held every five years, known as the third plenum.
Xi’s loss of trust in these senior officials, and allegations of corruption that underlie some of them, sit uncomfortably close to the centre of power in China. It is a situation that likely makes him doubt information and advice he receives on the issues he cares about most. Some, such as military preparedness, leave little room for miscalculation.
POLITICS & SOCIETY
Can Xi keep a lid on China’s mounting social strains?
Financial Times
Across China, multiple indicators of social stress are flashing red as weakness in parts of the economy takes its toll. Official and unofficial data show rises in everything from labour market stress and housing foreclosures to labour protests, suicides, crime and random violence.
China’s surveillance state, carefully nurtured since the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre and strengthened under President Xi Jinping, has suppressed most unrest in recent decades while rapid economic growth has given the party what analysts call “performance legitimacy”.
But as the leadership tries to pivot from its old economic model of borrowing to finance heavy investment in real estate and infrastructure, the party is facing new challenges in terms of maintaining what it values most — social stability.
As the leadership meets this week for the third plenum, an important quinquennial meeting that in the past has produced far-reaching policies, pressure is mounting to strengthen welfare provision. Some in the party are also calling for stronger social controls.
“The [social control] system has worked so far but in a relatively tranquil environment,” says Minxin Pei, professor of governance at Claremont McKenna College in California and author of a new book, The Sentinel State: Surveillance and the Survival of Dictatorship in China.
“It’s actually pretty hard to scale up the surveillance apparatus,” he says, predicting that in the new environment of growing social stress, there will be “a lot more incidents of instability or unrest”.
‘Garbage time of history’: Chinese state media pushes back on claims country has entered a new epoch
The Guardian
In recent weeks, Chinese chat groups and WeChat feeds have been buzzing with discussion of whether China has entered a period of economic stagnation or regression in which failure is all but inevitable, called a “garbage time of history”.
The sentiment can be summed up by a graphic, widely shared on social media – and since censored on Weibo.
Entitled the “2024 misery ranking grand slam”, it tallies up the number of misery points that a person might have earned in China this year. The first star is unemployment. For two stars, add a mortgage. For a full suite of eight stars, you’ll need the first two, plus debt, childrearing, stock trading, illness, unfinished housing and, finally, hoarding Moutai, a famous brand of baijiu, a sorghum liquor.
China’s middle class are facing unprecedented challenges as the country’s economy falters.
“Some people say that history has garbage time,” wrote one Xiaohongshu user who shared the graphic, along with advice about self-care. “Individuals don’t have garbage time.”
Commemorating the Seventh Anniversary of Liu Xiaobo's Death
July 13, 2024, marked the seventh anniversary of the death of Liu Xiaobo, a renowned Chinese dissident and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. As a scholar, poet, and political activist, Liu Xiaobo devoted his life to promoting political reform and democratization in China. In 2008, he co-authored and published the "Charter 08," calling on the Chinese government to respect human rights and undertake political reforms. Due to the influence of "Charter 08," Liu Xiaobo was sentenced to 11 years in prison in 2009 for "inciting subversion of state power." Despite his imprisonment, he remained steadfast in his beliefs, adhering to principles of nonviolent resistance.
Chinese legal experts warn detention measure is being abused and call for change
SCMP
Chinese legal experts are calling for changes to laws governing a form of detention they say has been abused by authorities, who often use torture to extract information from suspects.
The measure, known as residential surveillance at a designated location (RSDL), was originally intended as a form of mild restriction of personal freedoms for people suspected of less serious violations.
[…]
The criminal procedure law is expected to undergo another round of modifications. It appeared on the legislative plan of the 14th National People’s Congress Standing Committee in September, and will be submitted for review during the top legislature’s five-year term ending in 2028.
In an online discussion held last month by the Hongfan Institute of Legal and Economic Studies, a private liberal think tank based in Beijing, legal experts argued that RSDL had been abused by authorities.
Even though use of the measure has remained low over the years, it has been controversial since the beginning.
When the measure was designed, it was meant to be weaker than detention at a police station, allowing the suspect more rights and freedoms, Chen Yongsheng, a law professor at Peking University, told the Hongfan forum.
But in reality it was the opposite, and some suspects even asked to be put in police detention rather than be subject to RSDL, he said.
China ramps ups military education for younger ages to help sow ‘seeds’ of patriotism
SCMP
Under new amendments to China’s National Defence Education Law, the first changes since 2018, a key focus will be on military education among the country’s teenagers.
For the first time since the law was introduced more than two decades ago, primary school pupils from about age six are now required to have military “awareness” through compulsory classes, according to a draft submitted in April for first reading to the Standing Committee of the 14th National People’s Congress (NPC).
Meanwhile, according to the draft, junior high schools may, for the first time, organise military training for students ages 12-15 to master combat skills, following the implementation of the mandatory programme in universities and high schools in the past.
The amendments, which have to pass a second or possibly third reading, were part of an array of many similar policy readouts in recent years.
For example, according to rules issued in 2022 by the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, national defence education should be incorporated into school curriculums and examination processes, and primary schools are urged to conduct seven-day combat training sessions.
As of January this year, 2,431 primary and secondary schools had been selected for pilot programmes to improve military awareness and skills among children.
‘Society doesn’t want my kids’: China’s single women forced abroad to freeze their eggs
The Guardian
When Yang Li* turned 30, she gave herself three years to decide whether or not she wanted to have children. But as the years ticked by, working a busy job in Beijing, Yang felt none the wiser about if or when she wanted to become a mother. So last year, a month shy of her 34th birthday, she decided to freeze her eggs.
The problem was, as a single woman in China, no fertility clinic would help her. Despite China’s push to boost the birthrate, only married couples with fertility problems can use egg-freezing services or any kind of assisted reproductive technologies.
“I talked to a doctor, and she told me that to freeze my eggs in China, I either need a husband or I need to have cancer. And I told her, I don’t want either,” Yang remembers.
China probes companies for allegedly giving pregnancy tests to job seekers
CNN
More than a dozen Chinese companies face legal action for allegedly asking job applicants to take pregnancy tests, state media has reported.
Prosecutors found that 168 women seeking positions at 16 companies in Nantong, a city in the eastern province of Jiangsu, had been tested illegally as part of their pre-employment physical check, the state-run Procuratorial Daily reported on Monday.
The case highlights a contradiction at the heart of the Chinese economy: While the country is trying to boost record-low birth rates, some companies are reluctant to hire pregnant workers.
Employers have reportedly avoided recruiting women of childbearing age — with reports of women being asked about family planning during job interviews, or being passed over for roles even if they don’t plan to have children.
China’s MBTI Obsession Has Gone Too Far, Academics Say
Sixth Tone
Employers’ use of MBTI tests has become a contentious topic in China in recent months, as a growing number of companies are reportedly forcing candidates to take personality tests in addition to written exams and in-person interviews.
On Chinese social media, job seekers are increasingly pushing back against recruiters’ use of MBTI, calling personality tests a new form of employment discrimination.
Users are swapping tips on how to game tests during job applications, and some companies have even begun advertising MBTI tutoring services to help job seekers align their answers with employers’ expectations.
Heavy seasonal rain causes widespread flooding in China
The Guardian
China has been experiencing heavy and widespread rainfall since the start of the rainy season, which runs from May to September. It has resulted in at least 20 floods in major rivers across the country, with 31 rivers surpassing their flood warning levels.
Dianjiang county, in Chongqing, received 269.2mm in one day last week, a single-day record there. It led to six deaths, more than 10,000 evacuations, and 40,000 people being affected, as well as severe disruptions to rail services and transport caused by flooding.
At the beginning of this week, China’s national meteorological centre reissued a yellow alert for rainstorms and further warnings were issued from Beijing’s ministry of water resources as water levels at Lake Tai rose to 3.9 metres last weekend, 0.1 metres above the warning level.
The Three Gorges dam is on high alert for more flooding. The speed of water flow into the dam has increased to 44,000 cubic metres per second, resulting in the water level rising to 15 metres above its usual level, at 161.1 metres.
At least 11 killed and dozens missing as Chinese bridge collapses amid floods
The Guardian
Torrential rain has caused a bridge to collapse in northern China, killing 11 people and leaving more than 30 missing, state media has said.
The bridge over a river in Shangluo, Shaanxi province, buckled at about 8.40pm on Friday “due to a sudden downpour and flash floods”, the Xinhua agency said, citing the provincial public relations department.
The state broadcaster CCTV said nearly 20 vehicles and more than 30 people remained missing.
China’s internet dominated by talk of Trump’s ‘luck’ and American ‘violence’ after attack
CNN
As dramatic images of the failed assassination attempt on former US President Donald Trump spread around the world Saturday, news of the attack also sparked immerse online interest – as well as pointed criticism of the US – on China’s heavily censored internet.
The Paradox of Preservation in China: Our Recent Challenges
Brian Linden - Founder Linden Centres
We no longer can promise our guests a unique and authentic experience beyond the walls of our hotels and are seriously considering leaving. We still encourage our guests to visit Xizhou, but with a new approach. Our guests now have the opportunity to witness the remarkable transformation of an old village into a bustling hub. They can assess for themselves the positive and negative aspects of this change. This transformation is a microcosm of the larger changes that have swept across China in the past four decades. Inside the walls of our hotels, the rich cultural history of China still echoes. Outside, the recent economic miracle of China proudly displays its achievements. While we have always been captivated by the former, we now must acknowledge that the latter is the new reality.
Melinda Liu: I was Working in Beijing as a Foreign Journalist in 1980
Living History: Stories from the Opening of China
Melinda Liu was among the first American Foreign Correspondents who moved to the PRC when she opened the Newsweek bureau in Beijing in 1980. After having grown up in Ohio, she had studied at Harvard and later Peking Opera in Taipei before meeting her brother for the first time in Suzhou, China in 1979. Few Westerners have witnessed more of the rapid growth and massive changes in China and we are thankful to have heard a few of her fascinating stories.
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