Media Type: Article
Economist Cai Fang argues that problems in China’s labor market will hamper efforts to boost productivity in the years ahead. Cai examines the immediate impacts of COVID-19 and its aftermath on the labor market, concluding that as older workers and those in the informal sector exited the workforce, a “large portion of jobs lost to the epidemic cannot be expected to be regained.” In the long term, China will face deeper economic challenges as the growth in new workers slows. In addition, Cai argues that as growth becomes increasingly “innovation-driven,” there will be a surplus of workers who “do not have the human capital required for newly created jobs.”
Liu Jieyi, the former director of the Taiwan Affairs Office, expounds on the 20th Party Congress work report to distill Beijing’s overarching strategy for “reunification” with Taiwan. Liu argues it is important to “put [this strategy] into practice,” which includes suppressing voices in favor of Taiwan independence and what Liu terms “foreign interference schemes,” promoting cultural and educational exchange across the Strait, and refusing to renounce the use force to achieve “reunification.”
A scholar from Tongji University argues that while Europe is increasingly emphasizing systemic rivalry with China, there is still “potential for deepening high-level cooperation” because many of China’s policy priorities (including ensuring food security, improving supply chain resilience and security, achieving self-reliance in science and technology, and boosting innovative capabilities) “share a common language” with those of the European Union. As a result, she argues that Europe should jettison what she refers to as its “Cold War mentality” and achieve “ideological independence,” so that China and the EU can work collectively to “inject more certainty, security, and development momentum into the world.”
Researchers at Nankai University argue that increasing the proportion of China’s population in the middle class will have knock-on effects for social stability, productivity growth, and consumer demand. As a result, they argue, continuing to expand this demographic will be “an important task for China going forward in the new stage of development.” The authors recommend Beijing focus on raising income levels of rural residents through rural revitalization, promoting urbanization, and “gradually transition[ing] from an urban development orientation to a strategic focus that prioritizes rural revitalization and development.”
A prominent scholar at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences argues that addressing barriers to social mobility is key to curbing rising income inequality in China and avoiding the middle income trap. He promotes hukou reform as a potential remedy, advocating for a change in “the method where the supply of public goods treat[s] people differently based on household registration status.”
This piece summarizes a speech Xi Jinping gave on what he sees as the proper role of journalism when he was the Secretary of the Ningde Prefecture Party Committee in 1989. In the speech, Xi encourages Party organizations at all levels to strengthen their leadership over journalism, since the media can facilitate the Party and socialist cause by “publiciz[ing] achievements confidently” and serving a “supervision function” to expose corruption.
In this 1989 interview Xi Jinping gave on economic development during his tenure as Party Secretary of Ningde (in the interview referred to as Mindong), Xi argues that “whether the Party and government organs are kept clear or not is related to the survival of the Party,” the “support of people’s hearts,” and the “fate of the socialist economy.”
In this 1997 article published in an education-focused journal, Xi Jinping proudly recounts the adverse conditions and “grassroots” experiences of his early life—despite being the son of a high-ranking Party cadre—and argues that his peers should be self-reliant and avoid “a sense of superiority.”
In this 1993 interview with Xi Jinping, then serving as Secretary of the Fuzhou Municipal Party Committee, he argues that a leader capable of leading China to modernization and prosperity should be “courageous and knowledgeable,” adhere to “firm beliefs,” be in touch with the “will of the masses,” and hold a “profound understanding of the…policies of the central and provincial party committees.”
One of China’s most well-known scholars of American studies, Da Wei, argues that the United States and China need to reach a new strategic understanding about Taiwan in order to avoid a larger crisis. However, he suggests that this has become more difficult “because some of the long-term fundamentals underlying the Taiwan issue have changed,” including the deterioration in U.S.-China relations, the narrowing power gap between the United States and China, and the growing power gap across the Taiwan Strait.