This is a set of questions and answers related to the 20th Central Committee’s Third Plenum Resolution in July 2024. Jointly compiled and published by teams at Study Press (学习出版社), a publishing house under the CCP Propaganda Department, and the Party Building Books Publishing Press (党建读物出版社), under the CCP Organization Department, the document is intended to improve understanding and implementation of guiding principles laid out in the plenum. These excerpts, selected by Interpret: China, cover Beijing’s approach to technology upgrading, military reform, supply chain security, soft power projection, and domestic topics such as social stability and demographic change.

The CCP Politburo holds “collective study sessions” on a semi-regular basis, in which an outside academic or government expert leads a discussion on a selected topic. Such sessions are important signals as to what issues the senior leadership finds important. The 17th collective study session of the 20th Central Committee Politburo was held on October 28, 2024 and was presided over by Xi Jinping. Xi delivered a speech emphasizing the need to build China’s soft power and cultural influence abroad.

Two researchers from East China Normal University argue that the technological superiority and rapid deployment of Starlink satellites from U.S. firm SpaceX raise a range of new international security issues. These include transforming space from a strategic support domain to a domain of military operations in its own right, crowding out space for satellites from other countries in low-earth orbit, and posing data control and information security challenges for other nations, including China.

In this press conference, representatives from the Taiwan Affairs Office and top judicial and public security bodies in Beijing answer media questions about newly-issued guidelines regarding the prosecution of “secession” crimes by proponents of “Taiwan independence.”

Researchers at the National University of Defense Technology analyze the development of Starlink, SpaceX’s flagship satellite internet technology, its early connections with the U.S. military, and its uses on the battlefield in Ukraine. The authors argue that the United States is militarizing Starlink in ways that disrupt existing rules and norms governing the development and utilization of space-based technologies. They recommend Beijing track Starlink carefully, invest in developing and deploying domestic alternatives, and coordinate closely with fellow “socialist” countries to pare back Starlink’s global reach.

Correction: The partner column in the third row of the Table 1: Overview of the Militarization of “Starlink” should read “DARPA,” or the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

In this piece, two researchers from PLA-affiliated National University of Defense Technology argue that Starlink will negatively impact global stability, in light of its clear military applications, increased risks of accidents and collisions in space, and SpaceX’s close relationship with the U.S. military. The authors foresee a worsening security dilemma as other countries react to broad U.S. deployment of Starlink, thereby impacting strategic stability in space.

A researcher from the China Institute of International Studies analyzes the Biden administration’s diplomacy with African countries in the food and agriculture space. He argues that U.S. aid and new initiatives designed to improve Africa’s food security are motivated by a broader strategy of maintaining American dominance in the region, securing future markets for U.S. agricultural products and secure sources of critical minerals, and curbing China’s growing influence on the continent.

A prominent Russia scholar, Feng Shaolei, analyzes the conflict in Ukraine, arguing that it reflects deep structural changes in the international system. These changes include increasing polarization between Russia and the West and growing relevance of the Global South in international affairs. Feng suggests that following the war, what he terms an “Asian Mediterranean” or Eurasian economic sphere will emerge, attendant with Russia’s pivot to the East and what he sees as China’s strengthening position in the Asia-Pacific.

One of China’s top demographics and labor scholars analyzes how labor markets will be transformed by the emergence and industrial integration of artificial intelligence (AI). He provides several policy recommendations for Beijing to manage this transition with minimal social disruption. These include improvements to the social welfare system and household registration systems, both of which he sees as necessary to address inevitable disruptions to the human capital landscape.

In this short piece, researchers at the Cross-Strait Institute of Urban Planning at Xiamen University lay out recommendations for Beijing on how to prepare for post-“reunification” governance of Taiwan. The unnamed authors of a now-deleted article recommend Beijing create a “shadow government” that will be ready to take over in Taipei in the case of “reunification,” and prepare policies for education, military, trade, and other issues today so planned “regime change” can be quick and efficient.