CiCM 19th March 2024

NEWS IN CHINA

Xi Jinping Inspects Hunan: China’s President and General Secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, Xi Jinping, conducted a comprehensive inspection of Hunan. This trip marks Xi Jinping’s fourth inspection tour in Hunan. Hunan occupies a crucial position in China’s development, generating an economic output of more than five trillion yuan in 2023. During his trip to Changsha, the capital city of Hunan, Xi visited the Normal University and learned about the institutions’ initiatives in fostering virtue through education and innovations for promoting growth and opening-up. Apart from urban areas, Xi also visited the Gang Zhongping Village in Changde and was greeted with demands for reducing burdens on rural grassroot levels by the local cadres. Declaring the official standpoint of the Central committee of the CPC in favour of these demands, Xi reiterated the party’s aims at reducing the problems arising out of formalism and bureaucracy at the village level. Additionally, he inspected a comprehensive grain production demonstration area in Xiejiapu Town, emphasizing the Central Committee's commitment to provide food security, stabilisation of land and agricultural output and streamlining administrative processes.

Hong Kong Passes Article 23 of the Basic Law: Following the Two Sessions, Hong Kong’s Legislative Council has unanimously passed a security bill titled, Safeguarding National Security or Article 23 of the Basic Law. The law targets five types of offences – treason, insurrection, sabotage, external interference and theft of state secrets and espionage, making them punishable by up to life in prison. The legislation gives powers to the police to extend pre-charge detention period for those suspected of endangering national security, restrict access to lawyers and ban organisations found working for foreign forces. The bill loosely defines a list of offences relating to state security, public order and unrest to bring legislation in Hong Kong closer to mainland China. The legislation will come into effect on March 23. Chief Executive John Lee stated that it was a historic moment in Hong Kong and compared it to the Patriot Act. Hong Kong devoted 30 days to public consultation of the bill and lawmakers spent 12 days debating it, rushing it through the process of passing it into law.

Li Qiang Signs Regulations on the Implementation of the Consumer Rights law: Premier Li Qiang has approved new regulations aimed at enhancing the implementation of the consumer rights protection law. The regulations consist of 53 articles and 7 chapters, with chapters dedicated to operators’ obligations, consumers organizations, dispute resolution, legal responsibility and so on. Set to take effect on July 1, 2024, these regulations outline detailed obligations for businesses, including safeguarding consumers' personal and property safety, addressing defective products, preventing fraudulent advertising, ensuring price transparency, and protecting consumers' personal information. Notably, provisions have been added to protect the rights of elderly and minors as well. The regulations also focus on online consumption, emphasizing operators' responsibilities regarding prepaid transactions and the need to fulfil agreements made with consumers. Additionally, they establish guidelines for handling consumer complaints and compensation claims, prohibiting actions that seek improper benefits or disrupt market order. Government entities at all levels are instructed to provide guidance on consumer rights protection, supervision, inspection, law enforcement, and promptly address any practices that violate consumers' rights.
China Unveils Region-Specific Environmental Management Guidelines: China has introduced guidelines aimed at establishing a region-specific environmental management system by 2025 with full functionality expected by 2035. The system sets out comprehensive environmental objectives tailored to different regions, allowing for flexible implementation based on local conditions. Jointly issued by the Central Committee and State Council, the guidelines emphasize the need for region-specific environmental management to protect ecosystems, ensure environmental quality, and promote rational resource use. The guidelines reflect 18 detailed policies on six key aspects including high-quality development, high-level protection of the ecological environment, strengthening supervision and assessment. The new system marks a departure from the previous one-size-fits-all approach, which did not consider regional differences. The guidelines also emphasize the integration of new technologies like artificial intelligence into environmental protection efforts, highlighting China's commitment to sustainable development and building a "Beautiful China."
China calls for Nuclear Non-proliferation at UNSC Meeting: During the United Nations Security Council meeting on "Nuclear Disarmament and Nuclear Non-Proliferation" held on 18th march, Zhang Jun, China's Permanent Representative to the UN, called on all countries to reject their Cold War mentalities and confrontational camps. China took a firm stance and emphasized the need to strengthen the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and collaborate to advance nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation around the world. By highlighting a joint statement by the leaders of the five nuclear-weapon states in 2022, stressing that "nuclear war cannot be won or fought", Zhang further proposed measures to reduce strategic risks, including negotiating a "Mutual No First Use of Nuclear Weapons Treaty" and providing legally binding negative security assurances to non-nuclear-weapon states. The public meeting of the UNSC also witnessed China’s readiness to sign the Protocol to the Treaty on Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone and the will to establish a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East.
Chinese Representative meets Hamas Chief in Qatar, Deliberates Resolution: Wang Kejian, China’s foreign minister visited Hamas Chief Ismail Haniyeh in Qatar on 17th march. Both of them exchanged views regarding the Gaza issue and other related aspects with a hope to see an end to the Gaza-crisis. In addition to Qatar, Wang also visited both the Palestinian and Israeli authorities last week. Apart from organising a discussion with Israeli foreign ministry’s Asia Pacific Bureau Head, Hagai Shagir and the Head of Ministry’s policy research centre, Rachel Fein Messer, Wang has also visited the West Bank to meet the Palestinian Authority’s Foreign Minister, Riyadh-al-Malik. China has actively campaigned for an immediate ceasefire and vouched for a two-state solution to the either sides. China is looking at balance its relationships in West Asia by emerging as a mediator for either side. However, Wang had also publicly declared that China looks at maintain its relations with Hamas, and considers the organization as an active part of Palestinian national fabric.
3 Tigers Ensnared in Anti-Corruption Campaign: China's first counterterrorism commissioner, Liu Yuejin, is under investigation on charges of serious corruption, marking another high-profile case in Xi Jinping's anti-corruption campaign. Liu is a former vice-minister level official and a member of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). He has also held key positions in China's security apparatus, including leading the National Narcotics Control Commission since May 2015 and the Commissioner of the counter-terrorism department till 2020. The investigation was led by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) and the National Commission of Supervision (NCS), underscores the commitment to rooting out corruption by wielding the “blade inward”. This move makes Liu, the second “big fish” of the public security system to fall since the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in October 2022 and is also the 13th senior official to be placed under investigation in 2024. The list of suspensions and disciplinary actions have also extended to hold Li Xiangang, a member of the party group and deputy director of the standing committee of the Heilongjiang Provincial People’s Congress, accountable for serious violations of party discipline and law. Similarly, Don Wangui, a member of the CCP and vice chairman of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has also been brought under disciplinary review by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and State Supervision Commission.

SOCIAL MEDIA CHATTER IN CHINA

Sensational “Tianshui Malatang’s” hypnotising control over the taste buds takes the social media by storm: Tianshui malatang, a version of a spicy hot pot in northwest China's Gansu Province has recently gone viral on social media. People from all over the country are flocking to Gansu Province to taste this spicy hot pot dish. According to TongCheng Travel, a prominent online travel agency in China, browsing for trips to Tianshui have surged by 186 percent compared to the previous week and continue to increase rapidly. Similarly, Trip.com, another online travel platform, announced on Tuesday that hotel and attraction bookings in Tianshui had increased by 40 percent compared to the same period last year. Social media platforms, especially Douyin, have been filled with travellers sharing their experiences and photos of long queues outside restaurants. A Douyin user also posted about their six hours of patiently waiting in line to try the food. The craze of the food both online and the massive crowd at the city has compelled the city government to launch a “malatang carnival" with eight activities to help visitors learn about the city and its cuisine.

INDIA WATCH

Despite being one of the signatories of the charter that established the United Nations, China was not granted a lawful representative seat at the United Nations till 1971. It was only in 1971 that the UN general assembly passed a resolution that ensured the lawful rights of the People’s Republic of China at the UN. However, its late accession did not provide lesser grounds to Beijing in influencing the activities of the UN.. In recent times, China’s considerations at the UNSC have been largely framed by national interests, engaging with the major world powers and to address international or transnational threats to peace and security.

India’s role in the UNSC takes a different course. It has followed the path of being the voice for decolonized nations, eventually becoming a voice for developing countries. It was elected as a non-permanent member of the Security Council 8 times since 1950-51, most recently in 2021-2022. However, as a voice of the developing world, India’s efforts have revolved around the idea of inclusivity and greater sharing of power in a decentralised manner. It has been an ardent advocate of reforming the structure of the UNSC and particularly increasing the number of permanent members of the Security Council. Owing to its rising capabilities and increasing influence world-wide, India’s call for reforms is legitimate. What is further interesting to note is that, in the pursuit of reforming the United Nations, India has successfully forged an informal alliance with other like-minded nations demanding such a reform. This group, known as the G4 comprises of Japan, Germany, Brazil and India. In the recent times, during the Intergovernmental Negotiations on the Security Council reform (IGN), India on behalf of the G4 countries, presented its position on reforming the UNSC by electing new permanent members democratically and the veto power matrix.

Therefore, both India and China have been playing an active role in the UNSC. China efforts to achieve a stronghold in the council and emerge as a global power at times have been detrimental to India’s interests at the council owing largely to its veto power. India on the other hand has emerged as the pioneer in demanding the restructuring of the council and opening avenues for greater decentralisation and power sharing among nations. Despite the antagonism between India and China, it is beneficial for the UN system to have two developing nations playing a crucial role in institutions dominated by the west.

Prepared By

Agniva Ray

Agniva Ray is an M.A, 2nd year, 4th semester student pursuing Political Science with International Relations in the Department of International Relations, Jadavpur University. He holds a deep interest in Socio-economic (Non-Traditional Security) as well as Traditional security issues concerning South Asia and aims to pursue research work in this very field.