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Politics of East Asia > The Politics of the PRC > Flashcards

The Politics of the PRC Flashcards

1
Q

Tiananmen Massacre 4 June 1989: the conservatives win the power struggle… Or not?

A
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2
Q

1992: Deng on Tour

A
  • “Southern Tour” to Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Guangzhou, Shanghai
  • Crucial moment in Chinese history
  • Conservatives (anti economic reform) were emboldened after Tiananmen Massacre 1989
  • Deng comes out swinging against them
  • Deng: “those who do not promote reform should be brought down from their leadership positions”
  • Jiang Zemin forced to adopt Deng’s positions
  • Deng Xiaoping: “I don’t care if the cat is black or white (socialism or capitalism), so long as it caches mice (achieves economic growth)”
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3
Q

The other Deng Xiaoping Legacy: Collective Leadership

A
  • Encouraged CCP Politburo Standing Committee to rule by consensus
  • Avoid authoritarianism and personality cult of the Mao era
  • CCP General Secretary “first among equals”
  • Post-Deng era: clear idea of generational shift occurring every 10 years
  • Crucial in this: term limits
  • Very unusual for authoritarian state
  • Widely believed to enhance China’s long-term stability and avoid excesses of other dictatorships and the Mao era
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4
Q

“Paramount Leader”

A
  • General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party
  • State Chairman (“President”)
  • Chairman of the Central Military Commission
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5
Q

Jiang Zemin as General Secretary 1989-2002 President 1993-2003 Chairman of the CMC 1990-2005

A
  • “Third generation” leader: after Mao and Deng
  • Rose to power as conservative in 1989 but embraced Deng’s economic reforms
  • From 1993 Three most powerful political positions in hands of “paramount leader”
  • With Premier Zhu Rongji, oversees average 8% GDP growth annually
  • Stability and growth vs inequality and corruption
  • Proliferation special interest groups and factions
  • “Patriotic Education” to combat CCP legitimacy crisis
  • 2001: PRC enters WTO on extremely favourable terms
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6
Q

1990s/early 2000s under Jiang Zemin

A
  • Governance increasingly seen as management rather than politics
  • Under Jiang the government’s role seen increasingly as managing economy (many negative side effects like inequality and gap between coastal cities and rural areas)
  • For successor Hu Jintao this not enough: sees widespread dislocation and social unrest
  • Jiang hands over power peacefully: major achievement for China
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7
Q

Hu Jintao as General Secretary 2002-2012 President 2003-2013 Chairman of the CMC 2005-2013

A
  • “Fourth generation” leader
  • Respects Collective Leadership. “First among Equals”: mediator and consensus builder
  • Consistent economic growth (and inequality)
  • “Harmonious Socialist Society”
  • Harmony involves cracking down on dissent and minorities
  • No real success in tackling corruption
  • Or economic inequality…
  • Praised for handing over power smoothly
  • Term limits are respected
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8
Q

Xi Jingping as General Secretary 2012- President 2013- Chairman of the CMC 2013-

A
  • “Fifth generation” leader
  • Son of revolutionary hero Xi Zhongxun, which makes him a “princeling” (privileged class of CCP leaders’ offspring)
  • Former governor of Fujian and Zhejiang
  • 2007: Politburo Standing Committee
  • 2008: Designated as Hu Jintao’s successor
  • Fundamentally different leadership style
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9
Q

Xi Jinping as General Secretary 2012- President 2013- Chairman of the CMC 2013-

A
  • End of “Collective Leadership” style common since Deng era
  • Massive centralization of power
  • Increasing personality cult
  • Strict enforcement party discipline
  • Anti-corruption campaign against Xi enemies
  • Assertive foreign policy
  • “Belt and Road Initiative”
  • 2013: National Security Commission
  • Social Credit System
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10
Q

Xi Jinping as General Secretary 2012- President 2013- Chairman of the CMC 2013-

A
  • Oct 2017 19th Party Congress: “New Era”
  • “Xi Jinping Thought”
  • 2018: Abolition of terms limits
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11
Q

Structure of the Chinese Communist Party

A
  • General Secretary
  • Politburo Standing Committee
  • Politburo
  • Central Committee
  • National Party Congress
  • Party members
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12
Q

CCP Institutions: The National Party Congress (NPC)

A
  • Held every five years
  • Makes major personnel decisions
  • Revises the CCP constitution to include new ideological directions
  • Elects the CCP Central Committee, The Central Military Commission, and the Discipline Inspection Commission
  • Not to be confused with National People’s Congress (state)
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13
Q

CCP Institutions: The Central Committee (CC)

A
  • Responsible for party work when the full Congress is not in session
  • Elects the Secretariat, Politburo, and General Secretary
  • Constitutes the de-facto personnel pool for all major state-administration positions
  • The composition of the CC is often an indicator of political trends in the PRC
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14
Q

The Politburo brings together the key figures of party, state and military in the PRC and it is the ‘power centre’ of the CCP

A

Remember that Xi Jinping is only part of the Politburo Standing Committee

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15
Q

CCP Institutions: The Politburo Standing Committee

A
  • Makes most of the decisions before presenting them to the Politburo
  • Probably meets every two weeks
  • Discussions are believed to be open
  • Decisions are believed to be subject to consensus
  • The Committee is chaired by the CCP General Secretary
  • Members are officially selected by the Central Committee, but in practice they are selected by other Standing Committee members
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16
Q

Members of Politburo Standing Committee:

A
  • Xi Jinping
  • Li Qiang
  • Zhao Leji
  • Wang Huning
  • Cai Qi
  • Ding Xuexiang
  • Li Xi
17
Q

Women in Chinese Politics

A
  • There has never been a woman on the Politburo Standing Committee
  • After October 2022 Party Congress: No women in entire Politburo for first time since 1990s
  • Among CCP members, less than 30% are women
  • Officially 10% of provincial, municipal, and county-level leadership positions are supposed to be reserved for women; but this is not enforced
  • Women occupy a mere 9.33% of county-level posts as head of government or party secretary, falling to 5.29% in cities and 3.23% at the provincial level
  • Under Xi Jinping an emphasis on traditional gender roles has returned in order to counter the declining birthrate
18
Q

What is the difference between the president and the premier?

A
  • President (Xi Jinping)
    – Head of state
    – Runs the PRC
    — Declares state of emergency
    — Declares war
    — Appoints all major officials
    — Responsible for foreign affairs
    — Gathers political support for PRC government policies
  • Premier (Li Qiang)
    – Head of Government
    – Runs the State Council and all agencies under it
    — Oversees work of ministers
    — Responsible for the technical details of implementing policies in the PRC
19
Q

PRC’s Administrative Divisions & Territorial Disputes

A
  • Autonomous Regions
    – Xinjiang Uyghur AR
    – Tibet AR
    – Inner Mongolia AR
    – Ningxia Hui AR
    – Guangxi Zhuang AR
  • Municipalities
    – Chongqing
    – Beijing
    – Shanghai
  • Special Administrative Regions
    – Hong Kong
    – Macau
20
Q

The People’s Liberation Army (PLA)

A

The PLA is under the command of two institutions:
- National People’s Congress Standing Committee –> Central Military Commission (State) –> Xi Jinping
- Chinese Communist Party Central Committee –> Central Military Commission (Party) –> Xi Jinping

21
Q

Party and State

A
  • Mao period: Party and State almost completely intertwined, Party responsible for appointing Nomenklatura and setting policy
    – Party Committees in every governmental body at national, provincial and county level
    – This weakened the power of State bureaucracy: often specialists
    – Bureaucrats/specialists have incentive to distort information to please the principal (Party official) who holds all power. Of course no democratic checks and balances…
    – Danger of promotions based on Party loyalty, not expertise/competence
    – Party leadership struggles to adequately monitor bureaucratic behaviour
  • Serious problem in all communist countries
22
Q

1980s: Deng Xiaoping reforms Party-State relations

A
  • Party to delegate more responsibility to government bureaucracy, especially in economic policy-making
  • Provincial level: Party departments overlapping with government departments were abolished
  • Civil service reforms to establish dual structure in bureaucracy:
    – Civil servants selected by meritocracy and on professional criteria
    – Alongside administrative officials selected by Party
  • Result: More independent bureaucracy means greater incentive to be efficient, for the bureaucrats but also for the Party itself
23
Q

Disclaimer regarding 1980s Deng Xiaoping Party-State relations reforms

A
  • Party still most powerful in the relationship
  • Party still sets out general policy and ideology
  • These reforms were strongly resisted by conservatives and the relations between Party and State and resulting inefficiency and corruption is still an issue
  • Under Jiang Zemin the Party is again strengthened
  • Under Xi Jinping Party-State relations resemble the Mao era again
24
Q

Two important visions of the PRC

A
  • Zhang Weiwei
  • Xu Zhangrun
25
Q

Zhang Weiwei as a Regime Intellectual

A
  • Professor of International Relations at Fudan University in Shanghai
  • Former interpreter for Chinese leadership (Deng Xiaoping)
  • 2012: “The China Wave: Rise of a Civilizational State” (book)
  • Has become famous for his eloquent defence of the Chinese government and its policies, both inside and outside China
26
Q

Zhang Weiwei as a Regime Intellectual

A
  • Challenges idea of liberal democracy as pinnacle human development
  • Liberal democratic model in crisis: Populism, short-termism, excessive influence of money, incapable leaders
  • “Western leadership is showmanship”
  • What about Trump?
27
Q

Zhang Weiwei as a Regime Intellectual

A
  • Liberal democracy is not suitable for China
  • Been there done that: 1912
  • Because of large population
  • And fear of upheavals
  • China would become ungovernable
  • Economic growth proves that the current system works
28
Q

Zhang Weiwei as a Regime Intellectual

A
  • China has elaborate system of meritocracy
  • Creates capable leadership
  • Leaders rise through the provinces
  • 2012: Very strict term limit for CCP leaders, this is proof that the system works!
  • 2023: Who needs term limits?
29
Q

Xu Zhangrun as Dissident Intellectual

A
  • Law Professor at the famous Tsinghua University until July 2020
  • Rare: chose not to leave the country
  • July 2018: “Imminent Fears, Immediate Hopes”
  • Feb 2020: “Viral Alarm: When Fury Overcomes Fear”
30
Q

Chinese tradition of courageous intellectuals

A
  • Late Ming Dynasty “East Forest Academy” of Confucian critics of bad government
  • Scholars movement behind the “Hundred Days Reforms” in 1898
  • July 1959 Lushan Conference: ‘Ten-thousand Word Appeal to the Ruler’ by Peng Dehuai criticizing Mao Zedong for Great Leap Forward
  • Democracy Wall Movement 1978/9
  • Tiananmen Protests 1989
31
Q

Chinese tradition of courageous intellectuals: Xu Zhangrun

A
  • Combination of criticizing CCP on own terms and a vision of Chinese history that is larger than CCP narrative
  • Very different from liberal pro-western “dissident” writing
  • Clearly aimed at Chinese not foreign audience
  • “Xu has issued a challenge from the intellectual and cultural heart of China to the political heart of the Communist Party”
32
Q

Xu Zhangrun: “Imminent Fears, Immediate Hopes”

A
  • Xi Jinping’s rule threatens the modernizing trajectory that started in mid-19th century (Self-Strengthening Movement)
  • This might be the end of the Reform Era and return to Totalitarianism
  • Return of “ceaseless struggle”: mass movements, class struggle
  • “KGB-style control”: social atmosphere of fear
  • International grandstanding and renewed instability
33
Q

Xu Zhangrun: “Imminent Fears, Immediate Hopes”

A
  • Compares CCP elite’s habit with (very corrupt) Ming Dynasty imperial family
  • They should have nothing to hide and divulge assets
  • Stop the new personality cult of Xi Jinping
  • Overturn verdict on June 4th
  • Does not romanticize the West: US is “degraded civilisation”, Republicans: “crowd of the Ghoulish Undead”
  • Subtle equivalence of Xi and Trump
  • Describes those who try to flatter Xi Jinping as “a scrum of eunuchs… kissing arse as they flaunted their shamelessness”

Politics of East Asia (6 decks)

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