中國習近平呼籲在共產黨試圖扭轉經濟衰退之際保持耐心

Recently Yahoo News on-line reported the following:

China's Xi calls for patience as Communist Party tries to reverse economic slump

Thu, August 17, 2023 at 1:13 a.m. PDT

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese leader Xi Jinping has called for patience in a speech released as the ruling Communist Party tries to reverse a deepening economic slump and said Western countries are “increasingly in trouble” because of their materialism and “spiritual poverty.”

Xi’s speech was published by Qiushi, the party’s top theoretical journal, hours after data Tuesday showed consumer and factory activity weakened further in July despite official promises to support struggling entrepreneurs. The government skipped giving an update on a politically sensitive spike in unemployment among young people.

Xi, the country’s most powerful leader in decades, called for China to “build a socialist ideology with strong cohesion” and to focus on long-term goals of improving education, health care and food supplies for China’s 1.4 billion people instead of only pursuing short-term material wealth.

Since taking power in 2012, Xi has called for restoring the ruling party's role as an economic and social leader and has tightened control over business and society since taking power in 2012. Some changes come at a rising cost as successful Chinese companies are pressured to divert money into political initiatives including processor chip development. The party tightened control over tech industries by launching data security and anti-monopoly crackdowns that wiped out billions of dollars of their stock market value.

“We must maintain historic patience and insist on making steady, step-by-step progress,” Xi said in the speech. Qiushi said it was delivered in February in the southwestern city of Chongqing. It is common for Qiushi journal to publish speeches months after they are delivered.

Economic growth slid to 0.8% in the three months ending in June compared with the previous month, down from 2.2% in January-March. That is equivalent to a 3.2% annual rate, which would be among China’s weakest in decades.

A survey in June found unemployment among urban workers aged 16 to 24 spiked to a record 21.3%. The statistics bureau said this week it would withhold updates while it refined its measurement.

The government is trying to reassure uneasy homebuyers and investors about the deeply indebted real estate industry after one of China's biggest developers, Country Garden, failed to make a payment to bondholders and suspended trading of its bonds. A government spokesperson said Tuesday regulators are getting debt under control and risks are “expected to be gradually resolved.”

Beijing also has expanded anti-spying rules and tightened controls on information, leaving foreign and private companies uncertain about what activities might be allowed.

Xi stressed “common prosperity,” a 1950s party slogan he has revived. He called for narrowing China’s yawning wealth gap between a tiny elite and the poor majority and to “regulate the healthy development of capital” but announced no new initiatives.

“Common prosperity for all people” is an “essential feature of Chinese-style modernization and distinguishes it from Western modernization,” Xi said.

Western-style modernization “pursues the maximization of capital interests instead of serving the interests of the vast majority of people,” Xi said.

“Today, Western countries are increasingly in trouble,” Xi said. “They cannot curb the greedy nature of capital and cannot solve chronic diseases such as materialism and spiritual poverty."

Joe Mcdonald, The Associated Press

Translation

北京（美聯社）- 中國領導人習近平在執政的共產黨試圖扭轉日益嚴重的經濟衰退之際發表的講話中呼籲保持耐心，並表示西方國家由於物質主義和 “精神貧困” 而 “陷入越來越多的麻煩”。

儘管官方承諾支持陷入困境的企業家，但週二的數據顯示7 月份消費者和工廠活動進一步疲軟，數小時之後，中共頂級理論期刊《求是》發表了習近平的講話。 政府沒有提供具有政治敏感性的年輕人失業率飆升的最新情況。

作為中國幾十年來最強大的領導人，習近平呼籲中國 “建設具有強大凝聚力的社會主義意識形態”，並著眼於改善中國14億人民的教育、醫療保健和糧食供應的長期目標，而不是僅僅追求短期物質財富。

自2012年上台以來，習近平一直呼籲恢復執政黨作為經濟和社會領袖的地位，並自2012年上台以來加強了對商業和社會的控制。隨著成功的中國企業被迫轉移業務，把資金投入政治舉措，包括處理器芯片的開發, 一些變革的代價不斷上升。 該黨通過發起數據安全和反壟斷打擊行動，加強了對科技行業的控制，導致科技行業市值蒸發數十億美元。

習近平在講話中表示， “我們要保持歷史性耐心，堅持穩中求進” 。 《求是》稱，該講話是於二月份在西南部城市重慶發表。 《求是》雜誌在演講發表數月後登出講話是很常見的。

截至6月份的三個月內，經濟增速按月比較下滑至0.8%，低於1-3月的2.2%。 這相當於3.2%的年增長率，這將是中國幾十年來最弱的增長率之一。

6月份的一項調查發現，16歲至24歲城鎮工人的失業率飆升至創紀錄的21.3%。 國家統計局本週表示，將停止最新信息以便完善統計的數據。

在中國最大的開發商之一碧桂園未能向債券持有人付款並暫停其債券交易後，政府正試圖安撫不安的購房者和投資者對負債累累的房地產行業的擔憂。 一位政府發言人周二表示，監管機構正在控制債務，風險 “預計將逐步得到解決” 。

北京還擴大了反間諜規則並加強了對信息的控制，這使到外國和私營公司不確定哪些活動可能被允許。

習近平強調 “共同富裕” ，這是他重新啟用的 20 世紀 50 年代黨的口號。 他呼籲縮小中國極少數精英和大多數貧困人口之間日益擴大的貧富差距，並 “規範資本的健康發展” ，但沒有宣布任何新舉措。

習近平表示， “全體人民共同富裕” 是 “中國式現代化的本質特徵，也是區別於西方現代化的本質特徵” 。

習近平說: 西式現代化 “追求資本利益最大化，而不是服務絕大多數人的利益”。

習近平說:“今天，西方國家的麻煩越來越大”。 “它們無法遏制資本的貪婪本性，無法解決物質主義和精神貧困等痼疾。”

I disagree when Xi says “Common prosperity for all people” is an “essential feature of Chinese-style modernization and distinguishes it from Western modernization”. Many democratic countries have achieved “Common prosperity for all people” through high taxation on the rich and convert the tax into welfare benefits for the poor . I strongly urge Xi to look at Canada and Japan to know how they narrow the gap between the rich and the poor without the need to cite the communist ideology.

I also disagree Xi in criticizing Western-style modernization in that it “pursues the maximization of capital interests instead of serving the interests of the vast majority of people.” There is nothing wrong to maximize capital interests, as more capital interest will carry more taxation that will give the government more money to give out social benefits and build a strong country like the US. Thus, it serves the interests of the vast majority of people in the end.

I think capitalism is developing based on and following human’s natural instinct, for example to the system encourage people to work hard to get the reward so as to have better life, there is no ideology behind. Meanwhile communism is an ideology foreign to human instinct, for example, it advocates party leadership and total control on everything. This is again human’s natural desire for personal freedom.