Tuesday, May 15, 2018

Jiang Shigong — Jiang Shigong on ‘Philosophy and History: Interpreting the “Xi Jinping Era” through Xi’s Report to the Nineteenth National Congress of the CCP’


With an introduction by David Ownby and Timothy Cheek.

From the intro:
This essay by Jiang Shigong 强世功 (b. 1967), published in the Guangzhou journal Open Times (开放时代) in January 2018, aims to be an authoritative statement of the new political orthodoxy under Xi Jinping 习近平(b. 1953) as Xi begins his second term as China’s supreme leader. It offers a new reading of modern Chinese history in general and the history of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in particular, arguing that Xi Jinping’s ‘thought’ (sixiang 思想) is the culmination of a century’s historical process and philosophical refinement, produced through the ongoing dialectic of theory and practice. This is ‘Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era’ 习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想, which Jiang defends as the new ideological superstructure to the material base of China’s economy after nearly forty years of ‘socialism with Chinese characteristics’. Although the language bears considerable resemblance to the propagandistic slant of People’s Daily editorials, Jiang’s text is not a specious rant, but an intelligent and penetrating critique of the limits and failures of the liberal democratic system. It also offers a considered case for an alternative way of viewing politics and history that defends the past actions and current legitimacy of the CCP and holds up Xi Jinping as the man of the hour to complete China’s century-long recovery of its dominant place in the world....
Longish but important in the larger scheme of things. This is where China believes it is going and is planning on going, based on the mandate of Heaven passing from the upstart West to back China as the Central Realm. This is interesting in that China is now being upfront about this. This signals that the China leadership is confident in the rising strength of China on the world stage. China is not about to become an vassal in the an American Empire it views as declining morally as well as socially, stubbornly refusing to learn from its mistake, while China is rising, having learned its bitter lesson.

The intro is short and provides a summary of Jiang's article if you choose to skip it or save for the weekend.

The China Story (Australia)
Jiang Shigong on ‘Philosophy and History: Interpreting the “Xi Jinping Era” through Xi’s Report to the Nineteenth National Congress of the CCP’
Jiang Shigong | Professor at Peking University Law School

See also
Xi also said that China firmly supports multilateralism, maintaining the multilateral trading system and building an open world economy.
Ecns
Xi tells Ban Ki-moon: China's door of opening up will open even wider
CGTN | Editor: Gu Liping

China is taking the lead on North Korea.

Ecns
DPRK to learn from China's opening-up
China Daily

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