China's Ministry of Foreign Affair
SCMP: Xi Jinping puts out a call to diplomats: toe the Communist Party line
Chinese president’s latest directives seen as a bid to shore up decision-making power and override interests of agencies involved in foreign affairs.
President Xi Jinping has made a rallying cry for all Chinese involved in diplomacy to toe the Communist Party line amid spiralling trade tensions with the United States.
Analysts said the call was an effort to shore up decision-making power within the party as it seeks to override the interests of different agencies involved in the nation’s diplomatic affairs.
In a diplomatic work agenda meeting that wrapped up on Saturday, Xi said the authority of the party’s central leadership on foreign policy should be upheld, and any external work should be based on the Central Committee’s overall plan.
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WNU Editor: One of the last reforms that former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping did in the 1980s and after the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989 was to placate the growing resentment within the provinces over Beijing's complete control over how they could conduct deals with foreign companies and countries. This central control .... all in the name of Communist Party control .... I estimate (from my own personal experience) complicated and delayed business and commercial deals by almost one year. I saw first hand how its removal helped immensely the Chinese provinces who were geared to export their goods .... and exported they did when they were given this green light. I am surprised that President Xi has decided to go back to the old ways on how Chinese organizations and agencies can do international business. He was governor of Fujian Province from 1999 to 2002 (my old stomping ground when I worked for the FO), and I am sure that he saw first hand how liberalizing the rules on how the the provinces (and cities) could conduct international trade deals helped to develop their economies.My prediction .... Beijing foreign diplomats are going to toll the line, the problem will be on the provincial level where their foreign trade officials are not going to be happy that they must now do what Beijing tells them to do.
