Setting Up Shop

Premier Wen Jiabao's comments at the United Nations yesterday regarding China's ongoing dispute with Japan demonstrate the value good relations with other countries can have for the PRC. On this theme, the last decade has seen China trying to increase its presence in nations across the world with its Confucius Institute (CI) programme. The several hundred currently in existence act as centres for the spread of Chinese language and culture, though they have also drawn fierce criticism as a platform for the PRC to increase its 'soft' power (the CIs are, after all, run under the auspices of the Chinese government).

The first CI opened in South Korea in 2004, and they can now be found in over 90 countries including the USA, the UK, Sweden and Serbia. While there are many located within Europe, the Baltic region of Northern Europe has been devoid of CIs- that is until yesterday. As the Xinhua News Agency was proudly reporting this morning, Wednesday saw Li Changchun (a member of the CCP's elite politburo) open the Baltic's first Confucius Institute in the Estonian capital of Tallinn. Linked with the University of Tallinn and China's own Guangxi University, the new CI will be focusing on disseminating knowledge of the Chinese language through Estonia, building on the University's own established Chinese studies courses. 3 month language courses will also be available to the general public.

A helpful reminder...

On Thursday 12^th August, the Xinhua New Agency reported comments written by Jia Qinglin (Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference) calling on non-Party political figures to back the Communist Party's “socialist core values system” for the development of Chinese socialism.

Formulated in 2006 at the 16^th Central Committee's 6^th Plenum, the system consists of (in the words of Xinhua) “Marxism, socialism with Chinese characteristics, patriotism, the spirit of reform and innovation and the socialist sense of honor and disgrace.” Beijing's need to re-iterate these core values of its political ideology, especially at a time when relations with China's other legal political parties seem to be good (as shown by the recent celebrations of the Chinese Peasant's and Worker's Democratic Party's 80^th anniversary in the Great Hall of the People), suggests a sense of growing uneasiness amongst the CCP's top leadership. As with the Imperial dynasties that preceded it, natural disasters pose a major challenge to the government's levels of popular support. With the ongoing flooding across China, particularly in Shaanxi and Gansu provinces, and the awful aftermath of these events, Jia Qinglin's remarks may be intended to serve as a reminder to the Chinese political landscape that the CCP remains the guiding hand for China's development in effect reaffirming its control. This is not to suggest that the Party is looking down the barrel of revolt against its rule, but governments often look at their weakest during times of environmental crisis. Certainly, the recent events in Pakistan demonstrate this.

Interestingly, the theme of the 'socialist sense of honor and disgrace' has been seen in the past week with several reports around corruption in official Chinese state media. After the People's Daily Online (English edition) featured findings that officials had received 5.4 trillion yuan in 'gray income' in 2009, with such income between 2005 and 2008 growing faster than China's Gross Domestic Product, this week saw He Guoqiang (China's anti-corruption chief) and Li Changchun speak out against corruption. Li Changchun also backed 'The Final Struggle', a new theatre play with a distinct anti-corruption message.

Of course, these latest in a long line of anti-corruption messages from the centre are not going to solve China's problem overnight. In a country as big as China, the inevitability of widespread corruption seems almost guaranteed. Since 1949, the many layers of government at the local, county and provincial levels has led to a proliferation of middle-men and, despite its reputation of ruling with a strong dictatorial fist, the CCP's reach only extends so far. In this sense, it is hard to see how China's great corruption 'issue' will be resolved. Whether it needs to be resolved is an altogether different argument.