Xi Jinping of China's 14 principles and Zanu PF's aspirations by J Moyo

 Xi Jinping of China’s 14 Principles: LESSONS FOR ZANUPF

by Professor Jonathan Moyo

A new doctrine fronted by Chinese leader Xi Jinping and representing the new ideological, legal, political and scientific thrust of China’s ruling Communist Party, first enunciated by Jinping at a key political gathering in Beijing as broadcast by China Central TV1 and monitored and reported by the BBC on 18 October 2017; has since been refined further and come to be known as 'Xi Jinping’s 14 Principles'; which crystalize his “Thoughts on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era". The thoughts are built on 14 principles that deal with how to develop China into a [in fact the] leading world player, how to achieve economic prosperity, how to strengthen the military and how to preserve the environment. Below is a summary of, followed by my critical comment on, Jinping’s 14 principles which spell out the distinct ideological principles underpinning the political thought and programme of action of China’s Communist Party with very important lessons for ZanuPF. 1. Party supreme "It is necessary to adhere to the leadership of the party over all work. Among the party, the government, the military, the people, the academia and all circles, the party leads all." 2. People-centric approach "The people are the creators of history as well as the fundamental forces that determine the future and destiny of the party and the country. We must adhere to the principal position of the people, adhere to building a party that serves the interests of the public and to governing the country for the people." 3. Deepening reform "It is necessary to adhere to the comprehensive deepening of reforms. Only socialism can save China, and only reform and opening-up can develop China, so develop socialism, and develop Marxism." 4. New development ideas "It is necessary to adhere to new development concepts. Development is the foundation for and the key to resolving all the problems of our country. Development must be scientific development, and we must persist in unswervingly carrying out the concepts of innovative, coordinated, green, open and shared development." 5. Representative institutions "To insist on the organic combination of the party's leadership, the people as the masters of the country, and governing the country by law is an inevitable requirement for the political development of socialism. We must adhere to the political development path of socialism with Chinese characteristics; uphold and perfect the people's congress system, the Communist Party-led multi-party cooperation and political consultation system, the system of regional ethnic autonomy, and the grassroots mass self-government system." 6. Rule of law "The principle of comprehensively governing the nation according to law is the essence and important guarantee of socialism with Chinese characteristics... Great efforts must be made to deepen the reform of the judicial system and enhance the quality of rule of law and the quality of morality of the whole nation." 7. Socialist values "Confidence in our culture is a basic, profound and lasting force for the development of a country and a nation. It is necessary to adhere to Marxism and firmly foster the great ideal of communism and the common ideal of socialism with Chinese characteristics. We must cultivate and practise socialist core values and continue to strengthen the initiative and the right of speech in the ideological field." 8. Social welfare "Improving people's livelihood and well-being is the primary goal of development... We must build a safe China, strengthen and innovate social governance, maintain social harmony and stability, ensure long-term peace, order, and stability in the country, and ensure that people are content with their lives and jobs." 9. Coexistence with nature "We must establish and practise the philosophy that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets, uphold the basic national policy for energy conservation and environmental protection, treat the ecological environment as we treat life, coordinate the systematic management of mountains, waters, forests, fields, lakes, and prairies... build a beautiful China, create a good production and living environment for the people, and contribute to global ecological safety." 10. Stronger national security "It is necessary to adhere to a comprehensive national security concept. Coordinating development and security, strengthening our adversity awareness, and preparing for danger in times of peace are major principles held by the party when administering state affairs." 11. Party's authority over army "It is necessary to adhere to the party's absolute leadership over the people's armed forces... We must adhere to building the armed forces through political work, strengthening them through reform, reviving them through science and technology, and managing them in accordance with the law." 12. Reaffirming national unity On Hong Kong and Macau: "It is necessary to adhere to the 'one country, two systems' principle and push forward the reunification of the motherland. Maintaining the long-term prosperity and stability of Hong Kong and Macau, and realising complete national reunification is an inevitable requirement for realising the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation." On Taiwan: "We must adhere to the One China principle and the 1992 consensus, push forward the peaceful development in the cross-Strait relations, deepen cross-Strait economic cooperation and cultural exchanges, push forward the compatriots on both sides of the strait jointly opposing all separatist activities, and jointly strive to realise the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation." Under the "one country, two systems" principle, China allows Hong Kong and Macau a high degree of autonomy and to preserve their economic and social systems. The "1992 consensus" refers to Taiwan and the mainland agreeing on the existence of "One China" but they have their own interpretations of what it means. Taiwan is an island which lies across a narrow strait from the Chinese mainland, and has for all practical purposes been independent since 1950. But China regards it as a rebel region that must be reunited with the mainland under the "One China" principle. 13. Common human destiny "The dream of the Chinese people is closely connected with the dreams of other peoples of the world. Realising the Chinese dream is inseparable from a peaceful international environment and a stable international order. [We must] always be the builder of world peace, the contributor to global development and the defender of the international order." 14. Party discipline "[We must] strengthen inner party supervision, develop positive and healthy inner party political culture, comprehensively purify the political ecology within the party, resolutely correct all kinds of unhealthy tendencies, crackdown on corruption with a zero-tolerance attitude... and always maintain the party's flesh-and-blood ties with the masses of the people." COMMENT Apropos Zimbabwe’s present and future situations, Xi Jinping’s political thought and programme of action has far reaching implications for the ruling ZanuPF party. Each of the 14 principles has abiding lessons for ZanuPF, such that it would be interesting, although not in this write up, to take the principles one by one, and use each one of them to evaluate ZanuPF, and to propose opportunities and possibilities. Taking into account that members of the Chinese Communist Party are circa 98 million, in a country whose population is circa 1.426 billion, the fact that membership of a vanguard political party is only a fraction of the population means that, while it must be the supreme force in society, a revolutionary ruling party must nevertheless distinguish itself, or must be distinguishable, from the rest of society’s formations, institutions and their processes. It is instructive that not every Chinese is a member of the Chinese Communist Party; in fact, the majority of Chinese are not members of the Chinese Communist Party. Yet, the Chinese Communist Party is supreme in China; in so far as it exercises leadership in all spheres of Chinese society. On this, Jinping’s first principle is on the “Supremacy of the Party” which holds that: "It is necessary to adhere to the leadership of the party over all work. Among the party, the government, the military, the people, the academia and all circles, the party leads all." But this does not mean that the party is the government, the military, the academia and all circles; but that the party “must lead…all circles”. The “Supremacy of the Party” is in the leadership of all circles of society. The leadership is not just ideological or political; it is quintessentially representative, legal and scientific. In Zimbabwe today, and this has been taking root since the Unity Accord between PFZapu and ZanuPF on 22 December 1987, ZanuPF has (mis)presented itself, and has most certainly been seen by society and outside observers, as the government in the form of its ministries, departments and parastatals, as well as state institutions. In other words, ZanuPF and the government or the state have come to be seen as one and the same inseparable and indistinguishable things. What government ministries, departments and parastatals, as well as state institutions, do or do not do has – by definition – come to be defined or understood as actions or inactions of ZanuPF. In turn, this has become ZanuPF’s Achilles Heel. Yet, the fact of the matter is that not everyone in government ministries, departments and parastatals, as well as state institutions is ZanuPF; in fact, it is arguably the case that most people or functionaries in government ministries, departments and parastatals, as well as state institutions are not ZanuPF. It is trite but instructive to point out that ZanuPF is for its members, while government and the state are for everyone. Applying Jinping’s first principle of the “Supremacy of the Party” to Zimbabwe’s situation, it would be of no strategic value for ZanuPF to want or to expect everyone in government ministries, departments and parastatals, as well as state institutions to be ZanuPF. What would be of fundamental strategic value, and therefore an important strategic objective, would be for ZanuPF – as a ruling revolutionary party – to provide strategic leadership not only in government ministries, departments and parastatals, as well as state institutions, but also in and across society. This has not been possible thus far because, since the 1987 Unity Accord, ZanuPF has either put itself or has been put – by circumstances of the moment – in a quandary or quagmire wherein it is blamed for all policies or programmes taken or not taken and done or not done by functionaries in government ministries, departments and parastatals, as well as state institutions; regardless of whether in fact they are or are not ZanuPF policies or programmes. When this has happened – and in fact it has happened so frequently since December 1987 that it has now virtually become the norm – ZanuPF is forced to be either silent or worse to defend the policies or programmes; some of which are more often than not, indefensible. As things stand today, anything and everything decided or not decided and done or not done by any functionary in government ministries, departments and parastatals, as well as state institutions, is ZanuPF. The party has become responsible for all acts of commission and omission, with no exception. As a consequence, and technically speaking, it’s now very easy for anyone in government ministries, departments and parastatals, as well as state institutions to sabotage ZanuPF or to tarnish its image. The ruling party is now so exposed and so vulnerable on this score that it no longer has much or any room for plausible deniability. This is one of the reasons which explains why ZanuPF is rarely able to come out or to come across as a reformist vanguard party, something which the Chinse Communist Party regularly does; remarkably well. In the circumstances, with the harmonised general having gone by in August 2023 until the next one scheduled for 2028, it would be useful for ZanuPF to use Jinping’s first principle to introspect about the strategic meaning and practical application of the concept of the “Supremacy of the Party”. Ideally, such an introspection would be particularly valuable for ZanuPF if it is done with the interrogation of Jinping’s fourteenth principle, which is the last, principle, on “Party Discipline”, whose dictum is that: "[We must] strengthen inner party supervision, develop positive and healthy inner party political culture, comprehensively purify the political ecology within the party, resolutely correct all kinds of unhealthy tendencies, crackdown on corruption with a zero-tolerance attitude... and always maintain the party's flesh-and-blood ties with the masses of the people." Although it should be obvious, it bears emphasis that Jinping’s other 12 principles sit and fit very well with and within the first and last principles. All told, the talking point is not about regurgitating Jinping’s 14 principles hook, line and sinker, but about learning from them with a view to copying and improving them for application within Zimbabwe’s domestic environment and situation, based on the country’s history and the people’s shared aspirations!

Mukori:

Zanu PF has only managed to retain its iron grip on power only because MDC leaders sold out big time during the 2008 to 2013 GNU by failing to get the democratic reforms implemented. What Zimbabwe needs is quality opposition who will implement the reforms and all talk of Zanu PF consolidating its de facto one party state will all go up in smoke!