Domestic policy in China is determined by the Communist Party. It has the sole claim to leadership. All the news on domestic politics in the People's Republic is provided by the Table.Briefings editorial team. Domestic policy of the CCP Politics in China are based on the claim to leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which is enshrined in the constitution. With 1.4 billion people, the People's Republic is the most populous country in the world and one of five that is ruled by a communist one-party system. Alongside Vietnam, Laos, Cuba and North Korea. However, China is not communist. The country has a socialist market economy and is ranked as a hard autocracy by the global democracy index, and the Chinese Communist Party is led by the Central Committee. This also determines the composition of the Politburo, which consists of 25 members. They are also allowed to appoint the Politburo Standing Committee (seven members). This is the highest-ranking party organ that can determine China's domestic policy. Other political organizations, religious parties, the media or representatives of civil society are not involved in politics. What kind of politics prevails in China? According to its own constitution, China is a country "under the democratic dictatorship of the people". However, the political leadership has always rejected democracy as we understand it in the West. The leadership of the Communist Party is elected exclusively by party members. The party maintains a socialist market economy with Chinese characteristics in China. China is currently pursuing a policy of modernization. As a result, poverty was considered to have been overcome at the beginning of 2021. But only according to the Communist Party's own definition. Not according to international standards. "Fundamental modernization" is to be completed by 2035. Domestically, this was accompanied by a much more authoritarian and ideology-oriented leadership style. Who is in power in China? Xi Jinping has been in power in China since 2012. The "paramount leader" has been General Secretary of the Communist Party and chair of the Central Military Commission since 2012. He has ruled the country as President since 2013. Xi Jinping not only knows how to maintain his power, but also how to expand it. In 2018, the National People's Congress approved an amendment to the constitution. Since then, presidents have been allowed to remain in office for longer than two terms. As much as Xi Jinping is committed to modernizing his country and, above all, the economy, he also believes that the country's reform processes since the '70s have not only had advantages. A moral disintegration of society, corruption and a loss of control in many areas of the economy have been brought about by the opening-up process. The collapse of the Soviet Union is a cautionary tale. Ideology and discipline are therefore enforced with a correspondingly firm hand. What human rights are being violated in China? The authoritarian leadership is responsible for human rights violations in China. The government violates freedom of expression, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly and freedom of communication. Critics of the regime are arrested, the media is controlled and opposition organizations are threatened with draconian punishments. The judiciary's verdicts reflect the will of the political leadership. A fair and independent trial cannot be expected in such cases, and religious freedom is also severely restricted in China. For example, anyone who wants to become a member of the Communist Party must be an atheist. If a religious group wants to spread its faith, this can only happen under government control. A registration register in China also divides people into urban and rural residents. Migrant workers are considered rural residents and have fewer rights. What are you not allowed to do in China? The Chinese government takes particularly drastic action against anything that it believes does not serve the common good. For example, it is strictly forbidden to demand the independence or self-determination of territories. As the cases of Tibet, Taiwan and Hong Kong show, for example. It is also forbidden to question the Communist Party's sole claim to leadership. The focus on the common good means that human rights violations primarily affect minorities, with a total of 56 ethnic groups living in China. They are allowed to speak their language, teach their culture at school and practise their religion until there are independence movements or calls for more democracy. The Xinjiang region, which is mainly home to Muslim ethnic groups, is a reminder of this. They are constantly monitored by camera systems and artificial intelligence. Thousands of people are forced to perform forced labor in re-education camps. A resettlement program is intended to impose Chinese culture on them. What is the one-China policy? The government understands the one-China policy to mean the principle that there is only one People's Republic of China. According to the government in Beijing, this country also includes the island of Taiwan and the former colonial territories of Hong Kong (Great Britain, until 1997) and Macau (Portugal, until 1999). For the Communist Party, the one-China policy is a cornerstone of the country's domestic and foreign policy. Independence aspirations are not tolerated. Anyone who wants economic and diplomatic relations with China must recognize the one-China policy, and while Hong Kong and Macau are de facto part of China, Taiwan has a special role. Although Taiwan does not officially describe itself as independent, it acts as such. The background to this is the Chinese civil war, during which the Kuomintang nationalists fled to the island of Taiwan and henceforth called it the "Republic of China". The communists around Mao Zedong remained on the mainland and founded the People's Republic of China. China as a developing state In the '80s, political scientist Chalmers Johnson defined China as a developing state. In the East Asian countries, these states had taken on the task of leading their people into the modern age. This would involve interventions in the economy and rigid control over society. This also applied to Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia – which were also autocratic states at the height of their development. At the end of the repressive development policy, however, there was social modernization and democratization. Whether China will really dismantle its authoritarian political apparatus in 2050, the official end of the modernization vision, is completely open, as Professor Thomas Heberer from the University of Duisburg-Essen wrote for the Federal Agency for Civic Education. Unlike in Europe, in China the state has historically also been responsible for moral education. While there were churches and a civic culture for this purpose in this country, this role fell to the civil service in the People's Republic. In fact, Western academics have also come to the conclusion that a broad majority in China is in favor of modern control mechanisms (Internet control, surveillance) for a moral education process (improving behavior among each other). Domestic political discourse in China In China, domestic political discourse is characterized by recurring catchphrases. A communication strategy that is called "tifa" in China. This involves the repetition of certain buzzwords or "watchwords". These are signal words that are intended to make it clear to the population what political behavior is expected of them. The German Institute for International and Security Affairs describes this type of language as "almost mechanical". China's domestic policy, like its foreign policy, is guided by the overarching goal of becoming a world power by 2049. One important aspect of this is the modernization of the economy. China should no longer be the world's workbench, but instead produce highly complex and modern goods. The People's Republic is to become the innovation leader in almost all future technologies. China's dual circulation policy A central component of this development is the dual circulation policy. In other words, the dual-circulation economy. China's domestic economy is to be massively promoted and protected in order to become less dependent on exports. One part of this is the "Made in China 2025" strategy. The Communist Party's main aim here is to expand the high-tech industry, and China's head of state Xi Jinping recently surprised everyone by stating that he wants to make his country climate-neutral by 2060. The current five-year plan includes plans to strongly promote green production and lifestyles. In contrast, however, oil and gas production are also to be promoted. Domestic policy in China The State-owned Asset Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council (SASAC) is an important part of domestic policy in China. A holding company under whose umbrella all Chinese state-owned companies are united. Although the private sector is also the largest in the economy of the People's Republic, the state-owned companies take care of central matters such as airlines, electricity supply, mobile telephony and raw materials, and domestic policy in China must be subordinate to the major goals of modernizing the country. Economic policy plays an important role in this. An authoritarian political apparatus has no regard for the human rights of minorities. Issues that are also of great importance internationally. All the news on China's domestic politics in German is available from the Table.Media editorial team.
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