China's border village building spree, vaccine diplomacy, and a Tibetan social media sensation
Welcome to today's The India China Newsletter.
In today's The Hindu, I report on China's construction of border villages: civilian settlements, some of which have come up in disputed territories. Earlier this week, the construction of a village a few kilometres into what India sees as its territory came to light, as I mentioned in Monday's and Tuesday's newsletters.
Here is what China had to say about it at yesterday's Foreign Ministry press conference in Beijing:
First, I'd like to tell you that China's position on the east sector of the China-India boundary, or Zangnan (the southern part of China's Tibet), is consistent and clear. We have never recognized the so-called "Arunachal Pradesh" illegally established on the Chinese territory. China's normal construction on its own territory is entirely a matter of sovereignty.
In my report, which you can read here, I note the border village construction programme took off in 2017 in a big way, when President Xi Jinping, incidentally, sent a letter to residents of one border village near Arunachal which, in fact, happens to be only a few kilometres from the latest settlement that's now in the news.
China's Foreign Ministry had an interesting response to President Biden (President Biden! I'm still getting used to it) and his inaugural speech, offering a somewhat optimistic take on the way forward for the relationship after the tumult of the last few months. This is what Hua Chunying had to say (I thought her comment that she felt ‘somewhat emotional’ was particularly interesting):
We congratulate President Biden on taking office. I've noticed that the American media say this turns a new page in American history. This morning, as I watched the fireworks display and heard the crowd cheering at the inauguration party, I did feel somewhat emotional. Indeed, it has been a very rough patch. After going though the trying days, the people of China and the United States deserve a better future, and we wish President Biden every success in state governance.
I noticed that President Biden has repeatedly stressed the term "unity" in his inaugural address, which is precisely what's needed in current China-US relations. Because over the past four years, a small number of anti-China politicians in the United States have lied too much out of their own political interests and incited too much hatred and division, and the people of both countries have all suffered because of it. Many people of insight from China, the United States, and the international community, all hope China-US relations will get back to the right track at an early date, and the two sides can work together to meet the major pressing challenges facing the world today.
Due to differences in social system, stage of development, history and culture, it is normal for China and the United States to have some differences. But as President Biden said in his inaugural address, democracy allows disagreement and "Disagreement must not lead to disunion". I think this should also be reflected in international relations. Countries with different social systems, cultural backgrounds and ideologies should and are fully able to coexist in harmony, engage in dialogue and cooperation, and jointly work for world peace, stability and development.
President Biden also mentioned that the United States "has too much to heal, much to restore". The same is true of China-US relations. In the past few years, the Trump administration, especially Pompeo, has laid too many mines, burned too many bridges and destroyed too many roads in China-US relations, which are waiting to be cleared, rebuilt and repaired. I think both China and the United States need to show courage and wisdom, truly hear, see and show respect to one another. This is what we should do as two major powers. This is also what the international community wishes to see. "We believe anything's possible if we set our mind to it." I believe that with the joint efforts of both sides, the "better angels" in China-US relations can overcome forces for evil.
China welcomes the return of the United States to the Paris Agreement, and we look forward to its positive contributions to combating climate change. The Paris Agreement is a result of multilateralism, which brings together countries around the world, strengthens the implementation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, and is an important legal instrument to guide post-2020 international cooperation on climate change. China is willing to work with the US side and the international community to meet common challenges, jointly promote the full and effective implementation of the Paris Agreement, work together to build a win-win, fair and reasonable climate governance system, and contribute to the global low-carbon transformation and green post-pandemic recovery.
With regard to the retraction of the U.S. withdrawal from WHO, we all know that WHO is a specialized institution in the field of international health and plays an important leading and coordinating role in international anti-epidemic cooperation. China always maintains that all countries should actively support WHO's work and jointly safeguard international public health security. In particular, against the grim situation of the raging COVID-19 pandemic, we welcome the return of the United States to WHO, and we are willing to strengthen cooperation with the United States and other countries.
Sinovac, the producer of what is possibly China's leading vaccine (there are two others being used too at the moment, from Sinopharm and CanSino, and at least two others in the works), is setting its sights big beyond China. Its chairman has an interview today with Xinhua:
Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac Biotech Ltd. is ramping up the production of CoronaVac, an inactivated COVID-19 vaccine, to ensure global supply, according to Yin Weidong, chairman and CEO of the company.
"Sinovac has received vaccine orders from Brazil, Indonesia, Turkey, Chile and other countries and regions, and we are making every effort to expand the production capacity," said Yin in an interview with Xinhua News Agency. "We hope the vaccine will protect more people around the world."
The Sinovac vaccine has been approved for emergency use in several countries, including China, Indonesia, Brazil and Chile, according to Yin. Yin added that the company has constructed a second production line, which will start operation in February, increasing its annual production capacity to 1 billion doses.
Sinovac will export semi-finished jabs to some countries, and help build local filling and packaging lines in importing countries to improve the production capacity and efficiency, Yin said.
"On the basis of an annual output of 1 billion doses, we will continue to expand production capacity. We are facing uncertainties related to the coronavirus pandemic and demand for vaccines, which shall not be responded to with the usual demand-supply business model alone. Vaccines are public goods and we should shoulder social responsibilities," Yin said.
The phase-3 clinical trials of the Sinovac vaccine are being mainly conducted in Brazil, Indonesia and Turkey.
I reported yesterday on how 20 countries so far have ordered it and most of Southeast Asia is likely to use Chinese vaccines.
Global Times (English), the newspaper with something of an India obsession, has a rather bizarre story interviewing Indians in China and getting them to praise the Chinese vaccine (while taking a dig at the same time on India's home-grown vaccine):
Confident with Chinese COVID-19 vaccines, the man said he doesn't have concerns about their efficacy or safety.
"We feel that they have been tested well," he told the Global Times on Friday. "As we hear from [the] news - healthcare professionals, logistics professionals and teachers have already received the vaccination, and we haven't heard of any issues."
Back in India, by contrast, people reportedly respond coldly to the India-developed Covaxin vaccines. In Telangana state, local Health Minister Eatala Rajender said healthcare workers there "were reluctant in taking Covaxin," Indian media The Economic Times reported on Monday.
The South China Morning Post tells us today how the Chinese media is going to great lengths to champion China's vaccines (see above) but not everyone is convinced:
A doctor in northeastern Liaoning province who declined to be named said many of her colleagues did not register for the vaccinations rolled out last month. “They are worried that the vaccines are not effective due to the mutations and they don’t really trust vaccines that were developed that fast,” the doctor said. “I still want to wait for some time, and see if my boss will take it.”
An interesting piece in the latest The Economist issue on China's next gen, I recommend reading in full:
On social media they start trends, vent frustrations and circulate knowing memes. Despite pervasive censorship, they use China’s online networks to promote such causes as feminism, environmentalism and nationalism. When they feel insulted by foreign entities, be they k-pop bands or America’s National Basketball Association, millions clamour online for consumer boycotts that cow even mighty multinationals. Patriotic sentiment has long been strong. But increasingly youths do not question the regime’s claim that loving country and party are one and the same....
Young people do not intend to challenge the legitimacy of the ruling Communist Party. Their social liberalism has grown even as support for the party rises. The jiulinghou are comfortable with a rising, assertive China. The party knows how to play on this. It has hammered home that China stopped the spread of covid-19 within its borders as the West bungled its response. Spin doctors have not had to exert themselves on the calamitous failings of Donald Trump’s presidency. More overseas Chinese students are returning home, disillusioned with the West. Young pride feeds off a new worldly confidence.
Chinese journalists are set to face even greater scrutiny in renewing their press credentials, which every working journalist in China needs. Their social media posts are now also going to be scrutinised. The China Media Project on the new procedures:
Released this week, new procedures in China for the verification of journalism credentials will assess not just the “statutory license conditions” of news reporters – meaning their basic eligibility as employees of licensed media engaged in reporting work – but will also seek to determine whether they opened social media accounts as journalists “without permission,” or released other information about their work on the job.
The new verification rules, with assessments covering the period from December 2, 2019 to January 1, 2021, appear to be aimed at further reigning in the social media activity of working journalists by making approval for the “press cards” (记者证) necessary to legally conduct news reporting in China contingent on compliance online. The process of verification will proceed from January 20, 2021 to March 19, 2021.
And finally...
A great piece in Sixth Tone on the unlikely rise of Tenzing Tsondu, the Tibetan social media star known as Ding Zhen in China, and what it tells us about the stereotypes about Tibet that have fed the frenzy:
While “sweet-wild boy” Tenzing Tsondu’s rise to online fame may seem completely random, it was in a sense inevitable. His appeal is in keeping with urban China’s emerging appetite for “cottagecore” fantasies of an exoticized rural life, like those sold by Li Ziqi and Dianxi Xiaoge.
These fantasies will ultimately play themselves out in the lives of Tibetan people. In their pursuit of the development of tourism and the economy, various regions of Tibet may be swayed by, or intentionally cater to, urban Chinese tourists’ perceptions of their culture, as an earlier generation did with the Khampa hanzi image. But whereas Khampa hanzi were a largely regional phenomenon, the growing power of social media and tourism mean Tenzing Tsondu has come to be identified with Tibet as a whole. As a result, unique regional characteristics that have persisted for hundreds and even thousands of years on the Tibet-Qinghai Plateau, whether in Amdo, Ü-Tsang, or Kham, are at risk of becoming homogenized. This form of cultural imperialism poses a real threat to the retention and protection of Tibetan traditions and cultures.
Thank you for reading. Have a great weekend, and the newsletter will be back on Monday.