2015-05-22

 

President Xi Jinping's plea for a "united front" from the ruling Chinese Communist Party in a high-profile speech this week shows that the president is combining the hostile politics of the Mao era with an ever-expanding deployment of "soft power" in the form of influence that goes well beyond the business of government, political analysts said on Friday.

 

At a "united front" conference in Beijing on Wednesday, Xi said China needs to maintain the Communist Party's hold on power through national unity, including absolute party loyalty from the security services, and to limit outside influences, especially religious ones.

 

The "united front" concept has been described as one of the three "magic weapons" of the revolution, and it is one that Xi appears now to be adapting for his own purposes, commentators said.

 

"China wants to target overseas intellectuals, the privileged children of rich businesspeople, as a new focus for united front work, along with influential people in the new media," political writer Hu Shaojiang said in a commentary on RFA's Cantonese Service.

 

"This shows that they are really worried about the reality that they can't entirely control education, technology, finance and industry, and online media," he said.

 

"They need people from these fields, because they are the ones that the party can't train itself."

 

'Soft power' at home, abroad

 

Overseas-based writer Zhang Yu, of the writers' group Independent Chinese PEN, said the united front is part of China's projection of soft power at home and abroad, and could easily spread overseas or wherever Beijing seeks greater influence.

 

"For example, they are 'unifying' overseas students, so I can't go back [to China], even though I'm a Chinese citizen," Zhang said. "They won't renew my passport."

 

"They invited me over, and said a bunch of polite stuff ... and it was the soft face [of government power], and I ... thought they were doing united front work."

 

He said a harder line is easy for dissidents and rights activists to oppose, whereas a softer-seeming united front approach is highly persuasive.

 

 

 

2015-05-22

 

President Xi Jinping's plea for a "united front" from the ruling Chinese Communist Party in a high-profile speech this week shows that the president is combining the hostile politics of the Mao era with an ever-expanding deployment of "soft power" in the form of influence that goes well beyond the business of government, political analysts said on Friday.

 

At a "united front" conference in Beijing on Wednesday, Xi said China needs to maintain the Communist Party's hold on power through national unity, including absolute party loyalty from the security services, and to limit outside influences, especially religious ones.

 

The "united front" concept has been described as one of the three "magic weapons" of the revolution, and it is one that Xi appears now to be adapting for his own purposes, commentators said.

 

"China wants to target overseas intellectuals, the privileged children of rich businesspeople, as a new focus for united front work, along with influential people in the new media," political writer Hu Shaojiang said in a commentary on RFA's Cantonese Service.

 

"This shows that they are really worried about the reality that they can't entirely control education, technology, finance and industry, and online media," he said.

 

"They need people from these fields, because they are the ones that the party can't train itself."

 

'Soft power' at home, abroad

 

Overseas-based writer Zhang Yu, of the writers' group Independent Chinese PEN, said the united front is part of China's projection of soft power at home and abroad, and could easily spread overseas or wherever Beijing seeks greater influence.

 

"For example, they are 'unifying' overseas students, so I can't go back [to China], even though I'm a Chinese citizen," Zhang said. "They won't renew my passport."

 

"They invited me over, and said a bunch of polite stuff ... and it was the soft face [of government power], and I ... thought they were doing united front work."

 

He said a harder line is easy for dissidents and rights activists to oppose, whereas a softer-seeming united front approach is highly persuasive.