Beijing Implements New Policies to Prepare for War, Secure Power

Police officers and security block the way as they perform crowd control after an official flag raising ceremony to mark National Day next to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City, in Beijing, on Oct. 1, 2021. Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

News Analysis

China’s communist regime is implementing new policies to prepare for war and secure its power in the mainland amid tensions with the United States. It seeks to increase loyalty among its military members and state-owned firms, and hire more civil servants.

Revised Military Law

On Dec. 30, 2022, Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping signed the No. 127 Order of the CCP Chairman, announcing that the regime’s revised Reservists Law will go into effect on March 1.

This law states that military reserve officers and soldiers must be loyal to the CCP and uphold the socialist system. The service age limit has been expanded—all citizens between 18 and 60 are eligible for enlistment, with a minimum service period of four years.

On Jan. 9, when answering a question from a reporter, the head of the Political Work Department of the Central Military Commission said that the purpose of the Reservists Law revision is to prepare for war and to provide institutional support so that citizens are ready to be enlisted and fight in the military at any time.

On Jan. 13, Wu Qian, a spokesperson of the Ministry of Defense, stated at a press conference that the law is “guided by military needs and directed toward readiness for war.”

Expanding Civil Service Recruitment

Local governments face financial difficulties, and some regions’ civil servants must take salary cuts. However, at the same time, local governments are expanding their recruitment of civil servants.

On Feb. 14, the headline “More than 50 percent expansion of civil service recruitment in 2023” became the most searched topic on Chinese social media Weibo. According to official data, Gansu, the province with the largest expansion scale, is expanding its civil servant team by nearly 80 percent.

Gansu is a relatively backward and impoverished province in northwestern China.

In a Feb. 16 video program, Voice of America (VOA) noted that the CCP’s state finances supported more than 80 million people in 2021, which means that with the 747 million working population, less than 10 people need to support one public servant.

“Why do many places across the country continue to expand their recruitment of civil servants while lowering their salaries? Why does the CCP need such a huge state machine?” the VOA host asked.

A Shanghai resident surnamed Wang shared his views with NTD, a sister media outlet of The Epoch Times, on Feb. 15.

“It is to maintain stability,” he said. “So many people are unemployed. If local governments do not expand recruitment, they will revolt. The regime keeps printing money to feed these people. It’s a vicious cycle. The regime is just trying to get by each day.”

In 2023, the number of college graduates in mainland China will reach about 11.74 million, compared to 10.67 million in 2022.

Students walk outside a school after finishing the National College Entrance Examination, known as "gaokao," outside a school in Wuhan, in central China's Hubei Province, on July 8, 2020. STR/AFP via Getty Images

According to data from the Ministry of Education, about 70 percent of college graduates in 2022 have not yet found a job.

Cai Chunlin, a resident from Jiangxi Province, told NTD that the expansion of civil servant recruitment is taking place all over the country.

“The recruitment of civil servants has increased the burden on top of the existing financial difficulties. In our area, the government recruited many urban management officers and many police officers,” he said.

On Feb. 16, Hu Xijin, the former editor-in-chief of Beijing’s mouthpiece Global Times, revealed in a Twitter post that about one-third of the country’s civil servants are police officers.

Renowned Chinese netizen Cai Shenkun responded to Hu’s post: “If Hu Xijin hadn’t told us this figure, most Chinese wouldn’t have known or believed it. A country with such a large police force is a police state, right?”

Political Indoctrination in State-Owned Firms

The CCP is tightening its grip over state-owned enterprises by increasing “Party building work,” a form of political indoctrination.

In October 2016, Xi Jinping gave a speech at the National State-owned Enterprise Party Building Work Conference, saying that “adhering to the leadership of the Party and strengthening Party building are the glorious tradition of our country’s state-owned enterprises, the ‘root and soul’ of state-owned enterprises, and the unique advantages of China’s state-owned enterprises.”

The agency that oversees state-owned firms, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, issued a notice on Feb. 22 about “Party building” training, saying that the training aims to implement Xi’s orders to further strengthen the CCP’s leadership over state-owned enterprises, which would enhance their performance.

Chen Kelong, the CCP’s chief expert on “Party building” in state-owned firms, said in an interview with Chinese media Enterprise Observer on Jan. 31 that “Party building” itself is the “core competitiveness” of state-owned enterprises, and called on firms to “integrate the Party’s leadership into all aspects of corporate governance, production, and operation.”

China-US Tensions

Recently, Beijing refuted Washington’s claims that a Chinese spy balloon entered U.S. airspace and flew over sensitive military sites, such as nuclear silos in Montana.

For example, the Chinese foreign ministry claimed the United States had flown various unidentified objects into Chinese airspace more than a dozen times. However, the CCP provided no details to support these claims.

The CCP’s attempts to demonize the United States and the West may be backfiring, particularly after the international community witnessed the large-scale protests, or the “white paper” movement, against the draconian zero-COVID policy in December last year.

Billionaire investor George Soros delivered a speech ahead of the 2023 Munich Security Conference on Feb. 16, saying, “The chaotic way Xi Jinping exited zero COVID shook the Chinese people’s trust in the Communist Party under Xi’s leadership. The current situation fulfills all the preconditions for regime change or revolution.”

Shi Shan, a media professional, believes that China’s current situation resembles the Soviet Union before it collapsed: tension with the United States, engagement in technology and arms races, and a grim economic outlook.

“The people are in dire straits, and there are rebellious activities everywhere,” Shi told The Epoch Times.

“The CCP has totally lost its mind. Heaven will not allow it if such a stupid and evil regime does not collapse.”