China is indoctrinating a new concept, “new productive forces,” which was seen in a recent meeting presided over by the paramount leader Xi Jinping and the work report of Premier Li Qiang during the Two Sessions. Experts suspect the new narrative is tailored to diverge from Western models, effectively glossing over the failing economy stemming from the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) system.
Xi introduced the new concept last September during his visit to Heilongjiang Province. He brought it up again in Beijing’s central economic work conference last December, a study session at the political bureau this February, and an address to the delegation of Jiangsu Province during the Two Sessions.
Coverup of Failures
Wang Guo-Chen, a China affair expert, shared their thoughts on the CCP’s abrupt promotion of “new productive forces” with the Chinese language edition of The Epoch Times.Mr. Wang, an economic scholar based in Taiwan, believed that facing the obstruction of advanced technologies from the West, “Beijing’s stuck with its ineffective investment in the past. Its investment was based on debt, an economic growth model that would only consequently increase the debt levels.”
“Historical data showed the investments typically reached double digits, but output in the single digits. The investment in future industries or strategic industries is also low in efficiency, and the discrepancy will only become more pronounced when contending with the CCP system,” he said.
Mr. Wang elaborated, “Under Xi’s leadership, it’s impossible to openly admit the ineffective investment. Therefore, the CCP could only rely on propaganda—by inventing a new concept to cover up the reality.”
In the past, the CCP resorted to new phrases to mask economic challenges. For example, layoffs and unemployment were euphemistically referred to as “flexible employment,” “optimization,” “gradual employment,” and even “supplying talent to society.”
According to Mr. Wang, the Chinese service industry output has exceeded that of the industrial sector around 2012. However, Xi and the CCP disapprove of the creativity and intellectual freedom of the service industry because factory-style management is more amenable to control.
“He remains determined to boost the industrial sector rather than foster the service industry’s growth. By dismantling Alibaba and other online platforms, he is essentially transforming programmers into assembly line workers,” Mr. Wang explained.
A Materialist Economic Standard
“Whether economic development is declining isn’t their primary consideration; what matters to them (the CCP) is maintaining control over the entire economy, and this precondition dictates all their actions,” remarked American economist Davy J. Wong to The Epoch Times.He said, “While state-owned enterprises lack dynamism, Beijing’s perspective prioritizes retaining control over the economy, even if it means opting for a disadvantaged economic model rather than allowing the private sector to flourish beyond their grasp.”
Xi’s address contains significant Marxist vocabulary, such as laborers, labor data, objects of labor, and advanced productive forces.
The so-called new productive forces are believed to serve the CCP’s agenda of dominance and control in the realms of digital and scientific fields. It amplifies the party’s ideological influence, which undermines universal Western values, according to Mr. Wong.
“'Productive forces’ belongs to the principles of materialist economics, and it is not that simple to come up with this term,” remarked Mr. Wong.
“This implies the CCP will adopt new economic standards and concepts to supplant certain Western economic principles,” he said.
Given Western economic theories and traditional economic principles, China’s current economic situation has indeed fallen into a predicament regarding economic growth, coupled with considerable financial risks, Mr. Wong stated.
“By embracing ‘new productive forces,’ it signifies a deviation from Western rhetoric. When China’s economic situation is perceived as inadequate by Western standards, the CCP resorts to its own standards and narrative approach to redefine the current state of the Chinese economy.”
Subsequently, the current economic difficulties are defined as developmental challenges rather than systemic issues stemming from the CCP’s governance.
He explained, “In Marxist economics, numerous new terms have been coined, embodying a narrative approach.”
Evolving of Deceptive Slogans
Feng Chongyi, an associate professor of Chinese studies at the University of Technology Sydney, commented that the CCP often resorts to inexplicable slogans. When the economy stagnates, they introduce new technologies or concepts as a pretext to conceal their faults.He said the CCP’s deceitful strategies undergo annual updates and continuous revisions, “from the 1950s ambition to outpace the UK and rival the U.S., to exaggerated claims of agricultural productivity and satellite launches, and later the pursuit of the ‘Four Modernizations.’”
“Despite the evolving slogans, the deceits persist,” said Mr. Feng.
“The CCP’s corrosive linguistic distortions have caused great harm to the meanings of the Chinese language. Should the CCP be ousted in the future, we will need to eradicate this party language,” he remarked.
