Experts disappointed with China's Third Plenum Communique, which fails to address current issues
Jul 21, 2024
Taipei [Taiwan], July 21 : After China completed the Third Plenum of its 20th Central Committee with a 5,000-word communique issued on July 18, experts expressed dissatisfaction with the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) latest plan and described it as a vague plan for the country's economy and a lack of measures to address China's current economic problems, Voice of America reported.
Shi He-ling, an Associate Professor of Economics at Monash University in Australia, who expressed disappointment with the outcome of the Third Plenum, also mentioned, that the plan released by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) merely sells out the achievements of the ruling party, and criticises the previous party leaders.
However, the plan misses any specific definitions that are measurable. "It does not make macroeconomic adjustments at all but is like a philosophical article, which is basically a cliche," Shi told.
According to Yeh Yao-Yuan, the Chairman of the Department of Political Science at the University of St. Thomas in Houston in the US, under the framework of "Xi Thoughts," it is difficult for the economic exposition of this communique to be new.
Further, he added that despite repeatedly selling their "socialist market economic system," it will not be able to reverse China's economic decline and Xi's economic reform is in fact "changing things to their old ways."
The VOA news report also claimed that the CCP statement got 100 million views on Weibo (China's social media platform). However, there was no substantial discussion of the same in China. Another decision taken at the Plenum that gathered attention was the removal of former Defence Minister Li Shangfu.
Additionally, Li Yuchao and Sun Jinming of the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) Rocket Force were also removed from the Central Committee.
While responding, Chong Ja Ian, an associate professor of political science at the National University of Singapore, said, "Beijing dislikes Chinese people arguing online about the CCP's high-level personnel because comments might call into question the party's decisions and judgement, especially as Qin was previously Xi's close confidant and the foreign minister."
