For years, the Chinese Communist Party has been heavily promoting image-building projects from the central government to local levels. Especially since Xi Jinping took office as the party leader, various projects under the banner of party construction that waste public resources have been eagerly pursued across the country. Now, facing financial difficulties, the CCP has had to target these projects for cleanup. Experts believe that this reflects the absurdity of CCP governance, as Xi Jinping only allows projects that enhance his own image. The Xiong’an New Area is once again in the spotlight.
According to a report by China Financial News on May 13, officials in many regions of China have officially stated the need to rectify “new image-building projects.” Officially, these projects entail carrying out “non-essential and non-urgent projects” in some financially tight areas, with their forms being deceptive and their names being artificially constructed.
The report mentioned that Nanzhao County in Henan Province has proposed to investigate issues related to projects that harm the people and waste money since 2016, including new or unfinished projects in areas such as livelihood improvement, rural revitalization, cultural tourism, infrastructure, digital systems, party construction facilities, party education and training institutions, retired cadres’ health care bases, etc.
Dehong Prefecture in Yunnan has proposed rectifying 8 types of “new image-building projects,” with a particular focus on party construction. This includes the construction of luxurious party schools, large and costly “party-building park promenades” with low usage rates, and an wasteful construction of city planning halls, city exhibition halls, smart city pavilions, and other exhibition facilities which have high maintenance costs and end up as unfinished projects.
Party construction projects have always been a top priority for the CCP leadership. Since Xi Jinping took office as the current CCP leader, the emphasis on strengthening the so-called “party construction” has prompted a nationwide surge in related propaganda facilities.
The party media “Half-Month Talk” had previously disclosed extravagant wastefulness in various regions’ “party construction” projects. For example, a slogan panel measuring 10 meters long cost about 440,000 yuan; 12 large characters on a slogan board cost 310,000 yuan; and in a southwestern region, a “party construction” park was built at a cost exceeding 70 million yuan. After the news was exposed, it sparked heated discussions on overseas social media.
According to official information, the movement to rectify these “new image-building projects” was initiated earlier this year by the Leading Group for Thematic Education of the CCP Central Committee, with the current Political Bureau Standing Committee member Cai Qi as the group leader.
Wang Juntao, Chairman of the China Democracy National Committee and a political scholar based in the United States, expressed to Epoch Times on May 14 that the authorities view these projects as personal image-building efforts of local officials, many of which are actually shoddy projects. Xi Jinping now aims to dismantle all corruption and projects pursued by officials for personal gain, leaving only his own image-building efforts.
Wang Juntao questioned, “Is there a bigger image-building project than Xi Jinping’s now? He is tirelessly promoting himself, which is essentially an image-building project. This shows that he wants to dismantle everyone else’s projects and turn them into his own projects, transforming the mechanism where everyone within the Communist Party can get rich into a machine for his personal rule.”
He explained that authorities claim these projects harm the people and waste money because they believe too much money has been spent, but the primary concern is political. “If the Communist Party prints his works for Xi Jinping’s image, but no one buys them, he makes collectives buy them, and then individuals have to buy them. He is not afraid of harming the people and wasting money; he just wants to spend money on the sharp edge, which is himself, to build his image.”
Chen Shimin, Associate Professor of Political Science at National Taiwan University, stated to Epoch Times on May 14 that these projects were initially pursued at the local level under the promotion of the CCP’s top leadership, and now they are being dismantled and rectified, which is itself a joke.
He pointed out that since Xi Jinping took office and emphasized party construction, a multitude of people below him flattered Xi Jinping by undertaking various image-building projects, which the authorities turned a blind eye to. This is absurd because it is clearly corrupt and causing harm to the people. The key reason for the rectification now is the deterioration of local finances, with some places unable even to pay the salaries of public servants or healthcare workers in hospitals.
“At its core, it is the result of the one-party dictatorship of the CCP, a situation arising from the lack of checks and balances.”
After the end of pandemic lockdown policies at the end of 2022, the Chinese economy did not experience a strong rebound, stagnating instead. After enduring the pandemic for three years, local finances have worsened, with local debt issues becoming particularly prominent, forcing authorities to tightly control new infrastructure projects at the local level.
Similarly, the Xiong’an New Area in Hebei Province has been hailed as the “millennium project” of the CCP leader Xi Jinping, although it has long been criticized for squandering resources and harming the people.
The Xiong’an New Area was officially established on April 1, 2017, marking its 7th year. In early April, CCTV reported that over 380 key projects in the Xiong’an New Area had accumulated a total investment of over 670 billion yuan. State-owned enterprises have set up more than 200 institutions there, and various facilities such as roads, underground comprehensive halls, cloud-based smart services, and more have been constructed.
Authorities have called for institutions in Beijing to relocate to the new area, but progress has been slow. On May 14, CCTV News mentioned that Beijing Forestry University, Beijing University of Science and Technology, Beijing Forestry University, and China University of Geosciences are the four first institutions to be relocated to the Xiong’an New Area from Beijing. Currently, only the main structures of Beijing Forestry University’s Xiong’an campus and Beijing Jiaotong University’s Xiong’an campus have been topped off.
Hong Kong’s “Sing Tao Daily” reported on June 6 last year that teachers from Beijing universities designated for relocation to Xiong’an were reluctant to move there. An instructor from one of the schools stated that the faculty collectively preferred to stay in Beijing for stability.
Recently, netizens captured city street scenes and commented on location, saying that walking in the streets of Xiong’an now is like being in a deserted city, almost like a place from the end of the world.
Wang Juntao remarked that Xiong’an is not even the worst image-building project of Xi Jinping because some development has taken place there. However, everyone knows that going to Xiong’an is a dead end, so no one wants to go there.
“He really wanted to make it a capital city, but the reality is that he failed and lost face. It is an image-less project; you can’t even dress it up.”
Chen Shimin believes that the Xiong’an New Area is a project initiated by Xi Jinping, and officials dare not express differing opinions. Now, many issues have become apparent. “Because the Xiong’an New Area is in a low-lying area, it is prone to flooding. Last year when there was a flood in Zhuozhou, Hebei, officials diverted the flood to let Zhuozhou flood in order to prevent flooding in Xi Jinping’s Xiong’an.”
In an article dated January 25 by Keiji Nakazawa, a senior contributor to the Nikkei, it was revealed that during last year’s floods in Hebei, senior officials were concerned that if the Xiong’an New Area was inundated, it would tarnish the reputation of the CCP leader. They sought help from Premier Li Keqiang, who, however, did not have the actual power to control national security matters. Informed sources disclosed that at that time, Cai Qi had the authority, so Li Keqiang could only seek help from Cai Qi. Ultimately, it was decided to discharge floodwaters near Zhuozhou, a decision made hastily without adequate time to notify the area, causing flooding in a wider region, including Zhuozhou, all to protect Xiong’an.