The 19th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party recently concluded its meeting, introducing 60 sets of 300 measures under the guise of “reform.” Many mainland Chinese citizens have expressed to media outlets that the Party’s actions are continuing to deceive the public, with the so-called “reform” being nothing more than a facade to maintain the Party’s power. People have also complained about the central government being busy with meetings while neglecting to address local disasters, leading to concerns about food shortages.
On July 21st, the official mouthpiece Xinhua News Agency published the full text of the Party’s report on the Third Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee titled “Decisions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Further Comprehensive Deepening of Reforms and Advancing China’s Modernization” consisting of 22,000 words divided into 15 sections with 60 items. It outlined over 300 so-called reform measures, including the proposed enactment of laws to promote private economy, financial laws, anti-cross-border corruption laws, and the establishment of a so-called high-level socialist market economy system. The report even set a timeline, aiming to complete these measures by 2029.
Following the end of the Third Plenary Session, various government officials arranged press conferences to interpret the decisions made during the meeting.
Regarding the decisions of the Third Plenary Session, a white-collar worker from Henan, Mr. He, expressed to media outlets, “No interest, not much hope from anyone, everyone is pessimistic. Without political system reform, there won’t be positive results. The future economy will worsen, and the legal and political environment will be more disappointing.”
In regards to the 60th measure of the Plenary Session’s decision that required officials to implement the measures diligently, Mr. Li, another white-collar worker from Henan, stated, “The Party’s demands on officials and their public slogans have always been inconsistent with reality. Public slogans are meant to deceive the people, while behind closed doors and in secret meetings, officials are given the real tasks to execute.”
“The CCP is an organization that thrives in secrecy, with all public decisions, resolutions, and policies being essentially deceptive propaganda tools. The true guiding ideology is often hidden behind their actions. When local governments are financially strained, the top priority for officials at all levels is to keep the people from causing trouble so that they can continue to receive their salaries and maintain government authority. Everything else is just empty rhetoric.”
Mr. Jiang, an intellectual from Shaanxi, expressed to media outlets that apart from continuing to deceive the public and the international community, the Party’s remaining goal is to tighten control, maintain the CCP’s rule, and Xi Jinping’s personal position, with no other intentions.
He predicted that after the Third Plenary Session, “International relations worsen, China becomes more isolated, openly supporting aggressor Russia, making it the leader of a new evil axis in the eyes of the world; the domestic economy continues to decline, government operations lack funds, and social governance further deteriorates. The CCP has no choice but to resort to suppression.”
Lawyer Lin from Guangdong also expressed disinterest in the Party’s meetings, believing that expecting them to change is unrealistic.
Former Beijing judge and current freelancer Mr. Tang expressed to reporters, “Most people probably don’t have that much enthusiasm or hope. In the past decade, especially during the past three years of epidemic prevention, more and more people have come to understand what the authorities have actually done.”
“The so-called internal circulation, as well as concepts like ‘lying flat’ and the current trend of ‘wasting time,’ largely reflect people’s mindsets. There may be some superficial measures here and there, but without transferring power to the people, merely delegating authority and benefiting from it, there is not much room left.”
Mr. Tang believes that the current “reform” is just a facade to strengthen the Party’s own power and protect vested interests, referring to very negative practices as reform. Despite commitments such as joining the WTO, they are unwilling to fulfill them. The so-called openness is only aimed at countries not on par with them, rendering it ineffective.
“Nowadays, these meetings are increasingly failing to solve real problems, and no one dares to acknowledge the existing issues; thus, it’s unlikely that any meaningful measures will be put in place. Meetings, both big and small, have turned into mere ceremonial, performance, and loyalty events, devoid of any real significance.”
“To sum it up, people whom I can connect with all feel towards this abnormal political arrangement or political event that their hopes are akin to disappointments, or simply worsen their despair, without much meaning.”
Beijing observer Mr. Li expressed to media outlets that during the Third Plenary Session, there were widespread complaints among the common people. The day before the meeting, Henan and Hebei experienced sudden heavy rain, leading to nearly three days of continuous downpours in Henan, particularly affecting places like Sanmenxia, Xuchang, Nanyang, and Xinxiang. The situation was dire, with no one taking charge of relief efforts.
He noted that netizens on the “Xiaohongshu” platform made jest of the situation, “Beijing holds a meeting, Henan faces a flood. The secretary of the Henan Provincial Party Committee comes to Beijing and finds his own home destroyed.”
Furthermore, he revealed that his media friends informed him that nothing extraordinary is allowed to happen outside Beijing during the meeting week.
During the two sessions, many provinces in mainland China experienced flooding, leading to concerns expressed by Mr. Li, “With such severe flooding, the prices of staple foods and vegetables have increased significantly. These disaster-stricken provinces, including Hubei, Henan, Hunan, have resulted in rice shortages, prompting people to hoard food.”
He observed that this year is different from previous years, with the cumulative amount of continuous rainfall being exceptionally high, and the existing water conservancy facilities already faced a significant impact from a large-scale flood before the meeting. The recent rains have overloaded these flood control measures, leading to their collapse, with no one taking charge.
A professor from the Central Party School even divulged to him that while the Third Plenary Session was ongoing, the CCP’s Central Committee for Social Work conducted a three-day training session for over 10,000 neighborhood Party secretaries from across the country to implement grassroots governance practices. The government is now solely focused on control, holding everyone tightly under its grip.