INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
China's 'rejuvenation' and prosperityAnna Jones
It was no surprise that there were no surprises in President Xi Jinping's speech opening
He focused on a key theme of his presidency: that China is undergoing a "national rejuvenation" and must remain united in pursuit of peace
"Forging ahead we must remain committed to strategy of peaceful reunification and One Country Two Systems," he said
"Peaceful reunification" is a reference to Taiwan, which has been self-ruled for decades but which the Chinese government wants to return to
While Beijing wants that to be a peaceful process it has not ruled out doing it by force."One country two systems" has described the
relationship between mainland China and Hong Kong since the territory was handed back by the UK in 1997
That system is due to expire in 1947 & a year which once felt a long way off but now for many Hong Kongers feels very soon indeed, causing
anxiety which is helping to fuel the ongoing protests
The Chinese government at times seems baffled as to why some in Hong Kong resist its leadership, when it is promising mutual prosperity and
State media has often, for example, depicted Hong Kong as a child rejecting its mother love.Mr Xi also called on "the people of all ethnic
groups" to be "firmly united"
China is relentless about enforcing this spirit of unity, as Xinjiang can attest
The massive security operation there - which has seen more than a million people, mostly ethnic Muslim Uighurs, taken to what China calls
training camps - is in the name of crushing separatism and preventing terrorism
The drive for unity also lies behind the near-total control of China media and its people access to information.
In a statement, the
Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) - Taiwan's top government body in charge of mainland China affairs - said the country's communist party had
"imposed a one-party dictatorship for 70 years, a concept of governance that violates the values of democracy, freedom and human rights".The
MAC added that China's "shouts about a struggle for unity, great revival and reunification are only an excuse for military expansion,
seriously threatening regional peace and world democracy and civilisation".Earlier today, President Xi Jinping said China would promote
peaceful relations with Taiwan and "continue to strive for the motherland complete reunification"
Beijing claims the self-ruled island of Taiwan as part of its territory, to be reunified by force if necessary."The lifeline of the survival
and development of mainland China is not tied to one person and one party," the MAC said, stressing that Taiwan would not be "bullied" into
accepting China's territorial claims.The MAC also said Taiwan would never accept the "one country, two systems" model proposed for the
The model is current in place in Hong Kong and Macau.As traffic is rerouted by protesters, large buses full of passengers are forced to make
a U-turn.Silently, as they pass the protesters on the road, the passengers raise their open palms in unison and press them against the
glass.The protesters raise their hands back in solidarity, chanting &five demands - not one less&.People place their hands on the windows of
a bus passing by the protests in Hong KongHong Kong protesters are calling on each other to tuck in their shirts and roll up their trousers
in what they say is an effort to expose undercover cops, the South China Morning Post reports.Messages circulating on social media platforms
such as Telegram and Reddit-like site LIHKG, have called for a "new dress code" for protesters that will make it difficult for undercover
police to hide batons or revolvers around their waist and ankles.The campaign comes after an alleged undercover Hong Kong police officer
fired a warning shot into the air during clashes on 29 September."You think it too nerdy to tuck your shirts in? It could probably save your
life!" reads a post on LIHKG, according to SCMP.Police have fired today first tear gas in the working-class neighbourhood of Wong Tai Sin in
Hong Kong.The first canister was fired outside of a shopping mall as hundreds of protesters in black were trying to occupy a major road.My
colleague Danny Vincent is at the scene
He saw a few protesters throw paving stones at a police van that was forced to drive off from the crowds.My overall impression of the
military parade we saw earlier in Beijing is more about questions than answers
The military element of the parade was not that different to its two predecessors during Xi Jinping's leadership
There was a clear emphasis on "intelligent warfare" and networked command and control capabilities, seeking to demonstrate that the People's
Liberation Army is part of China's digital revolution.A key question which is difficult to answer from watching a parade like this is the
effectiveness of the reform and restructuring of the PLA launched by President Xi in late 2015
This is going to be a long-haul process up to 2049, the target date for the PLA to be a world class military.The PLA, like many militaries,
across Asia has not been tested in combat for several decades
Ironically, the period of time when the PLA has made its fastest technological advances matches the decade when US and allied forces fought
their hardest during bloody wars of intervention in the middle east and Afghanistan, gaining invaluable operational experience.As we pass
through Admiralty, where the police and government headquarters are located, there are signs of the march starting to take a darker
tone.&Frontliner& protesters stop to put on armour, shielded by their friends holding umbrellas.Nearby, some start breaking up the pavement
Police are glimpsed along an overhead bridge with protesters shouting abuse at them
Some are even making loud barking noises - a reference to a common derogatory term for the police as &dogs&.As I move closer with my camera,
the mood turns a little hostile and some start opening umbrellas to block my view
&Careful, a reporter is here," shouts someone
They clearly do not want to be captured on film preparing what could end up as projectiles and weapons in a clash with police.In the main,
however, the march is continuing peacefully, with many singing songs and shouting slogans.But it leads you to wonder: how long will it
last?But China embrace of its South East Asian backyard gets only a qualified welcome.Its assertion of sovereignty over islands in the South
China Sea is challenged, vigorously by Vietnam, less so by the Philippines
Anti-Chinese sentiment is especially strong in Vietnam, forcing the fellow-Communist government to tread a delicate line in relations with
its powerful northern neighbour.But there has been growing unease in Indonesia and Malaysia too over Chinese-funded infrastructure,
countries where the success of the ethnic Chinese business class has long stirred local resentment.Asean encourages the engagement of other
powers like the US, Japan and India, to counteract China
South East Asia hopes to accommodate and benefit from Chinese power, without becoming overdependent on it.For hundreds of years, China
referred to warm and resource-rich region of South East Asia as Nanyang, the "south sea", and millions of Chinese migrated there in search
of work and commercial opportunities.But the turbulent politics in China prevented it exercising much sway in SE Asia, until the end of the
In this century though, its influence has risen, to the point where it is broadly viewed as the regional superpower whose interests cannot
be ignored.Chinese trade and investment now dominate the small Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) member states Cambodia and
China is the biggest trading partner for Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, and a growing source of funding for infrastructure,
through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)
Governments in Myanmar, Thailand and the Philippines have openly pursued closer diplomatic and military ties with China.Let's have another
look back at the military display we saw earlier
Pictured here is the JL2 missile which can be launched from China's Jin class submarines, tasked with mounting seaborne deterrent missions
and helping to ensure China's second strike capability.In order to mount nuclear deterrent patrols, these subs need to be able to leave
their base in Hainan, transit the South China Sea and penetrate the "first island chain" into the Pacific Ocean
This might help to explain the significance of China's new bases in the Spratlyislands which could serve as a bastion to protect the Jin
Class submarine patrols.How the country became the world's 'economic miracle'By Virginia Harrison - Daniele PalumboAs the country celebrates
the anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, we look back on how its transformation spread unprecedented wealth - and
deepened inequality - across the Asian giant."When the Communist Party came into control of China it was very, very poor," says DBS chief
China economist Chris Leung."There were no trading partners, no diplomatic relationships, they were relying on self-sufficiency."Over the
past 40 years, China has introduced a series of landmark market reforms to open up trade routes and investment flows, ultimately pulling
hundreds of millions of people out of poverty.The 1950s had seen one of the biggest human disasters of the 20th Century
The Great Leap Forward was Mao Zedong's attempt to rapidly industrialise China's peasant economy, but it failed and 10-40 million people
died between 1959-1961 - the most costly famine in human history.This was followed by the economic disruption of the Cultural Revolution in
the 1960s, a campaign which Mao launched to rid the Communist party of his rivals, but which ended up destroying much of the country's
social fabric.Yet after Mao's death in 1976, reforms spearheaded by Deng Xiaoping began to reshape the economy
Peasants were granted rights to farm their own plots, improving living standards and easing food shortages.The door was opened to foreign
investment as the US and China re-established diplomatic ties in 1979
Eager to take advantage of cheap labour and low rent costs, money poured in."From the end of the 1970s onwards we've seen what is easily the
most impressive economic miracle of any economy in history," says David Mann, global chief economist at Standard Chartered Bank.The day
China became communistThe deep cuts behind China's extraordinary riseThrough the 1990s, China began to clock rapid growth rates and joining
the World Trade Organization in 2001 gave it another jolt
Trade barriers and tariffs with other countries were lowered and soon Chinese goods were everywhere."It became the workshop of the world,"
Mr Mann says.Take these figures from the London School of Economics: in 1978, exports were $10bn (£8.1bn), less than 1% of world trade.By
1985, they hit $25bn and a little under two decades later exports valued $4.3trn, making China the world's largest trading nation in
goods.The economic reforms improved the fortunes of hundreds of millions of Chinese people.The World Bank says more than 850 million people
been lifted out of poverty, and the country is on track to eliminate absolute poverty by 2020.At the same time, education rates have surged
Standard Chartered projects that by 2030, around 27% of China's workforce will have a university education - that's about the same as
Germany today.Rising inequalityStill, the fruits of economic success haven't spread evenly across China's population of 1.3 billion
people.Examples of extreme wealth and a rising middle class exist alongside poor rural communities, and a low skilled, ageing workforce
Inequality has deepened, largely along rural and urban divides."The entire economy is not advanced, there's huge divergences between the
different parts," Mr Mann says.The World Bank says China's income per person is still that of a developing country, and less than one
quarter of the average of advanced economies.China's average annual income is nearly $10,000, according to DBS, compared to around $62,000
in the US.For years it has pushed to wean its dependence off exports and toward consumption-led growth
New challenges have emerged including softer global demand for its goods and a long-running trade war with the US
The pressures of demographic shifts and an ageing population also cloud the country's economic outlook.China's annual growth slowest in
decadesTrade war pushes Asian nations towards recessionStill, even if the rate of growth in China eases to between 5% and 6%, the country
will still be the most powerful engine of world economic growth."At that pace China will still be 35% of global growth, which is the biggest
single contributor of any country, three times more important to global growth than the US," Mr Mann says.The next economic frontier China
is also carving out a new front in global economic development
The country's next chapter in nation-building is unfolding through a wave of funding in the massive global infrastructure project, the Belt
mThe so-called new Silk Road aims to connect almost half the world's populations and one-fifth of global GDP, setting up trade and
investment links that stretch across the world.The deep cuts of 70 years of Communist ruleChina's version of its past is a story of
prosperity, progress and sacrifice for the common goodChina's extraordinary rise was a defining story of the 20th Century, but as it
prepares to mark its 70th anniversary, the BBC's John Sudworth in Beijing asks who has really won under the Communist Party's rule.Sitting
at his desk in the Chinese city of Tianjin, Zhao Jingjia's knife is tracing the contours of a face.Cut by delicate cut, the form emerges -
the unmistakable image of Mao Zedong, founder of modern China.The retired oil engineer discovered his skill with a blade only in later life
and now spends his days using the ancient art of paper cutting to glorify leaders and events from China's communist history."I'm the same
age as the People's Republic of China (PRC)," he says
"I have deep feelings for my motherland, my people and my party."Born a few days before 1 October 1949 - the day the PRC was declared by Mao
- Mr Zhao's life has followed the dramatic contours of China's development, through poverty, repression and the rise to prosperity.Now, in
his modest but comfortable apartment, his art is helping him make sense of one of the most tumultuous periods of human history."Wasn't Mao a
monster," I ask, "responsible for the deaths of tens of millions of his countrymen?""I lived through it," he replies
"I can tell you that Chairman Mao did make some mistakes but they weren't his alone."I respect him from my heart
He achieved our nation's liberation
Ordinary people cannot do such things."How the Communist Party runs ChinaThe country is staging one of its biggest ever military parades, a
celebration of 70 years of Communist Party rule as pure, political triumph.Beijing will tremble to the thunder of tanks, missile launchers
and 15,000 marching soldiers, a projection of national power, wealth and status watched over by the current Communist Party leader,
President Xi Jinping, in Tiananmen Square.An incomplete narrative of progressLike Mr Zhao's paper-cut portraits, we're not meant to focus on
the many individual scars made in the course of China's modern history.On 1 October 1949, Chairman Mao stood in Tiananmen Square urging a
war-ravaged, semi-feudal state into a new era with a founding speech and a somewhat plodding parade that could muster only 17 planes for the
flyby.This week's parade, in contrast, will reportedly feature the world's longest range intercontinental nuclear missile and a supersonic
spy-drone - the trophies of a prosperous, rising authoritarian superpower with a 400 million strong middle class.It is a narrative of
political and economic success that - while in large part true - is incomplete.New visitors to China are often, rightly, awe-struck by the
skyscraper-festooned, hi-tech megacities connected by brand new highways and the world's largest high-speed rail network.They see a rampant
consumer society with the inhabitants enjoying the freedom and free time to shop for designer goods, to dine out and to surf the
internet."How bad can it really be?" the onlookers ask, reflecting on the negative headlines they've read about China back home.The answer,
as in all societies, is that it depends very much on who you are.Many of those in China's major cities, for example, who have benefited from
this explosion of material wealth and opportunity, are genuinely grateful and loyal.In exchange for stability and growth, they may well
accept - or at least tolerate - the lack of political freedom and the censorship that feature so often in the foreign media.For them the
parade could be viewed as a fitting tribute to a national success story that mirrors their own.But in the carving out of a new China, the
knife has cut long and deep.The dead, the jailed and the marginalisedMao's man-made famine - a result of radical changes to agricultural
systems - claimed tens of millions of lives and his Cultural Revolution killed hundreds of thousands more in a decade-long frenzy of
violence and persecution, truths that are notably absent from Chinese textbooks.Tens of millions starved to death under Mao, as China
radically restructured agriculture and society After his death, the demographically calamitous One Child Policy brutalised millions over a
40-year period.Still today, with its new Two Child Policy, the Party insists on violating that most intimate of rights - an individual's
choice over her fertility.The list is long, with each category adding many thousands, at least, to the toll of those damaged or destroyed by
one-party rule.Beijing still regulates how many children families can haveThere are the victims of religious repression, of local government
land-grabs and of corruption.There are the tens of millions of migrant workers, the backbone of China's industrial success, who have long
been shut out of the benefits of citizenship.A strict residential permit system continues to deny them and their families the right to
education or healthcare where they work.And in recent years, there are the estimated one and a half million Muslims in China's western
region of Xinjiang - Uighurs, Kazakhs and others - who have been placed in mass incarceration camps on the basis of their faith and
ethnicity.China continues to insist they are vocational schools, and that it is pioneering a new way of preventing domestic terrorism.The
stories of the dead, the jailed and the marginalised are always much more hidden than the stories of the assimilated and the
successful.Viewed from their perspective, the censorship of large parts of China's recent history is not simply part of a grand bargain to
be exchanged for stability and prosperity.Prof Guo Yuhua, a sociologist at Beijing's Tsinghua University, is one of the few scholars left
trying to record, via oral histories, some of the huge changes that have affected Chinese society over the past seven decades.Her books are
banned, her communications monitored and her social media accounts are regularly deleted.For several generations people have received a
history that has been falsified, faked, glorified and whitewashed," she tells me, despite having been warned not to talk to the foreign
media ahead of the parade."I think it requires the entire nation to re-study and to reflect on history
Only if we do that can we ensure that these tragedies won't be repeated."A parade, she believes, that puts the Communist Party at the front
and centre of the story, misses the real lesson, that China's progress only began after Mao, when the party loosened its grip a bit."People
are born to strive for a better, happier and more respectful life, aren't they?" she asks me."If they are provided with a tiny little space,
they'll try to make a fortune and solve their survival problems
This shouldn't be attributed to the leadership."Another anniversary, of which Tiananmen Square is the centrepiece, is also being measured in
multiples of 10 - it is 30 years since the bloody suppression of the pro-democracy protests that shook the foundations of Communist Party
rule.The troops will be marching - as they always do on these occasions - down the same avenue on which the students were gunned down.The
risk of even a lone protester using the parade to mark a piece of history that has largely been wiped from the record is just too great.With
central Beijing sealed off, ordinary people in whose honour it is supposedly being held, can only watch it on TV.Back in his Tianjin
apartment, Zhao Jingjia shows me the intricate detail of a series of scenes, each cut from a single piece of paper, depicting the "Long
March", a time of hardship and setback for the Communist Party long before it eventually swept to power."Our happiness nowadays comes from
hard work," he tells me.It is a view that echoes that of the Chinese government which, like him, has at least acknowledged that Mao made
mistakes while insisting they shouldn't be dwelt on."As for the 70 years of China, it's extraordinary," he says
Yesterday we sent two navigation satellites into space - all citizens can enjoy the convenience that these things bring us."
