China’s Eight-Point Rules And Impacts On Party Politics, Government Conduct

By Dr. Bridget Chiedu Onochie

Many people across the world have remained in awe on how China was able to have emerged from the economic doldrums to become a global economic power. However, the simple explanation is that beyond the country’s determination for enhanced living standard as well as the patriotic zeal displayed by the government under the Communist Party of China (CPC), there were certain enforceable norms and policies set down by the government upon which the country thrives.

One of such policies was the Eight-Point Decision on Improving Party and Government Conduct and Building Closer Ties with the People, which was issued at a meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee held on December 4, 2012, chaired by the General Secretary of CPC Central Committee, Chinese President and Chairman, Central Military Commission, Comrade Xi Jinping.

It is pertinent to state that of all the policies that have contributed in launching China among the comity of progressives – technological and industrial giants, the eight-point decision resonates visibly due to its leadership by example peculiarity.

The policy decisions include, doing better research and analysis and truly understanding actual conditions when doing grassroots-level studies; streamlining meetings and improving the way meetings are conducted; making documents and briefing papers more concise and improving writing styles; standardizing procedures for working visits abroad and improving security guard work and continuing to observe the principle of doing what improves relations with the people.

Others are, improving news report; having strict rules on the publication of articles and promoting frugality and the strict observance of rules on incorruptibility in government.
Critically analyzing the eight-point decision buttressed their relevance to daily life and living. There is rarely anything pertaining to good governance that was not touched by the decisions.

For the leadership of the CPC, Party’s conduct is not only crucial to winning the people’s support but also a matter of concern to the Party’s survival or demise. This exactly was the standpoint of the party in a speech delivered at the first meeting of the 18th CPC Central Committee Political Bureau on December 4, 2012, where the
decisions were birthed.

The decision articulated a leadership system and working mechanism for combating corruption. For effectiveness, it established a Party discipline inspection commissions, supervision departments, judiciary and auditing agencies, and have worked with them conscientiously to improve the party conduct, uphold integrity and tackle corruption. It also ensured that in the course of their duties, Party committees at all levels should bear total leadership responsibility for improving Party conduct and building a clean government.

One important lesson of the Eight-Point Decision is the resolve or undertaking by party leadership to improve existing institutions to better fight against corruption;
redouble efforts in political and theoretical education, reinforce stricter Party discipline and respond to the demands of the people.

This would have been drawn from the country’s deep-rooted understanding that corruption is not a victimless crime but that which its costs go far beyond the money and property stolen. Corruption greatly undermines human dignity by depriving citizens of access to basic rights and services, including healthcare, education, justice, and economic opportunities.

Consequently, he eight golden rules placed on the ruling Party, the responsibility of completing the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects. The party leadership resolved to be a good blacksmith in forging good tools and since then, members were dedicated to addressing the problems of being “lax, slack and lenient.”

The Four Malfeasances are difficult to eradicate.
Under the Eight-Point decision, the party remained committed to rectifying problems and improving leaders’ conduct including elimination of favourtism and bureaucratic bottleneck, which are two major monsters that tend to frustrate merit and slow down administrative and institutional workflow.

Chinese government considered these two entirely incompatible with the nature, mission and fine conduct of their Party, describing them as the arch enemies of the Party and the people.

They fully understand that combating corruption is the most important political
issue that concerns citizen’s trust and support a fight that must be won, not against the citizens but by leadership first, if sustainable development must be achieved.

Impacts of Eight-Point Rules on Chinese Economy and Lessons for Africa
Since the introduction of the Eight-Point Decision on Improving Party and Government Conduct and Building Closer Ties with the People in 2012, the party leadership was said to have become more robust and effective.

Expectantly, such resolve will dovetail in building a formidable economy and enhancing the living standard of the people.
The decisions prompted a fundamental change in the manner public funds and resources are allocated and utilized, and by curbing extravagance and rent-seeking behaviors, the relationship between government officials and businessmen is sanitized and fosters a more level playing field, which in turn, became a powerful driver for promoting high-quality economic development.

Obviously, the Eight-Point Decision was not just another policy but a commitment to clean governance and a direct response to public concerns about officialdom.

Interestingly, President Xi endeared himself to the world through his actions. In this circumstance, he spearheaded the initiative by playing strictly according to rules, and embodying the spirit of leading by example – setting standards from the top down.

The strict implementation of the eight-point decision provided impetus for a solid foundation for the historic achievements and transformative changes witnessed in China through the efforts of the ruling CPC. It significantly promoted progress in the country’s political, socio-economic and cultural landscapes; strengthening efforts towards building a strong nation and the rejuvenation that is famously known as the Chinese modernization.

Politically, the eight-point decision was instrumental to a major overhaul in the governance of the Party. It has also propelled a revolutionary self-purification within
the Party ranks, safeguarding and enhancing the Party’s advanced nature by sanitizing and bolstering its unity, combating readiness and making Party’s leadership more robust and effective.

On the social front, the decision echoed loudly with the aspirations of both Party members and the general public, having facilitated the resolution of numerous challenges of public concern.

Culturally, the decision equally played a crucial role in thoroughly rooting out the remnants of feudalistic practices and resisted the influence of Western cultures. The revitalized work style within the Party and the government served as a powerful example, leading to insightful positive changes in social customs and public morality and unleashing strong spiritual strength for the advancement of Chinese modernization.

Thus, it was the tangible improvements in official conduct that have earned the sincere support of the people, thereby strengthening the social foundation for the Party’s long-term governance.

For Africa, the great lesson lies in the ability of the ruling party to endeared themselves to the populace through evidence-based performance rather that propaganda. There is no doubt that the amplifying voice of the opposition is often triggered in Africa’s political landscape by poor performance of the party in power. As it is often said, actions sound louder than words.

China’s Eight-Point Rules And Impacts On Party Politics, Government Conduct

Troops humiliate ISWAP in Malam Fatori, neutralized several fighters as it repel dawn attack

By: Zagazola Makama

In the predawn calm of Mallamfatori, a strategic town on the fringes of Lake Chad, troops of the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) and the Nigerian Army stood their ground against one of the most daring attacks launched recently by ISWAP fighters.

Zagazola report that at about 4:30 a.m. on Tuesday, terrorists targeted Forward Operating Base (FOB) Kangar with a coordinated assault involving armed drones, mortar shelling and rapid ground movement. The assault was clearly intended to overwhelm the base and inflict mass casualties.

According to sources, the troops supported by the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) absorbed the initial barrage, reorganised and pushed back fiercely. A reinforcement team from the main battalion swiftly joined the fight, mounting a counteroffensive.

What followed was a brief, intense firefight that shattered the attackers’ momentum. The attack was decisively repelled. Troops’ morale and combat efficiency remain high,” a senior field commander said.

The decisive turnaround came when Nigerien ground attack platforms joined the fight from the MNJTF axis, striking the terrorists’ firing positions. The joint force counter-assault forced the attackers to abandon their assault plan and flee toward the waterways of the Tumbuns.

Troops immediately conducted exploitation of the battlefield, confirming six terrorists neutralised and recovering a significant cache of weapons.

Recovered items include:5 x AK-47 rifles, 8 x AK-47 magazines, 258 rounds of 7.62mm ammunition, 5 x RPG bombs, 4 x armed drone bombs and 5 x 36 hand grenades.

Several other bodies of terrorists were seen being evacuated by their fleeing comrades, indicating a higher casualty figure on the enemy side.

As the terrorists attempted to retreat deeper into the Tumbuns, the Nigerien Air Force conducted additional air strikes, targeting clustered movements detected by surveillance feeds. The strikes reportedly neutralised “additional scores” of the fleeing fighters.

Despite the use of armed drones a worrying trend and a sign of evolving terrorist tactics troops of FOB Kangar successfully held the line.

Some soldiers and CJTF members sustained injuries from the initial drone and mortar strikes, but Zagazola gathered that they were promptly evacuated using MNJTF air platforms for medical attention.

Sources added that all the wounded personnel are in stable condition.

n the larger context, Mallamfatori and the Lake Chad islands remain one of the most fiercely contested spaces in the ongoing fight against terrorism. Control of the waterways is critical to cutting off insurgent logistics, arms supply routes and cross-border movement.

However, the response by troops and multinational partners equally demonstrates that the days of unchallenged freedom of movement for terrorists around the border axis are steadily closing. As one soldier told said shortly after the assault:

“We are here to hold this ground. No retreat.”

Zagazola reports that operations are ongoing in the general area, with ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance) platforms maintaining aerial dominance to track residual threats.
End

Chinese Modernization And China’s 75 Years of Poverty Reduction Achievements

By Dr. Bridget Chiedu Onochie

It would be practically impossible to talk about Chinese modernization and the phenomenal poverty reduction without mentioning the impressive and development–driven reforms initiated by the Communist Party of China (CPC).

Over the past 75 years of its history, China was said to have lifted over 800 million people out of extreme poverty – a feat that was historically unprecedented and documented for accounting for about 75 per cent of global poverty reduction between 1981 and 2020.

This attainment was achieved through decades of speedy economic growth and comprehensive reforms, which began in the late 1970s. With its attendant improvement in living standards, developed infrastructure and increased incomes, China was able to meet the goals of the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development by 2021, a decade earlier than the target year.

This development best defines ‘Chinese modernization’ – the political will of Chinese government to transform the economy, the society and the mode of governance for national rejuvenation and prosperity. Thus, the CPC government resolved to vigorously pursue economic reconstruction, high-quality development with focus on innovations, sustainability and efficiency-driven growth.
Chinese modernization equally involves technological advancements and global economic influence; which China obviously flourishes across the globe.

Through its modernization process, the living standard of its citizens have been enhanced with glaring reforms in education and healthcare. Meanwhile, a comprehensive social safety net, social services, state capacity strengthening, transparent legal system and promotion of traditional Chinese culture alongside modern values, were entrenched as national norms.

Consequently, different countries of the world, including Nigeria, seek to adopt the Chinese modernization model for accelerated development. The country’s ability to transform from extreme poverty to socio-economic stability built on the foundational principle and philosophical ideology that it is only through the empowerment of citizens for future self-reliance that a country can be better, has become a reference point for developing nations of the world.

While people wonder about the secret of Chinese success, history credited the poverty reduction prowess to two major pillars – Broad-based Economic Transformation, and Targeted Support for Areas and Households Disadvantaged by Geography and Lack of Opportunities.

By these, the government focused on national development policies with poverty reduction as a defining purpose, and through it, the government was able to deliver a well-targeted programs for the poor in an inclusive manner, that guaranteed balanced development between rural and urban areas – a holistic strategy of growth backed by political will.

In his presentation titled, ‘The War Against Poverty and the People Centered Accurate Poverty Alleviation, Mr. Wang Sangui of China Anti-Poverty Research Institute, Renmin University, China (RUC), stated that between 1981 and 2015, China’s poverty rate decreased from 88 per cent to less than one per cent, based on the percentage of people living on the equivalent of $1.90 or less per day.

The per-capita income was also recorded to rise from $200 in 1990 to $1,000 in 2000, and to $5,000 in 2010, moving China from a low-income country to a middle-income country.”
The Chinese modernization project was so consistent and resilient that in 2018, the number of people living below the national poverty line of ¥2,300 per year was 16.6 million, which is less than two per cent of the population and by 2020, China proudly announced eradication of absolute poverty, having successfully lifted over 800 million people out of poverty.

Since then, the country has remained committed to sustained growth and substantial increase in living standards.
The beauty of Chinese modernisation is the long term poverty alleviation strategy, driven by sustained fast economic growth, which played a key role in rural reforms, agricultural development, labour-intensive manufacturing and employment, urbanization and rural-urban migration.

A major striking lesson was the Accurately Targeted Poverty Alleviation approach initiated by President Xi Jinping during his visit to Western Hunan in November 2013. The policy stipulated that poverty alleviation should be practical and realistic, and it directly aimed at helping the poor by targeting poor households and poor people.
To implement this policy, Chinese government did not adopt or shout any slogan or set ambitious goals. Rather, it documented public opinions on innovative mechanisms that solidly promoted rural poverty alleviation and development.

In fact, this is the basic strategy in the war against poverty because through accurate identification, assistance, management and assessment of poor households and villages, government guided meticulously, the optimal allocation of various poverty alleviation resources, and with this, the country achieved poverty alleviation from village to household, and gradually built a long-term mechanism for targeted poverty alleviation.

The process began with identifying and registering the poor. Consequently, all families, whose income was lower than the poverty line and could not meet the ‘Two Assurances and Three Guarantees’ (adequate food and clothing, and access to compulsory education, basic medical services and safe housing for impoverished rural residents) were identified and registered through quantitative identification and controlled democratic appraisal to reduce omissions.

At the end of the exercise, China identified 29.48 million poor households with a total population of 89.62 million in 2013. The ability to register all the poor households and population with accurate details about each family, its available resources, income sources and reasons of poverty, was laudable and worthy of emulation.

Under the second strategy which was ‘Precision Poverty Alleviation Strategy’, the government intensified promotion of income-generation activities, including cooperative agricultural production, value chain development as well as rural tourism development that target the poor. Additionally, interest-free loans were provided for poor households. No wonder China has become a preferred destination for most people across the globe.

For African leaders, China remained a role model for youth empowerment and job creation – providing skill training, subsidized transportation cost, job market information and assisting the poor through medical and health services. Government’s provision of a comprehensive coverage and differentiated subsidies of basic medical insurance – serious illness insurance and serious illness relief without demand for deposit, speak volume of sustainable reforms.

As many developing countries of the world wallow under food insecurity, China succeeded in achieving food security because it understood the power of providing the backward integration for heavy industries as well as exploiting every single layer of the value supply chain. It doesn’t believe in weaponisation of poverty for political sentiment.

However, another striking and interesting aspect of Chinese modernization was captured vividly by President Xi Jinping in his Keynote Address at the opening ceremony of the Third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in 2023. He made it clear that China was endeavoring to build itself into a stronger country and rejuvenate the Chinese nation on all fronts by pursuing Chinese modernization, which was not self-serving but for all developing countries of the world.

He however declared that the modernization China was pursuing was not personal but for all developing countries through joint efforts. He believed that global modernization should be pursued to enhance peaceful development and mutually beneficial cooperation and bring prosperity to all.

He assured of China’s willingness to work with all parties to deepen Belt and Road partnerships of cooperation, usher the cooperation into a new stage of high-quality development, and make relentless efforts to achieve modernization for all countries.
Since the beginning of the reform that herald the opening up of China, the government has canvassed a world where development is even, peace inevitable and the future, where the world is a community where every player is a winner.

In all that China has achieved and is still achieving, credit must be given to its government for entrenching strong institutions. Otherwise, even noble ideas and policies would have been futile.
Through strong institutions, the government enforced policies in every sector of the economy. In agriculture and food security, it eliminated the systemic obstacles to farmers’ land ownership and consequently, rural infrastructure improved, while education and healthcare services also thrived.

The fact that poverty reduction in China accelerated over time was an indication that the strategy of taking tailor-made measures against poverty is successful and effective, and should be emulated by other developing countries burdened by poverty.

Beyond the immediate environment, China’s eradication of extreme poverty has global benefits, having contributed to the world achieving the Millennium Development Goals set for 2015. China by that, attained the first UN Sustainable Development Goal target 1.1. of eradicating extreme poverty ten years ahead of schedule, and undeniable fact remains that ever since the reform began, the pace of poverty reduction in China has been consistently faster than anywhere across the globe.

Chinese Modernization And China’s 75 Years of Poverty Reduction Achievements