[EpochTimesAugust192022]The outbreak of the epidemic in Hainan has caused many cities to be closed without warning, and about 150,000 passengers were trapped. I don’t want to, Hainan is therefore on the bar with Jiangsu and Shanghai. This does two things.
One thing is official. On August 15, a “Letter on Emergency Coordination and Release of Flights” from the Hainan Provincial Government’s Duty Office to Jiangsu Province was circulated on the Internet. The letter said: At present, due to the unwillingness of some cities in your province to accept stranded passengers, flights cannot take off, and a large number of stranded passengers are gathered at Haikou Airport. We urge your province to urgently coordinate the release of flights from relevant cities and feed back the results of the coordination to our province. “If your province delays in accepting stranded passengers or restricting the number of flights, our province will report to the State Council … and inform the corresponding passengers truthfully.” This is believed to be the Hainan provincial government threatening another provincial government.
Another thing is semi-official. Most of the 80,000 tourists trapped in Sanya came from Shanghai. The Shanghai official media “The Paper” reported various chaos after Sanya was closed, such as malicious price hikes in hotels, skyrocketing return air tickets, and poor accommodation conditions (later deleted). On the evening of August 8, the “Hainan Daily” client and Hainan Internet Radio and Television Station reprinted an article from the media’s WeChat public account entitled “With the rhythm of Sanya epidemic prevention and control, a certain media is too ‘outrageous’!” . The wording of the article is very strong, questioning Shanghai’s deliberate smearing, “Is the construction of the Hainan Free Trade Port robbing you of your status, your future, your business, and your halo? Or is Hainan’s GDP growth rate exceeding 10% in the first half of this year. No light on your face?” “Can’t you explain to the gentlemen if you don’t black out or suppress Sanya?” Although Hainan Daily later deleted this article, as the official newspaper of the Hainan Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China, this action is obviously official.
These two incidents seem to be accidental, but they reflect the long-standing inter-provincial conflicts within the CCP, which are mutually unconvincing and suffocating. For example, as a municipality directly under the central government, a first-tier economic city, and planned to be an international financial center, Shanghai has an advantage and a dazzling aura. Many provinces and cities envy and hate this. This time Shanghai closed the city, the economy has slumped, the status of the free trade zone is threatened, and a large number of Shanghai residents have collectively fled to Sanya for refuge because of the fear of the epidemic and the return of the city closure.
As we all know, the CCP has always looked like a monolithic entity, preventing conflicts from leaking out. Inter-provincial conflicts have a long history, and they are kept within the system as much as possible, and are seldom allowed to be discussed by the media. However, the outbreak of the epidemic in 2020 has exposed inter-provincial conflicts.
At that time, medical supplies such as masks and protective clothing were in short supply, and local governments scrambled for transit medical supplies from other provinces and cities. The State Council issued an emergency notice (local governments at all levels “should not intercept or transfer” medical supplies in any name), Xi Jinping’s statement at the Politburo Standing Committee (epidemic prevention and control must “adhere to the national epidemic prevention and control of a game of chess” and obey the authorities’ “unified command”) ”, otherwise punishment), did not have much effect. The phenomenon of local governments intercepting supplies was once more rampant. Some commented that the raging epidemic has put some places into a “state of war”. “In this case, all places will give priority to self-protection, and they can no longer care about the harmony on the surface.”
This is a major exposure of inter-provincial contradictions and hidden dangers of local separatism in the political situation of the CCP (see the author’s article “A Miscellaneous Talk on the Hidden Potential of Local Separation in the CCP System”). After the epidemic eased, it was hidden again. In this Hainan epidemic, contradictions and hidden dangers have resurfaced.
However, the exposure of inter-provincial conflicts this time is very different from 2020, that is, the “Twenty National Congress” is about to be held. a cup of soup. Official documents from Hainan’s official media attacking Shanghai’s official media and the Hainan provincial government for “threatening” Jiangsu were circulated online. This kind of thing was rare in the past, but it’s happening now.
The “Twenty National Congress” was held, and bureaucrats all over the country wanted to climb a step further, and they were all taboo about scandals. If one party’s bad news is revealed by the other party, it is equivalent to piercing the veil of “giving each other face” that has been maintained for a long time in the past. “You are in the first year of the first year, and I will be in the fifteenth year.” The ugly face could not be concealed. The “philosophy of struggle” is the core of the CCP’s ideology, and it is also the fundamental feature of the way of thinking of CCP officials. On the surface, it talks about unity, but in private, it is all intrigue and competition for interests. You come and go.
In addition to the epidemic, there is another prominent point in the current inter-provincial conflict, which is the political balance problem caused by the financial handover of the large economic province.
On August 16, Li Keqiang presided over a symposium with the principals of the provincial government in Shenzhen. The six major economic provinces (Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shandong, Henan, Sichuan) that participated in the meeting accounted for 45% of the country’s total economic output. Li Keqiang asked them to take the lead, especially emphasizing that the four coastal provinces in the six provinces have a net effect on the central finance. If the contribution exceeds 60% in the turn-in, the task of financial turn-in must be completed.
why? This year, the national fiscal revenue, including the central government, has rarely declined (the national general public budget revenue was about 10.5 trillion yuan in the first half of the year, down 10.2% in natural terms); while this year, the central government’s transfer payment to local governments is expected to be nearly 9.8 trillion yuan. The scale is the largest over the years, and the growth rate (18%) is the highest in recent years; where did such a huge transfer payment come from? Naturally, it is inseparable from the net contribution of the financial provinces to the central financial resources. The Xi authorities said that this “reflects the responsibility of a major economic province”, but in fact it is a political task.
However, the days of this year’s economic province are also difficult. For example, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, in the first half of the year, Guangdong’s general public budget revenue fell by 11.4% year-on-year on a natural basis, Zhejiang Province fell by 6.2%, Jiangsu Province fell by 17.9%, and Shandong Province fell by 8.2%. In the face of political tasks, of course they will not be tough, bargaining is inevitable, and the Xi authorities will also give some political compensation. For example, the “Twenty National Congress” is about to be held, and the promotion of candidates is negotiable, and the political influence of coastal provinces and large economic provinces may increase.
However, the current regional disparity in China’s economy is widening, the contradictions between the east, the middle, the west, and the northeast are also increasing, and the political influence of the economic province is rising, and other provinces will naturally rebound. In today’s China, the contradictions between provinces are rigid, the “feudal economy” is deeply rooted, and the construction of a “unified big market” has been faltering. big problem.
The epidemic has passed 3 years and there is still no end. This year, the Chinese economy is in a precarious situation. The international situation of the CCP is getting worse. At this moment, the “Twenty National Congress” is held. In the intensification, inter-provincial conflicts are also inevitable.
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Responsible editor: Gao Yi#