Clueless, Constitutional Amendments, and Great Power Diplomacy

Feb. 28,
2018

ISSUE
No. 123

AMS Weekly Newsletter

Dedicated to the development of the future stewards of U.S.-China relations

You've all undoubtedly heard about the major change to the Chinese constitution, but it is worth looking at all of them; our weekly readings go through them one by one. This week's video, an interview with an outstanding scholar from the Central Party School, is also a great way to spend ten minutes during your lunch hour.

Weekly Readings

The Chinese Communist Party's constitution is undergoing revision. The two most notable changes are the president's term extension and the creation of a national supervision commission. Among the other changes are small tweaks to language about who can hold local level offices, injects language from Document No. 9, and introductory language explaining the CCP's role. The readings include all the proposed constitutional changes, a quick video (Xinhua) running them down, and a commentator article explaining the logic.

"（受权发布）中国共产党中央委员会关于修改宪法部分内容的建议," Xinhua, February 25, 2018

"评论员: 宪法必须随着实践发展而不断发展," People's Daily, January 22, 2018

俗语 in Xi Jinping's Speeches

独领风骚

dú lǐng fēng sāo

Meaning: outstanding, supreme

This week's chengyu, like last week's, comes from Xi's Chinese New Year greeting. The initial part of the greeting emphasized positive accomplishments, but the greeting as a whole focused more on the struggles ahead. The word struggle (奋斗) was used 23 times in the relatively short greeting.

Funnily enough, this chengyu was used as the title for the 1995 movie Clueless. See usage in the original below.

Original: 我国经济发展独领风骚，深化改革多点突破，依法治国深入实施，人民生活继续改善，脱贫攻坚有力推进，国防和军队建设开创新局，全方位外交成果丰硕，从严治党全面推进。

Source: http://www.xinhuanet.com/politics/leaders/2018-02/14/c_1122419716.htm

Video of the Week

This week's video is a ten-minute interview with the Central Party School's Gao Zugui on "Greater Power Diplomacy with Chinese Characteristics." The concept appears to be a rebranding of a "New Type of International Relations" and subsidiary "New Type of Great Power Relations." Professor Gao and the Seeking Truth TV team do an excellent job of explaining the different modes of Xi Jinping's diplomacy and incorporate graphics/maps into the presentation. It is a go od primer.

《中国特色大国外交的目标及布局》

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