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US-China decoupling
ChinaDiplomacy

Why did China’s Communist Party elite need a lecture on the US?

  • A top specialist in American-Chinese relations addressed the Politburo on national security last week
  • Concern is growing that Beijing’s struggle with Washington could bring more political turmoil at home, observers say

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An expert in China-US relations has addressed members of the Communist Party’s Politburo on national security issues, reflecting concern in Beijing over its rivalry with Washington. Photo: Xinhua
William Zheng
The Chinese leadership’s decision to invite a top China-US affairs analyst to address them on national security issues reflects concerns in Beijing that its growing rivalry with Washington could destabilise the regime, according to academics and observers.
Yuan Peng, president of official China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, gave his address and “put forward work suggestions” to the Politburo, the Communist Party’s top policymaking body, on Friday, according to state news agency Xinhua.

This was the Politburo’s first group study session on national security since April 2014, when Wang Yongqing, the then secretary general of the party’s top security organ – the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission – briefed it on counterterrorism matters.

Yuan, 53, spent his entire career in the institutes, one of China’s biggest and most influential research bodies for international studies affiliated with the Ministry of State Security. He was a visiting scholar at the Atlantic Council from 1999 to 2000 and the Brookings Institution from 2003 to 2004. 

President Xi Jinping presided over the study session, according to Chinese state media. Photo: Xinhua
President Xi Jinping presided over the study session, according to Chinese state media. Photo: Xinhua

State media reported that President Xi Jinping presided over the study session, saying the party had “absolute leadership” in national security matters, from political security, to public safety and the national interest. 

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