Funeral for Zhu Rongji; Xi meets Ecuadorian President Noboa; Jiang Zemin; Housing provident fund; Consumption; What does China want?

In this issue:

- Funeral for Zhu Rongji
- Xi meets Ecuadorian President Noboa
- More on Jiang Zemin
- Wang Yi to visit South Korea
- Unitree IPO
- Housing provident fund regulations amended
- Increasing consumption and lower-tier markets
- What does China want?

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Today’s top items:

1. Funeral for Zhu Rongji - Top leaders paid their final respects to Zhu Rongji on Tuesday. CCTV showed the Standing Committee members plus Han Zheng at Babaoshan, and reported that “Hu Jintao sent a wreath to express condolences.” His death is an obvious manifestation of the end of an era, but in reality that era ended many years ago. And for all the nostalgia about what once was by some, the Party’s playbook for managing the passing of senior leaders works well.

Wreath from Hu Jintao

2. Xi meets Ecuadorian President Noboa - The Ecuador president is on an eight day state visit to China. On Tuesday he met with Xi and then attended a welcome banquet. According to the Xinhua readout, Xi said:

The series of new advances in China-Ecuador relations reflects both the dividends released by the two countries' free trade agreement and the potential of China's super-large market. The two sides should strengthen the alignment of development strategies, implement the cooperation plan for jointly building the "Belt and Road," carry out cooperation projects in energy, mining, infrastructure construction and finance, actively explore cooperation in the digital economy, green development, new energy and artificial intelligence, and continue to tap the potential of the free trade agreement so that its dividends benefit more enterprises and consumers.

They also “exchanged views on the situation in Latin America and the Caribbean”:

Xi Jinping stressed that China has consistently maintained that the status of Latin America and the Caribbean as a zone of peace should not be shaken, that the path of development and revitalization of Latin American and Caribbean countries should not be interrupted, and that the right of Latin American and Caribbean countries to independently choose their cooperation partners should not be interfered with. China supports Latin American countries in upholding independence and autonomy, conducting external cooperation proceeding from their own interests, and safeguarding regional peace and stability. Noboa said Ecuador attaches great importance to China’s position and role, and is willing always to be China’s good friend on the other side of the Pacific.

两国元首就拉美和加勒比地区形势交换了意见。习近平强调，中方始终主张拉美和加勒比和平区地位不应被动摇，拉美和加勒比国家发展振兴的道路不应被打断，拉美和加勒比国家自主选择合作伙伴的权利不应被干涉。中方支持拉美国家坚持独立自主，从本国利益出发开展对外合作，维护地区和平稳定。诺沃亚表示，厄方高度重视中方立场和作用，愿始终做中国在太平洋另一端的好朋友。

Those comments are clearly referring to US activities in the region.

Xi will meet with Jordan’s king later this week, and the expected comments about the situation in the Middle East should be interesting.

You can read a full translation of the readout here .

3. More on Jiang Zemin - Cai Qi gave a speech at the “Symposium on the Life and Thought of Jiang Zemin”, which I have translated here . Cai uses the speech “to share some reflections on deepening research into the important thought of the ‘Three Represents’ and exchange views with all of you”. His reflections are a selective appropriation of the concept that he uses to reinforce the 15th Five-Year Plan and Xi’s ideological program. He does not really discuss the market economy, ownership pluralism, private entrepreneurs, and external integration, the components that formed the most economically consequential parts of Jiang’s legacy.

Page 6 of the August 18 People’s Daily is devoted to commentaries on Jiang:

- Inherit and Develop Jiang Zemin’s Thought on National Defense and Military Building — Zhang Shengmin (张升民), CMC Vice Chairman — Translation
- Learning from Comrade Jiang Zemin’s Innovative Spirit of Keeping Pace with the Times — Qu Qingshan (曲青山), Institute of Party History and Literature — Translation
- Advance the New Great Project of Party Building Consistently — Shi Taifeng (石泰峰), Politburo/Organization Department — Translation
- Appreciate the Brilliant Thought, Gather the Strength to Struggle — Liu Guozhong (刘国中), Politburo/Vice Premier — Translation
- Build Comrade Jiang Zemin’s Hometown into an Even Finer Place — Xin Changxing (信长星), Jiangsu Party Secretary — Translation

I am not sure why so many foreign media reports made a big deal out of Xi’s comments about 1989 in his speech at the commemoration for Jiang.

In his speech at the December 2022 memorial service for Jiang Zemin, Xi Jinping had this to say about the 1989 protests and crackdown:

In the spring and summer of 1989, a serious political disturbance occurred in our country. Comrade Jiang Zemin resolutely upheld and implemented the Party Central Committee’s correct decision to take a clear-cut stand against the turmoil, defend the socialist state power, and safeguard the fundamental interests of the people; relying closely on the broad ranks of Party members, cadres and the masses, he effectively maintained stability in Shanghai.

1989年春夏之交我国发生严重政治风波，江泽民同志坚决拥护和执行党中央关于旗帜鲜明反对动乱、捍卫社会主义国家政权、维护人民根本利益的正确决策，紧紧依靠广大党员、干部、群众，有力维护上海稳定。

In his speech at the Monday 100th commemoration, Xi had a slightly different formulation:

In the spring and summer in 1989, a serious political disturbance occurred in our country; Comrade Jiang Zemin resolutely upheld and carried out the correct decisions of the Party Central Committee, forcefully safeguarding stability in Shanghai.

1989年春夏之交我国发生严重政治风波，江泽民同志坚决拥护和执行党中央正确决策，有力维护了上海稳定。

To me, there is not much to see here, just Xi repeating a variation of what he has said in the past.

4. Wang Yi to visit South Korea - Wang Yi will visit South Korea for two days starting Wednesday. According to the Korea Herald :

A Seoul Foreign Ministry official, requesting anonymity, said Tuesday that Lee’s broader vision for peaceful coexistence on the Korean Peninsula is expected to feature naturally in Wang’s meetings in Seoul.

Lee’s latest proposal is part of his administration’s efforts to improve strained inter-Korean relations and support the resumption of dialogue between North Korea and the United States, with Seoul casting itself as a “pacemaker” for diplomacy.

It is not clear when the Wang trip was arranged, but even if scheduled weeks ago, the timing, just after Trump’s post about his instructions to the US Secretary of War to “substantially reduce the Joint Military Exercises!”, is certainly interesting. Is it just a coincidence?

And will this post from Trump come up? I would love to hear what Xi thinks of it:

5. Unitree IPO - Unitree Technology—宇树科技, 688836.SH—will begin trading Wednesday on Shanghai’s STAR Market after selling 40.45 million new shares at RMB150.80, valuing the company at RMB60.99 billion, or about US$9.05 billion, at the offer price. The first day pop should rival CXMT’s from a few weeks ago.

6. Housing provident fund regulation amended - The State Council published the “Decision on Amending the Regulations on the Management of the Housing Provident Fund 关于修改《住房公积金管理条例》的决定”, translated here . Article 1 has added the phrase “better meet diversified housing consumption demand 更好满足多样化住房消费需求” next to the existing language about protecting the rights of fund owners. Article 18 mandates employee and employer contributions each of no less than 5% of the employee’s average monthly wage for the previous year, with ceiling set nationally, and the specific rate determined at the provincial level.

The fund was set up to help contributors purchase a home. “Diversified housing consumption demand” is a wider category than just buying a home, and this expanded definition is useful for unlocking some of these funds even as the real estate market remains weak.

The amendments permit withdrawals for rent without the previous income-ratio condition, as well as for home renovation/decoration and property fees. It enables nationwide recognition of contribution records and cross-regional lending and extends voluntary coverage to gig workers, individual businesses and other flexible workers. It also allows the funds to buy policy-bank bonds, more of which will be on offer soon, and channels investment earnings toward public rental housing and building-safety spending.

7. Increasing consumption and lower-tier markets - Nine departments including the Ministry of Commerce, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security recently jointly issued an opinion on “Further Stimulating the Vitality of Lower-Tier Markets and Enlivening County-Level Consumption 关于进一步激发下沉市场活力 活跃县域消费的意见”, translated here . It includes 18 measures but no mention of any additional funding. Employment is one of the concerns:

(13) Promote stable employment and expand channels for income growth. Support enterprise headquarters or platform enterprises in siting business outlets and operating units in counties where conditions permit, so as to expand employment capacity. Step up implementation of work-relief programs. Coordinate services and safeguards for migrant workers going out to work and support for employment and entrepreneurship by those returning home. Encourage the integration of public employment recruitment with special county-level consumption events, and add employment services at county-level consumption venues and convenience service outlets where conditions permit. Encourage localities to include service-sector occupations in county-level catalogues of urgently needed and scarce talent in light of actual conditions.

（十三）推动稳岗就业拓展增收途径。支持企业总部或平台企业在具备条件的县域布局经营网点和业务单元，拓展就业容量。加力实施以工代赈。统筹做好农民工外出务工服务保障和返乡就业创业扶持。鼓励公共就业招聘和县域消费专场活动融合，在有条件的县域消费场所、便民服务网点等加载就业服务。鼓励各地结合实际将服务业相关职业列入县域急需紧缺人才需求目录。

8. What does China want? - The Summer 2026 issue of the journal “International Security” has published multiple responses to David C. Kang, Jackie S. H. Wong and Zenobia T. Chan’s Summer 2025 article “ What Does China Want? ”. I thought it was a very problematic article, but it was amplified and praised by the propaganda system and others, and now only a year later has the journal published rebuttals from Rush Doshi, Andrea Ghiselli, Todd H. Hall, Jamie Gruffydd-Jones and Arash Heydarian Pashakhanlou. You can read them here . I find them convincing.

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