Appunti esame Cinese 2

DOMESTIC GOVERNANCEOF THE PRC - 14/10/26

Normally I teach this part either during the Chinese Communist Party class or during the class on

the State apparatus. Because well, it's either, and yet it is both in a sense. It's rather complicated

institution.

QUESTION SHE CAN ASK AT THE EXAM: Tell me, please, what the United Front is (roughly

50% of those who sat the exam would say would begin like, oh, you know in 1927, Stalin said

that the Chinese Communist Party had to form an alliance with the government… without saying

what United Front is).

There is a clear distinction that everyone should keep in mind. The one thing that you should

remember is that the United Front is three di erent things. They should not be confused:

political strategy;

1. it's a department of the Chinese Communist Party;

2. it's a consultative organ,

3. it’s a which does not belong to the state and does not belong to the party

either.

Then ideally, you should also be able to more or less identify a united front dynamic when you

encounter it in real life.

So let's make it simple. It's many things at once, but at the most basic, when we talk about

United Front, we talk about something that is used to govern all that which exists outside of the

Chinese Communist Party.

QUESTION: Please name something that today exists outside of the Chinese Communist Party.

ANSWER: The Guomindang.

TEACHER: Yes, and it was part of the United Front because in the mid 20s they created an

alliance. But today, in 2026, do you think that the GMD could be involved in the United Front?

What could be an actor outside the Chinese Communist Party that needs to be brought into a

United Front?

ANSWER: Taiwan

QUESTION: absolutely, but beyond Taiwan, can you come up with anything that might be, you

know, an actor that is not the Chinese Communist Party. I mean, we know what is the Chinese

Communist Party. What is not the Chinese Communist Party?

ANSWER: State apparatus.

QUESTION: Yes, but the state apparatus is already controlled by the party, isn't it? Through the

nomenclature system, through institutional duplication, whereby the seven of the Senate

committee occupy the top positions in the state.

ANSWER: Religious entities.

TEACHER: Religious entities. All done. Because most basic point is that, in principle and also in

practice, any of these actors, religious organizations in particular, might come to be a power

center that is alternative to the Chinese Communist Party, and this cannot and should not happen

in the system. And here we come to the central problem. It is a method that is used to form

alliances. Why?

Take a moment. Your classmate already came up with ideas on Taiwan. Religious groups were

mentioned.

QUESTION: Why would we want to create an alliance with the Taiwanese entrepreneurs who runs

a factory in Fujian Province?

ANSWER: Mainly because especially because he's a Taiwanese entrepreneur, may be important

to have control, somehow to control them, at least we know what they're doing, have good

relationship with them with entrepreneurs, they are the core. Somehow they are important part of

a country's economy. As they are from Taiwan, it's important for China to always somehow have a

certain degree of control over them, even if it's not a direct control.

And in fact, here we don't see direct control. We see a form of control that is subtle in a way. But

in a speci c case, this is not just a hypothetical control. This form of control can favour economic

interdependence. Also, because I can see that it's not only economic because also, for example,

a YouTube content creator attending a social event organized by the CCP, so it's also the media.

And it's also about religion. Religious groups, because religion is a powerful tool.

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We know it from our history, and also from the history of China. In the imperial period, we know

how religious groups played a fundamental role in destabilising the political order. The most recent

episode being the the Taiping Rebellion, right? But not just in China, also in Europe, in America, in

India, everywhere.

What about us? I mean, we are not Taiwan, so there is not a claim to uni cation or stu like that.

So why would you need to include an entrepreneur, technology, or otherwise any other sector in

Milan, an Italian entrepreneur in the United Front? Why would that be useful?

ANSWER: to have some allies in Europe. And also because Italy has relations with the USA.

TEACHER: Also, you mean to use them as a bridge? It's something that is quite plausible and

actually happens that you can use people as a bridge or as a channel of information because

historically Italy has been an ally of the United States, and there is also another dynamic that

makes this speci c example or hypothesis a bit more complicated. During the Cold War, our

country, Italy, used to talk to both the United States and the Soviet Union. When we were not in

the same situation as Austria, Vienna was used to be full of spies, but we were a country where

information ows coming from both sides of the Cold War could circulate more or less freely.

To systematise the little discussion we just had, what do you get in return if you build alliances

with religious groups, entrepreneurs, journalists, etc:

•information;

•a support,

form of because after all, we are talking about

an alliance. The reason why you build alliances is because

you want to have friends that can help you when you are

in need;

•there is the political return that everyone immediately

control,

mention: management, and so on, and so forth.

There's something that I want to say about information.

When you conceive of the United Front, or also when you

see the United Front dynamics in action, and you think

about information, what are we talking about? This is

de nitely not spying. So a united front dynamic does not involve espionage or the acquisition of

information that is somehow secret. In 99% of the cases, the information that is that ows that

circulates in a United Front dynamic is public, but is local specialized knowledge. It's a knowledge

that those who are outsiders of a political system do not always possess, or if they possess it,

they possess it in a very abstract way.

QUESTION: So, what type of information am I talking about? Let's take another example about

Italy, because this mechanism has got a de nite transnational dimension, not just the domestic

one.

When will the next elections be held? Next year.

Who are the runner runner-up parties to the election? In the United Front, we know all of them, but

there is one speci c political actor that I may know in the abstract because I read about it from

the newspapers, and I want to understand how are how big are the chances of this political party

to win the elections, and I might want to understand who a certain “general” (Vannacci) and what

he intends to do? Should he be elected? Is he favorable to China? Is he against China? Who is

this person? This is by no means secret information, and this is an information that you guys

know have, without realizing it, and you have this information by just you know doing what you

normally do and being attentive to what goes on around you. So this is really trivial information.

Then, of course, there is also information about preferences, and we come to support. Notice that

these three goals are quite obvious, easy to understand. They are not mutually exclusive. So, in a

United Front type of relational dynamic, you got information, support and control all together. Or

you could also have just one of them or two of them. It doesn't matter. It depends on what you

know. It depends on who you are. It depends on what you do.

To give you an idea of the scope of this dynamic: 2015

regulations on United Front work. This is a piece of party

regulation. The party can create its own rules. They are not

state law, they are rules enacted by the Chinese

Communist Party, and this is one of them. A piece of

regulation de ning the scope of the United Front work. So

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