A look at the Xi Jinping book that PDP-Laban members took home

MANILA, Philippines — A delegation from China held a symposium on Tuesday at an upscale hotel in Manila during the 36th anniversary of the Philippines’ ruling party, PDP-Laban, and, interestingly, the Chinese brought 600 copies of a new book praising Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

 

The book, "Xi Jinping: The Governance of China Volume II," covers 17 topics and comprises 99 of Xi's speeches, conversations, instructions and correspondence, as well as 29 photos of the Chinese president.

 

Tuesday's symposium aimed to introduce "Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era" to the Philippines' ruling party, China’s state-run news agency Xinhua reported.

 

The event in Manila happened as Xi reportedly kicks into propaganda overdrive to counter rare dissent triggered by the Communist Party of China's proposal to remove the two-term limit for presidents.

 

According to Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III, also president of the ruling PDP-Laban party, the books were given away during the PDP Laban's anniversary celebration.

 

The Chinese delegation was led by Guo Yezhou, vice minister of the International Department of the Central Committee of the CPC.

 

"They were given as gift by CPC to PDP for our members," Pimentel said in an interview, adding that the book was about Xi's political doctrine, which PDP-Laban wants to imitate.

According to a February 26 report by the New York Times, the Chinese leader's popular political thought outlines how to consolidate power at three levels: the nation, the party and in Xi himself. 

 

Among the items in the 14-point basic policy of Xi Jinping thought are "ensuring party leadership over all work" and "upholding absolute party leadership over the [military]."

 

Aside from keeping Xi in power, the CPC's central committee is also pushing for the inclusion of Xi's political ideology into China's constitution.

 

"It (Xi Jinping Thought) is not automatically applicable to us here in the Philippines. So the challenge is for us to look at the CPC experience and find out what we can also implement here in the Philippines," Pimentel explained.

 

"[The] CPC has lifted out of poverty around 10 million Chinese a year. That's what we want to emulate. We want to know how they were able to do it," he added.

 

The Congress of the Philippines is now focusing on changing the constitution to create a federal system, one of Duterte's key election platforms and a move that PDP-Laban heavily supports.

 

PDP-Laban also has party-to-party relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin's United Russia as part of their support for President Rodrigo Duterte's independent foreign policy, Pimentel said.

 

Last month, Pimentel defended PDP's cozying ties with the CPC, saying that members of the Philippines' reigning political party were "exposing [themselves] to the policy of the Chinese communist party's all-out war against corruption.”

 

"There wasn't even a mention of what communism is all about," he added then.

The second volume of Xi's "Governance of China" was published in both Chinese and English in November last year, with China's party-run media claiming the book has been a hit both at home and abroad.

 

It was among the scores of works published in China that trumpets the achievements of the Chinese leader amid mounting questions about the extent of Communist Party propaganda.

 

According to Xinhua, Xi's latest work is "also expected to help the international community better understand the path, concept and model of China's development."

 

Xinhua also reported that as of August last year, the first volume of the book, which was released in 2014, had sold 6.42 million copies in 21 languages "in more than 160 countries and regions."

 

The first volume of Xi’s book on governance was republished last January "amid worldwide demand," Chinese media said, although on Amazon, the book is 336,421st in the website's February 28 bestsellers ranking.