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| Click above for the WayBack Machine archive of Document 9 |
Re-Posted because it's come up recently in email discussions with an Occasional Reader.
This goes back to 2013, soon after Xi Jinping took power, which I wrote about here.
The Document shows the explicit animus to the west, to the west's ideas and to the values of the west.
Document 9, officially titled "Communiqué on the Current State of the Ideological Sphere," is an internal Chinese Communist Party (CCP) directive issued in April 2013, shortly after Xi Jinping became General Secretary of the CCP in November 2012. It is widely believed to reflect Xi's ideological stance and has been linked to his administration's approach to governance, though it’s unclear if he personally authored it. The document was not intended for public release but was leaked and later published by overseas Chinese media, notably Mingjing Magazine, and translated into English by outlets like ChinaFile.
The document outlines seven "perils" or "false ideological trends" that the CCP views as threats to its authority. These include:
- Western Constitutional Democracy: Seen as an attempt to undermine the CCP's leadership and the system of "socialism with Chinese characteristics," including ideas like separation of powers and independent judiciaries.
- Universal Values: Concepts such as freedom, democracy, and human rights, which the document claims are pushed by the West to weaken the CCP's theoretical foundation.
- Civil Society: Viewed as a Western idea that prioritizes individual rights over state control, threatening the Party's social dominance.
- Neoliberalism: Criticized as an effort to alter China’s economic system through unchecked market forces.
- Freedom of the Press: Labeled as "Western news values" that could destabilize Party control over information.
- Historical Nihilism: Rejecting or questioning the CCP’s official narrative of its past, which the Party sees as an attack on its legitimacy.
- Questioning Reform and Opening: Challenging the Party’s interpretation of its economic policies in light of Western standards.
Document 9 emphasizes the need for strict ideological control, particularly over media, education, and the internet, to counter these perceived threats from "Western anti-China forces" and domestic dissent. It calls for unwavering Party loyalty and warns against the spread of ideas that could lead to political liberalization or a "color revolution."
The directive reflects Xi’s broader agenda of consolidating power, reinforcing Party discipline, and resisting Western influence—a shift from the relatively more open atmosphere under his predecessors.
A notable consequence of its leak was the arrest of Gao Yu, a 71-year-old Chinese journalist, who was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2015 for allegedly leaking the document to foreign media, charged with disclosing state secrets. Her case underscored the sensitivity of Document 9 and the lengths to which the CCP would go to suppress its dissemination.
Since its issuance, Document 9 has been seen as a blueprint for Xi’s tightening grip on Chinese society, marking a turn toward greater authoritarianism. It has influenced policies like increased censorship, crackdowns on dissidents, and the reinforcement of Party control over all aspects of public life, setting the tone for Xi’s leadership over the past decade.
