[RED VIEW] Document No. 99
Communiqué on the Current State of the Ideological Sphere
A Notice from the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party’s General Office
February 26, 2025
This notice “A Communiqué on the Current State of the Ideological Sphere” has been approved by the central leadership, and is herewith distributed to provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Party committee, Central ministries and state organs, Party ministries, People’s Liberation Army headquarters, major Party committees, and Party leadership groups of civilian organizations.
This document follows and updates the 9th Communiqué released from this office on April 22, 2013.1
Please thoroughly implement the directions below.
Introduction
Comrades! 同志们！
Since the Party’s Eighteenth National Congress, under the core leadership of General Secretary Xi Jinping, the nation’s ideological foundations have been continuously improving.
We have courageously marched the New Long March in the face of U.S.-led containment, encirclement, and suppression.
We have enforced unification of thought under Xi Jinping Thought, promoted the global political aim of ‘great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation’, increased vigor in the eternal fight against corruption, and expanded positive propaganda across the globe to tell China’s story well.
Our use of TikTok to tell China’s story well and achieve political outcomes in the struggle against capitalism has been particularly praise-worthy.
Our response to secessionist elements in the Chinese territory of Hong Kong was decisive and strong, ensuring we did not repeat Hu Yaobang’s errant permissiveness which led to the events of spring 1989.
We have persisted in upholding scientific development as the main theme, winning the war for key technologies that will allow us to throw off once and for all the global yoke of capitalism.
We have resolutely resisted Taiwan separatists and enhanced our combat effectiveness to prepare to defend our core interests.
Finally, we won the people’s war against Covid-19, ensuring the battle did not result in global scrutiny or domestic instability - we crushed both in turn.
In sum, traitors to the revolution have been punished around the world, creating a powerful deterrent effect to further attacks.
Noteworthy Problems Related to the Current State of the Ideological Sphere
While the Central Committee commends the progress that has been made, we must also clearly see that the ideological struggle has become even more complicated, intense, and even sharp.
Our admirable efforts have not been sufficient to overcome the powerful capitalist forces intent on containing and suppressing China.
Make no mistake, the U.S. isn’t after our tariffs, it is after our very survival.
Currently, the West, led by the U.S., is promoting the following ideological trends against us:
Promoting the ideology of so-called “fair trade” across the global economy, as a way to attack our right to economic development.
The U.S. has been leading a frontal attack on China’s ability to access markets according to our own national economic system. It falsely claims that our government control of the national economy, wielded inside and outside China, has hurt the rights and interests of other countries within the system of so-called “globalization”. It is using this lie as a weapon to suppress us. It aims to deny us the economic access we need to keep the Party strong and in control.
The U.S. is attempting to recruit imperialist lackeys to join in the encirclement and suppression campaign against us, by coercing them into enacting similar economic containment policies.
Promoting historical nihilism, trying to distort Party history and the history of New China.
New political forces in the West, led by the U.S., are disparaging our revolutionary precursors, vilifying the Party’s leaders, and rejecting the objective facts that the Party has led the nation to greater outcomes for the masses.
Some blame the remaining contradictions in New China on the Party itself. They insist that the Party’s reforms are not the right kind of reforms. Really they are just trying to impose western-style reforms on us.
Some people try to separate the period before General Secretary Xi Jinping from the period under his leadership. They say it is Comrade Xi’s will-be-done, not the Party’s. This is an attack on the unbroken red line of Party history.
Some foreign voices are suggesting spheres of influence or a negotiated peace as an alternative to the global victory of communism over capitalism, rejecting the core principle of our Party’s revolutionary ideals.
Infiltrating China’s ideological sphere to challenge our mainstream ideology.
Western anti-China forces and internal “dissidents” are still actively trying to spread western values, such as separation of powers, rule of law, freedom, democracy and human rights. They are cultivating anti-government forces to subvert the Party’s authority.
Western embassies, consulates, media operations, NGOs, so-called due diligence firms, consultancies, and law firms cook up anti-government publications under the guise of “informational bulletins”, “market analysis”, “political risk guidance”, and so-called “news”.
“Dissidents” have activated networks among the overseas Chinese communities. They are partnering with western media and governments to propagate lies and stir up trouble against us. The contest between infiltration and anti-infiltration is as severe as ever, despite our intensified efforts to root out subversion under General Secretary Xi Jinping.
Pay Close Attention to Work in the Ideological Sphere
Historical experience has proven that failures in both the economic sphere and the ideological sphere can result in major disorders. Comrades, we are facing severe challenges in both spheres. Western anti-China forces, led by the U.S., are using ideological attacks to contain and weaken our economy.
You must firmly seize your leadership authority and dominance to resist these attacks. Let those American country bumpkins wail before the 5000 years of Chinese civilization!
This is our battle for Zunyi, a life or death test for the embattled Party.
Just as our revolutionary forefathers were outgunned and surrounded, we too face extreme pressure from external forces intent on destroying us.
We have already resolved to follow the wisdom of the core leader Xi Jinping, just as our revolutionary forefathers threw off the shackles of the disingenuous Soviets and elevated Comrade Mao Zedong to lead us to victory instead. Just as then, our resolve and strategic maneuvering will break the stronghold encirclement of the enemy. Comrades! We will cross the Chishui River and confuse our oppressors four times, five times, six times, as many times as we need to to shake them off. We will seize Loushan Pass and control the high point of Jinshan. Even if we need to strategically maneuver up into the mountains to Yan’an, we will retain our fighting spirit and never, ever allow ourselves to be extinguished by the fascists.
Strengthen your resolve.
At the 6th Plenum of the 19th Central Committee, General Secretary Xi Jinping fortified our Party’s will to resist capitalist pressure. He lauded Comrade Mao Zedong’s bold and decisive pushback against the Americans in the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea. This decision was risky because of the delicate state of the New China. We had barely just evicted the nationalist remnant forces. As General Secretary Xi reminded us, Comrade Mao showed determination and bravery of “do not hesitate to ruin the country internally in order to build it anew”.
The Party’s ultimate objective is the global triumph of socialism with Chinese characteristics under the leadership of the Communist Party of China. This goal requires intense struggle, continual revolution, and the ultimate demise of capitalism. It requires no hesitation to ruin the country internally in order to build it anew. Comrades! Do not hesitate. Smashing the capitalist roaders requires a bitter journey full of hardship and suffering. This is the glorious legacy of our forefathers.
We know the resolve of the Americans is perpetually weakened by their so-called “democracy” and inability to correctly manage public opinion. We have already documented an increase in defeatism and self-doubt, even at the highest levels of American decision-making. The Americans believe they do not have strength to carry on their so-called righteous struggles as before. Western ideology is inherently unstable. We have successfully strengthened ideological unity under the core leadership of Comrade Xi Jinping. Do not waver now that the the hour of trial has come.
Time and historical momentum are still on our side. Just as we waited for the nationalist traitors to rot from their own disorder and corruption, we will again stand firm, aligned to the great communist arc of history. Take courage that the U.S.-led world order has already outlived its usefulness many years ago. It is incapable of addressing the problems of the world today, causing only chaos, color revolutions and instability.
Make ideological work a high priority.
Party leaders must all be aware that our long-term struggle is ideological. That struggle is constant. Focus on ideological work through daily reading, writing, memorization, analysis of new developments, and coordinated responses to resolve all ideological problems.
Continue the Party’s anti-subversion work with vigor and discipline. Spare no one in this time of great national testing.
Forcefully resist false thoughts in the Party and throughout the masses.
People will be susceptible to the false tides of thought during this period of intense struggle. Help fellow Party members and the masses distinguish between truth and falsehood, and solidify their understanding.
Uphold strict and clear discipline, maintain absolute unity with General Secretary Xi Jinping. Do not permit the dissemination of opinions that oppose the Party’s theory or political line, the publication of views contrary to decisions that represent the central leadership’s views, or the spread of political rumors that defame the image of the Party or the nation.
Allow no opportunity for incorrect thinking or viewpoints to spread.
Strengthen guidance of public opinion on the Internet, purify the environment of public opinion on the Internet. Improve and innovate our public management strategies and methods to achieve our goals in a legal, scientific, and effective way.
Western anti-China forces still constantly point the threat of westernizing, splitting, and “color revolutions” at us. We must not let down our guard. We must increase our vigilance. Any westerner in China is a potential threat.
Those who betray national interests and cheer for the enemy at critical moments will never meet a good end and will bear the infamy of history.
The Party will never allow any foreign forces to bully, oppress, or enslave us. Anyone who dares try to do that will have their heads bashed bloody against the Great Wall of Steel forged by over 1.4 billion people!
**Red Views are imaginative pieces of writing intended to portray the Party’s perspective on a certain topic. The content is based on deep research and well-honed judgments about how the Party thinks, speaks, and reacts to its environment. But they are deliberately intended to go beyond available footnotes in order to prepare decision-makers for the unknown future.**
This Red View is inspired by the real-world “Document No. 9”, an internal Party directive released in April 2013 calling for the Party to guard against western ideology subverting the Party’s leadership. Document No. 9 was leaked by a U.S.-based Chinese-language magazine (Mingjing Magazine) in September 2013. The journalist who leaked it was sentenced to 7 years in prison. [See Nov 2013 ChinaFile translation of Doc No. 9 here: https://www.chinafile.com/document-9-chinafile-translation].
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