CLAWS China Newsletter I 16 – 30 September 2025

The fortnight from 16 to 30 September 2025 reflected China’s continued consolidation of Party control and strategic signalling across domestic, security, economic, external, and technological domains in the run-up to National Day. Internally, the period saw intensified ideological conditioning through standardised ‘Xi Jinping Thought’ training and new civil affairs directives, underscoring the CCP’s focus on cadre discipline and narrative consistency. White papers on women’s development and Xinjiang reinforced governance legitimacy and social control, while personnel rotations across key bureaucratic portfolios reflected policy recalibration aligned with national priorities.

In the security sphere, a blend of youth militarisation drives, joint exercises, and expanded coast guard activity underlined the PLA’s integrated readiness, mobility, and logistical projection from the South China Sea to the Mekong basin, coupled with soft-power overlays in military health aid and humanitarian outreach. Diplomatically, Beijing deepened engagement with major and regional powers—especially the United States, Russia, and neighbours on the Korean Peninsula—while amplifying UN- and BRICS-linked narratives on multilateralism and reform, though domestic resonance remained limited. Economically, the state tightened supervision over markets, technology, and finance to consolidate control while incentivising green, digital, and dual-use innovation as engines of resilience amid volatile external trade environments. Logistics diversification and payments internationalisation marked efforts to hedge systemic risks and sustain global connectivity. Meanwhile, the science and technology domain showcased advances in fusion research, robotics, and aerospace systems, reinforcing self-reliance through “new quality productive forces” and strategic investment in frontier innovation. Collectively, the reportage reflects Beijing’s synchronised pursuit of ideological conformity, military modernisation, and technological ascendancy, offering insights into China’s evolving governance toolkit and its calibrated response to internal and external pressures in a period of heightened global volatility.