Two Examples Of The Kind Of “Game On” Activity The Communist Party Of China Is Engaging In During This March-April
By Michael Sacharski
Further to our recent IBCircle discussion on how March-April 2023 will be Round 1 in the next U.S.-China challenge (see presentation attached), here are two articles that serve as examples of the kind of “Game On” activity the Communist Party of China (CPC) engages in during the months of March-April following the quinquennial meeting of the CPC Party Congress the in October-November the year before:
Foreign Affairs - Xi Jinping Says He Is Preparing China for War, The World Should Take Him Seriously, March 29, 2023
Financial Times - ‘Dare to fight’: Xi Jinping unveils China’s new world order, March 29, 2023
The type of Xi rhetoric addressed in these two articles is to be expected. These proclamations fall into, or stretch over, three categories: co-operation – competition – confrontation.
It reflects the confidence a new five-year CPC regime has after the fall Congress meeting (2022) and rubber-stamping by the ‘Liang Hui”, two sessions meetings (2023), the following March. These type of speeches / announcements indicate how the Party is going to benchmark its progress for the next five years. Central to this year’s theme is 1) the widening competition gap between China-led and U.S.-led coalitions respectively…China must prepare to endure the conflict….and 2) the 2027 year-long centennial celebration of the founding of the CPC’s “armed wing”, the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA).
These Game On pronouncements are for multiple audiences both in China and around the world. In today’s sophisticated marketing environment, the Party has already collected deep-data sets on how Xi’s remarks have been received by these respective audience groups. This feedback will drive decisions about what to do next.
Game On includes dueling market research methods, analysis and targeted public relations as well.
About Michael Sacharski:
Michael Sacharski is an IBCircle member and the Founder and Managing Director of Pacific Enterprise Capital International.
His China career spans over 30 years of living, working and more recently traveling back and forth to China. He has an unbroken string of on-the-ground work experience across China’s modern development trajectory from post-Cultural Revolution devastation to today’s position as a global giant conducting sophisticated transactions around the world. Michael has directly negotiated joint ventures, managed companies, funded enterprises and contributed to policy development in China’s Information Communications Technology (ICT) field. He has day-to-day work experience at multiple levels including rural ‘grass-roots’ to factory-floor to C-level executive suite. He has worked with township - municipal – provincial – national entities as well as a variety of functional ministries, leading government officials and top Communist Party members.
In 1984, Michael founded and self-funded Multicom, Inc., a market-entry service to American companies exporting to China. In 1992, he became the Beijing-based Asia – Pacific director for Comstream Corporation (San Diego,) an innovative and early U.S. venture capital funded provider of next- generation satellite communication systems. After taking Comstream from unknown to #1 in the China market, Michael subsequently became China chief representative in 1995 for U.S. telecom giant GTE (now Verizon.) He successfully negotiated and was on the board of directors of China’s first Sino-foreign nation-wide wireless joint venture. In 1999, he returned to his entrepreneurial roots when he founded Pacific Enterprise Capital, a provider of business development services and funding for Chinese high-tech start-up companies. In 2011, Pacific Enterprise Capital was reorganized as Pacific Enterprise Capital International to pursue business opportunities in Asia and the United States.
Michael, a political scientist by training, has acquired on-the-job technical knowledge, company operations experience and leadership in innovative technology applications across China’s ICT industry including: wireless / 5G, satellite communications, data center / data management services; E-commerce operations including credit card certification authority platforms, Internet of Things (IoT) and the many technology and business components making up the aggregate field known as Technology-Media-Telecommunications (TMT).
Michael has also conducted ICT-related business in Japan, the Republic of Korea, Southeast Asia, India and Pakistan.