U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has issued a guideline on China-related terminology, instructing America’s diplomats to draw a clearer distinction between the Chinese nation and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which has run the country since seizing power there in 1949.
“In recent guidance on China-related terminology, Secretary of State Marco Rubio instructs U.S. embassies and consular posts to use more specific descriptors and avoid ‘Chinese’ as an adjective when its use could imply a negative connotation of the Chinese people, culture or language more broadly,” as reported by U.S. state-sponsored outlet Voice of America.
VOA had obtained an internal document describing the new guideline, which calls for the State Department to use “CCP” in public speeches and press events to discuss actions taken by Beijing.
This recognizes “that the CCP holds ultimate authority over political, economic, military and many other decisions in the country,” VOA wrote on Monday, March 3.
VOA’s report follows a shift on the State Department website, which replaced “People’s Republic of China” with just “China.”
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Mainland China and Hong Kong are officially administered as the People’s Republic of China (PRC), which has a civil government, national people’s congress, court system, and other institutions, but these are all functionally subordinated to the CCP, which forms a parallel power structure and retains complete control over the Chinese military.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping concurrently holds the post of PRC President, as well as CCP General Secretary.
Per Marco Rubio’s new guidance, Xi should no longer be referred to as “President” in State Department parlance, but “General Secretary,” reflecting the absolute rule of the CCP in Chinese politics.
Leaders of the former Soviet Union were also referred to as “General Secretary,” as opposed to their nominal government titles.
The State Department’s clarification is line with the practice adopted by the first Trump administration (2017–2021). Starting in late 2018, the State Department began to consciously differentiate the CCP regime and its Marxist ideology from the Chinese people, nation, and culture as a whole.
The CCP presents itself as the legitimate representative of the over 1 billion Chinese people, and interprets the thousands of years of Chinese history and national identity through the lens of Marxist doctrine. It also tends paints all criticism of its leadership as “anti-China” or “hurting the feelings of” the Chinese people.
