Month: October 2022

THE CHOREOGRAPHY of the Chinese Communist Party’s five-yearly congress has hardly changed in recent decades. It begins with the party chief delivering a stodgy, often impenetrable report to the 2,300 or so party delegates present. During the week these delegates echo their leader’s views and vote for a new Central Committee, a body comprising about 370 high-ranking officials, military commanders and other grandees. It all ends with a big reveal of the party’s apex decision-making body, the Politburo Standing Committee. All in all, it is a rather dull affair. This…

Advertisement President Xi Jinping, China’s most powerful leader in decades, increased his dominance Sunday when he was named to another term as head of the ruling Communist Party in a break with tradition and promoted allies who support his vision of tighter control over society and the struggling economy. Xi, who took power in 2012, was awarded a third five-year term as general secretary, discarding a custom under which his predecessor left after 10 years. The 69-year-old leader is expected by some to try to stay in power for life.…

Abbreviations CCDI: Central Commission for Discipline Inspection CCP: Chinese Communist Party CMC: Central Military Commission CPPCC: Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference CYL: Communist Youth League NDRC: National Development and Reform Commission NPC: National People’s Congress PLA: People’s Liberation Army PRC: People’s Republic of China PSC: Politburo Standing Committee South China Morning Post

<!– *Reached retirement age or moved to ceremonial post –> Abbreviations CCDI: Central Commission for Discipline Inspection CCP: Chinese Communist Party CMC: Central Military Commission CPPCC: Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference CYL: Communist Youth League NDRC: National Development and Reform Commission NPC: National People’s Congress PLA: People’s Liberation Army PRC: People’s Republic of China PSC: Politburo Standing Committee South China Morning Post

Today Xi Jinping became the first leader since Mao to be chosen as party chief for a third term. In his decade at the top, he has centralised power in his own hands, ruthlessly eliminated rivals, promoted a cult of personality, shut down criticism, and had his ideology – Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era – enshrined in the constitution. He is known, only half-jokingly, as the Chairman of Everything. BBC

As the party’s political theorist, Wang is considered to be the brains behind many Communist Party concepts, including the ideologies for three leaders: the Three Represents of Jiang Zemin, the Scientific Outlook on Development of Hu Jintao, and Xi Jinping Thought. China’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative was also believed to be his idea. BBC

Then newly elected vice chairmen of the Central Military Commission, Xu Qiliang (foreground) and Zhang Youxia (third left) with CMC members (from left) Zhang Shengmin, Li Zuocheng, Wei Fenghe and Miao Hua swear an oath on the constitution at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing in March 2018. Photo: EPA-EFE South China Morning Post