China’s leadership is set for a reshuffle at the upcoming 20th national congress of Communist Party of China (CPC), starting on Oct 16
The seventh plenary session of the ruling party’s 19th CPC Central Committee began on Sunday at the Great Hall of People in Beijing and will make final arrangements for its twice-a-decade party congress where President Xi Jinping is expected to secure a third five-year term as party general secretary breaking the precedent of two terms and the retirement age. At present Mr. Xi holds three key positions: General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, Chairman of the Central Military Commission, and President of China.
About 2300 delegates have gathered in Beijing for the crucial meeting where the key party positions and the Central Military Commission positions will be filled. The delegates will also approve a new list of members for the Central Committee, the party’s top leadership body made up of about 300 political elites. A day after the congress, at the first plenary session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, those committee members will select the 25-member Politburo and its Standing Committee – the apex of Chinese politics, which currently has seven members.
Experts said, this set up of power distribution is according to the present trend, however, looking at the current trend of breaking the precedents, a new leadership architecture cannot be ruled out given the opaqueness of the Chinese politics. It is yet uncertain what all titles Mr. Xi will carry or will there be a new title commensurate to his “status and authority in the party”. They added that the most important decisions are usually made ahead of the party congress, and the congress is largely a formal occasion to legitimize and communicate those decisions to delegates.
The composition of the new leadership would reflect the control Chinese President Xi Jinping, 69, and his ideology commands, who – experts say – has accumulated power unseen since Mao’s time as he removed the mandatory retirement age for him by constitutional amendment in 2018 and neutralized the opposing factions through his anti-corruption campaign under which millions of officials have been purged.
Appointments to central government positions, including the premier, vice-premiers and ministers, will be finalized in March during the annual session of the National People’s Congress, the country’s top legislature. One of the most closely watched changes in the political reshuffle is the future of Premier Li Keqiang who has announced his retirement as Premier. Mr. Li has been in charge of mapping out China’s economic policies specially as Chinese economy has been facing serious challenges due to an inflexible zero COVID policy stalling economic activities leading to a loss of confidence for foreign businesses in Chinese economy.
In the run-up to the congress, Chinese authorities and the state propaganda are drumming up nationalistic sentiment as entire campaign is based around Xi’s personality and the last decade under his rule. Beijing’s roads in prominent places are decked up with banners hailing a “New Era” in China’s history. Repeatedly, Mr. Xi has been referred to be at the “core of the Chinese Communist Party” by the state media. According to reports, The Communist Party is expected to amend its constitution at the upcoming congress to incorporate wording that indicates Xi’s power and authority has been reinforced. At the last national congress in 2017, Xi’s eponymous ideology — “Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era” — was first enshrined in the party constitution at the party’s national congress in October 2017. And then in March 2018, the national constitution was rewritten to scrap the term limits imposed on Chinese presidents. Mr. Xi is only the third leader in modern China to have an ideology in his name after “Mao Zedong Thought” and “Deng Xiaoping Theory”.
The twice a decade congress comes as Mr. Xi faces significant challenges, including deteriorating relations with the US and the western world over a range of issues, as well as an ailing economy amid a strict zero-Covid policy that has attracted international criticism. The continuation of Mr. Xi for a third term and possibly for life, without a challenge, in a move to break norms of collective leadership has also fueled the debate on the future course of his policies which he dogmatically followed despite criticisms and controversies, e.g. his “zero COVID” policy which has crippling effect on economy or his tech crackdown or his aggressive foreign policies.
