China's Xi to cement authority, legacy in Communist Party resolution
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[November 02, 2021]
By Yew Lun Tian and Gabriel Crossley
BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese President Xi
Jinping is expected to push through an historical resolution at a key
Communist Party gathering next week, cementing his authority and legacy
and strengthening his case for a precedent-breaking third term starting
next year.
A resolution on the "important achievements and historical experiences
of the party's 100 years of struggle" will be discussed and almost
certainly ratified by the ruling Communist Party's 300-plus member
Central Committee when it meets Nov 8-11 for the sixth and penultimate
plenum of its five-year term.
"This resolution is a further move by Xi to consolidate power and lay
the groundwork for a third term," said Yang Chaohui, who lectures on
political science at Peking University.
The so-called "historical resolution", the text of which has not been
released, will be only the third, with the previous two put forth during
the tenures of Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping.
While Mao and Deng used such resolutions for the party to reflect on
past missteps and criticise members who had taken the wrong path,
analysts expect this one to extol the successes of Xi's era, building
consensus that his is the right path forward for the party and the
country.
It will be all about "praise and self-praise", Deng Yuwen, a former
editor of the Communist Party school newspaper who became a party critic
and is now based in the United States, wrote on Yibao, a website
dedicated to advancing democracy in China.
Xi has established himself as the most powerful Chinese leader since
Mao, doing away with the two-term limit, and is widely expected to be
confirmed for a third five-year term next fall when the Central
Committee convenes for the 20th Party Congress and elects a new
leadership team.
As a prelude to the resolution, the party's propaganda department issued
a document in August detailing the party's "historical missions and
contributions" in the century since its founding, heavily focused on the
governance practices of Xi's tenure.
The Communist Party's publicity department did not immediately respond
to a request for comment.
"The purpose of the resolution is to cement Xi's new approach - and
close the door on Deng's reform era," said Trey McArver, a partner at
Beijing-based consultant firm Trivium.
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A screen displays a CCTV state media news broadcast showing Chinese
President Xi Jinping addressing world leaders at the G20 meeting in
Rome via video link at a shopping mall in Beijing, China, October
31, 2021. REUTERS/Thomas Peter
"This means doubling down on China's one-party
political system, rejiggering the economy to a more high-quality and
inclusive growth model, and being more assertive in global affairs,"
he added.
XI'S WAY
The first "historical resolution" was passed in 1945 - four years
before the People's Republic's founding - and was used by Mao to
condemn rivals with dissenting views, setting the stage for him to
become paramount leader.
The second, in 1981 under Deng, closed the chapter on the turbulent
Cultural Revolution, adjudged Mao's leadership to have been "70
percent right and 30 percent wrong", made capitalism ideologically
acceptable, and laid the groundwork for "reform and opening up".
Since then, China has been transformed, becoming far more globally
integrated and assertive, wealthier, and unequal.
The party's governance style has also shifted.
Deng and his next two successors believed the party must give the
government, economy and society space to grow organically. Xi
famously said in 2017: "east, west, south, north, centre - the party
leads all".
"While every leader from Mao has always upheld the one-party rule,
their notions of how best to govern had been very different," said
Yang.
"Although the upcoming resolution is in name about the success of
the party over the past 100 years, it will ultimately conclude that
the current way, Xi's way, is the right way".
(Reporting by Yew Lun Tian and Gabriel Crossley; Editing by Tony
Munroe and Michael Perry)
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