OPINION – Prelude to Chinas 20th Party Congress – Macau Business

Prior to the opening of the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) on the morning of October 16, two important meetings were held, including the Seventh Meeting of the 19th Central Discipline Inspection Committee (CDIC) on October 7, and the Seventh Meeting of the 19th Central Committee (CC). The two meetings of the CDIC and CC were politically significant, laying the foundation of the 20th Party Congress.

The SeventhMeeting of the 19th CDIC witnessed the participation of 129 CDICmembers, while four members were absent including the suddenly passed awaymayor of Tianjin, Liao Guoxun, and the state food and strategic reserveadministration chief, Zhang Wufeng, who was under investigation.

A 256-word reportwas issued after the CDIC meeting, saying that it promoted high qualitydevelopment of discipline inspection work in a new era, that its membersstudied and implemented Xi Jinpings new era socialism thought during the newera, that it implemented the strategy of self-revolutionary strategy byprotecting the authority of the Party and centralizing the Party leadership,and that the committee resolutely and seriously governed the Party. The CDICalso plays the role of supervision, safeguard and implementation from theperspective of national work, thereby forcefully and effectively serving andprotecting the big circumstances of modernization and construction.

The reportmentioned that from 2018 to 2020, about 189,000 cases of disciplines in dealingwith poverty areas and partys work style were investigated, includingdisciplinary action against 95,300 members who had problematic discipline, and embracingpenalties targeted at 92,700 party members who were involved in corruptionduring poverty alleviation work. From the 19th Party Congress toApril 2022, altogether 496,000 cases were investigated, involving 456,000 CPCofficials who were punished. The CDIC utilized not only political supervisionbut also regular inspections to build up a database on disciplinary issues.

During the XiJinping era, China has been working strenuously to pursue and punish corruptparty members through the diligent work of the CDIC. If anti-corruptioncampaigns are a hallmark of China under Xi Jinping, they have importantimplications. Officials involved in corruption, bribery and abuse of power wereremoved from office or punished. The CPC, according to Xi Jinping, mustmaintain its purity against the corrupt elements, who must be rooted out, punishedand purged. In his writings and speeches, Xi Jinping attached foremostimportance to the purification of the superstructure, which includes ideas,culture and art, which have to be socialized and remoulded in such a way as tomaintain the socialist ideology of the entire nation. As he said in the 18thParty Congress in 2012, anti-corruption is an important political strugglethat cannot and should not be lost. Corrupt party members were punished andpurged in the past, including former secretary of the central political andlegal affairs commission Zhou Yongkang, former Chongqing party secretary BoXilai, former Chongqing party secretary Sun Zhengcai, and former chief of theChief Office of CPC Ling Jihua.

If rectification campaigns were launched by CPC leader Mao Zedong in the past to identify, marginalize and root out those elements opposing Maos policies, anti-corruption campaigns have been fully utilized by President Xi and his supporters to eliminate all those rotten apples delegitimizing the CPC. President Xi has often mentioned the need to struggle in his recent speeches, meaning that the CPC must undergo permanent struggles against its own enemies, especially those corrupt party members who discredited the CPC and who failed to uphold the highest values of clean governance as demanded by the Party.

The CDIC meetingwas followed by another important CC meeting on October 9, during which the CPCGeneral Secretary Xi Jinping delivered a work report and in which PolitburoStanding Committee member and ideological architect Wang Huning explained the amendmentsto be made to the draft constitution of the CPC. The official media did notmention the details of the amendments.

However, it wasexpected that Wang might formulate some new developments of the Partystheoretical innovation. So far, the CPCs Party Constitution was amended for tentimes from 1987 to the 19th Party Congress in 2017.

As early asAugust, 2022, CPC General Secretary Xi Jinping mentioned that since the 18thParty Congress, the Party and the national enterprises had already madehistorical achievements and historical changes as well as reforms. Moreover,the CPC has succeeded in promoting and developing the Chinese style ofmodernization.

In recent weeks,the CPC Publicity Department has shown two CCTV television programs, includingholding the rudder and steering far away and scientific directions. Theprogram on holding the rudder and steering far away emphasized Xi Jinping asa core leader, while scientific directions centres on Xi Jinpings thought.Hence, President Xi as providing core leadership and his thought are expectedto be highlighted in the 20th Party Congress.

The SeventhMeeting of the CC was opened in Beijing on October 9 and was closed on October12. According to Sing Tao Daily in Hong Kong (Sing Tao Daily, October10, 2022, p. A12), two protections would likely be written into theamendments of the Party Constitution, including (1) resolutely protectingGeneral Secretary Xi Jinping as the core of the Party Centre and his corestatus in the whole Party, and (2) resolutely protecting the Party Centresauthority and centralized and united leadership. Moreover, the PartyConstitution would likely incorporate the description of Chinas completereunification, implying that some important statements on Taiwan would bemade.

Naturally, the Party Congress will emphasize the success andachievements of the CPC. In late July, when General Secretary Xi Jinpingdelivered a speech to the leading cadres who would participate in the 20thParty Congress, he had already mentioned that the CPC overcame manydifficulties, achieved many matters, and resisted lots of challenges, includingthose challenges from politics, economics, ideologies, the natural environment.He added that the new era of China in these ten years has witnessed greatchanges and reforms and that the Chinese national development has a watershedsignificance in the history of the Party, the history of new China, the historyof reform and openness, the history of socialism, and the history of thedevelopment of the Chinese nation.

On October 15, General Secretary Xi Jinping is holding a preparatorymeeting of the 20th Party Congress. The preparatory meeting isexpected to approve the composition of the Presidium of the 20thParty Congress, including the lists of chairpersons, executive committeemembers and secretaries. It remains to be seen whether the Presidium of thechairpersons would include the former President and CPC General Secretary JiangZemin and former leader Hu Jintao.

According to SingTao Daily (October 15, 2022, p. A4),Guangxi representatives who went to Beijing had already been mobilized tounderstand two affirmations, namely Xi Jinping as the core leader of the Partycentre and the leading position of Xi Jinping new era Chinese socialismthought. The Liberation Daily also said that the representatives attending the20th Party Congress will in their thought, in politics and inaction maintain high unity with the idea of Comrade Xi Jinping as the Partycentres core. These two affirmations are expected to be written into theamendments of the Party Constitution.

Another focus of the mainland, regional and international media will bethe membership of the Politburo Standing Committee (PSC), which currently hasseven members. All eyes are focusing on who will be the new blood beingnominated and appointed into the PSC. Ding Xuexiang, the 60-year-old directorof the CPC General Office, appears to be a rising star with tremendous loyaltyto the Party. He has already pledged his allegiance to General Secretary XiJinping. The role of the director of the CPC General Office was traditionallyimportant, including former Premier Wen Jiabao and former PSC member ZengQinghong, who dealt with the daily but important Party and state affairs. Dingas a close protg and aid to CPC General Secretary Xi Jinping has a highchance of being groomed as one of the successors to Xi. Another strongcandidate is Hu Chunhua, who is only 59 years old and who has been adopting alow profile, but he is endowed with rich administrative experiences in Tibet,Inner Mongolia, and Guangdong. Hu would likely have a good chance of succeedingLi Keqiang as the next premier.

In conclusion, the political prelude and etiquette leading to the 20thParty Congress have already been completed. The 20th Party Congressis expected to be the most important event in China under the Xi Jinping era,partly because it will show how the Party Constitution will be amended and partlybecause the potential successors to General Secretary Xi in the coming yearswould emerge in the new composition of the PSC. Most importantly, GeneralSecretary Xi Jinpings core leadership and thought would likely be incorporatedinto the amendments of the Party Constitution, thereby consolidating thelegitimacy of the CPC leadership, and endowing with him a very high degree ofrespect and dignity as with the previous CPC leaders Mao Zedong and DengXiaoping.

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OPINION - Prelude to Chinas 20th Party Congress - Macau Business