A summit of the Communist Party of China (CPC) elite opened behind closed doors in Beijing on Monday as President Xi Jinping looks to secure both his legacy and future as China’s leader for a third term in 2022.
The detailed agenda of the four-day meeting is secret but what is known is that on Monday Xi delivered a work report on behalf of CPC Central Committee’s powerful Politburo and explained a “…draft resolution on the major achievements and historical experience of the CPC’s 100 years of endeavours”.
Interestingly, at a similar plenum in 2016, a year ahead of the once-in-five-year CPC congress, the party had anointed Xi Jinping as the “core” putting him at par with Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping, two of Communist China’s iconic leaders.
{{/usCountry}}Interestingly, at a similar plenum in 2016, a year ahead of the once-in-five-year CPC congress, the party had anointed Xi Jinping as the “core” putting him at par with Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping, two of Communist China’s iconic leaders.
{{/usCountry}}“Chinese people who had suffered subjugation and bullying since the advent of modern times had stood up. The Chinese nation is advancing toward modernisation on all fronts and socialism has blazed a successful trail in the world’s most populous country,” an October statement by politburo had said, giving context to the ongoing meeting.
The resolution - only the third such document in CPC’s history -- document is set to look back at key events in the party’s 100-year history, “…reinforce unity among the party and strengthen the authority and leadership of the CPC central committee with Xi at its core, as well as determine the party’s direction for the next few decades”, Chinese political analysts told official media.
Cutting through CPC jargon and clutter, at the end of the four-day meeting on Thursday, Xi is expected to emerge as a leader at par with Mao and Deng.
“At the 6th plenum, opening today in Beijing, the Chinese Communist Party will pass its third resolution on history. But all of the verbiage in the important document to be released this week will boil down to a simple political fact: XI Jinping will lead the party for years to come,” David Bandurski, editor at the University of Hong Kong’s China Media Project wrote.
“The “resolution” will be unveiled in full to the world, so that we can all pick apart its finer points - beyond, that is, Xi Jinping’s blunt claim to power,” Bandurski wrote.