The top echelon of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) held a four-day session behind closed doors in Beijing this week, with the talks focusing on strict leadership and discipline inside the ruling party. Xi Jinping, who is both the CCP's general secretary and the head of state in China, signaled he would not only deepen the existing anti-corruption effort, but also ensure that party officials demonstrate more loyalty and more initiative at all levels. According to the press release published on Thursday, the committee published a resolution praising the leadership and Xi Jinping for "enormous political courage and strong sense of responsibility" in tackling the issues of corruption and the weakening of the Party's governance.
The statement emphasized the need to "consistently advance comprehensive and strict Party leadership." Kerry Brown, head of the Lau China Institute at King's College London, says Xi wants to minimize potential sources of instability. Amid the current international tensions and the internal problems in China, including economic difficulties, Xi is pursuing his anti-corruption campaign and by demanding loyalty. "This is just going to intensify because if [the CCP] isn't disciplined and united, the party believes that it will go the same way as everywhere else in the world at the moment and become disunited and unstable," Brown told DW.
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Xi also recently spoke of the necessity to identify and remove "two-faced functionaries" from the political system. In his speech, which was published in mid-October by the party's Qiushi Magazine, Xi referred to people professing loyalty to the central leadership while working against its instructions and following their own "individualistic" goals. The Chinese president described them as "political opportunists." He also criticized party officials pretending to be "nice guys," as in, those who use harmony as an excuse to stand aside when problems arise.
Brown points out that China's political system is now facing a crucial dilemma: If officials at all levels are now indeed expected to show innovation and courage in solving problems, the party's control could grow weak. This could, in turn, boost corruption. However, if CCP leaders lean more on the "strict Party leadership" aspect and ramp up the pressure on the rank-and-file, there is also the danger of suppressing initiative.
This could go beyond the party itself and could even affect the military. The party is "very, very risk averse," Brown points out. Chong Ja Ian, a political scientist at the National University of Singapore, notes that party functionaries under Xi only have a limited space to make their own decisions.
Taking this into account, the party's push for individuals to show initiative is not necessarily a major issue. "I believe Xi would like for the officials to act proactively and decisively by conducting specific tasks; but he still doesn't want them thinking for themselves so much that they can question the agenda he prescribed. The 'proactivity' demanded by Xi is limited to the implementation, not decision-making," he told DW.
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