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The 20th Party Congress and the crowning of Xi Jinping

The 20th National Party Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) commenced on 16 October and will run for seven days. The Congress takes place every five years and is the most important political event in the People’s Republic of China.To get more news about 20th party congress china, you can visit shine news official website.

At the Congress the CCP General Secretary, currently Xi Jinping, presents a work report, outlining progress during the previous five years and goals for the next five. The documents are an authoritative insight into the Party’s evolving priorities and strategic goals.

The most important function of the Congress is to oversee the peaceful transition of leadership at the top ranks of the party. This includes the 205 full members and the 171 alternate members of the Central Committee, the 25 members of the Politburo and, most importantly, the currently seven members of the Standing Committee of the Politburo. These are the people who run China — the bureaucracy, key economic institutions, the military and the domestic security apparatus.

Officially, the Party Congress of 2296 delegates elect the Central Committee, which in turn elects the Politburo and the Politburo Standing Committee. In practice the selection flows in the other direction as the slate of candidates nominated for ‘election’ rarely exceeds the number of positions vacant. The top men of the party (there are no women on the Politburo Standing Committee) choose their deputies.

But who chooses the top men — including the General Secretary, the most powerful man in China?

In the wake of the Tiananmen massacre and political crisis Deng Xiaoping chose Shanghai conservative Jiang Zemin to run the Party and the country. Before his death Deng also anointed Hu Jintao as Jiang’s successor and Party elders groomed him for future leadership. But by the time Hu took the reins Deng and other revolutionary elders had died. It is believed that Xi Jinping, the first post-Deng leader not chosen by Deng himself, was chosen through a process of consultation among retired leaders and serving Politburo members. The Party also claimed that it conducted a straw poll of central committee members before choosing Xi and other top leaders. But the process of Xi Jinping’s rapid elevation to the top ranks remains something of a mystery.

What is not a mystery is Xi Jinping’s intentions to break with Party norms and formally install himself as Party boss for a third five-year term at this week’s Party Congress. This comes on the back of a second term in which Xi conspicuously failed to appoint a potential heir to the Politburo Standing Committee. Xi has dispensed with the practice of straw polling of party officials which was used as a reference for choosing Politburo members. Xi now handpicks his Politburo. To ensure his personal domination at the apex of Party power, Xi is not expected to appoint a successor at this week’s Congress, and that would confirm Xi has a fourth term in mind, and maybe even a fifth.

Xi’s manoeuvrings, long in the planning, threaten to upset a bedrock of CCP durability — that is, the Party’s ability to ensure a peaceful and regular transfer of power. His domination also presents a host of potential challenges for China, as Carl Minzner points out in this week’s lead essay.

For Minzner, China’s slide back toward personalistic rule rings alarm bells. First, the quality of decision making deteriorates as sycophants increasingly tell the Supreme Leader what he wants to hear and critical voices are sidelined. Second, the purge of rivals and rival factions does not bring an end to political intrigues: on the contrary, ‘court politics multiply and infect day-to-day operations of the bureaucracy. Officials start to rapidly fall in and out of favour with the paranoid, declining ruler. State policies begin to careen wildly as aides pander to his whims and smear their rivals’.

Minzner notes the perils of strongman rule from China’s own past. Dominant leaders are prone to fomenting internecine conflict when support for their rule wanes, as Mao Zedong did in launching the Cultural Revolution, devastating China’s society and economy in the process. And the inevitable deterioration under one-man rule can of course be seen in Russia under Vladimir Putin. Minzner notes that Putin has had a full quarter-century to ruin Russia, whereas Xi Jinping has so far had only 10 years at the top. The world must prepare itself for another decade of Xi Jinping as China’s supreme leader.

Former Chinese leader Hu Jintao unexpectedly led out of room as Party Congress comes to a close

China's former top leader, Hu Jintao, was unexpectedly led out of Saturday's closing ceremony of the Communist Party Congress, in a moment of drama during what is typically a highly choreographed event.To get more news about china party congress, you can visit shine news official website.

Hu, 79, was seated in a prominent position at the front table in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, directly next to his successor, current leader Xi Jinping, when he was approached by a staff member, video of the meeting shows.

While seated, Hu appeared to talk briefly with the male staff member, while China's third most senior leader, Li Zhanshu, who was seated to his other side, had his hand on the chair behind Hu's back.Hu then appeared to rise after being lifted up by the staff member, who'd taken the former leader by the arm, while Kong Shaoxun, head of the party's secretariat came over. Hu spoke with the two men briefly and initially appeared reluctant to leave.

Hu was then escorted by the two men from his seat, with the staff member holding his arm, as other party members seated behind the main table looked on. The circumstances surrounding Hu's exit are not clear.On his way out, Hu was seen to pause and appeared to say something to Xi and then patted Premier Li Keqiang on the shoulder. Both Xi and Li appeared to nod. It was not clear what Xi said in reply.

At one point, while Hu was still seated, Xi appeared to place his hand over a document that Hu was attempting to reach for preventing him from doing so.

In another moment, after Hu was standing and apparently remonstrating with the two men before making his exit, Li Zhanshu appeared to try and rise from his seat, but was directed back down by a tug on his suit jacket by fellow Politburo Standing Committee member Wang Huning, seated next to him.

Hu, who retired in 2013, has been seen in increasingly frail health in public in recent years.

Due to the opacity of Chinese elite politics, the party is unlikely to offer a public explanation on Hu's sudden exit. The dramatic moment has not been reported anywhere in Chinese media, or discussed on Chinese social media, where such conversation is highly-restricted. But it has set off a firestorm of speculation overseas.Hu's departure came after the Congress's more than 2,000 delegates had rubber-stamped the new members of the party's elite Central Committee during a private session, and before delegates were called on to endorse the party's work report during a session open to journalists.

The newly announced 205-member Central Committee did not include Li Keqiang and fellow Standing Committee member Wang Yang, who are both considered Hu's proteges. This means neither will retain their seats in the Standing Committee, the party's top-decision making body, though both are 67, one year short of the unofficial retirement age. Xi, who is 69, is included in the list of new Central Committee members.

The line-up of the Standing Committee will be revealed Sunday, one day after the close of the Congress. Xi, who is widely seen to have cemented power by eliminating rivals and dampening the lingering influence of party elders, is expected to be re-confirmed as party chief in a norm-breaking move and surround himself with allies.