About 2,300 delegates gathered in Beijing’s grand Hall of the People, gilded with banners bearing the party’s signature red and gold slogans of the “Great, Glorious and Correct Chinese Communist Party”.
The week-long congress is a show of unity and strength of the party, which includes carefully screened delegates from all provinces of China.
It is also a display of loyalty to Xi personally, with the 69-year-old hoping to secure a third term as general secretary of the Communist Party, scrapping leader succession norms prevalent since the 1990s.
‘Uncle Xi’ to the supreme ruler
In his first years as China’s leader, Xi Jinping paid for his own steamed dumplings at a cheap dinner, casually rolled up the legs of his trousers to avoid splashing in the rain, and played sweet pop tunes. drenched with His image makers cast him as “She Dada,” the resolute but friendly “Uncle She” of the people.
A decade later, Xi is ruling the country like a hardened communist emperor, mirroring China’s fallen ancient dynasties and determined to win their lasting dominance in a turbulent world.
Chinese officials praise his speeches like sacred texts, claiming loyalty with a fervor that sometimes echoes Mao Zedong’s era. Making fun of Xi in private could lead to jail. His public meetings are regular displays of appreciation.
Over the past decade, Xi has gained power through specific outright moves and gradually over time.
In doing so, he removed China from a tradition of collective leadership, in which the Secretary-General was previously considered the equivalent of the Politburo Standing Committee, which is now widely seen as the supreme leadership.
When the elders chose Xi as leader, the son of a Communist Party revolutionary was seen as a safe choice to put the party first and refresh an institution that had become riddled with corruption and less relevant in a liberal economy. .
Xi’s promotion to the Politburo Standing Committee in 2007 fueled hopes among liberals and Western governments that he might be a reformer. Eventually, his father helped then-leader Deng Xiaoping implement China’s historic reform and open up as party secretary of Guangdong province.
rise of authoritarian
But Xi took his party-saving mandate seriously, putting the party at the center of life in China and himself at the center of the party.
In the name of fighting corruption and restoring public confidence in the party, as of April 2022, 4.7 million officials under Xi had been investigated. Many were ousted, including rivals to power such as the popular former Chongqing Party chief Bo Xilai. Such moves had the advantage of rooting out political enemies and promoting their own people into new vacant jobs – while gaining public support.
Xi also oversaw the quelling of dissent and forbade “derogatory” discussions about the party among members. All comments criticizing Xi were taken off the Internet.
In 2016 he made himself the party’s “core” and in 2018 he scrapped the two-term limit for the presidency, clearing the way for him to rule for life.
Reshaping China’s Army
During his speech at the CPC’s inauguration, Xi warned that China would “not abandon the use of force” to unite Taiwan with mainland and modernize the country’s military to protect national sovereignty, security and security. vowed to advance to world-class standards. developmental interest.
In his decade at the helm, Xi has prioritized security, expanding the state’s economic role, a stronger military, a more assertive foreign policy and intense pressure to seize Taiwan.
China has built the world’s largest navy, revamped the world’s largest standing army, and amassed a nuclear and ballistic arsenal to harass any enemy.
For years, the People’s Liberation Army was viewed by one historian as “the world’s largest military museum” as poorly-equipped and ineffective.
It was outfitted with outdated Soviet-derived weapons, full of corruption and a predominantly infantry force with a less-than-stellar record in foreign operations.
When Xi became commander-in-chief of the PLA in 2013, some reforms were already underway.
But “it wasn’t really until Xi Jinping came into that effort that that effort started to translate into potential”, strategic adviser Alexander Neal told AFP.
Beijing’s military budget has now grown for 27 consecutive years, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
Today, China has two active aircraft carriers, hundreds of long- and medium-range ballistic missiles, thousands of warplanes, and a navy outnumbered by the United States.
China’s nuclear stockpile is growing rapidly and – according to the Pentagon – can now probably be launched from land, sea and air, an echo of the US nuclear triad.
According to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, China has about 350 nuclear warheads, more than twice the amount it had during the Cold War.
US intelligence predicts that this stockpile could double again to 700 by 2027. New nuclear missile silos are being built in the north-west of the country.
Tractor apprehension
With unprecedented military expansion, China has seized most of the South China Sea and seeks to dominate the Indian Ocean region.
China’s expansionist behavior has forced countries such as the US, India, Japan and Australia to form a quad coalition together, which is seen as a countermeasure to Beijing.
In a report submitted to the CPC on Sunday, Xi said China opposes all forms of unilateralism and the formation of blocs and special groups targeted against particular nations. This indicated Beijing’s strong opposition to groups such as the Quad.
China is opposing the formation of the Quad coalition including the US, India, Australia and Japan in addition to AUKUS – an alliance of Australia, Britain and the US, saying these groups aim to stifle Beijing’s rise.
The Quad advocates the need to ensure a free, open and prosperous Indo-Pacific in the backdrop of China’s increasing military maneuvers in the region. The US had said that AUKUS would act as a “substantial deterrent” against Chinese aggression in the Pacific.
focus on economic development
Despite analysts expecting a greater focus on national security, Xi reiterated that economic development is the Communist Party’s “top priority”, a sign that Beijing will continue to prioritize development.
Xi was stressing the need to balance security concerns with economic growth from 2020 onwards, prompting some analysts to suggest that Xi may drop the growth-first slog on Sunday.
Sticking to the party’s stance, Xi signaled no major change in economic goals, a move that would ease concerns about policy changes.
Xi’s remarks come at a particularly alarming time for China, with its slowest economic growth in four decades, the continued lockdowns of COVID policy, the crisis in the property sector and the impact of his 2021 impact on the once-freewheeling “platform”. dragged off.” economy”, as well as global headwinds.
Economists predict China’s growth will slow to just 3.3% this year, much weaker than the official target of around 5.5%.
This would be the biggest lapse since the government set GDP targets in the early 1990s.
A strong rebound will depend on how quickly China eases its zero-tolerance approach to COVID-19.
(with inputs from agencies)