On January 7, the Standing Committee of the Communist Party’s Politburo held its first meeting of 2021, with party media reports allegedly leaking hidden concerns in Zhongnanhai.
According to a press release by the Communist Party’s Xinhua News Agency, the Standing Committee of the CPC Political Bureau heard reports or reports on the work of the top-level so-called six organs of power during the all-day meeting on the 7th.
These bodies are the Standing Committee of the Communist Party’s National People’s Congress, the State Council, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, the Supreme Court, the Supreme Procuratorate, and the Central Secretariat, the office of the Standing Committee of the Communist Party’s Politburo.
In the short reports in the party media, the words “firmly uphold the authority and centralized leadership of the Party Central Committee” and “firmly uphold Xi Jinping‘s …… position as the core of the Party Central Committee and the core of the entire Party” appear repeatedly. The words “firmly uphold the centralized and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee” and “firmly uphold the core of Xi Jinping and the core position of the whole Party” are repeated. The report or report on the work of these institutions is an institutional arrangement to uphold the authority and centralized and unified leadership of the CPC Central Committee, and it also claims to affirm the effectiveness of the six institutions in upholding Xi Jinping’s core position.
Current affairs commentator Zhong Yuan writes that this shows that maintaining Xi’s core is the focus of this meeting, which also reveals the hidden worries of the CCP’s top management.
In fact, the so-called Politburo Standing Committee meeting to listen to reports, or the actual Xi Jinping himself to listen to the Standing Committee, Li Keqiang in charge of the State Council, also including Vice Premier Han Zheng, Li Zhanshu in charge of the National People’s Congress, Wang Yang in charge of the CPPCC, Wang Huning in charge of the Central Secretariat, Zhao Leji in charge of the Discipline Inspection Commission. It is equivalent to each Politburo Standing Committee reporting to Xi Jinping.
According to Zhong Yuan, this is another example of Xi Jinping’s central position in the Standing Committee of the CPC Politburo. Perhaps there are indeed some differences in the top echelons of the CCP, or perhaps Xi still feels insecure, or perhaps both, which is why the first Politburo Standing Committee meeting of the opening year repeatedly emphasized the topic of authority and centrality.
The meeting again emphasized the “four self-confidences”, indicating that the top echelon of the CPC is clearly not confident enough. The fact that the core is constantly highlighted in the customary work report reveals Xi Jinping’s concern about authority.
In addition, the core of the CCP does not seem to be proposing any big plans for the start of 2021, perhaps waiting for solid news from the United States. The CCP’s top brass is more concerned about the core position. The actual exposure of the CCP’s top brass’ concern about the instability of power. Once again, the top brass did not mention the epidemic, but the rapid spread of the epidemic may only be the beginning. 2020’s problems have not yet been solved, and the top brass should feel that they will face even greater internal and external difficulties in 2021.
Previously, on December 24-25, 2020, the CCP Politburo held a so-called democratic life meeting to make a statement and show loyalty to Xi Jinping. Official media reports show that the members of the Politburo spoke one by one and “conducted a control check as required. Xi Jinping made “comments on the control statements” of the Politburo members. Xi also asked the Politburo members to “set an example for the whole party” in “learning to understand, understand and implement” Xi Jinping’s thought.
The Central News Agency said the so-called democratic life meeting is often jokingly referred to as a party gathering that allows members to “bathe and sweat” and make them fearful. In the history of the Chinese Communist Party, “democratic life meetings” have from time to time become a power struggle between factions within the Party, large and small organizations, and have even led to serious consequences of on-the-spot convictions and loss of office.
In the past two years, the CCP has become more openly anti-Communist and anti-Xi, and while the case of Ren Zhiqiang, the second generation of the Red Clique, who was convicted for his words, is still fermenting, the CCP’s Politburo considered a regulation on the protection of the rights of CCP members on Nov. 30 last year, and said it would guide party members to fight against any behavior that could shake the party’s foundation. The full text of the regulation was published on Jan. 4 this year.
The official media focused on Chapter 2, “13 Rights of Party Members,” of the regulation. The 13 rights include the right to be informed, the right to receive education and training, the right to participate in discussions, the right to make suggestions and initiatives, the right to supervise, the right to request recall and replacement, the right to vote, the right to elect and be elected, the right to defend, the right to dissent, the right to request, the right to appeal, the right to sue, and other 13 rights.
However, these so-called rights were already listed in the old version, and the official propaganda was considered by outsiders to be just old wine in a new bottle. The “rights” are in stark contrast to how many Party members’ calls for internal democracy have been handled in recent years.
Cai Xia, a former professor at the CPC Central Party School who was involved in the construction of the CCP’s system and philosophy, told Radio Free Asia that the basic idea of the newly revised regulations promulgated this time is to control the entire party, rather than to truly exercise democratic rights for party members. Cai Xia said that the 90 million members of the Party revolve around a single core, and the Party has become a zombie, and 90 million people have become Party slaves.
In response to the regulation encouraging party members to “speak the truth, tell the truth, and speak from the heart,” Cai Xia questioned how Ren Zhiqiang was victimized.
Under the dictatorship, even the second generation of the Red Generation, such as Ren Zhiqiang, has been severely punished for criticizing Xi Jinping. He was heavily sentenced to 18 years in September last year.
According to China scholar Xue Chi, Xi’s position as the “core” of the Chinese Communist Party is in jeopardy due to the turbulent situation in China and abroad and the treacherous political situation in the Communist Party. Xi is incapable of resolving the crisis, and can only bluff and make some superficial efforts, but he is really strong from the outside.
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