China’s National People’s Congress and National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) kicked off at 3 p.m. yesterday (4). In response, CNN featured a story titled “Without a successor in sight, Xi Jinping will participate in major party meetings with more power than ever before,” in which Zeng Ruisheng, director of the China Institute at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the University of London, said that barring a major disaster or the death of Xi Jinping himself, “we know exactly who Xi Jinping is. “We know exactly who Xi Jinping’s successor is – Xi Jinping.”
The report mentioned that the two meetings were first postponed last March in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, as Communist Party leader Xi Jinping tried to contain the rapidly spreading Epidemic. This year, however, the outbreak persisted and the two meetings took place in a “triumphant atmosphere for the Chinese Communist Party and Xi Jinping.
According to Zeng Ruisheng, director of the SOAS China Institute, Xi Jinping has succeeded in showing the party and critics that “even an epidemic cannot affect me” in his handling of the epidemic, and that Xi is working to consolidate his position as leader before the party’s centennial and hopes to rank himself alongside Mao Zedong in the history books.
Xi’s term as general secretary will end in November 2022, and by past practice, a clear choice of successor will emerge in the near future. According to Zeng Ruisheng, barring some unanticipated accident, “such as some huge disaster or Xi Jinping’s death or something like that,” there may be only one candidate for now, “and we know exactly who Xi’s successor is, which is clearer than any Time in the past “, Zeng Ruisheng said, “Xi Jinping.”
In addition, on the eve of the centennial of the founding of the Communist Party of China, Xi Jinping launched a “campaign” to study and educate the Party’s history, as reported by Xinhua News Agency on Feb. 24, when the Communist Party’s Leading Group for Party History Study issued a “Notice on Seriously Studying and Implementing General Secretary Xi Jinping’s Important Talk at the Party History Study and Education The notice requires that the entire Communist Party “should unify their thoughts and actions to the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important speech” and “study and implement the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important speech as an important political task at present”. In this regard, it is important to further practice Xi Jinping’s thought of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era.
In this regard, author and political commentator Bill Bishop analyzed that this “campaign” will strengthen Xi Jinping’s position in the history of the Chinese Communist Party, dividing the past 70 years into three eras: the Mao era, the Deng Xiaoping era, and the current Xi Jinping era. Li Mingzhang said, “I don’t think we will ‘erase’ Deng Xiaoping and Mao Zedong, but certainly try to raise Xi Jinping’s status to Mao’s height.” In addition, Li added that Xi’s campaign against corruption since taking office has essentially eliminated potential contenders.
Richard McGregor, a senior researcher at the Lowy Institute, an Australian think tank, said Xi’s mere “refusal to name a successor” has By simply “refusing to name a successor,” Xi has stifled the ambitions of a potential successor. But with a “possible” third term in office, the question is turning to whether Xi will appoint a possible successor next year.
The report notes that China is in the midst of an epidemic that many experts believe could be Xi’s “Chernobyl moment” (a reference to the fallout from the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster that led to the collapse of the Soviet Union), nearly the most vulnerable Xi has been since he took power. But as the epidemic began to abate in China, Xi began to take action to “silence” those who had questioned or criticized his leadership during the epidemic.
In the end, McGregor argues that this is unlikely to change as Xi approaches his third term. “The message from the Communist Party leader is clear: He will no longer tolerate any vocal dissent,” McGregor said. McGregor said.
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