China’s Communist Party declared President Xi Jinping as its “core,” a designation that strengthens his hand ahead of a twice-a-decade power reshuffle next year.
The announcement was made at the end of a four-day party conclave in Beijing, the official Xinhua News Agency said, citing an official communique. The semantic change is significant in China’s elite politics, which has for more than three decades stressed collective leadership to avoid the Mao Zedong-style personality cult blamed for fueling the social chaos of the Cultural Revolution.
The party’s communique called on members to “closely unite around the CPC Central Committee with Xi Jinping as the core.” At the same time, it said collective leadership “must always be followed and should not be violated by any organization or individual under any circumstance or for any reason.”
The gathering is also expected to lay the groundwork for next year’s national congress that will decide major leadership positions and lay out the agenda for Xi’s next five-year term.
While Xi has asserted himself as the most powerful leader in decades, the 6th plenary’s theme indicates that he still faces challenges keeping rank and file party members in line with his signature anti-corruption campaign and other programs aimed at keeping the party at the heart of Chinese political life.
The meeting also highlights the underrepresentation of women in its higher echelons; no women sit on the all-powerful seven-member Politburo Standing Committee and just two are represented in the second highest 25-member body. While women play prominent roles in Chinese business and social life, China’s political system emphasizes patronage and networking to a degree that usually weighs in favor of men. MDT/Agencies
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