Leaders issue official history to elevate Xi
BEIJING >> Leaders of China’s ruling Communist Party on Thursday set the stage for President Xi Jinping to extend his rule next year, praising his role in the country’s rise as an economic and strategic power and approving a political history that gives him status alongside the most important party figures.
Central Committee members declared Xi’s ideology the “essence of Chinese culture” as they wrapped up a leadership meeting. In unusually effusive language even for a Chinese leader, a party statement said it was “of decisive significance” for “the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.”
Xi, who has amassed more personal authority than any leader since at least Deng Xiaoping in the 1980s, has widely been expected to pursue a third five-year term as party general secretary. That would break with a two-decadeold party tradition that would require the 68-yearold leader to step down next year.
The party leadership’s resolution on its history is only the third since its founding 100 years ago, following one under Mao Zedong, the first leader of the Communist government, and another under Deng, who launched reforms that turned China into an economic powerhouse. The decision to issue one under Xi symbolically raises him to their status.
The party removed term limits on Xi’s post as president in 2018, indicating his intention to stay in power. Then, officials told reporters Xi might need more time to make sure economic and other reforms were carried out.
Xi, the son of one of Mao’s generals, faces no obvious rivals, but a bid to say in power has the potential to alienate younger party figures who might see their chances for promotion diminished.
Also, political scientists point to the experience of other countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America and warn that long periods of one-person rule lead to poor official decisions and economic performance.
Thursday’s party statement emphasized its successes in overseeing China’s emergence as the world’s second-biggest economy, glossing over deadly political violence in its early decades in power and growing complaints about human rights abuses.
The statement affirmed Beijing’s handling of Hong Kong, where it is trying to crush pro-democracy activism, and relations with Taiwan. The party claims the island democracy is part of its territory and is trying to intimidate the Taiwanese public by sending growing numbers of fighter jets and bombers to fly near its coast.
The party “firmly implemented ‘patriots ruling Hong Kong’” and “resolutely opposed Taiwan separatists,” the statement said.
Xi has overseen an assertive foreign policy and expansion of the party’s military wing, the People’s Liberation Army. It has the world’s secondlargest military budget after the United States and is developing submarines, stealth aircraft and ballistic missiles that can carry nuclear warheads to extend China’s power beyond its shores.