‘Intensive’ reform plan will cement Xi’s power
China’s President Xi Jinping will oversee an ‘‘intensive’’ and ‘‘wide-ranging’’ government overhaul at a landmark political meeting beginning today that will usher in a new generation of officials close to Xi and cement his control as he begins his second decade in power.
China’s rubber-stamp parliament, the National People’s Congress (NPC), is expected to approve a ‘‘reform plan’’ that expands the party’s role in the technology sector and the private sector, as well as reforming financial regulation and national security.
The changes come at a time of deep economic uncertainty in China, after years of restrictive Covid policies paralysed the economy and slowed growth to its lowest levels since the 1970s, and increased hostility in the wider world as China’s relationship with the US reaches new lows.
At a meeting of the ruling Chinese Communist Party this week, Xi described the ‘‘high winds and choppy waters’’ his country faces, citing the economic obstacles of ‘‘shrinking demand, disrupted supply and weakening expectations’’.
The annual political event is known in China as lianghui, or the Two Sessions – the annual meetings of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, a body that advises the party; and the NPC, the party’s legislative body, with about 3000 members representing different sectors of society.
At this year’s meetings, officials will announce the largest leadership reshuffle in a decade, as well as a gross domestic product target, and policies aimed at recovering lost confidence in the Chinese economy.
The Two Sessions, which could last up to two weeks, take place after a key party congress last October at which Xi broke with succession norms to secure a third five-year term.
At the NPC, Xi will be officially appointed president, adding to his titles as head of the party and the military.
Delegates will also approve the new premier in charge of the State Council, China’s cabinet. Li Qiang – an ally of Xi’s and the former
party secretary of Shanghai, who oversaw a deeply unpopular Covid lockdown that sowed the seeds for nationwide protests – is expected to replace current premier Li Keqiang.
Officials will also announce the vice-premiers to serve under Li, and the heads of various government ministries, commissions, the central bank, the Supreme Court, and the country’s highest prosecutor, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate.
‘‘The nitty-gritty of what Chinese governance is going to look like in the third term of Xi Jinping will become a lot clearer,’’ said Neysun Mahboubi, a research scholar at the University of Pennsylvania’s Centre for the Study of Contemporary China.
Officials are focused on boosting consumer and investor confidence. As a result of continuous lockdowns, a property crisis and dampened domestic demand, China’s economy grew only 3% last year, missing its target of 5.5%. Li Keqiang will today deliver a report outlining a GDP target that analysts expect to be as high as 6%, as China’s leaders try to engineer a post-pandemic recovery.
The new government lineup will also give clues as to the direction of the economy. For decades, pragmatic bureaucrats under the premier have been charged with the economy, but under Xi this has changed, with Li Keqiang largely sidelined.
‘‘There’s a worry that this era is coming to an end because of the overall direction and trajectory Xi Jinping wants to take the country [and] his emphasis on political loyalty above expertise,’’ said Scott Kennedy, an expert in Chinese business and economics at Washington, DC think tank the Centre for Strategic and International Studies. ‘‘There is the question about whether this new team will have the capacity and space to be smart, pragmatic stewards of the economy.’’
This year’s Two Sessions are expected to unveil institutional reforms that will further cement the party’s control over more areas of decision-making.
In a speech given by Xi this week, he said ‘‘intensive’’ and ‘‘wide-ranging’’ reforms would target ‘‘key industries’’.
A summary of a meeting of the party’s central committee, also led by Xi, this week called on officials to recognise the ‘‘urgency’’
of reforming party and state institutions, and said the reform plan would be submitted to the NPC.
Since Xi came to power in 2012, he has overseen a reversal of a decades-long policy of increased separation between the party and the government, implemented as a reaction to Mao Zedong’s ideological leadership, which held policymaking hostage to politics.
While details of the overhaul have not been released, Wang Hsin-hsien, professor of East Asian studies at National Chengchi University in Taipei, said he expected the restructuring to be similar in scale to the major changes of 2018, when party organisations took over powers that had previously belonged to the State Council.
Expanding party control over more areas of decision-making while installing loyalists in top positions may bring its own set of risks for Xi, who still faces the aftermath of the abrupt abandonment of China’s zero-Covid policy.
‘‘All the people at the table are Xi’s people,’’ Wang said. ‘‘Who are you going to put the blame on when something goes wrong?’’