Chinese Communist Party passes a historical resolution

The Chinese Communist Party has already passed its “historical resolution” while cementing the status of Xi Jinping in political history. The document is a summary of the 100-year history of the party. It is now addressing the key achievements and the further future directions.

It is only the third of this kind since the foundation of the party. Mao Zedong passed the first one in 1945. Deng Xiaoping did the second one in 1981. It passed on Thursday at the session for its sixth plenary. It is one of the most important political meetings in China.

This move is now aiming to establish Mr. Xi as an equal party founder to Mao and Deng. Some of the observers are also seeing this resolution of Mr. Xi as the latest attempt at turning back the decades-long decentralization that started with Deng. It has then continued with the other leaders, such as Jiang Zemin. It is a sign that China might move back to its cult of personality.

The four-day session has gathered at least more than 370 full and alternate members of the 19th Central Committee of the party.

It was the last severe meeting of the party leaders ahead of the national congress, which is about to take place next year. There Xi is expecting to seek a historic third term as a president. In 2018 China already scrapped the two-term limit on the precedence. It is allowing him to remain in power for life.

This decision of the Chinese Communist Party is cementing Mr. Xi’s hold on power. He is also trying to cast himself as the lead in the epic of the national journey of China. With the pushing of a historical resolution, he is putting himself at the center of the grand narrative of the Party and the nation.

Dr. Chong Ja Ian of the National University of Singapore has said that this move is setting Mr. Xi apart from previous leaders.

“[Former leaders] Hu Jintao and Jiang Zemin never had as much consolidated authority as Mr. Xi. However, it is unclear whether they had the inclination to do so even if presented with similar opportunities,” said Dr. Chong.

“There is certainly a lot of emphasis on Mr. Xi as a person at present. The degree to which it becomes more formally institutionalized is what many are watching out for at the moment.”

Credits: BBC