Introduction: After the Beidaihe Conference, China will officially enter the political cycle of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.
Looking back at the past ten years, from the 18th National Congress to the 20th National Congress, whether it is placed in the cycle of reform and opening up, or in the 100-year cycle of the CCP, it is an extremely critical decade.
In the past ten years, not only has the CCP leadership system undergone major changes, the economy has shifted from high-speed to medium-low speed and has become a new normal, and platform economies such as Didi and electronic payment have also officially brought China into the cycle of technological change and the Internet age. Surging, the Chinese people's world outlook has become different from the past, and the rise of Little Pink has become the most iconic phenomenon.
When the epidemic of the century is intertwined with the changes of the century, the changes in China and the role China can play in the international field become more and more important.
Before the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, "Hong Kong 01" launched a series of special articles on "Ten Years Summary", in order to better understand China's past, present and future.
This is the first in a series of features.
Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, Xi Jinping has become a powerful leader after Mao and Deng.
(AP)
When it comes to "one statue", in the Western democratic political culture where the initial appeal of the system design is to limit the monarch's power and the concept of the system of checks and balances is the norm, I am afraid it is difficult to call it a "good word", and it is difficult to gain social recognition. However, in China's political culture, especially in the cultural system that combines traditional centralist politics with Leninist party political practice, there are often diametrically opposite cognitions and practical experiences.
Under the Chinese political culture, the politics of separation of powers and checks and balances, which the West regards as the norm, not only runs the risk of being infiltrated into "decentralism" in theory, but in practice it often falls into the worst trap of "oligarchy", burying political chaos, corruption, The seeds of division, the main political figures who are the practitioners of governance, are also easily weakened by their "enlightened democratic style" of leadership, which will eventually lead to damage to authority, weak governance, political identity within the ruling group and the general public Both of them were reduced in recognition and suffered the curse of "weak master".
Before the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2012, at least five to ten years ago, China's political and social governance had fallen into such risks to some extent. The New Year was definitely a good time to remember, but for the CCP and its main leaders, it had a huge backlash.
Practical reflection and cultural traditions
Before Xi Jinping took office in 2012, at the central level, the nine members of the Politburo Standing Committee were in charge of each share, falling into a situation of "nine dragons to control the floods".
Since there is no absolute authority and leadership core, from the central to the local level, officials with huge power form parties with each other to seek political and economic self-interest. Corruption is rampant, and there are many hills. Among them, the political and legal system in charge of Zhou Yongkang, Chongqing under the leadership of Bo Xilai, and the military system in which Guo Boxiong and Xu Caihou are vice-chairmen of the Central Military Commission, are particularly notable.
On the other side of the rapid economic development, highly active thinking, continuous improvement of science and technology and social productivity, and China's international status and influence, the internal governance of Chinese society was in crisis at that time, and the reform and opening up entered a contradiction after more than 30 years. During the prominence period, various problems emerged one after another, environmental pollution became more and more serious, conflicts between officials and the people became increasingly acute, and mass incidents occurred frequently.
Chinese society urgently needs to build consensus during development, focus on specific issues, and continue to deepen reforms. However, the situation of the central government's "nine dragons to control water" makes it difficult for the highest level to form a joint force in decision-making, and decrees cannot go out of Zhongnanhai. The efficiency of governance has been severely weakened, the leaders themselves have also encountered challenges within the party, and reforms have struggled.
Anti-corruption has been one of the biggest highlights of Chinese social governance in the past decade.
This kind of "out of order" trend from central to local, from high-level politics to grassroots social governance is by no means what most Chinese are happy to see, nor does it conform to China's political culture that has always had a strong preference for order and control. The idea of a new authoritarian party, forged and strengthened by Leninism, is even more polarized.
Historically, Chinese traditional politics was based on the monarch-subject logic of "Under the whole world, is it the king's land, leading the land's shore, is it the king and ministers", and with this monarch-subject logic as the core, a stable role division and governance system has been formed. .
After Sun Yat-sen launched the Revolution of 1911 to overthrow the monarchy and establish a republic, this system disintegrated in China, but its centralist spirit and institutional core have not been abolished, nor can it be abolished at all.
After the founding of the Communist Party, Mao Zedong combined the general characteristics of Leninist political parties with the reality of China's revolution and construction, and on the basis of inheriting the traditional Chinese political bottom, absorbed the classic Marxist-Leninist theory, especially the Leninist party political concept, and integrated modern political elements into it. A new legal system that focuses more on order and authority.
Fang Ning, a political scientist who once taught the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, said that the Communist Party of China is "the blood of the Third International", and it pursues the democratic centralism created by Lenin to seize power. This "system design has two main points. The first is democracy in which the minority is subordinate to the majority, and the second is the concentration of all members who must act once it is concluded that they are in favor or not.”
Mao Zedong also said, "The Communist Party must not only be democratic, but especially centralized."
Li Zhanshu, an important assistant of Xi Jinping in the party and the then director of the General Office of the Central Committee, who had not yet joined the Politburo Standing Committee, also wrote an article in the People's Daily, expounding the importance of concentration and authority from both positive and negative levels.
He believes that the failure of the Paris formula with the budding color of communism and the fall of the Soviet Communist Party were all due to "lack of concentration and authority", while the Soviet October Revolution succeeded, Mao Zedong successfully led the Chinese revolution, and Deng Xiaoping was able to lead China out of the predicament. This is because the Party's leadership has always been stable and powerful.
Li Zhanshu has since stated that he must "consciously strengthen political construction, strictly abide by political discipline and political rules, and ensure the authority of the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core."
Therefore, after years of attempts at social transformation, absorbing the positive and negative experience and lessons, as Xi Jinping became the top leader of the CCP, he re-established a leadership core within the party, and established a final arbiter role that can make a final decision. , has become a consensus at that time, and this consensus is also in line with the traditional Chinese political culture and the new authoritarian political concept of the CCP.
Return to the "core" system
After Xi Jinping took office, a series of drastic ruling actions have also made a new leadership core rapidly formed and continuously strengthened. However, because various media have reported on the relevant operations during this period, I will not repeat them here, but just sort out the core system. the return process.
On January 7, 2016, the party media Xinhua News Agency reported, “The Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee held a meeting throughout the day on January 7. Xi Jinping presided over the meeting and delivered an important speech. , the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the Supreme People's Court, and the Supreme People's Procuratorate's party group work report, and listen to the work report of the Central Secretariat." According to this public report, at least four Politburo members who were the CPC National People's Congress Standing Committee, the State Council, and the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference party group secretaries at that time The Standing Committee also reported their work to Xi Jinping, and Xi Jinping and other Standing Committee members began to differ significantly in their rank.
On October 31, 2017, Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, President of the State, and Chairman of the Central Military Commission, led Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji, and Han Zheng, members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, to revisit the visit to the Memorial Hall of the First National Congress of the Communist Party of China in Shanghai. Party oath.
(Xinhua News Agency)
On January 29, 2016, at the Plenary Session of the Politburo held that month, the CCP put forward the requirement for the whole party to strengthen the "four consciousnesses" (political consciousness, overall situation consciousness, core consciousness, and alignment consciousness). After disappearing for many years, he has returned to the CCP's political discourse system, paving the way for Xi Jinping to officially advance to the "leadership core" nearly a year later.
In October 2016, at the Sixth Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Xi Jinping was officially established as the new leadership core of the Communist Party.
Prior to this, the official position of the general secretary during Hu Jintao's time had been followed, using the discourse "under the leadership of the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the general secretary."
The establishment of the "core system" means that a major change has taken place in the leadership system at the highest level of the CCP. In the past, the ten-year-old "nine-dragon flood control" situation in Chinese politics has come to an end. Since then, China has officially entered the ranks of Mao and Deng The third core era after that.
In October 2017, the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China formally proposed "Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era", and established this ideological system named after Xi Jinping as the guiding ideology of the Communist Party of China.
"Xi Thought" has thus become the third ideological system named after the leader, the first two being Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping.
On October 27, 2017, the 19th Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China reviewed and approved the "Several Regulations of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Strengthening and Maintaining the Centralized and Unified Leadership of the Party Central Committee".
According to this regulation, members of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee are required to report to the Party Central Committee and General Secretary Xi Jinping in writing every year.
On March 21, 2018, according to China's official Xinhua News Agency, recently "comrades from the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee reported their work to the CPC Central Committee and General Secretary Xi Jinping for the first time", and the "centralized unified leadership" was officially institutionalized in party documents and political practice. and normalized tracks.
At the constitutional level, the Second Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China held in January 2018 reviewed and approved the "Proposal of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Amending Parts of the Constitution". Finally, the "Amendment to the Constitution of the People's Republic of China" was passed. According to this constitutional amendment, the term limits of the Chinese president and vice-chairman were removed, thereby removing the constitutional term barrier for Xi Jinping to continue to rule.
The Constitution also includes "Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era", making Xi Jinping the third leader after Mao and Deng to include his personal name in the Constitution at the legal level.
The Constitution of the People's Republic of China emphasizes the leadership of the Communist Party of China.
(file picture)
At the level of intra-party regulations, in October 2018, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China revised the "Regulations on Disciplinary Actions of the Communist Party of China", which emphasized the need to focus on "through strict political discipline and political rules, to promote party organizations at all levels and party members and cadres to always consciously The political stance, political direction, political principles, and political path are highly consistent with the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, ensuring the authority of the Party Central Committee with a final decision and a single figure.”
So far, in the leadership system of the Communist Party of China, Xi Jinping's pattern of "fixing on one" has been formally formed, and he and other Politburo Standing Committee members have formed a "leader" and "led" subordinate relationship from the original "peer".
Xi Jinping's personal power also surpassed his position of power within the CCP during the peak of Deng Xiaoping, becoming the most powerful CCP leader after Mao Zedong. The CCP's leadership system has undergone the most fundamental change in decades.
On February 21, 2019, in an article by Xinhua News Agency on the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, "Focusing on the Overall Development and Sharing the Glory of the Times - The Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core cares about the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. Documentary", The phrase "Leading the helm and taking the pulse - General Secretary Xi Jinping has made major plans based on the overall situation and the long-term to lead the acceleration of the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area" has attracted people's attention again.
Since then, the "pilot at the helm" has appeared intensively in the official media and official discourses. Xi Jinping's image of "helmsman" and the titles of "commander-in-chief" and "people's leader" that have appeared on the official media pages since two years ago have put him in the The political status within the CCP has been pushed to a new height.
On November 11, 2021, the Sixth Plenary Session of the Nineteenth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China passed the third historical resolution of the Communist Party of China, and Xi Jinping's position within the party was written into the historical resolution.
There is no doubt that the upcoming 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China will push Xi Jinping to a new historical height.
Challenge and Confidence
Politics is a very paradoxical thing, especially in China.
When the political authority of the ruling party, especially the central government, is weakened, and the personal authority of the leaders is insufficient, people generally hope to establish a strong leadership core, and hope that there will be a "bright master" to end a certain degree of laxity and rectify the order. Improve efficiency; but when a strong leadership core is formed, and a strong political figure who can put personal will into national governance through various means appears, in short, after the emergence of a once hoped "bright master", many People will worry about whether history will go to the other extreme, and another worry will arise.
There are three reasons for this situation. First, traditional Chinese society always emphasizes order too much. Under the domination of the value concept of "under the world" or "leading everything", the concept of power boundary is relatively lacking, and it is too much. Focusing on national and overall interests while ignoring the protection of individual rights and interests, social vitality and innovation often become the price of order and authority; second, Mao Zedong, as a man of great talent and strategy, on the one hand led the CCP to create a new China and established a new On the one hand, because of its particularly strong leadership and political romanticism, the legal system made many serious mistakes in his later years, such as "anti-Rightist", "Great Leap Forward", "Cultural Revolution", etc. Some of the mistakes have affected people today. Third, under the influence of modern politics, people pay more attention to personal power and freedom, and have a new understanding of the nature of politics beyond the scope of traditional control, and modern social governance has also brought many new ideas to human political practice. challenge.
Whether Xi Jinping can overcome these challenges and eliminate people's habitual worries still needs historical and practical tests.
However, there is a passage in the CCP’s third historical resolution: “The whole party must be soberly aware that the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation cannot be achieved easily and by beating gongs and drums, and there are still predictable and unpredictable things on the way forward. We must clearly recognize that my country is still in the primary stage of socialism and will remain in the primary stage of socialism for a long time to come, and my country is still the largest developing country in the world. The whole party must keep in mind the fundamental question of what the Communist Party of China is and what to do, grasp the general trend of historical development, strengthen ideals and beliefs, keep in mind the original mission, always be modest and cautious, not arrogant or impetuous, and work hard, and be inspired by the great victory. Forge ahead, learn historical lessons from detours and setbacks, not be afraid of any risks, not be confused by any interference, never make subversive mistakes on fundamental issues, and strive to achieve the established goals with the persistence of sticking to Qingshan and not letting go. The sobriety of one hundred miles and ninety years of sobriety has worked tirelessly to advance the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.”
As long as these words can be put into practice in the practice of state governance, and as long as the "fifth modernization" of the country's governance system and governance capacity can be realized, the problems that people are accustomed to worry about should not occur.
"Seeking Truth": Better play the core role of the party's leadership and follow Xi Jinping's lead to re-determine leadership