At the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) recent Politburo meeting, party leader Xi Jinping emphasized the need to strengthen central supervision of key party officials across all levels of the government, but particularly “top regional leaders” who wield power and influence in their regions.
Xi himself emphasized during the CCP’s Politburo meeting on Jan. 28 what he said was the party’s central inspection and anti-corruption work, saying that the efforts should be “thorough” and focused on enforcing the supervision of top officials across all levels of government, but especially at “top levels.”
Political analysts told The Epoch Times that the extra attention now falling on regional leaders is designed to deter them from challenging Xi’s leadership and intimidate them before the CCP’s 20th National Congress, which is scheduled for the second half of 2022.
Li Hengqing, a scholar at the Washington Institute for Information and Strategy, told The Epoch Times that in the lead up to the 20th National Congress, “2022 will be a life-and-death battle for Xi Jinping.”
“Either he may be able to achieve his ‘lifetime president’ statue or it may be his Waterloo,” Li said.
Xi therefore must, at this current time, strengthen his supervision of the “top leaders” of municipalities, autonomous regions, ministries, and political and commercial enterprises, he said.
China affairs commentator Tang Jingyuan told The Epoch Times that Xi’s emphasis on strengthening supervision of “top leaders” is mainly to prevent these individuals from blocking his re-election next year during the National Congress.
He said that Xi will now be strictly monitoring top leaders in the party to prevent them strengthening opposing factions against him.
