More Authoritarianism Expected in China After Party Congress

Chinese leader Xi Jinping begins a review of troops from a car during a military parade at Tiananmen Square in Beijing on Oct. 1, 2019. Greg Baker/AFP via Getty Images

Commentary

Chinese leader Xi Jinping has seized all the power and will continue to return China to a stricter form of socialism with more central planning and less openness.

Going into the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Xi holds the following titles: general secretary of the CCP, head of state, chairman of China’s Central Military Commission, as well as the unofficial title of paramount or supreme leader. After the congress, he is expected to retain his position, possibly for life. And given the series of crackdowns and restrictions he has imposed during his reign, we would expect a movement away from openness and reform, and a return to a stricter, more centralized system of economic and social control.

The United States, based on a bi-party system, has checks and balances, the separation of powers, and a mix of democratically elected versus appointed officials. However, the Chinese system has minimal separation of power. Nominally, China is a multiparty state. There are eight minor political parties, but they must acknowledge and defer to the leading role of the CCP. Technically, it would be illegal for the other parties to attempt to take control of the regime or to state publicly that they believe they should lead.

On paper, China claims to be a democracy because citizens vote for the local deputies to the primary people’s congresses. But that is where it ends. Citizens do not vote for any higher offices, and certainly not for the leader of the country. While national power is distributed across numerous titles and leadership positions, no laws prevent one person from holding multiple offices. Xi is a primary example of this.

The week-long party congress, which occurs twice per decade, will begin with a meeting of roughly 2,300 delegates at the Great Hall of the People in Tiananmen Square in Beijing. Of these delegates, 200 will be selected to join the Central Committee. This committee then elects 25 people to the Politburo, which is responsible for appointing members to the Politburo Standing Committee. The committee comprises seven members holding China’s top leadership positions, including General Secretary Xi.

Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping (C) waves to the attendees, with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (R) and member of the Politburo Standing Committee Li Zhanshu (L) applauding by his side, after being elected for a second five-year term during the fifth plenary session of the first session of the 13th Congress in Beijing, China, on March 17, 2018. Etienne Oliveau/Getty Images

A typical office term for a Chinese leader is five years, and the purpose of the congress is to select the new leader. Previously, leaders were permitted two terms. However, that rule was abolished during Xi’s administration, meaning that he is expected to walk away from the congress with a third term and that he could theoretically rule for life.

With 96 million members, the CCP is one of the largest political parties in the world, but it still only represents about 7 percent of the total population of China. To date, roughly 4.9 million communist party organizations have been established in state-owned and private companies. Several laws have been passed during Xi’s tenure to increase this number by requiring communist party cells in firms and institutions of even modest size.

Historically, the CCP was primarily active in the public sector. It has never trusted liberal democratic, capitalist values and only allowed business people to join the Party in 2001. However, the 2020 publication of the “Opinion on Strengthening the United Front Work of the Private Economy in the New Era” calls for tighter party control over the private sector.

Under Xi, the country has been moving toward totalitarianism. “Xi Jinping Thought” was enshrined in the CCP’s constitution—the first time it happened since Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping. “Xi Jinping Thought” is being taught as an economic blueprint for the country’s development, although the GDP grew much faster under previous leaders Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao. Not only has China hit the lowest growth since 1990, but the Shanghai stock market has also lost 17 percent of its value this year.

The country once became rich under a more authoritarian regime with a greater degree of central planning. Therefore, Xi may believe that a return to the good old days of central party control will restore double-digit growth. Xi has already changed the constitution by adding his thought and eliminating his term limits. He will likely continue to alter the country’s political environment to conform with his vision, essentially undoing the trend of gradual opening that occurred between the death of Mao and the ascension of Xi.

In Xi’s third term, we can expect to see a more authoritarian China. This poses a greater threat to U.S. interests, and the CCP is less likely to adhere to global norms. It will also be a regime determined to make good on Xi’s promise to annex Taiwan, even if by force.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.