Question mark over the core of Xi Jinping’s new Communist Party powers
President may have cemented authority but failed to get his way completely, analyst says
It is still not clear how much more power Communist Party general secretary Xi Jinping will gain with his anointment as the “core” of the party leadership, political analysts said on Friday.
A statement on Thursday at the close of the Central Committee’s meeting urged the party’s 88 million party members to “closely unite around the Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core”. But it also stressed collective leadership, saying: “No party organisation or individual should suppress or undermine intra-party democracy.”
Intra-party democracy refers to consultation within the party on decision-making and a less opaque mechanism for the appointment of officials.
According to the document, the party’s various responsibilities in terms of decision-making, implementation and supervision have to be carried out in line with the democratic principles and procedures stipulated in the party’s charter and regulations.
It said the party should embrace both centralised authority and “internal democracy”, both discipline and freedom, both unified will and individual freedom of thought.