Opinion | China’s push for Communist Party leadership at grass roots level to help common prosperity
- Last month, China released a blueprint laying out Beijing’s vision for how the country’s villages and urban communities should be managed in the next decade
- The change is a continuation and an upgrade of the grass roots governance system formed after the collapse of People’s Commune system in early 1980s
With China keen to knit the vast country of 1.4 billion people together around a centralised power structure, an important policy document was released last month concerning grass roots governance and modernisation.
The blueprint reveals Beijing’s vision for how the country’s villages and urban communities should be managed in the next decade.
A key takeaway is that the leadership of the Communist Party, or the role of Communist Party cells, should be strengthened at a local level.
In particular, the document makes it clear that the chief of a village’s party cell should be made as the village’s chief executive “through legal procedures”, while local party cell members should take up positions within village committees.
On the surface, the new emphasis on party leadership could be at odds with a democratic progress, but in reality, it is set to benefit most people as it helps bring public services into neighbourhoods
The change is both a continuation and an upgrade of the grass roots governance system formed after the collapse of People’s Commune system in early 1980s, with the party keen to keep a balance between autonomy and involvement.