China’s Communist Youth League, once a powerful force within the party, will overhaul its leadership and management structures, following Chinese President Xi Jinping’s call for the elite organisation to improve its role in politics. It is believed the overhaul of a key organisation before a crucial party congress will pave the way for Xi to further consolidate his power. The league used to be a cradle for promising party stars, counting former president Hu Jintao and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang among its veterans. But the Xi administration appears to have put at least some of its influence in check by sidelining the so-called league faction. The scrutiny was partly triggered by the downfall of Hu’s former chief of staff and league veteran, Ling Jihua, who was jailed for life for graft, among other charges. Entitled “Proposal on the Reform of Youth League’s Central Committee”, the document said the changes were aimed at implementing instructions given by Xi on the organisation’s work. The document was released by the General Office of the party’s Central Committee and reported by Xinhua. “To carry out the reform of the youth league is part of the party’s campaign to strictly govern the party,” it said. Strike Two: Communist Youth League ‘aristocracy’ under fire again The league would overhaul its leadership system to “improve the personnel components of the central committee leadership, its established institutions and its operation mechanism”. The league intends to restructure its personnel system in terms of the “selection, appointment and management of cadres in its central leadership”. It will also reform its congress system and its decision-making bodies at the various levels of its organisation. The league said it would carry on with improvements to its work at the grass-roots level, which is aimed at ideological education among youth. China’s Communist Youth League pledges to stamp out corruption among officials The league also called for the party and government at various levels to increase support for its work. The league has come under fire in recent months over corruption scandals, bureaucracy and inefficiency. At the start of the year, Capitalnews, a WeChat account operated by Beijing Daily , the official newspaper of the party’s Beijing municipal committee, warned cadres with youth league backgrounds that they would face “rough weather” after several scandals compounded the leadership’s resentment over their “self-serving” attitude. In an inspection report, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection took the league to task for losing sight of its core mission to guide young people’s ideological development. Xi himself has blasted its leadership,saying that it is too “aristocratic”. In a report in April, the league’s Central Committee pledged to stamp out corruption and adhere to “strict political discipline”. The latest proposal is apparently a reaction to the anti-graft commission’s report and Xi’s instruction. Xinhua said the Politburo Standing Committee approved the proposal.
