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SCMP Reporters

This story has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP’s journalism by subscribing.
The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party, China’s most consequential political event in a decade, starts today at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
The twice-a-decade gathering will usher in Xi Jinping’s precedent-breaking third term as the party’s general secretary, as well as a new 300-strong Central Committee, the party’s top policymaking body.
It will produce sweeping changes at the top as Xi builds a new team for his third term. Analysts expect many new faces on the seven-member Politburo Standing Committee – the highest decision-making body.
Xi, 69, undoubtedly the most powerful party leader since Deng Xiaoping, is delivering a report summarising the achievements of the past five years and sketching a trajectory for the party and country over the next five years and beyond. His address comes as the world’s second-largest economy faces a host of challenges, from tensions with the West to the Ukraine war and the Covid-19 pandemic.
Reporting by Josephine Ma, Jack Lau, Frank Tang, Stella Chen, William Zheng, Guo Rui and Xinlu Liang




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China’s 20th Party Congress

As it happened: China’s 20th Communist Party national congress opens in Beijing

China’s President Xi Jinping delivers his speech to the party congress in Beijing. Photo: AFP

News

China

Politics


The twice-a-decade political gathering will produce sweeping personnel changes at the top as Xi Jinping builds a team for his third term
The Chinese leader delivered a report summarising the party’s achievements of the past five years and laying out a trajectory for the years to come



Chinese leader Xi Jinping delivers a report summarising the party’s achievements of the past five years at a gathering expected to produce sweeping changes.


Xi Jinping

China’s Communist Party

Live

The opening ceremony is a rare occasion for retired party leaders to make public appearances and the names of those present will be closely watched.
According to the name plates on the table, former president Jiang Zemin and ex-premier Zhu Rongji will both be absent. Jiang’s successor Hu Jintao and another former premier Wen Jiabao will apparently be there, as will 105-year-old Song Ping, the oldest living retired member of the Politburo Standing Committee.
Jiang Zemin, 96, and Zhu, 93, were both absent from the party’s centenary celebrations last year because of their health.


Watching the elders

Members of the media wait to attend the opening of the congress.





Media queues

Delegates will discuss revisions to the party constitution that are expected to further enhance Xi’s position.
The new Central Committee will be announced at the end of the congress. It will hold its first plenary meeting the following day and formally endorse the new Politburo Standing Committee.
The congress marks the beginning of a massive round of personnel reshuffles that will only be finalised in March at the annual parliamentary meetings, known as the “two sessions”.
The new leadership line-up will offer strong clues about who will succeed Li Keqiang as the new premier. Li, having completed two terms as premier, must step down according to the constitution.


What to watch out for this week

The party selected 2,296 delegates to represent its more than 96 million members. They will vote on party resolutions and various policy documents, but those resolutions are decided by the top leadership behind closed doors.
Post reporter Xinlu Liang explains how these delegates are chosen.


How the delegate system works

President Xi Jinping, as party leader, is presenting a work report outlining the party’s achievements over the past five years and China’s strategy for the next five years and beyond.
Members of the Central Committee have already been briefed about the report and approved it. The delegates will spend the next week discussing and studying the report and will vote to adopt it at the end of the congress.
At the 19th congress five years ago, Xi spent a record-breaking 3½ hours delivering the report to the delegates.


Introducing the work report

The congress has strict Covid prevention rules as mainland China remains one of the last places in the world to stick to some form of zero-Covid policy.
Journalists must present a negative PCR test result to enter the media centre and spend a night at designated hotels for quarantine. It is not known what rules the delegates must follow.



Covid controls

The Great Hall of the People is adorned with bright red banners with slogans praising the Communist Party. One hanging at the back of the hall says “Long live our great, glorious and correct party!”.
The other below it signals the main theme for Xi’s report he will present: “Hold high the great flag of socialism with Chinese characteristics, fully implement Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, carry forward the great founding spirit of the party, and unite and struggle to fully build a modern socialist country and to fully promote the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.”
The congress presidium of cadres and party elders is sitting below the giant party hammer-and-sickle emblem and five large red flags on each side.
The presidium – mostly made up of current and former members of the Politburo Standing Committee – oversees the agenda, but wields little actual power.



Setting the scene


The People’s Liberation Army band begins playing the welcome march as is customary for major events at the Great Hall of the People.
Party elders and incumbent members of the Politburo Standing Committee stream onto the podium.
Xi leads the party elders and the incumbent members of the Politburo Standing Committee to the front row.
Xi is followed by predecessor Hu Jintao and retired Politburo Standing Committee members.
Xi seems to have not shaken hands with the party elders, but he supports Hu with his hand when they sit down.
However, Jiang, 96, and Zhu, 93, are absent. They were absent from the party’s centenary celebration in July last year, prompting speculation about their health and whether they would attend the congress.

Hu Jintao appeared immediately following Xi Jinping. This order is honorary rather than rule-based. It also delivers the message of solidarity between Hu and Xi. Just turning 96, Jiang did not show up today. Meanwhile, the 105-year-old Song Ping is there to offer his support. 7/
— Yang Zhang (@ProfYangZhang) October 16, 2022



Xi leads the party elders

Delegates stand and sing the Chinese national anthem, March of the Volunteers.
They stand for a moment of silence for late party leaders, who are referred to as “revolutionaries for a classless society” and “revolutionary martyrs”, including Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Liu Shaoqi, Red Army leader Zhu De, Deng Xiaoping and Chen Yun.


Party history

Xi takes to the podium to deliver his report, smiling and nodding to members of the presidium.



Xi prepares to speak

While Jiang Zemin and Zhu Rongji could not attend the ceremony, Song Ping, 105, is present and sitting in the front row.
Song is the most senior retired Politburo Standing Committee member. He appears to have been in good health recently and was present at last year’s centenary celebration.
A recent video, taken at an online discussion, showed Song reportedly calling for persistence in opening up and reform, sparking speculation about why he made a public appearance in the run-up to the party congress.


Song Ping present

Xi begins his report by summarising the achievements of the party in the past five years. He says it has made major strategic plans to advance the party and the country, and responded to challenges and risks internationally.
He also highlights its achievement in poverty alleviation, national defence and diplomacy.
He also listed Hong Kong and zero Covid as achievements. He said the war against the virus has protected people’s lives.


Xi lists party’s achievements

Xi says Beijing has started a great struggle against separatism and foreign interference on Taiwan.
Beijing has been proactive and showed leadership in handling ties with Taiwan. It has also been pushing back at Taiwan independence forces and foreign interference on the island, Xi says.
Beijing stepped up military pressure after a visit to the island by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in August, a trip that it saw as a major violation of its sovereignty.
The People’s Liberation Army staged a live-fire military exercise that amounted to a semi-blockade and lasted more than a week.
Since then, the PLA has also flown warships and warplanes nearly every day across the de facto dividing line in the Taiwan Strait.


On Taiwan

On Hong Kong, Xi says it is an achievement that Hong Kong is administered by patriots, making it a better place.
“Confronted with drastic changes and the international landscape, we have maintained foreign strategic resolve … we have safeguarded dignity and core interests,” Xi tells the delegates.
“The situation in Hong Kong has achieved a major transition from chaos to order.”
Xi adds that in the past five years, facing the turbulent and changing situation in Hong Kong, Beijing has effectively exercised the power of comprehensive governance over the city in accordance with the constitution and the Basic Law, and implemented the principle of “patriots governing Hong Kong”.


More on Hong Kong

Xi counts alleviating poverty as one of three “major events” of the past decade along with the party’s centenary and socialism with Chinese characteristics entering a “new era”. Poverty alleviation is one of the party’s two centenary goals.


Poverty success

Xi praises China’s scientific development, from space exploration and nuclear technology to pharmaceutical breakthroughs and deep-sea exploration.
China aims to become more innovative and self-sufficient in its technology, especially in the face of competition and sanctions from the US.
China spent a record 2.79 trillion yuan (US$388 billion) on research and development in 2021, an increase of more than 14 per cent over 2020. But that still lags behind R&D spending in the US.


Scientific progress

Xi says China has become a major trading partner and a major destination for foreign investment.
He also says China has introduced a broader agenda of opening up.
Xi’s comments come as some critics say China has grown more inward looking in the past few years.


Opening up

On national defence, he says the party’s goal is to “build a strong military in the new era”. He adds: “The PLA [People’s Liberation Army] now has a new look and a new structure.”


Military matters

Xi says China has had an overwhelming victory against corruption and fully consolidated the fight against graft.


Fight against corruption

Sitting in the second row, Foreign Minister Wang Yi constantly keeps his eyes on Xi, as others read the report on their desk.
Beijing party chief Cai Qi, in the front row, is taking notes of Xi’s speech most actively.



Taking note

Xi says the party also has shortcomings and faces many difficulties that it has to resolve. Observers believe Xi will rally different sectors around him to face these challenges to justify his third term.
He goes on to say that “self-revolution” is one way to escape a historical cycle leading to a downturn. This ensures the party will never change, he says.
He highlights Marxism as one of the fundamental guiding principles of the country, saying: “We owe the success of our party and socialism with Chinese characteristics to Marxism and how China has managed to adapt it.”


Self-revolution

State broadcaster CCTV shows a close-up of former party leader Hu Jintao and current Politburo Standing Committee members Li Keqiang, Wang Yang, Zhao Leji, Li Zhanshu, Wang Huning and Han Zheng, in the front row with Xi.
The front row consists of the core of the 46-member standing committee of the party congress’ presidium, which oversees the procedure to elect the new leadership team.
Former Standing Committee member and vice-premier Zhang Gaoli also appeared in the same row with Li Ruihuan, Jia Qinglin, Yu Zhengsheng, Li Lanqing, Wu Guanzheng, He Guoqiang, Wen Jiabao, Zhang Dejiang, Song Ping, Zeng Qinghong, Li Changchun and Liu Yunshan.
Zhang Gaoli was embroiled in an extramarital scandal with tennis star Peng Shuai.



CCTV close-up

Risk and challenges are a recurrent theme in Xi’s speech. He talks about the second centenary goal of making China a strong and modern socialist country, but warns that the party needs to think about the dangers ahead even when the present is deemed safe.
Xi has stated two centenary goals. The first, the party’s 100th anniversary, was reached last year. The second is the centenary of the People’s Republic of China in 2049, and the goal is to “build a modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced and harmonious”.


Risk assessment

Xi says China must focus on high-quality development. That includes work safety, supply chain resilience and the “dual circulation” economic strategy that focuses on expanding domestic demand to become more self-reliant.
Xi says China will continue to support the development of the non-public sector, fully play the decisive role in resource allocations, and focus on the development of the real economy.
Development remains China’s top priority, he says, and reform will be in the direction of a socialist market economy and high-level opening. China will combine domestic demand creation with supply-side structural reform as it accelerates the development of a dual-circulation strategy.
The Chinese economy has had a tough year. Its strict Covid-19 policies have hit production and the job market, while a sluggish property market, rising domestic debt and weak consumer confidence have also taken their toll.
Forecasters now expect the economy to grow by around 3 per cent this year – well below Beijing’s target of “around 5.5 per cent” set in March. Growth figures for July to September are expected to be released on Tuesday.


Development focus

He says education, technology and talent are the basis for the development of China as a strong country and rejuvenating the country.
“Technology is the prime production force, talent is the prime resource and innovation is a prime driving force,” he says. He also stresses the need for technological self-reliance.


Education and technology

Xi Jinping launches the 20th party congress.




Congress in motion

Xi highlights the concept of “whole-process democracy”, which the party touts as “democracy that works”.
He says it is the way to rejuvenate the Chinese nation under the the party’s absolute leadership, adding: “We need to ensure that people can exercise their powers through the people’s congress system.”


‘Whole-process democracy’

Xi highlights the importance of building a strong “socialist” culture, and the need to influence young people and promote that culture to the world.
He says the party must firmly exercise control over ideology, making sure the media expounds the right values and fosters a generation of young people who are influenced by traditional culture, patriotism and socialism.
He says this can also benefit social stability.
He also stresses the need to tell the “China story” to promote China’s narrative, present a China that is credible and respectable, and better show China’s culture to the world.
China’s diplomats have taken a more assertive and confrontational tone in past years in what has been described as Wolf Warrior diplomacy.


Socialist culture

Xi says little on religion, but emphasises that China will continue its push to “Sinicise religion” and to “proactively lead adaptation of religion and the socialist society”.
He introduced the campaign to “Sinicise” religions in 2015 to bring religions that do not have traditional roots in China under party control and into line with the country’s culture.



Sinicising religion

He promotes exercise and competitive sport as part of promoting confidence in China’s own culture.
“We need to speed up the construction of a strong sporting country,” he says.


Sport

Xi says China will promote the common prosperity strategy in a concrete way.
While boosting the size of the middle-income population, it will standardise income distribution and wealth accumulation.


Common prosperity

105-year-old party elder Song Ping appears to be in good health.
He reads the report from time to time and chats with former vice-president Zeng Qinghong, who sits next to him.


Song Ping was the second political godfather of the so-called Tsinghua clique when he was in charge of the organization department and later a PSC member in 1987-1992. Song promoted Hu Jintao. Song’s wife was also a leader of Tsinghua. Song’s loyalty has been steadfast. 10/
— Yang Zhang (@ProfYangZhang) October 16, 2022



Song Ping

Xi promises to improve the public health system and strengthen it to respond to epidemics and infectious diseases.
He also says China needs to push further on health infrastructure, build a system of pro-natal policies and proactively implement the national strategy to deal with an ageing population.
He said earlier in his speech that China’s modernisation includes the “modernisation of a large population”.


Health

China will establish a housing system in which both renting and buying will be highlighted, Xi says.


Housing focus

He says China will promote green and low-carbon development and improve pollution controls. Xi also promises to use coal in a cleaner and more efficient way.
China faces a dilemma about cutting coal use to meet its emissions targets because in part winters, some parts of the country have been hit by power cuts that left people without heating and hit the manufacturing sector.


Environmental pledges

China must modernise its national security system and safeguard social stability, Xi says.
“National security is the foundation of national rejuvenation, and social stability is a prerequisite of national strength,” he says.
“We must unswervingly implement the comprehensive national security concept, maintain national security throughout all aspects of the work of the party and the state to ensure national security and social stability.”
He also says China will have to come up with capacity and institutes to ensure food, energy, key industrial and supply chains, and the lawful rights of Chinese citizens overseas.


National security

Xi promises to further strengthen the military, and improve its equipment, technology and strategic capability.
He also says the party’s control over the armed forces will be increased to make sure they are always aligned with the party.
He adds that efforts to modernise the People’s Liberation Army must continue so that it can better protect national sovereignty, security and national developmental interests.


“One country, two systems” has proven to be the best institutional mechanism for Hong Kong and Macau and must be adhered to in the long term, Xi says.
He says the regions will enjoy high autonomy and be administered by patriots.
“[We must] implement the principles of ‘one country, two systems’, ‘Hong Kong people administering Hong Kong’, ‘Macau people administering Macau’, and [maintain] a high degree of autonomy, adhere to the rule of law for Hong Kong and Macau, implement the central government’s overall governance power, and implement the principle of ‘patriots governing Hong Kong’, ‘patriots governing Macau’.”
Xi also pledges to resolve deep-seated economic and social problems in the special administrative regions and better integrate the two areas into national strategies.
“[We should] support Hong Kong and Macau in developing their economy, improving people’s livelihoods, solving deep-seated contradictions and problems in economic and social development, promoting the long-term prosperity and stability of Hong Kong and Macau, and supporting the better integration of Hong Kong and Macau into the overall development of the country, so that they can play a better role in realising the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.”



‘One country, two systems’

A pledge to complete the reunification of China – in other words, return Taiwan to Beijing’s control – receives the longest round of applause so far.
He tells the delegates: “We will not renounce the use of force and will take all necessary measures to stop all separatist movements.”
Xi says the party must stand firm on its strategy to resolve the Taiwan issue and be determined to reunify the nation. But he also says the party will always “respect, care and work to benefit compatriots in Taiwan” with economic and cultural exchanges.
“The resolution of the Taiwan issue is a matter for the Chinese people themselves, to be decided by the Chinese people,” he adds.


Taiwan reunification pledge

Xi promises China will not engage in any kind of “expansionism” and says it is committed to its policy of opening up to the outside world.
He says China adheres to the basic state policy of conomic globalisation and jointly fostering new momentum for global development.


“The entire party must remember that strictly governing the party is always the path and self-revolution is always the path. We must never be complacent,” Xi says.
Xi says the party should continue to improve, “cleanse” itself and be the core leader of China’s modernisation efforts.
The party should also be united in ideology and strengthen its party education.
Xi says cadres should “dare to act” and their functions should expand.
“Corruption is the biggest tumour that damages the party’s vitality and fighting power,” he says.
“Anti-corruption efforts are the most thorough way of self-revolution.”


Party governance

Compared with Song Ping, former president Hu Jintao, 79, appears less lively. He still appears to be listening more than an hour and a half into the speech, however.
While most of the male delegates are dressed in dull colours, the women delegates are wearing much brighter colours.
Sun Chunlan, the vice-premier in charge of the fight against Covid-19, is wearing a bright red suit, while Shen Yueyue, current president of the All-China Women’s Federation, wears royal blue. Former vice-premier Wu Yi is more low profile with a black and white pattern suit.



Scenes from the hall

Xi says China must strengthen the unity of all ethnic groups and overseas Chinese.
He does not mention Xinjiang, where China has been accused of human rights abuses against the Uygurs and members of other minorities – charges it denies.


No mention of Xinjiang

Xi finishes his speech by calling for unity to achieve China’s national rejuvenation and exchanges a glance with Hu Jintao before he returns to his seat.
His speech this time lasted one hour and 45 minutes, much shorter than his record-breaking 3½-hour speech five years ago. This report – at over 14,400 words – was about half the length of the 2017 one, which came to more than 32,000 words.
Hu’s speeches at the 17th and 18th party congresses lasted 2½ and 1½ hours respectively. In 2002, Jiang Zemin also limited his speech to 90 minutes.

