សម័យប្រជុំពេញអង្គលើកទី 6 របស់ប្រទេសចិនបានបើកជាមួយលោក Xi នៅនឹងកន្លែង

Near-term goals and 'historical resolution' on agenda at high-level CCP meeting

The Chinese Communist Party's Central Committee has begun its sixth plenary session on Monday in Beijing, a high-level meeting to define the country's near-term goals and enhance President Xi Jinping's power base.

Over 300 members of the Central Committee -- the CCP's largest decision-making body -- are meeting through Thursday to deliberate two key issues, state media CCTV reported.

These include revising the party's achievements and history over the last 100 years and will form the basis of the country's third "historical resolution."

The CCP, which marked its centennial on July 1, has passed two such resolutions in the past: one in 1945 under Mao Zedong and another in 1981 under Deng Xiaoping. Both resolutions solidified the leaders' grip on power until their deaths and fixed their respective styles of governance.

Under Xi, who came to power in 2012, the belief that the CCP has led China out of extreme poverty and toward modernization has become a focal point of local media.

Xi's ideology about "socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era" has further united the country and firmly planted the Chinese flag on the geopolitical map, state news agency Xinhua wrote in a series of reports on Monday.

But China's overseas and domestic assertiveness under Xi has alarmed the international community. Recent examples include Beijing's unilateral claim over much of the South China Sea, its human rights record involving the ethnic Uyghur minority, the heavy-handed crackdown against Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement, and growing hostility toward Taiwan.

The upcoming third historical resolution is aimed at cementing Xi's position and achieving two pet goals, that of China becoming a fully developed economy by 2035 and building it into a "great modern socialist country" by 2049.

These goals, Xi believes, will help China achieve "national rejuvenation" that will make up for past humiliations under foreign forces prior to the founding of modern China in 1949.

Over the past nine years, Xi has been credited for introducing wide-ranging reforms. Notably, in just the past year, his policies have resulted in transforming the country's e-commerce platforms, cracking down on the private tutoring industry, and imposing stricter financial oversight regarding real estate companies.

"To address controversies and eliminate obstructions [to reforms], Xi himself had to give the final say," Xinhua wrote on Monday, indicating Xi's grip on governance extends to even policy implementation.

The sixth plenum comes ahead of the CCP's once-in-five-year national congress next fall, which decides party leadership. In 2018, the CCP amended the constitution to remove the two-term limit for the presidency, a move that paves the way for Xi's third term next year.

Nikkei Asia