“Owing to these reform measures, the Chinese economy has not only sustained robust growth but also more than doubled since 2012, cementing the country’s global status as a major growth contributor,” the article said.
It also compared Xi with paramount leader Deng at length, saying both carried forward the mission to achieve China’s modernisation. However, it also highlighted the differences, saying Xi’s reforms were more than economic and aimed to shape “Chinese people in a new era”, filled with national pride.
The comprehensive official narrative on Xi’s credentials as a reformer comes at a time when China is facing headwinds on multiple fronts, including sluggish economic growth, high youth unemployment and geopolitical pressures.
The plenary session of the party’s more than 300-strong core Central Committee had been delayed for months without explanation, though many observers said weak economic recovery and disagreements among Xi’s aides about how to solve the problems were among the reasons.
Although the Xinhua article aimed to heap praise on Xi, it also offered indirect clues on some of the challenges on the road to achieving his long-term goal – to “build a modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced and harmonious” by 2049 – the centenary of the People’s Republic of China.
The first challenge would be building a dedicated team with efficient team work to govern a vast country like China in an extremely complex environment.
According to the Xinhua commentary, “Xi meticulously reviewed each draft of major reform plans, making edits word by word”.
While dedication and hard work are welcome virtues, leadership also requires delegation and teamwork. Xi would need a strong and stable team to help him to achieve many of his policy goals.
Currently, there are signs that the team-building process is not that smooth, although Xi has managed to put all his trusted people in key positions.
The second challenge would be devising a check-and-balance mechanism for the party, other than the inspection teams sent by Beijing.
Xinhua also said Xi was determined to challenge vested interest groups. This is true as Xi surprised many overseas observers with bold moves such as regrouping the military districts and departments of the People’s Liberation Army.
However, so far the most powerful tool in the tool box to check the power of the party appears to be the inspection team enforcing stricter party regulations.
This means such inspections would have to continue, as there are no other check-and-balance tools.
The success of the campaign has so far been measured by the number of corrupt officials snared every year. But, in the long term, shouldn’t success be measured by how rare corruption is?
01:15
China posts 4.7% second-quarter growth, lower than expected
China posts 4.7% second-quarter growth, lower than expected
Finally, a major challenge for Xi would be creating a stable business environment to invigorate the private sector and attract foreign investment for China’s post-Covid economic recovery, which has so far been patchy.
Xinhua has highlighted how Xi is devoted to reducing bureaucracy, to facilitate the private sector and open up more industries for foreign investment.
Both private enterprise and foreign investors would be waiting for more concrete measures from the ongoing third plenum.
