China leaders demand more loyalty and more initiative

The top echelon of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) held a four-day session behind closed doors in Beijing this week, with the talks focusing on strict leadership and discipline inside the ruling party.

Xi Jinping, who is both the CCP's general secretary and the head of state in China, signaled he would not only deepen the existing anti-corruption effort, but also ensure that party officials demonstrate more loyalty and more initiative at all levels.

According to the press release published on Thursday, the committee published a resolution praising the leadership and Xi Jinping for "enormous political courage and strong sense of responsibility" in tackling the issues of corruption and the weakening of the Party's governance.

The statement emphasized the need to "consistently advance comprehensive and strict Party leadership."

China's leadership fears instability

Kerry Brown, head of the Lau China Institute at King's College London, says Xi wants to minimize potential sources of instability.

Amid the current international tensions and the internal problems in China, including economic difficulties, Xi is pursuing his anti-corruption campaign and by demanding loyalty. "This is just going to intensify because if [the CCP] isn't disciplined and united, the party believes that it will go the same way as everywhere else in the world at the moment and become disunited and unstable," Brown told DW.

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'Two-faced' party members targeted by Xi

Xi also recently spoke of the necessity to identify and remove "two-faced functionaries" from the political system.

In his speech, which was published in mid-October by the party's Qiushi Magazine, Xi referred to people professing loyalty to the central leadership while working against its instructions and following their own "individualistic" goals. The Chinese president described them as "political opportunists." He also criticized party officials pretending to be "nice guys," as in, those who use harmony as an excuse to stand aside when problems arise.

Brown points out that China's political system is now facing a crucial dilemma: If officials at all levels are now indeed expected to show innovation and courage in solving problems, the party's control could grow weak. This could, in turn, boost corruption.

However, if CCP leaders lean more on the "strict Party leadership" aspect and ramp up the pressure on the rank-and-file, there is also the danger of suppressing initiative. This could go beyond the party itself and could even affect the military.

The party is "very, very risk averse," Brown points out.

China 'kind of works' in a messy world

Chong Ja Ian, a political scientist at the National University of Singapore, notes that party functionaries under Xi only have a limited space to make their own decisions.

Taking this into account, the party's push for individuals to show initiative is not necessarily a major issue.

"I believe Xi would like for the officials to act proactively and decisively by conducting specific tasks; but he still doesn't want them thinking for themselves so much that they can question the agenda he prescribed. The 'proactivity' demanded by Xi is limited to the implementation, not decision-making," he told DW.

Brown adds that Xi seems to be ready to sacrifice a certain amount of operational flexibility to gain more control and stability.

"As long as you have unity, you live for another day, right? But if you have disunity, you probably die the same day," he told DW.

This approach "kind of works," at least at the moment, he added.

"It's not like the Chinese economy is disastrous. It's not great, but it's not disastrous. In any case, look at the outside world. It's a mess."

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Who will succeed Xi Jinping?

Outside observers are also focusing on Xi's future and possible successors for the 73-year-old leader.

For now, Xi seems to be firmly in control. It is highly likely that he would be confirmed as the party's general secretary next fall, and could stay in that position until 2032.

This is due to the changes pushed by Xi in 2018, which removed term limits for state and party leaders.

Both analysts told DW that the issue of succession plays a major role in Xi's push towards internal stability.

"There's always a danger of differences in the party fragmenting it, especially when the question of succession comes up," says Brown. "And even though we don't expect to see a successor anytime soon, you know, there's going to be speculation about who might succeed Xi."

"He can't go on forever," he added. 

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Political scientist Chong Ja Ian says that Xi currently holds all the power. Therefore, the CCP leader could be afraid of his authority being undermined if he named a successor ahead of time.

"On the other hand, a failure to make preparations on time could create a power vacuum that can cause major instability," he told DW. "To solve this dilemma, the current leader needs to have both the necessary self-confidence and the readiness to take a step back — just like his predecessors did. But not everyone has that kind of confidence."