China’s legislature has agreed to strengthen the Communist Party’s control over the central government, consolidating president Xi Jinping’s command of the organs of the state.
The move explicitly puts the State Council, which oversees government ministries and local governments, under the direct authority of the party. Delegates to the National People’s Congress (NPC) voted by 2,883 to eight to amend the 1982 State Council Organic Law, with nine abstaining.
The amendments include clauses obliging the body to submit to the authority of the party and to follow its ideology, including Xi Jinping Thought. “The State Council is to uphold the leadership of the Communist Party of China; follow the guidance of Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory ... and Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era; resolutely uphold the Party Central Committee’s authority and its centralised and unified leadership; resolutely implement the Party Central Committee’s decisions and plans,” a draft of amended law read.
The vote came at the end of the weeklong Two Sessions, parallel sittings of the NPC and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference in the Great Hall of the People on Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.
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Mr Xi was the single dominant figure throughout the meetings, with the traditional closing press conference by premier Li Qiang cancelled.
The party leadership has always been the highest authority in the People’s Republic of China but the 1982 law reflected Deng Xiaoping’s wish to give the central government some autonomy. Since Mr Xi came to power more than a decade ago, he has sought to make the party stronger and more disciplined and to extend its reach throughout society. This has seen increased party representation in corporate boardrooms, in universities and at the neighbourhood level in residents’ groups.
In recent years, Mr Xi has taken some functions away from the State Council and put them under the direct control of the party.
The Two Sessions was overshadowed by anxiety about China’s economic performance following a weaker than expected recovery after coronavirus restrictions were lifted. The Government Work Report, which was presented by Mr Li and approved by the NPC, outlined a number of measures to boost economic activity.
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They include plans to issue RMB 1 trillion (€128 billion) in long-term bonds this year, a measure that could be repeated annually for the next few years. But there was no announcement of direct payments to households or big increases to social welfare payments, which some economists view as more effective in encouraging consumers to spend.
Beijing has set its economic growth target for 2024 at about 5 per cent of gross domestic product and hopes to create 12 million new jobs for young people. But much of the economic focus was on the longer-term project of investment in advanced manufacturing and technologies such as artificial intelligence, which Mr Xi calls “new productive forces”.
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