The November plenary meeting of the Chinese Communist Party central committee contained no real surprises. President Xi Jinping remains on track to begin a third term as the head of the party, government, and armed forces — a true maximum leader — when the party’s 20th central committee is convened next year. By design, the November meeting was intended to airbrush Xi’s nearly ten-year reign and prospects into an arc of history reaching back to the formation of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) 100 years ago.
Xi’s task at the plenary was twofold: (1) create a place for himself on that historic arc that is on par with Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping; and, thereby (2) firmly establish the party’s current course as the best path forward. The meeting’s communique, issued by state news agency Xinhua, suggests those tasks were accomplished. The communique calls on the party “to adhere to ‘Mao Zedong thought’ and ‘Deng Xiaoping theory’” but “fully implement Xi Jinping’s new era” and to “grasp the times and lead the times.”
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