Xi Jinping ‘Core’ Leader
Chinese officials have begun a campaign of acclaim calling for “absolute loyalty” to Mr. Xi and “absolute authority” for the leader.
Members of the Politburo Standing Committee on stage at the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Committee meeting in Beijing on Thursday. The party elevated President Xi Jinping to the position of “core” leader, giving him great power to shape the new leadership of the party and amounting to a warning that officials should fall in line. CreditPang Xinglei/Xinhua, via Associated Press
“For a country and for a party, a leading core is vitally important,” said thedocument, which was solemnly read on Chinese state television news.
As “core” leader Xi officials up and down the country will face a welter of propaganda and study sessions demanding that they demonstrate their loyalty to Mr. Xi by acclaiming his new status. Xi will be able to pudh aside the consensus-building style of his predecessors and determine the leadership lineup of his successors.
People’s Daily, the party’s main newspaper, said that the country and one-party rule needed a powerful center of authority to weather those challenges.
“The party center and the whole party must have a core,” Xi’s elevation to imperial power is “in the fundamental interests of the party and the country, and will act as fundamental assurance that the leadership of the party is maintained and strengthened.”
“The formal designation of Xi Jinping as core is very important,” Nie Huihua, a professor at the National Academy of Development and Strategy at Renmin University in Beijing, said in an interview. “This concept of a core will certainly help in advancing supervision inside the party and fighting corruption,” Professor Nie said.
A congress held in the second half of next year will mandate five additional years for Mr. Xi as national leader along with a new cohort of officials under him.