The Communist Party of China has decided to hold the 6th Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee on the 8th-11th of next month. The Plenary Meeting of the Central Committee, which is usually held once a year, is the second most important event after the National Congress (party congress) held by the Communist Party of China once every five years. This year’s 6th Plenary Session is expected to serve as a stepping stone for the long-term reign of President Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party, ahead of the 20th Party Congress next year. It is also expected that the issue of revitalizing the party chairmanship to solidify Xi’s one-man leadership system may be discussed at this meeting.
The People’s Daily reported on the 19th that the Central Politburo of the Communist Party of China held a meeting presided over by General Secretary Xi Jinping on the 18th and decided to hold the 19th 6th plenary session in Beijing from the 8th to the 11th of next month. This 6th plenary session is expected to serve as a place to summarize the party’s history in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party. At this meeting, the Central Politburo of the Communist Party discussed the draft “Resolution on the Significant Achievement and Historical Experience of 100 Years of Struggle” and decided to deliberate on this resolution at the 6th Plenary Session, the People’s Daily reported.
Specific details have not been disclosed, but the resolution to be deliberated at the 6th plenary session draws attention in that it will be the third ‘historical resolution’ adopted by the Chinese Communist Party in its history. The CCP has adopted historical resolutions only twice so far. These are the ‘resolution on some historical issues’ adopted at the 6th 7th plenary session in 1945 and the ‘resolution on some historical issues of the party since the founding of the country’ adopted at the 11th 6th plenary session in 1981. Both resolutions are evaluated as an opportunity for the Chinese Communist Party to organize past history and establish a new leadership system at a historical turning point. Mao Zedong (毛澤東) made an assessment of the party’s past lines through a resolution in 1945 and established his own guiding ideology. The 1981 resolution laid the foundation for Deng Xiaoping’s historical evaluation of the Cultural Revolution and full-scale promotion of reform and opening up.
As demonstrated by the two historical resolutions in the past, it is predicted that President Xi Jinping will create an opportunity to summarize the party’s 100-year history and solidify his position as the party’s supreme leader through this resolution. Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post (SCMP) said, “The Sixth Plenary Session will play an important role in President Xi’s strengthening of control and leadership over the party ahead of next year’s party congress. Like the two resolutions adopted at an important time, it will be an important political document that can help determine the direction of the CCP in the coming decades.”
It is interesting to see what kind of discussion regarding the future leadership system will be held at the 6th plenary session ahead of next year’s party congress. In 2018, President Xi deleted the provision for limiting the three consecutive terms of the president from the constitution, effectively establishing long-term rule as a fact. Accordingly, it is expected that the 6th Plenary Session will also discuss the appointment of the next leadership to lead the third term with President Xi from next year’s party congress as a starting point.
There is also a prospect that the issue of reinstating the party chairperson may be considered. Ling Li, a professor at the University of Vienna, an expert on China, told the SCMP that “the resolution discussed at the 6th Plenary Session has the potential to lead the leadership in the direction of reviving the party’s presidency at next year’s party congress.” To revive the party chairmanship, which was abolished in 1982 during the Deng Xiaoping era, would mean abolishing the current collective leadership system centered on the Politburo Standing Committee and formalizing a single leadership system. Previously, there was speculation that the party president system could be revived even ahead of the 19th Party Congress in 2017, when President Xi was re-elected as general secretary of the Communist Party, but this did not materialize.
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