What evidence is there that Xi consolidated all the power? Is it that he led an anti corruption campaign and has been in power for ten years? Is it that he isn’t directly elected by the people? Because by those standards Angela Merkel would also be a dictator.
I mean just go read the CPC constitution. There are translations of it in English readily available.
As far as I can tell, the party constitution gets updated at every party congress and doesn’t afford Xi any special powers. He is included as an ideological leader in the party’s general program but that’s not unique to him. The same can be said for every CCP leader since the constitution was first adopted. Additionally, the constitution still clearly states that all party leadership is subject to oversight. It also lays out rights every party member has that no member of leadership is allowed to curtail. I don’t know how you could read this document and come away thinking it gives Xi total control over the party unless you’re already biased to interpret it that way.
One has to understand internal CCP politics through very imprecise measures, but one key thing to look at factional power within the CCP. Xi, by all accounts, has managed to suppress and marginalize all other factions within the party. This can be seen in the tangible result of his norm breaking additional term(s?) as leader of the party.
The CCP is a democratic centralist party. As such, factionalism has always been heavily discouraged. None of that is new.
Additionally the role of president, for which term limits were abolished, is not a particularly powerful one in China. The president serves at the behest of the national people’s congress standing committee and only has leeway to engage in foreign diplomacy. Xi likely has more influence over Chinese state affairs as general secretary of the CCP which never had term limits.
That said, it’s weird to see western media trying to read the tea leaves so they can write salacious stories about China’s palace intrigue when policy debates are happening out in the open. I’m willing to bet most western experts on China just don’t actually read any of the primary sources.
What evidence is there that Xi consolidated all the power? Is it that he led an anti corruption campaign and has been in power for ten years? Is it that he isn’t directly elected by the people? Because by those standards Angela Merkel would also be a dictator.
I mean he changed the party constitution….
https://www.reuters.com/world/china/ways-chinas-xi-jinping-amassed-power-over-decade-2022-10-10/
A brief google assuming you have access to an unfiltered internet will give you tons of examples and more details. But Xi is the party now.
I mean just go read the CPC constitution. There are translations of it in English readily available.
As far as I can tell, the party constitution gets updated at every party congress and doesn’t afford Xi any special powers. He is included as an ideological leader in the party’s general program but that’s not unique to him. The same can be said for every CCP leader since the constitution was first adopted. Additionally, the constitution still clearly states that all party leadership is subject to oversight. It also lays out rights every party member has that no member of leadership is allowed to curtail. I don’t know how you could read this document and come away thinking it gives Xi total control over the party unless you’re already biased to interpret it that way.
One has to understand internal CCP politics through very imprecise measures, but one key thing to look at factional power within the CCP. Xi, by all accounts, has managed to suppress and marginalize all other factions within the party. This can be seen in the tangible result of his norm breaking additional term(s?) as leader of the party.
The CCP is a democratic centralist party. As such, factionalism has always been heavily discouraged. None of that is new.
Additionally the role of president, for which term limits were abolished, is not a particularly powerful one in China. The president serves at the behest of the national people’s congress standing committee and only has leeway to engage in foreign diplomacy. Xi likely has more influence over Chinese state affairs as general secretary of the CCP which never had term limits.
That said, it’s weird to see western media trying to read the tea leaves so they can write salacious stories about China’s palace intrigue when policy debates are happening out in the open. I’m willing to bet most western experts on China just don’t actually read any of the primary sources.