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A woman stands in front of the party emblem during an exhibition themed on the Chinese Communist Party at the National Museum in Beijing.
On the morning of October 9, the Seventh Plenary Session of the Nineteenth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (referred to as the Seventh Plenary Session) was held in Beijing.
In the CCP’s political tradition, a congress is held every five years, with more than 2,300 party representatives and regarding 200 central committee members.
The more than 200 members of the Central Committee form the Central Committee, also often referred to as the “Party Central Committee”; during their five-year term, they participate in seven plenary sessions, known as the “First Plenary Session” to the “Seventh Plenary Session”.
The content of each plenary session has gradually become a convention. The seventh plenary session of the 19th Central Committee held on Sunday (9th) is the last plenary meeting of the Central Committee of the Central Committee in the past five years. The first National Congress of the Communist Party of China (the “Twenty National Congress”) is held regarding a week before and following the final preparation of documents and procedures.
At present, the “Seventh Plenary Session” mainly prepared three documents:
- Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Central Committee, made a work report to the plenary session on behalf of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee;
- And explain to the plenary session the discussion draft of the report of the 19th Central Committee to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China;
- Wang Huning, executive secretary of the Central Secretariat, explained to the plenary session the discussion draft of the “Constitution of the Communist Party of China (Amendment)”.
The “Seventh Plenary Session” will be held for four days, and the agenda of the meeting will mainly revolve around four documents:
- Hear and discuss Xi Jinping’s work report commissioned by the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee;
- Discuss and approve Xi Jinping’s report to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China on behalf of the 19th Central Committee, discuss and approve the work report of the 19th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, discuss and approve the amendments to the Party Constitution, and transfer these three The document was submitted to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China for review and deliberation.
The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China will be held in Beijing on October 16. Xi Jinping will report to the 20th National Congress on behalf of the 19th Central Committee at the opening ceremony.
Highlights: Revised Party Constitution
One of the highlights of the “Seventh Plenary Session” is an important part of the revision process of the CCP constitution.
According to the procedure, if the party constitution is revised, the starting point is that the CPC Central Committee leads the establishment of a party constitution revision group to draft the first draft of the party constitution (amendment), and then enters into repeated discussions, deliberation and revision between the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and the revision group. Form a discussion paper.
The discussion draft is the discussion draft of the “Chinese Communist Party Constitution (Amendment)” that Wang Huning explained to the “Seventh Plenary Session” on Sunday (9th), and the “Seventh Plenary Session” will be discussed in the next few days. And passed the “Constitution of the Communist Party of China (Amendment)”.
It was formally submitted and approved at the “Twenty National Congress” held later.
image source,EPA
A woman’s bookstore in Yancheng, Jiangsu province, in front of the book “Xi Jinping: The Governance of the Country.”
A month ago, a meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee was held on September 9. The press release of the Chinese official media mentioned that the meeting believed that the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China should make appropriate revisions to the Party Constitution in accordance with the new situation and new tasks; the major theoretical viewpoints and major strategic ideas established in the report of the 20th Party Congress should be written into the Party Constitution; Make the party constitution… fully reflect the new concepts, new ideas and new strategies for governing the country put forward by the Party Central Committee since the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.
As a result, outsiders speculate that the most likely revision is the third historical resolution in the history of the CCP passed at the Sixth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee held in November last year. The “new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics” opened following the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, and the “two establishments”, namely, “establishing Comrade Xi Jinping as the core of the Party Central Committee and the core position of the whole party, and establishing the guidance of Xi Jinping’s new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics. status”.
Considering the importance of the third historical resolution within the CCP, there is widespread speculation that these contents may be incorporated into this revision of the party constitution.
Highlights: Presidium
Another function of the “Seventh Plenary Session” is to decide the list of standing members of the Presidium of the 20th National Congress. By convention, members of the Presidium Standing Committee will be included in the retired former Politburo Standing Committee members, and according to the official list, we can see the changes in China’s political ecology.
For example, in 2007, at the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, there were 36 members of the Standing Committee of the Presidium. According to the ranking, Hu Jintao is first, Jiang Zemin, who has retired, is second, Wu Bangguo, who has served for two terms of the Politburo Standing Committee and will be serving another term, is third, and then-premier Wen Jiabao is fourth; Li Peng, Zhu Rongji, etc. back position.
By 2012, at the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, there were 41 members of the Standing Committee of the Presidium. The order of the top four remains unchanged, Jiang Zemin still ranks second, and Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang appear in seventh and eighth.
By 2017, at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, there were 42 members of the Standing Committee of the Presidium. The order of the top four has changed drastically, Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, Zhang Dejiang, Yu Zhengsheng; Jiang Zemin appeared in 25th, Hu Jintao in 26th, all following the current Politburo members and Standing Committee members.
This year, the list and ranking of the Standing Committee of the Presidium who will attend the 20th National Congress selected by the “Seventh Plenary Session” is worth observing.
It should be noted that Wu Guoguang, a professor of politics and history at the University of Victoria in Canada, wrote “The Theater of Power: The Institutional Manipulation of the CCP Congress” in 2018. He regarded the CCP Congress as “the theater of power”.
He wrote in the book that the party congress has never actually had the opportunity to exercise the constitutional authority stipulated in the party constitution, “in fact, the party congress cannot make decisions on major matters such as determining the political program, revising the party constitution, and appointing leaders. Its own decision, it just endorses the relevant decisions of the incumbent leaders.”
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image source,Archyde.com
Silhouettes of tourists in front of the Chinese Communist Party flag on display at the Chinese Communist Party Museum in Beijing.
If you review the meetings since the 11th National Party Congress of the Communist Party of China in the 1970s, it is not difficult to find that the theme of the “Seventh Plenary Session” has gradually formed a convention:
The First Plenary Session: In terms of time, it is usually held immediately following the closing of the National Party Congress of the Communist Party of China; in terms of content, it mainly conducts personnel arrangements, such as the confirmation of the high-profile Politburo Standing Committee members, as well as members of the Central Secretariat and the Central Military Commission.
The Second Plenary Session of the CPC Central Committee: In terms of time, before the convening of the National People’s Congress and the National People’s Political Consultative Conference in the spring of the second year following the National Party Congress; in terms of content, it is usually recommended for leaders by the National People’s Congress, the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and state institutions.
The Third Plenary Session: In terms of time, it is usually in the autumn of the second year; in terms of content, major decisions are usually made on economic reform and development. Some decisions with major turning points came from the Third Plenary Session of the Central Committee, such as the “Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee” that started the process of China’s reform and opening up, and the comprehensive deepening of reforms proposed at the Third Plenary Session of the Eighteenth Central Committee.
It is worth mentioning that the Third Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee is an exception. In terms of time, since 1978, the Third Plenary Session of the Central Committee has basically been held between September and December, while the Third Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee was held for the first time in the spring ( February 26-28, 2018), only one month apart from the Second Plenary Session of the CPC Central Committee, breaking the convention; in addition, in previous years, the focus was on economic issues, but the Third Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee mainly focused on institutional reform, from the party to the state. Involved, very powerful. Also a few days before the Third Plenary Session of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China proposed amendments to the constitution, including abolishing the term limit of the President and Vice-Chairmen.
Fourth Plenary Session: In terms of time, it is usually in the autumn of the third year; in terms of content, major national decisions and arrangements are usually made. In the past, there were personnel changes of the Central Military Commission. For example, the Fourth Plenary Session of the Eighteenth Central Committee proposed to comprehensively promote the rule of law; Decision of the Central Plenary Session on Several Major Issues in Promoting the Modernization of the National Governance System and Governance Capability
The Fifth Plenary Session: In terms of time, it is usually in the autumn of the fourth year; in terms of content, it is gradually fixed to make recommendations for the next five-year plan (for example, the 14th Five-Year Plan).
The Sixth Plenary Session: In terms of time, it is usually in the autumn of the fifth year; in terms of content, it mainly focuses on party building. For example, the Sixth Plenary Session of the Eighteenth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China passed the “Several Rules for Political Life in the Party under the New Situation”, and officially proposed ” The Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core”.
The seventh plenary session, in terms of time, is usually in the autumn of the sixth year: the content is the same as the seventh plenary session that is being held, to make procedural preparations for the next party congress.