Beyond the rulebook: China’s plenum
President
Xi Jinping meets 200 top-ranking Communist Party officials today for
the start of the ruling party’s annual gathering in Beijing. Plenums are
often the venue for big changes: last year the party abolished the
one-child policy. This year’s meeting will continue a battle over Mr
Xi’s rapid accretion of power (which will culminate at an even bigger
party congress next year) by concerning itself with banal-sounding party
rules—of the sort that Mr Xi has been using to jail opponents. He may
go further by demanding a “sunshine rule” that requires top officials to
declare all of their assets. What won’t be discussed, but which will
doubtless overshadow the proceedings, is the new political line-up that
will rule China after the party congress. If Mr Xi relaxes rules on
retirement ages, he could stay in power after his term expires in 2022: a
hugely controversial possibility.
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