Xi's political ideology to be elevated in party constitution

Top Chinese officials have praised President Xi Jinping’s political ideology unveiled at a key Communist Party of Congress, an indication that he could cement his power with his new slogan being incorporated into the party’s constitution.

Xi opened the party’s twice-a-decade congress on Wednesday with a speech pledging to build a “modern socialist country” for a “new era”, and laid out a vision for a more prosperous China.

Whether Xi has his name crowned in the constitution during the congress will be a key measure of his status, its inclusion signaling his elevation to the level of previous leaders exemplified by Mao Zedong Thought and Deng Xiaoping Theory.

Zhang Dejiang, Yu Zhengsheng, and Liu Yunshan, all party officials on the elite 7-man Politburo Standing Committee, the apex of political power in China that is headed by Xi, praised “Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era”, according to the official Xinhua news agency.

“The Thought is the biggest highlight of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and a historic contribution to the party’s development,” Xinhua cited Zhang as saying in a congress panel on Wednesday.

In separate panels, Yu called it an important piece of the “system of theories” of Chinese socialism, and Liu said the “elevation of the Thought into the party’s guiding principle” was of great significance, according to Xinhua.

Xi’s immediate predecessors, Hu Jintao and Jiang Zemin, have had their ideological concepts enshrined in the constitution, but not their names.
 

Zhang, Yu, and Liu are all set to step down during the week-long congress, where the party will be given a new slate of top officials under Xi.

Already widely regarded as the strongest Chinese leader since Mao, the 64-year-old Xi has consolidated power swiftly since assuming the party leadership in 2012, locking up rivals for corruption, restructuring the military and asserting China’s rising might.

The Central Committee, the largest of the party’s elite ruling bodies, passed a proposal earlier in October to amend the constitution, although it didn’t specify what would be included.

The party gave Xi the title of “core” leader a year ago, a significant strengthening of his position ahead of the congress.

Xi set bold long-term goals for China’s development in his opening speech, envisioning it as a “basically” modernized socialist country by 2035, and a modern socialist “strong power” with leading influence on the world stage by 2050.

Applauding Xi in a novel way

Bloomberg

A day after the 19th Party Congress kicked off with a marathon speech by Xi Jinping, Tencent Holdings  rolled out a game to enlist its 1 billion users on WeChat in a clapping competition. After watching highlights of his three-and-a-half hour monologue, users have 19 seconds to repeatedly mash an “applaud” button superimposed on an iconic image of the Great Hall of the People. The game had garnered more than 800 million claps by Thursday morning.

China’s biggest internet companies -- by far the largest corporate sector to have thrived outside of government control -- have scrambled in recent months to demonstrate fealty to the ruling apparatus. Their endeavors ranged from Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. touting cloud computing collaborations with local government to bike-rental giant Ofo setting up internal Party units.

The race to pledge allegiance isn’t surprising given the importance attached to the twice-a-decade congress, which is expected to set policy across every industry sector and help Xi consolidate his position as China’s most-powerful leader in a generation. But Tencent, as the dominant powerhouse in social media and content, is in the spotlight.