China Power | Politics | East Asia

The 5th Plenum and the CCP’S Dark Warning to the Unfaithful

14 years later, the Chinese Communist Party is still carrying out the relentless anti-corruption crusade that has become the signature program of Xi Jinping’s rule.    

Chinese Communist Party (CCP) General Secretary Xi Jinping addresses Chinese and foreign journalists at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing during the 20th Party Congress, Oct 23, 2022.

It used to be relatively rare to hear or see the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) publicize its vulnerabilities or engage in self-criticism. Yet, in the closing communique issued after the fifth plenum – the CCP’s recent four-day meeting from October 26 to 29 – the failings of party leadership were openly highlighted, along with the naming and shaming of dozens of members in CCP and military leadership. The very public purge is part of an ongoing anti-corruption campaign that Xi Jinping has pursued since his ascension to the top spot of general secretary of the CCP in 2012.

By releasing the communique to Xinhua, China’s official state news agency, for dissemination to the wider public, Xi becomes the hero of his own story.

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It used to be relatively rare to hear or see the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) publicize its vulnerabilities or engage in self-criticism. Yet, in the closing communique issued after the fifth plenum – the CCP’s recent four-day meeting from October 26 to 29 – the failings of party leadership were openly highlighted, along with the naming and shaming of dozens of members in CCP and military leadership. The very public purge is part of an ongoing anti-corruption campaign that Xi Jinping has pursued since his ascension to the top spot of general secretary of the CCP in 2012.

By releasing the communique to Xinhua, China’s official state news agency, for dissemination to the wider public, Xi becomes the hero of his own story.

“It was unanimously agreed,” the communique said, “that the Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core demonstrated tremendous political courage and a strong sense of responsibility in confronting the grave situation marked by weak, hollow, and watered-down party leadership, lax, superficial, and ineffective self-supervision and self-governance, as well as some startling problems within the party.” 

Under Xi’s leadership, these problems have been “addressed at the root,” the report continued, and “unhealthy tendencies that had long gone unchecked have........

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