China\u2019s president, Xi Jinping, has already grasped more power more quickly than his two recent predecessors, and he has shown a taste for audacious decisions and a loathing for dissent.<\/p>\n
By CHRIS BUCKLEY
FEB. 4, 2016<\/p>\n
BEIJING \u2014 China<\/a>\u2019s president, Xi Jinping<\/a>, has already grasped more power more quickly than his two recent predecessors, and he has shown a taste for audacious decisions<\/a> and a loathing for dissent<\/a>. But a new push to praise him as China<\/a>\u2019s \u201ccore\u201d leader, a term resonant with the formidable stature once held by Deng Xiaoping, suggests that his steely quest for dominance is not over.<\/p>\n As Mr. Xi confronts economic challenges and prepares to pick a fresh cohort of subordinates, he has demanded that Communist Party officials close ranks around him more tightly than ever, and references to Mr. Xi as the \u201ccore\u201d leader have become a daily occurrence in China\u2019s state-run news media.<\/p>\n \u201cSuch sudden, unabashed references to Xi\u2019s dominance in the leadership suggest he finally has turned the page on crushing the cabal of senior officials who opposed his ascension and remains a man in a hurry when it comes to fully consolidating his political power,\u201d said Christopher K. Johnson<\/a>, an expert on Chinese politics at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.<\/p>\n In the stagecraft of Chinese politics, formulaic expressions like \u201ccore\u201d are tokens of power. Officials have suggested that hailing Mr. Xi as a leader of such stature \u2014 one in the footsteps of Deng, who ruled China through its transformation after Mao\u2019s death \u2014 carries a warning not to question, let alone challenge, his authority as the government navigates turbulent changes. <\/p>\n \u201cThe world order that we\u2019re in is undergoing a profound adjustment, and domestically, this is an important period of profound changes,\u201d Guo Jinlong, the party chief of Beijing, said at a meeting in mid-January, according to the Beijing Daily newspaper<\/a>. \u201cWe need a staunch leadership core more than ever.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Xi, whose formal titles include general secretary of the Communist Party, has signaled his demands for greater loyalty through recent central leadership meetings, with the message filtering downward. \u201cParty and government, military, civilian and learning \u2014 east, west, south, north and center \u2014 the party is leader of all,\u201d Mr. Xi said at a meeting last month,according to a widely circulated report<\/a> by a propaganda team devoted to promoting him.<\/p>\n In a burst of statements since that meeting, dozens of provincial-level leaders and other senior cadres have vowed \u2014 and demanded from their subordinates \u2014 unflinching allegiance to \u201cGeneral Secretary Xi Jinping<\/a>, the core.\u201d Each day this week has brought new such declarations of allegiance to Mr. Xi in the state-run news media.<\/p>\n \u201cResolutely safeguard the core, General Secretary Xi Jinping<\/a>, and implement to the letter all the decisions of the center,\u201d Xu Shousheng, the party secretary of Hunan Province in southern China, said on Monday, according to the province\u2019s main news website<\/a>.<\/p>\n At least 14 party leaders of provinces, regions and provincial-level cities have used that phrase, or something nearly identical, since mid-January, according to a count from newspaper reports. \u201cResolutely safeguard the absolute authority of the party center under Comrade Xi Jinping as general secretary,\u201d Chen Quanguo, the party secretary of Tibet, said on Wednesday<\/a>. \u201cStaunchly safeguard, support and be faithful to General Secretary Xi Jinping, the core.\u201d<\/p>\n Officials have not publicly explained what prompted the loyalty demands that Mr. Xi has authorized. But he faces a year of potentially contentious issues: subduing economic uncertainties that have eroded investors\u2019 confidence<\/a> in his acumen and continuing an anticorruption drive that has sapped officials\u2019 incomes and morale.<\/p>\n Mr. Xi has appeared frustrated by what he saw as foot-dragging and insubordination from local officials, said Mr. Johnson of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. But he said that no evidence supported speculation that Mr. Xi faced concerted opposition from senior officials.<\/p>\n On the contrary, Mr. Xi\u2019s far-reaching reorganization of the Chinese military in recent months showed that he remained dominant, despite worries over the slowing economy, Mr. Johnson said.<\/p>\n Mr. Xi also appears to be laying the groundwork for promoting loyalists, which will culminate in the party\u2019s next congress in 2017, said Joseph Fewsmith<\/a>, a professor at Boston University who specializes in elite Chinese politics. Mr. Xi was installed as top leader at the last congress in 2012 and is likely to remain party leader until 2022.<\/p>\n Despite Mr. Xi\u2019s daunting power, he presides over a political elite that includes many appointees promoted by his predecessors, Hu Jintao<\/a> and Jiang Zemin. The congress will give Mr. Xi a chance to install his own people, and he wanted to stress the importance he places on submitting to his goals, Professor Fewsmith said.<\/p>\n \u201cI have always thought the game was about the 19th Party Congress, and I would say that this is the opening shot in the lead-up to that meeting,\u201d he said. It \u201cseems like a way to announce a campaign for personnel arrangements.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Xi has not publicly said that he should receive the title of core leader, a designation that Deng bestowed on Mr. Jiang<\/a> in the upheavals of 1989, after Mr. Jiang was abruptly installed as general secretary and struggled to establish his authority. Later, Deng himself and Mao also came to be praised as the \u201ccore\u201d leaders of their generations.<\/p>\n The term re-emerged after recent meetings presided over by Mr. Xi.<\/p>\n On Jan. 7, the Politburo Standing Committee, the seven-member inner circle of party power run by Mr. Xi, demanded<\/a> unwavering loyalty to the central leadership and to him, according to Xinhua, the state-run news agency.<\/p>\n \u201cThe key to strengthening party leadership is maintaining the centralized and unified leadership of the party center,\u201d said the official summary in the state news media<\/a> of a meeting in late January of the Politburo, a council of the party\u2019s 25 most senior cadres. It urged officials to support a \u201cstaunch leadership core.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLine up with the party center, line up with General Secretary Xi Jinping,\u201d multiple official accounts of the leaders\u2019 demands have said<\/a>, using a Chinese parade-ground term for troops arrayed in rigid uniformity.<\/p>\n By contrast, Mr. Xi\u2019s immediate predecessor as president and party chief, Mr. Hu, conspicuously never gained the title of core leader in party pronouncements. That was widely seen as reflecting Mr. Hu\u2019s position as a relatively weak leader, long overshadowed by Mr. Jiang, who governed through consensus that critics said bred deadlock and corruption.<\/p>\n Since coming to power in November 2012, Mr. Xi and his allies have implicitly presented their task as cleaning up the mess left by Mr. Hu: corruption, excessive industrial investment, pollution, social rancor and inequality, and incipient opposition to one-party rule.<\/p>\n We must as soon as possible establish General Secretary Xi Jinping\u2019s core ability to govern this country as a benchmark, a model that leading officials of all ranks in the party can aspire to,\u201d said an adulatory party commentary<\/a>about Mr. Xi that has been widely circulated by the Chinese news media. It made no mention of Deng, Mao or any other predecessors.<\/p>\n