THE constitutional amendment enshrining Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era will keep China on a steady course as it enters the next phase of economic and social development for the rest of the world to benefit as well, analysts say.

They say the changes, adopted by the National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s top legislature, on March 11, point to a continuation of the work already started by the Communist Party of China Central Committee with Xi at its core and the pursuit of the Chinese Dream, which some say is a major strategic thought for developing socialism with Chinese characteristics.

Rapid modernisation and economic success have propelled China on a path which has become the envy of many around the world. The next step along that path will involve China upgrading its image of being the world’s factory to one steeped in science and technology which will drive modern China for much of the 21st century.

The NPC also passed an amendment that will in part set up a new National Supervision Commission to oversee the fight against corruption. The amendments were the first to be passed in 14 years.

Strengthening China’s government system has been one of President Xi’s flagship policies since coming into office five years ago.

Since then, nearly 86 million cases have been concluded, with 120 officials at or above vice-ministerial level being investigated, including former Political Bureau Standing Committee member Zhou Yongkang, who has since been imprisoned for life.

Investigations have until now been carried out by the central commission for discipline inspection, which until October was headed by Wang Qishan.

However, it was only able to investigate party officials, while the new supervision commission — because it is a state body — will also be able to investigate those outside the party who might attempt to offer bribes or inducements to officials in return for favours.

Political ecology

President Xi had told an NPC meeting on March 9 that he wanted to keep the political ecology of China clean.

Victor Gao, a leading China commentator and former interpreter for China’s former leader Deng Xiaoping, said the setting up of the supervision commission is a very important move in the fight against corruption.

“It means that those offering the bribes can also be investigated, and not just the party officials who take the bribes. It really levels the playing field in the fight against corruption,” he said.

“Xi Jinping and Wang Qishan in his role as secretary of the central commission for discipline inspection have shown that they not only talk the right talk, but also walk the right walk. This is a very important problem that has needed to be tackled in China for some time.”

Wang Huiyao, founder and president of the Centre for China and Globalisation, a Beijing-based independent think tank, said the new agency has an important role.

“It is another example of the separation of power within our governance system. You have the party, the government and now the supervisory system, as well as market forces. It all adds to creating checks and balances,” he said.

“Corruption had become an endemic problem and harder to control and contain. China has become very sophisticated and it needs a sophisticated system of regulation,” Wang added.

Martin Jacques, a British academic and author of When China Rules the World: The End of the Western World and the Birth of a New Global Order, said clean government is important for a system such as China’s.

“The Chinese leadership deserves a lot of credit for the anti-corruption campaign.”

The changes should not come as any surprise, said Hans Hendrischke, professor of Chinese business and management at the University of Sydney.

He said China is undergoing profound economic and social reform, and the recent constitutional changes will ensure those reforms, such as the restructuring of central and local governments, are carried through.

China’s commitment to the path of peace and development, mutual benefits, win-win cooperation, opening-up, and building a community with a shared future for mankind were also written into the constitution.

According to academic Michael Peters, writing in the Educating Philosophy and Theory Journal, Xi Jinping Thought has systematically addressed the major question of our times — the form and principles of socialism with Chinese characteristics for the new era.

Peters, professor of education at the University of Waikato, New Zealand, said Xi Jinping Thought “represents a pragmatic reading adapting Marxism to the Chinese context ushering in a new era of China’s socialist modernisation and governance based on strengthening the party”.

He said Xi Thought has provided a long-term, two-stage development plan. “The first stage [2020-35] is devoted to the realisation of socialist modernisation, including the achievement of the Belt and Road Initiative. The second stage [2035-50] is to develop China into a great modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong and culturally advanced.”

The amendment now places Xi Thought with other guiding theories including Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory and the Theory of Three Represents.

The national legislature also wrote into the constitution that “the leadership of the Communist Party of China is the defining feature of socialism with Chinese characteristics”.

That new sentence reflects the fundamental, comprehensive and contemporary nature of the party’s leadership, said Shen Chunyao, chairman of the Commission for Legislative Affairs of the NPC Standing Committee.

Lu Xi, assistant professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore, said China’s constitutional amendments have “more positives than negatives”.

He said that under Xi’s new policies, government interests are no longer compatible at different tiers of government, especially in key reform areas such as social equality, pollution control and poverty alleviation.

“Implementing these policies won’t bring tangible benefits to local governments in the short run but will aggravate their fiscal burden.

“That is to say, the old way of managing the central-local relations cannot work anymore. For overcoming the conflicts, enhancing Xi’s personal authority is necessary and predictable.” —China Daily

Published in Dawn, March 21st, 2018