image source,Getty Images
The closely watched 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China will open on Sunday (October 16) for a week, with the main agenda including making “appropriate revisions” to the party constitution.
Sun Yeli, a spokesman for the conference, told the media on Saturday that the conference will open on Sunday in the Great Hall of the People and end on October 22, after which the new Standing Committee of the Politburo, the top decision-making level of the Communist Party of China, will be announced.
It is expected that this conference will allow Xi Jinping, the general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, to remain in office and enter a historic third term, becoming the top leader of the Communist Party of China with the longest tenure since Mao Zedong.
Sun Yeli also said that it is “practice” to revise the party constitution at the five-year party congress, but did not talk about the specific revisions.
In 2018, the National People’s Congress made a historic revision to China’s constitution, abolishing the limit of two terms for the president of the state, legally laying the foundation for Xi Jinping to serve as a leader for life.
This CCP congress comes at a time when China’s economic growth continues to slow down, the “zero” policy of new crown epidemic prevention and control is controversial, and Sino-US relations are tense.
Sun Yeli also told reporters at the meeting that on the Taiwan issue, China still does not promise to renounce the use of force.
Xi is expected to open the conference on Sunday with a speech outlining the party’s roadmap for governing over the next five years.
“Appropriate” amendments to the party constitution
Sun Yeli said that the revision of the Party Constitution is an important task of the 20th National Congress.
He did not specifically discuss the content of the revision of the party constitution, but only stated that “the major theoretical viewpoints and major strategic ideas established in the report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China should be written into the party constitution”, and he said that the revision of the party constitution is the practice of all congresses since the 13th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.
The week-long party congress will close after the election of the new Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.
After the closing of the Party Congress, the CCP will hold the First Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, which will produce new members of the Political Bureau and Standing Committee of the CPC Central Committee.
image source,Getty Images
High growth ‘not the only indicator’
The spokesman acknowledged that due to the impact of the new crown epidemic and the international environment, China’s economy is under great downward pressure, but the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China will formulate plans to “keep the economy operating within a reasonable range.”
China’s economic growth has continued to slow since Xi Jinping took office for a decade. The second quarter of 2022 recorded the slowest growth rate since the new crown epidemic.
“The growth rate is an important indicator to measure economic development, but it is not the only indicator,” Sun Yeli told a news conference.
He said that after Xi Jinping came to power at the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Chinese economy has clearly shifted from a stage of high-speed growth to “high-quality development”.
“We don’t simply judge heroes by the growth rate of gross domestic product,” he said.
He said that between 2013 and 2021, the average annual growth of China’s economy was higher than the average level of the world and developing economies in the same period; since the epidemic, China’s economic development is still at a relatively good level among major economies, and China’s economy will still be the largest in the world. The “stabilizer” and “power source” of world economic growth.
Adhere to “dynamic clearing”
On the new crown epidemic prevention policy, Sun Yeli said that China will still adhere to the policy of “dynamic clearing”, but at the same time said that it will “continuously improve specific measures for epidemic prevention and control.”
As many countries ease or lift measures to prevent and control the new crown epidemic, Chinese state media have signaled in the past week that China’s draconian “clearing” policy will not change in the short term.
The Chinese-style epidemic prevention, marked by large-scale testing and severe lockdown measures, has dealt a severe blow to the Chinese economy, and public dissatisfaction has continued to accumulate.
On Friday, on the eve of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, there were rare protests against Xi Jinping and the country’s anti-epidemic policies on a viaduct in Beijing’s Haidian district.
Sun Yeli told a press conference on Saturday that although people hope that the epidemic will end, “what we see is that the epidemic still exists, and this is a reality that must be faced.”
He said that the “dynamic clearing” policy is in line with China’s national conditions, and it is this policy that “maintains the continuous and stable operation of the economy and society.”
“If you do the general ledger, our epidemic prevention measures are the most economical and the most effective,” he said.
He said that China’s epidemic prevention strategies and measures will continue to improve and become more “scientific”, “precise” and “effective”.
“We firmly believe that the dawn is ahead, and persistence is victory.”
China has reported an official death toll of 5,226 since the 2020 pandemic, compared with more than 1 million deaths in the United States.
However, in the first half of this year, industries in the world‘s second-largest economy were hit hard by successive lockdowns — including more than a month in Shanghai.
At the same time, Xi Jinping said in May that he would “fight” against words and deeds that “distort, doubt and deny” China’s epidemic prevention policy.
No commitment to give up use of force against Taiwan
When talking about the Taiwan issue, Sun Yeli said that China will still take the reunification of Taiwan by force as the “last option”.
He said that achieving “reunification of the motherland” in a peaceful manner is the most in line with “the overall interests of the Chinese nation, including Taiwan compatriots”, and is Beijing’s “first choice” to resolve the Taiwan issue.
But he said that he would not commit to renounce the use of force and “reserve the option of taking all necessary measures”, targeting “external forces” and “very few ‘Taiwan independence’ separatists” who are trying to “control China with Taiwan”, not the people of Taiwan .
“As long as there is a possibility of a first-line peaceful solution, we will make a hundredfold efforts,” he said. “Non-peaceful means will be the last choice made under the last resort.”
Biden has repeatedly pledged to defend Taiwan, and his administration has listed China as “the greatest challenge to the global order” in a recent national security strategy.