The official Xinhua News Agency reported on February 28 that members of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, secretary of the Secretariat, members of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, the State Council, and the CPPCC National Committee, as well as the party secretaries of the Supreme Court and the Supreme Procuratorate, write to the “Party Central Committee” and General Secretary Xi Jinping every year. Debriefing.
According to the decision of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, starting from March 2018, the top officials of the Communist Party of China, in addition to Xi Jinping, including senior officials of the Standing Committee, must report to Xi Jinping in writing every year. According to reports, members of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee reported their work to Xi Jinping in writing, which is the first time since Xi Jinping took office, and the time is usually in the sensitive period before the “two sessions”.
By 2021, the CCP requires that the scope of debriefing to the “Party Central Committee” and Xi Jinping be expanded, including members of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China, members of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, vice premiers, state councilors, vice-chairmen of the National People’s Congress of the Communist Party of China, and vice-chairmen of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. The Supreme People’s Court and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate have to report to Xi Jinping. These include almost all senior officials at the deputy national level and above, and belong to Xi Jinping’s core team. According to outside analysts, this move shows Xi Jinping’s control over the “key minority” within the CCP, showing his political authority and leadership.
The report said that the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China will be held this year, and Xi Jinping requires officials to maintain a high degree of consistency with the “Party Central Committee” in ideology, politics and action.
According to public information, except for the postponement of the two sessions of the Communist Party of China during the CCP virus epidemic in 2020, the official did not publicly disclose the debriefing information, the other four were disclosed by the Xinhua News Agency.
Changes in the CCP’s Debriefing System
It is reported that as early as 2003, the Third Plenary Session of the 16th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China established the Politburo work report system, but the work report at that time was to report the work of the Politburo as a whole to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. The system is seen as an attempt by “the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China with Hu Jintao as its general secretary” to “intra-party democracy”.
Beginning in March 2018, members of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee made a written report to the “Party Central Committee” and Xi Jinping for the first time. According to Xinhua News Agency’s report at the time, this was an important institutional arrangement for strengthening and maintaining the centralized and unified leadership of the “Party Central Committee” since the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.
This kind of debriefing is completely different from the time when Hu Jintao was the general secretary of the Communist Party of China. First of all, it requires the “Party Central Committee” and “General Secretary” to be juxtaposed, and the debriefing objects are “the Party Central Committee and General Secretary Xi Jinping”, and it only says that “Xi Jinping has carefully reviewed the debriefing report and put forward important requirements”, without mentioning “the Party Central Committee”. Central” response to the debriefing.
Secondly, according to the official media of the Communist Party of China, different from the previous forms of reporting work by the major party groups of the Communist Party of China in the name of organizations, written reports since 2018 are members of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China, secretary of the Secretariat, members of the National People’s Congress, the State Council, and the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. And the secretaries of the Supreme People’s Court and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, respectively, made written reports in their personal capacities.
This means that in addition to Xi Jinping, 24 members of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China, five state councilors, nine vice-chairmen and secretary-generals of the National People’s Congress of the Communist Party of China, 11 vice-chairmen of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (including Xia Baolong, director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office), and You Quan, secretary of the secretariat who is not a member of the Politburo, Zhou Qiang, secretary of the Supreme People’s Court of the Communist Party of China, and Zhang Jun, secretary of the Supreme Procuratorate of the Communist Party of China, a total of 52 people, all need to report to Xi Jinping in writing.
This year marks the fifth time since the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China made institutional changes, members of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and others have reported to Xi Jinping in writing before the two sessions.
Analysts believe that such a written report reveals that all senior party-state officials have surrendered, and their every move is under Xi Jinping’s control.