Communist Party unites behind Xi's vision as China's Congress ends

China’s national congress was concluding its annual session with the usual show of near-unanimous support for plans designed to carry out ruling Communist Party leader Xi Jinping's vision for the nation.

The weeklong event has highlighted how China’s politics have become ever more calibrated to elevate Xi.

Monday’s agenda lacked the usual closing news conference by the premier, who in the past was responsible for economic affairs as the party’s No. 2 leader. It was the one time each year when journalists could directly question a top Chinese leader.

The news conference has been held most years since 1988, and the decision to scrap the event emphasises Li Qiang's relatively weak status.

Past premiers have played a much larger role in leading key economic policies such as modernising state companies, coping with economic crises and leading housing reforms that transformed China into a nation of homeowners.

The nearly 3,000-member congress approved revisions to the Organic Law of the State Council that direct China’s version of a cabinet to follow Xi’s vision.

The vote was 2,883 to eight, with nine abstentions. Other measures passed by similarly wide margins. The most nays were recorded for the annual report of the Supreme Court, which was passed by a 2,834 to 44 vote.

'A New Era'

The Organic Law of the State Council is being revised for the first time since it was adopted in 1982. The revision calls for the State Council to “uphold the leadership of the Communist Party of China." It also adds the governor of China's central bank to the body.

Echoing words seen in just about every proposal, law or speech made in China these days, it spells out that China's highest governing officials must adhere to the party's guiding ideology, which refers back to Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought and culminates in Xi's philosophy on “Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era.”

Along with following “the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought” and other party directives, developing “new quality productive forces” — a term coined by Xi last September — emerged as a catchphrase at this year’s congress.

The term suggests prioritising science and technology as China confronts trade sanctions and curbs on access to advanced know-how in computer chips and other areas that the US and other countries deem to be national security risks.

During this year's congress, many provincial meetings were opened to the media for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic, though they were carefully scripted, with prepared remarks and none of the spontaneity once glimpsed in decades past.

The contrast with polarised politics in the US and robust debate in other democracies could not be more stark: China's political rituals, void of any overt dissent, put unity above all.

Marching orders endorsed by the congress include calls to ensure national security and social stability at a time when job losses and underpayment of wages have sparked a growing number of protests.