China has reached a new “historical starting point” led by Xi Jinping Thought, senior Communist Party officials said, after top leaders paved the way for him to rule indefinitely by signing off on the first historical resolution in 40 years.
Xi’s new doctrine on party history didn’t focus on past “wrongs” because these had been settled in previous documents, officials said at a briefing Friday morning in Beijing. Instead, it summarized the party’s achievements to unite the will and action of the party, officials said. The full text of the resolution hasn’t been released yet.
Only Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping have authored such a doctrine and both went on to dominate politics until they died. A communique from this week’s plenum said the party should implement Xi’s resolution to meet party goals through 2049, another sign that he’s likely to seek a third term during a twice-a-decade party congress next year.
At the briefing, officials covered a wide range of topics, mostly reiterating previous policy statements from Xi and other top party officials. Beyond praising Xi, they blasted Western democracy as a “game of the rich” and spoke about the benefits of “common prosperity.” Since China’s per capita gross domestic product is low compared with other nations, they said, the party needed to “both grow the pie and divide it better.” Bloomberg News