The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has decided to add Chinese President Xi Jinping’s political thought and the National Supervision System into the country’s constitution.
From January 18 to 19, the CCP Central Committee held the second plenary session in Beijing. A total of 203 members of the CCP Central Committee and 172 alternate members attended the session, presided over by Xi, who also holds the position of general secretary of the CCP Central Committee.
As The Diplomat has been following, the purpose of the session was to discuss a proposal about amending China’s constitution.
According to the communique issued after the session on January 19, a proposal from the CCP Central Committee on revisions to the Constitution was adopted at the meeting.
However, neither the communique nor China’s state media published the full proposal. The only way for Chinese citizens as well as China analysts to have a broad understanding of the proposed constitutional amendment is to read between the lines of the communique.
The communique used a large amount of propaganda-style sentences to explain why the Constitution is very important to China and how China has adhered and will adhere to governing by law.
The essence of the communique was actually buried within the lengthy wording. It said that “the major theoretical ideas, principles and policies — especially Xi Jinping’s thought on socialism with Chinese characteristics in a new era — promulgated by the 19th Party Congress” will be “included into the state’s fundamental law.”
It’s particularly worth mentioning that the communique itself highlighted one paragraph with bold front. It read:
The session highlighted that Xi Jinping’s thought on socialism with Chinese characteristics in a new era is the latest achievement of Marxism in China, the contemporary Marxism in China, the 21st Century Marxism, and the guiding ideology that the Party and state must uphold in the long run... The reform to establish a national supervisory system, which is under the Party’s leadership and covers all who exercise public power, is a significant political system reform and a major decision to strengthen the self-supervision of the Party and the state… The reform of establishing a state supervisory system is significant to the reform of the political system overall. It is a major plan for the Party and the state to strengthen self-supervision. It is necessary to establish an anti-corruption organ, which is under the unified leadership of the Party. The establishment of a centralized, authoritative, and efficient state supervisory system can then realize the full monitor of all public officers exercising public authority.
This paragraph made it clear that Xi Jinping Thought and the National Supervision System will be added into China’s Constitution, considering that China’s legislative branch is under the full control of the CCP.
On January 21, China’s state news agency, Xinhua, published a commentary on the amendment of the Constitution and put it on the website’s homepage as its headline. The commentary pointed out clearly that to amend the constitution is the CCP’s decision.
“The Party Central Committee’s decision to make appropriate changes to the constitution is through repeated and comprehensive consideration of all aspects,” the commentary said. “It not only is in line with the development of the cause of the Party and the people, but also… follows the heart of people.”