Communist Party to enshrine the thoughts of Xi Jinping

China’s 19th Communist Party congress next month will enshrine the “thoughts” of President Xi Jinping within its constitution.

Chinese President Xi Jinping will have his thoughts enshrined for study by students.

China’s 19th Communist Party congress next month will enshrine the “thoughts” of President Xi Jinping within its constitution as part of its permanent template for the country’s socialist future.

The state news agency Xinhua announced yesterday that the 25-member politburo had already signed off on a draft. The 205-member central committee will finalise the proposal on Oct­ober 11 before the congress starts on October 18 in Beijing.

At the five-yearly meeting, Mr Xi will be appointed as general secretary, and thus leader of China, for the next five years.

The age and experience of those elevated to secondary roles alongside him will indicate the likelihood of his going on to seek a further term in 2022.

Cai Mingzhao, the official spokesman of the last congress, avoided a journalist’s question about whether the constitution might be amended to include what had become a convention, that a party leader should not exceed two terms, totalling 10 years, by saying: “The party’s leaders are not there for life.”

Mr Xi has moved very swiftly in his first term to consolidate his power — to become the most personally authoritative leader in China since Mao Zedong. Given the reach of his control into every pocket and every household through party-state online dominance, Mr Xi is arguably even stronger than Mao.

The constitution already recognises Mao Zedong Thought and Deng Xiaoping Theory — although the latter’s vital contribution to China’s development in pivoting it towards economic modernity comprised practical steps more than ideology.

The ideological contributions of Mr Xi’s predecessors, Jiang Zemin’s “three represents” and Hu Jintao’s “scientific development”, have received acknowledgment in the constitution without being associated with them by name.

There has been a rush in the past couple of years within educational institutions to be seen to foster and study “Xi Thought”. About 50 new university courses have been inaugurated — with funding from the central government — to study the topic.

They include Tsinghua University’s course on Mr Xi’s thoughts on “deploying renovation and technology to build a powerful country”, Southwest University’s study of Mr Xi’s “contribution to Karl Marx’s theory of labour value”, and Hunan Institute of Science and Technology’s course on “Xi Jinping’s sense of happiness”.

Three well-endowed study centres have been established, in Hebei and Yunnan provinces and at the Chinese Defence University, to focus on the life, work and thoughts of Mr Xi.

But the likely content of a new constitutional acknowledgment of Xi Thought is more elusive, though it could include his “four comprehensives” — building a prosperous society and strengthening reforms, the rule of law, and party discipline.

It remains unclear whether Mr Xi’s name will be elevated to the constitution. Its inclusion would underline the extent of his leadership domination.

“Amending the constitution at the 19th national congress would promote the development of socialism with Chinese characteristics and party-building,” Xinhua said.

The amendments would include “the key theories and strategic thoughts” presented in a work report at the congress.

They would “make the Communist Party more vigorous, stronger, and enable it to keep a close connection with the ­people”, and would incorporate “the fresh experiences in … strict party governance”, referring to the anti-corruption campaign Mr Xi launched, which is going nationwide, beyond party membership.