Communist Party amends constitution boosting Xi’s ‘core’ status

China’s Communist Party on Saturday ended its once-in-five-year congress approving changes to its Constitution that have further enshrined leader Xi Jinping’s unchallenged “core” status.

The changed Constitution said it is now “an obligation for all party members” to “follow the leadership core”, referring to Mr. Xi, who was declared a “core” leader when the Constitution was last amended at the previous congress in 2017.

The amendments have now made it “an obligation” for all party members to “uphold” Mr. Xi’s “core” status. As Saturday’s resolution put it, the “revisions will help all Party members uphold and strengthen the Central Committee’s centralised, unified leadership and enhance cohesion and forge the Party’s soul with Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era,” referring to Mr. Xi’s eponymous ideology that was already written into the Constitution in 2017.

An amendment has now added what the party calls “two establishes” and “two upholds” to ensure Mr. Xi’s “core” status in the Constitution. It said “establishing… Xi Jinping’s core position on the Party Central Committee and in the Party as a whole and establishing the guiding role of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era has enabled the Party to successfully resolve the acute problems and challenges undermining its long-term governance”. “All Party members must acquire a deep understanding of the decisive significance of this major achievement, more conscientiously uphold Comrade Xi Jinping’s core position on the Party Central Committee and in the Party as a whole and uphold the Central Committee’s authority and its centralised, unified leadership,” the resolution said.

Another amendment called for “carrying forward our fighting spirit and building up our fighting ability”, referring to China’s more assertive diplomacy under Mr. Xi.

It has also included some of Mr. Xi’s key campaigns, such as “common prosperity”, which has been aimed at reducing inequality and also taming the private sector, unleashing several regulatory crackdowns that particularly targeted the tech industry.

The amended Constitution also calls for “resolutely opposing and deterring separatists seeking ‘Taiwan independence”, sharpening its language on Taiwan. The constitution previously only referred to “reunification of the motherland and strengthening unity of all Chinese people, including in Taiwan”.