In July, the upcoming Third Plenary Session of the Communist Party of China (CPC) is set to play the card of “reform,” as the CPC leader Xi Jinping recently visited Shandong and held a symposium on “deepening reform.” Two deputy directors of the Central Comprehensive Reform Committee, Wang Huning and Cai Qi, attended the event, while the top-ranking deputy director Li Qiang was absent. Analysts believe that Li Qiang may have been marginalized in terms of so-called “deepening reform.”
According to Xinhua News Agency on May 23rd, Xi Jinping chaired a symposium with enterprises and experts in Jinan, Shandong Province, discussing “further comprehensively deepening reform.”
The meeting was attended by the CPC Central Committee’s Political Bureau Standing Committee members Wang Huning, Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, and Cai Qi, Director of the Central Office.
Political commentator Li Linyi told Dajiyuan on the 27th that the so-called “deepening reform” meeting of the CPC was attended without the top-ranking deputy director Li Qiang. Li Qiang was conducting research in Henan on that day. It appears that Xi Jinping’s “deepening reform” does not require Li Qiang.
In the two previous Central Comprehensive Reform Committees, the three deputy directors were composed of the Premier of the State Council, the top-ranking Secretary of the Central Secretariat, and the Executive Vice Premier of the State Council. In the previous 19th session, they were Li Keqiang, Wang Huning, and Han Zheng. In the current 20th session, Wang Huning has been appointed Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, but still retained his position as deputy director of the comprehensive reform committee; Cai Qi is the top-ranking Secretary of the Central Secretariat. However, Executive Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang is not included.
Li Qiang, who himself is a former secretary of Xi Jinping, saw his power dwindling after becoming the Premier. At the March 2024 CPC “Two Sessions,” the traditional press conference that Li Qiang was supposed to hold as Premier for over thirty years was canceled, sparking public discussion.
The National People’s Congress of the CPC also passed the first amendment to the “State Council Organizational Law” in over forty years, adding “upholding the central authority and centralized leadership” as the highest political principle. Overseas opinion generally believes that this amendment “diminishes the functions of the State Council and the Premier.”
On March 27th this year, The Economist analyzed the ups and downs of China’s economic management team, pointing out that the current Premier Li Qiang may retire due to reaching the age of 68 at the time of the leadership change in 2027. Li Qiang was born in 1959.
On April 30th, the CPC Political Bureau announced the convening of the Third Plenary Session in July. The meeting unusually emphasized reform and opening up. The symposium held by Xi Jinping during his inspection in Shandong province on May 23rd was considered as a prelude to the Third Plenary Session. The most noteworthy aspect of the meeting was the participation of economist Zhou Qiren, known as a reformist, among the nine expert speakers.
However, during this “reform” symposium in Shandong, Xi explicitly stated that “no matter how reforms are made,” the “adherence to the party’s overall leadership” and other fundamental principles “absolutely cannot be shaken.”
Former CCP official Du Wen stated on X on the 24th of May that the reform resolution of the Third Plenary Session is likely to lean towards a planned economy reform plan. Xi Jinping’s speech indicates his deep skepticism towards the market economy and extreme emphasis on party control. The direction of the reform seems not to be aimed at truly unleashing market vitality but at consolidating and expanding party power. This reform path may gradually lead the Chinese economy back to a more planned system.
Xi Jinping has always been seen as wanting to follow Mao Zedong’s path, effectively reversing decades of reform and opening up.
The Director of the Institute of Strategy and Resources at the Taiwan Institute for National Defense and Security, Su Ziyun, told Dajiyuan on April 30th that Xi Jinping has made strategic economic mistakes. He reintroduced reforms and opening up at the Political Bureau meeting, but this rhetoric of reform and opening up is only a false political language because the practices of the CCP’s national security departments are scaring away foreign capital.