Who is Xi Jinping? Looking for new clues in Communist Party tributes
- A series of articles in the Central Party School’s main newspaper show a consistent focus on party control in the economy and ideology
- Xi’s approach goes back to his days in Zhejiang and then Shanghai before his promotion to the top job in Beijing
While the articles try to portray Xi in a favourable light in the lead-up to the expected endorsement of his third term at next autumn’s party congress, they also offer details of his approach to governance that were not previously known to the public.
One of the key themes in the articles is Xi’s longstanding interest in asserting party control over the economy and ideology.
When Xi came to power in late 2012, one of his first major decisions was to revive the then low-profile Central Leadership Group on Financial and Economic Affairs. Xi put this group in the spotlight and chaired it himself, using it to steer economic policy, challenging the long-held perception about the State Council as the main driver of the country’s economic direction.
Over the past three weeks, Study Times has traced this concept back a decade to his time as the party chief of Shanghai in 2007. In an earlier set of interviews published in April, the paper tracked back to 2003 and his leadership in the coastal province of Zhejiang. In each place, Xi founded the first such groups in both provinces soon after his arrival.
“Secretary Xi said he wanted to strengthen the party’s leadership in the economy, and set up a financial and economic leadership group in the Shanghai municipal party committee,” Zhou Weizhong, then with the general office of the Shanghai party committee, was quoted as saying.
“This was unheard of in Shanghai, so we asked our comrades in Zhejiang province [for advice].”
