Autocrat Xi tightens his grip with ‘Thought’ control
China’s ‘Chairman of Everything’ continues to push his political dogma with a new educational campaign
A yuan for your thought, comrade.
To understand the depth of the Communist Party’s hold on Chinese citizens from the cradle to the mortuary, you only have to look at the political dogma wrapped up in the “Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era.”
Earlier this week, “Chairman of Everything” Xi chaired yet another high-level conference on the matter. All seven members of the powerful Politburo Standing Committee turned up as did the rest of the Party elite, including the military top brass.
Top of the agenda was cramming sessions for the 90-plus million card-carrying comrades and the rest of Chinese society through academia.
“The frequency of education campaigns shows Xi’s lack of confidence in the system’s readiness to withstand serious challenges,” Trivium China, the political research group, stated before outlining the key talking points.
Take three:
- “Get all 97 million Party members on the same page with Xi’s policy agenda.”
- “Prepare officials to tackle multiple domestic and external challenges.”
- “Push officials to get closer to the masses” or the ordinary person in the street.
China is becoming more repressive at home.
URSULA VON DER LEYEN, HEAD OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION
Big picture: This latest Party pep talk comes at a time when “China is becoming more repressive at home and more assertive abroad.” Certainly, that is the view of Ursula von der Leyen, the head of the European Commission.
Delve deeper: “[Yet] these campaigns often leave officials feeling more insecure. That’s bad for morale when Xi needs cadres enthusiastically pushing his programs,” Trivium China said.
Between the lines: In 2021, new guidelines from the Ministry of Education made the “Xi Thought” program compulsory in schools across China. It was also placed at the core of a radical overhaul of the national curriculum and embedded in the Rule of Law.
China Factor comment: Totalitarianism is alive and thriving in China under President Xi as he circles the wagons against free-thinking democracies.