As expected, Xi Jinping was chosen as general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party at the 18th Party Congress in Beijing's Great Hall of the People Nov. 15. The process, concealed from domestic and international observers, was thoroughly choreographed; Xi, the incoming president, and Li Keqiang, the new premier, were probably chosen years ago. The 2,270 delegates also named the new Central Committee, a ruling council of some 200 full members and 170 non-voting alternates. The leadership change happens every 10 years. The congress had an official theme of "Accelerating the Transformation of the Economic Growth Model," with the official report opening: "We need to expedite the improvement of the socialist market economic system." The target of doubling gross domestic product growth by 2020, set during the 16th congress, was raised to doubling both GDP and per capita income. Xi's remarks called for addressing "corruption" and "inequality," but made no mention of Marxism or Mao Zedong Thought. (China Digital Times [7], Xinhua [8], BBC World Service, Nov. 15; Caixin [9], IOL [10], BBC News [11], Nov. 14; Worldpress [12], Nov. 6)
Born in 1953, Xi is the son of one of Mao's "first generation" elite, Xi Zhongxun, and spent the first year of his life within the walls of the Zhongnanhai, the palace that houses the Communist party headquarters, adjacent to the Forbidden City. The elder Xi was purged and arrested in 1962, and the son went back to the ancestral homeland of Shaanxi and lived in a cave for seven years. Xi Zhongxun was rehabilitated after Mao's death in 1976, and the son's career track was restored. The elder Xi fell out of grace again by speaking out against the repression at Tiananmen Square [13] in 1989, but the son was by then well ensconced in the bureaucracy and was unaffected. After senior political roles in Fujian and Zhejiang provinces, he was appointed as Shanghai's party chief in 2007 and ascended to the all-powerful nine-member Standing Committee of the 25-member Politburo. The following year, he was named vice-president under Hu Jintao. He became a leading advocate of market liberalization and developing the private sector. (Business Insider [14], Nov. 14; IBT [15], Nov. 2)
When Xi Jinping served as deputy party secretary in Fujian from 1995 to 2002 and party secretary in Zhejiang from 2002 to 2007, he gained a reputation for targeting independent trade unions. In 2002, eight activists in Fujian who formed an independent union were arrested and received sentences of up to 16 years. After Xi departed for Zhejiang, those imprisoned in the case were one by one granted clemency. Only the leader Li Jianfeng is currently believed to be imprisoned. During Xi’s tenure in Zhejiang, the province imprisoned several members of the China Democracy Party—one of the largest underground opposition parties. After Xi’s arrival in Beijing, he became the Standing Committee's pointman for supressing dissent. (Dui Hua [16], Oct. 26)
In 2009, Xi famously blasted critics of China's human rights situation—in comments clearly aimed at the US: "There are a few foreigners, with full bellies, who have nothing better to do than try to point fingers at our country. China does not export revolution, hunger, poverty nor does China cause you any headaches. Just what else do you want?" Yet he visisted with Obama in Washington and toured the US in February 2012, with stops in Los Angeles and Iowa. (NYT [17], Nov. 4; NYT [18], Nov. 3; BBC News [19], Feb. 14)
In the prelude to the Party Congress, police and security personnel cracked down on dissidents, human rights activists and petitioners, with hundreds detained—part of the effort pioneered by Xi to "maintain stability" during "sensitive periods" with pre-emptive measures [20]. Many in Beijing who are routinely under surveillance were subjected to greater controls, with guards stationed outside their homes, and police "escorting" them when they ventured outside. Police in the capital held activist Hu Jia [21] under house arrest for over a month before the congress opened. (Chinese Human Rights Defenders [22], Nov. 1)
The heightened repression also came amid a new wave of labor unrest. A sharp increase in the number of wage arrears cases saw the total number of worker protests recorded by China Labour Bulletin reach 49 in October, the highest monthly total since the Hong Kong-based watchdog launched its "strike map" in January 2011. The largest protests were reported at Singapore's Flextronics International plant in Shenzhen and Hong Kong-based Win Hanverky's plant in Guangdong, which produces sportswear for Adidas. (China Labour Bulletin [23], Nov. 6)