A portrait of President Xi Jinping on a screen in the press center on the eve of the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of China on October 15, 2022 in Beijing (AFP/Noel Celis)
Ahead of the important Communist Party (CCP) congress which opens on Sunday, Chinese President Xi Jinping is carrying out a “final round of purges” via his anti-corruption campaign, in order to consolidate his power, according to analysts.
He launched it when he came to power 10 years ago, promising to bring down the “tigers” (senior leaders) and the “flies” (small officials) eager for bribes and various embezzlements.
Since then, at least 1.5 million people have been punished according to official figures, and China has progressed in the right direction, according to the ranking of the NGO Transparency International on the perception of corruption.
But for his critics, the campaign is also for Xi Jinping a political tool, intended to bring down rivals. And the approach of Congress has accelerated the trend.
Since the beginning of 2022, sanctions have been imposed in some 1,110 cases.
Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign (AFP/Gal ROMA)
Among them are those of Sun Lijun, former Deputy Minister of Public Security, and Fu Zhenghua, former Minister of Justice, sentenced to spend the rest of their lives behind bars.
“This latest round of purges, disguised as an anti-corruption campaign, will allow Xi to have tighter, if not absolute, control over matters of appointments and policy” at the congress, said Willy Lam, a CCP expert at the CCP. Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Xi Jinping should obtain an unprecedented third term at the head of China, contrary to the unwritten rules of Chinese power that have prevailed since the 1990s.
– Seafood –
Sun Lijun once had the president’s trust. He was even the one who oversaw security issues in Hong Kong during the protests in 2019.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (c) at the opening of the National People’s Congress on March 5, 2022 in Beijing (AFP/Archives/Leo RAMIREZ)
But the former deputy minister is said to have fallen out of favor because of his political ambitions, accused of “seriously undermining party unity”.
In January, he “confessed” on public television to having accepted 13 million euros in bribes, hidden … in seafood boxes, in exchange for career promotions.
Other figures in his political “clique”, including the former justice minister and three other provincial police chiefs, were also sentenced to heavy sentences.
“The Sun Lijun affair is linked to the absolute control that Xi Jinping wants to have over the security apparatus, because it is essential for his political purposes” during the congress, believes Yun Sun, China specialist at the Stimson think tank. Center in Washington.
“It is also a message of firmness for all voices critical of Xi’s governance.”
Despite a façade of unity, the Party is made up of several factions vying for influence.
“Some are anti-Xi but very pro-party. And they don’t like the direction taken by the party under its governance,” said Alex Payette, director of the firm Cercius Group, based in Montreal.
The convention is an opportunity for the president to reduce the threat from other factions by promoting allies to important positions within the CCP.
– “Loyalty” –
In 10 years, Xi Jinping will have succeeded in creating around him a quasi-cult of personality, never seen since that surrounding the founder of the regime, Mao Tse-tung.
A portrait of Chinese President Xi Jinping at the entrance to the military base in Guilin on May 13, 2016 (AFP/Archives/Greg Baker)
From middle school, students now learn the “Xi Jinping thought”.
Xi Jinping has already brought three important cogs of power (the army, the propaganda apparatus and the security services) under his control, after having ousted critical voices and placed his proteges.
The president and the new Minister of Public Security, Wang Xiaohong, have known each other since the 1990s, when the two worked in the province of Fujian (east).
“Xi Jinping selects people who have shown absolute loyalty to him for several decades,” said Wu Muluan, an expert in Chinese politics at the National University of Singapore.
Surrounding yourself well is all the more crucial as he has to deal with an economic slowdown, significant tensions with the United States and a Chinese anti-Covid health strategy which isolates his country from the rest of the world.
“Playing the anti-corruption card is a very useful tool for Xi to send a message to the still considerable number of opponents in the high spheres of the party,” said Willy Lam.
“Anyone who objects can face jail time…or at least be harassed by the anti-corruption agency, such as 24-hour surveillance.”
© 2022 AFP
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