The Sixth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was held in Beijing from November 8 to 11, 2021. On this occasion, the "Resolution on the Major Achievements and Historical Experience of the Party over the Past Century" was approved.
This is the third most important resolution adopted in the history of the Chinese Communist Party, which consolidates Xi Jinping's role as "key president" alongside Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping.
The first historical resolution of 1945 affirmed the leadership of Mao Zedong and marked a break with the past that would have led to the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949 and the autarchic approach.
The second historic resolution was adopted in 1981 under the presidency of Deng Xiaoping. It too represented a discontinuity with the past of Mao's Cultural Revolution of the years 1966-1976, as it indicated the integration of China into the world economy as the only possible path for development and growth.
The third resolution of 2021 proposes a synthesis between past, present and future. In fact, if on the one hand it recognizes the roots of Mao's People's Republic of China and the reforms of China's opening to the world of Deng Xioping, on the other hand it presents the political guidelines of the Party under the Presidency of Xi Jinping for a new era in which China has now become a power of the 21st century in the international geopolitical and economic context.
When Xi Jinping was elected party secretary in 2012, he presented his ambitious "Chinese Dream" that is the goal of achieving full prosperity and modernization of society by 2049. In Xi Jinping's vision, Chinese society must "rejuvenate" and return to the full grandeur of the past (before the Opium Wars from 1839). To achieve this goal, a profound season of reforms took place. We moved to the new normal economy no longer driven by unbridled double-digit GDP growth, but by more sustainable and long-term economic growth driven not only by low-cost exports and public investment, but also by an increase in internal consumption and a qualitatively higher production.
Other important elements that characterize Xi Jinping's thinking of socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era are the concepts of "common prosperity", "double circulation" and "technological autonomy".
By "common prosperity" is meant China's effort to reduce economic inequalities within Chinese society.
The "double circulation" refers instead to the balance between the opening of China to the world (external circulation) and the protection of its consumption and strategic assets (internal circulation). In Xi Jinping's thinking, internal circulation should be privileged without neglecting external circulation, so as not to excessively expose China to external threats. From this point of view, with the Presidency of Xi Jinping, China has further opened up to the world, also through the New Silk Road project, but at the same time it has adopted protectionist policies, especially in the field of cybersecurity and has adopted an autarchic approach in the technology sector to become independent from the US and Taiwan.
The third historic resolution also summarizes the main achievements of Xi Jinping including: the eradication of extreme poverty in China, anti-corruption initiatives and the increased geopolitical weight gained by China on the international stage.
The 6th Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party finally established that the 20th National People's Assembly of the CCP will be held in Beijing in the second half of 2022. On that occasion it is likely that Xi Jinping will be re-elected President of the new legislature, after that the two-term limit was removed in 2018.
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Silk Council