CHINA-LEADERSHIP: XI JINPING DESIGNATED 'CORE' OF LEADERSHIP
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On October 27, 2016, after 4 day-long deliberations the Sixth Plenum of the 18th CCP CC agreed to designated Xi Jinping as the 'core' (he xin) of the Party centre, or fifth generation leadership. The Plenum was attended by 197 full members and 151 alternate members of the CCP CC who met under the chairmanship of Xi Jinping. In addition, while endorsing the tough policies implemented by Xi Jinping so far, the 6000-word Plenum document also seemed to clearly hold back from granting Xi Jinping unfettered authority by equally carefully emphasising 'collective leadership' and asserting that 'no party organisation or individual should suppress or undermine intra-party democracy.' Deng Maosheng, a member of the CCP CC's Policy Research Office who helped draft the Plenum document, was quoted by Hongkong's SCMP on October 31, 2016,as clarifying that the new designation would not automatically empower Xi Jinping to make departures from the Party's informally accepted norm that cadres of 68 years and over are not eligible for elevation to the PB or PBSC. He said Xi Jinping would have to do a lot of explaining and persuading to secure exemptions. At the same time, Deng Maosheng hinted that Wang Qishan is likely to stay on to continue his important work in the Central Discipline Inspection Commission (CDIC).
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