China Ushers In Xi Era With Passage Of Historical Resolution

In 1981, the Communist Party of China (CPC) passed a landmark historical resolution to underscore a paradigm shift from Mao Zedong’s policy of “class struggle” to Deng Xiaoping’s “reform and opening up” policy focusing on economic construction.

- Benjamin Kang Lim

In 1981, the Communist Party of China (CPC) passed a landmark historical resolution to underscore a paradigm shift from Mao Zedong’s policy of “class struggle” to Deng Xiaoping’s “reform and opening up” policy focusing on economic construction.

On Nov 11, the CPC’s elite 197-member Central Committee passed another historical resolution during a four-day plenum, glorifying President Xi Jinping’s all-encompassing political ideology as the country’s guiding principle for decades to come.

The 68-year-old President, who is also CPC and military chief, was immortalised in the document as the man of the hour to restore China to its former glory after what is deemed in the country as the “Century of Humiliation” between 1839 and 1949, when China was defeated and carved up by foreign powers.

Now that Mr Xi has been sanctified as the “core leader” who will lead China to achieve its great rejuvenation by 2049, no one who comes after him – at least for the next three decades – will likely have the political strength to push through another historical resolution or overturn his policies, party insiders say.