In early November, the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party released a historic resolution detailing the monumental successes of the party’s leadership over the past 100 years, as well as establishing a new direction for the future of the party. This resolution was not only significant for its ode to China’s past victories, but also for being a maneuver towards establishing Xi Jinping’s position of power within the party itself.

The document, released on November 12th, 2021, is one of only three resolutions passed since the CCP was founded in 1921. The previous resolutions were passed by Deng Xiaoping and his predecessor Mao Zedong, the founding father of the People’s Republic of China. 

According to the BBC, this move brings Xi to a status equivalent to that of Deng and Mao. The 36,000-word document was presented as a tribute to China’s past, veiling its true motive: validating Xi’s status as the most influential politician in China’s recent history. The resolution actually concentrated on praising Xi’s transformation of China into a major world power, revering him as its core leader. Predecessors of the past 100 years were rarely mentioned, whilst Xi Jinping was mentioned 22 times, and Mao 18 times.

This is just one of the ways he has been growing his influence and reiterating his status. In 2018, Xi successfully altered the law limiting party leaders to remain in power for only two terms,  essentially giving him the possibility to remain president for life. He also introduced “Xi Jinping thought” into school curriculums across the nation, which includes ideologies he believes are essential in the education of the future Chinese generation. This curriculum especially focuses on Communism, Socialism, and Nationalism.

Despite his actions, there has been little obvious opposition, with Chinese media praising him and his new measures. This may be attributed to his efforts in masking the opposition, for which the regime is infamous.  Examples of such efforts include the 2018 law to increase state control over social media platforms to safeguard online political and ideological security, as well as when he expelled former higher education professor Cai Xia for her critical comments regarding his rule of the Communist Party in 2020. 

These efforts have assisted Xi Jinping in elevating his status within the party and displaying his power. With the removal of the two-term limit of the presidency, there seem to be no foreseeable obstacles obstructing his goal of attaining more power.