The Communist Party of China (CPC) is set to define a roadmap for China’s rise for the coming decades under the uncontested leadership of Xi Jinping.

Around 400 members of the CPC Central Committee have on Monday begun to rubber stamp directions, which are meant to achieve two key objectives. First, it will roll out the policy directions or the blueprint of the 20th party congress, which will be held next year. Second, it will extend the longevity of Xi Jinping’s authoritarian leadership, without fixing any timeline of his rule.

The plenum is expected to cement Xi Jinping’s status as an iconic leader in the tradition of Mao Zedong, the founder of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the reform leader Deng Xiaoping.

Xi’s rise as a strongman can be traced to the 19th party congress, held in October 2017, when he became the President of China for life. During the Congress, held every five years, Xi declared the Party-state’s two centenary goals. His first call was the removal of extreme poverty—an objective that was to be achieved by 2021. The second centenary goal was set at 2049, timed with 100 years of the formation of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). By that time China, he said, aspired to become a global leader in all dimensions of human endeavour including the economy, military and culture.

Each Party Congress which steers the CPC for five years holds six plenums or key meetings during its tenure. On Monday the sixth plenum of the 19 th Party Congress began its deliberations, which will last till Thursday.

The Hong Kong based South China Morning Post is reporting that during the ongoing plenum, a new resolution on the party’s “major achievements and historical experience” is expected to be adopted.

This will be only the third occasion, in the last 100 years, that the CPC would pass an exclusive resolution on its history. The first was passed under Mao Zedong in 1945, which helped him consolidate his hold on the CPC, four years ahead of the formation of the PRC.  

The second, was passed under Deng Xiaoping in 1981, cementing adoption of economic reforms and recognising the "mistakes" committed by Mao.

AFP quoted Harvard University's Anthony Saich as saying that unlike the previous two, Xi's resolution will not mark a break with the past,

"Rather, it is intended to show that Xi is the natural inheritor of a process since the founding of the party that qualifies him to lead in the 'new era'".

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