Originally published at The Indian Express, 24 October 2022. p.14. Published online as ‘Xi Jinping’s Congress: What are the implications for China, the world, and India?’
What are the main takeaways from the CPC Congress?
The CPC’s 20th Congress underlined General Secretary Xi Jinping’s role not just as the core of the Central Committee but also as the fount of new ideas and interpretations of Marxism within the Party. The Report to the Congress and the resolution on amendments to the Party constitution have a clear focus on China’s internal challenges, or, to put it more precisely, the challenges the Party sees to its continuing existence in power.
This “great new struggle” requires Party cadre to “study the history of the Party”, to remember its revolutionary ethos, to “[carry] forward our fighting spirit and [build] up our fighting ability” and to “strive in unity” in order to achieve “the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation”.
In his report to the 2017 Congress, Xi called “the principal contradiction facing Chinese society” as that “between unbalanced and inadequate development and the people’s ever-growing needs for a better life”. Over the past few years, the Party tackled this contradiction by moving away from an emphasis on GDP growth rates and undermining the domination of the private sector. The approach was represented by the concept of “common prosperity”, which has now been incorporated into the Party constitution.
The Party has thus confirmed its return to a central role in directing the growth and development of the Chinese economy while the stress on greater self-reliance and strength in science and technology suggests increasing concerns about the impact of the international environment on China’s economic ambitions.
Thinking about China in India 