(TibetanReview.net, Nov04’20) – The recently concluded four-day plenary session of the Communist Party of China (CPC) not only approved China’s 14th Five-Year Plan but also a Vision 2035, a long-term development plan which observers sees as presenting hints at the continuation of President Xi Jinping in power for the next 15 years, noted India’s PTI news agency Oct 29.
Apart from hearing a work report delivered by Xi on behalf of the Politburo of the CPC Central Committee, the session adopted the CPC proposals for the formulation of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) for National Economic and Social Development and the Long-Range Objectives through the Year 2035, the report said.
The session was attended by 198 members of the CPC Central Committee and 166 alternate members of the CPC Central Committee.
The report said the Vision 2035 plan had prompted speculation that Xi intended to essentially be “president-for-life”.
While the aim of Vision 2035 was to “set goalposts for China’s progress towards achieving high-income status [being a fully developed nation] by 2049”, Benjamin Hillman, a professor at the Australian National University, has told the BBC that the “very idea of a 2035 manifesto has also prompted speculation that Xi intends to lead China through this period, becoming, essentially, president-for-life.”
Xi, 67, has emerged as the CPC’s most powerful leader after its founder Mao Zedong, holding the posts of CPC General Secretary, head of the military besides the Presidency with prospects of a life-long tenure. Those seen as threatening his hold on power are serving long-term jail sentences after being tried and convicted for corruption.
The CPC communique was stated to express China’s decision to accelerate the modernisation of national defence and the military, which is key to Xi’s vision of China’s emergence as a major global power.
By the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in 2027, the centennial goal of military development should be achieved; by 2035, the country should achieve the modernization of the national defense and armed forces, China’s official globaltimes.cn Nov 2 cited a plenary session announcement as saying.
