Demystifying How Central Leaders Are Produced: “Conversation Research” | Blog Post
After the conclusion of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, Xinhua News Agency successively published articles introducing the formation of the new leadership of the CPC Central Committee. In addition to the special article on how to select the members of the Central Committee and the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, there are also articles describing the process of the Politburo and the Politburo Standing Committee. , there are quite a few secrets inside.
The article tells about a situation. In the early summer of this year, Zhongnanhai in Beijing. Just after 7:00 in the morning, a provincial and ministerial-level leading cadre came here early. Two days ago, he received a notice from the central government to go to Beijing. After he came to Zhongnanhai, he realized that the subject of the “talk survey” and the survey was to express his opinions on the 20th central leadership election.
In the waiting room, the provincial leading cadre carefully read several materials on the table: “Relevant Arrangements for Conversation and Investigation”, “Current Party and State Leaders and Party Members and Comrades”, …
At 9 in the morning, the conversation officially began. The central leaders communicated face-to-face with the provincial leaders who participated in the interview and investigation, and listened carefully to their opinions and suggestions on the candidates for the new central leadership.
This is a vivid scene in the “talk and investigation” of the candidate preparation work for the central leadership.
The clock went back to the beginning of this year. At the meeting of the Politburo Standing Committee, General Secretary Xi Jinping carefully listened to the opinions of the Politburo Standing Committee members and discussed related issues on how to prepare candidates for the new central leadership.
1. Production method
Members of the Politburo Standing Committee unanimously agree that after summarizing past experience, they will not conduct “sea promotions” and “sea elections”, and adopt the method of “talking and research” to select candidates for the new Politburo, Standing Committee and other leading bodies. Listen to recommendations and suggestions face-to-face within a certain range.
Here is some background information. In the past, when the leadership of the central government was elected, there was a “sea election”, that is, a list was proposed, and the central committee members, alternate central committee members, and provincial and ministerial-level party and government officials conducted internal voting. However, before the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2012, Ling Jihua, the then director of the Central Office, allegedly manipulated the results of the audition, so that he himself won a high number of votes, so the method of “audience” has now been abolished.
As for the “conversational research” currently used, it is a bit like “qualitative research” in the social sciences, in which senior officials are asked to conduct face-to-face interviews and discuss their suggestions in depth and detail. The “audit” is more like the “quantitative research” of polling.
2. Employment standards.
The central government proposes the following conditions for recommended candidates:
1. Political firmness and loyalty to the party.
2. Strong leadership ability, rich practical experience, dare to fight and be good at fighting.
3. Strictly implement democratic centralism, be fair and upright, have a broad mind, and be good at uniting comrades.
4. Strictly abide by the party’s discipline and rules, have good moral cultivation, and be honest and honest.
As a result, at the Standing Committee of the Politburo on March 24, it discussed and approved the “Plan for the Arrangement of Talks and Investigations on the Preparation of Candidates for the New Session of the Central Leading Body”. Since April this year, Xi Jinping has personally interviewed 30 people, and talked with the current Politburo members, secretariat members, state vice-chairmen, and members of the Central Military Commission. In addition, from April to July this year, the relevant leading comrades of the central government listened to the opinions of 283 party and government leaders and 35 army leaders respectively.
After the “conversation and investigation”, a list of the new leadership team was drawn up after a centralized discussion by the central government. The final selection of the new leadership team shows that the leadership position is not an “iron chair”, and the nomination may not be continued if the age is met, reflecting the spirit of “being able to go up and down”. In addition, some party and state leaders “offered to step down and let relatively young comrades come up.”
After reading the article of Xinhua News Agency, let us have a better understanding of the generation of central leaders.
It is reported that when the central government assessed the candidates for Hong Kong’s chief executive earlier this year, it also adopted a “talk and survey” method to solicit the opinions of some Hong Kong people from different sectors. This method is both democratic and centralized, taking into account the quantity and ensuring that the selected candidates can be accepted by the majority and maintain quality. It is an eclectic method of selecting talents.
