Deciphering Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s periodic public statements could be a cottage industry. Some of his assertions and urgings are head-scratchers, given their divergence from easily verified facts. Take his pronouncement that Chinese communists “need to advance full, rigorous self-governance of the Party by fostering good conduct.” [Reference: China Daily https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202507/01/WS68627917a31000e9a57395d1.html ]
What does he mean, and what is reality? Let us examine the issue.
FOSTERING GOOD CONDUCT AND GOVERNANCE OF THE PARTY
Xi’s remarks were made during a “group study session” of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee.
Was there any dissent or, more properly phrased, was any CCP apparatchik present foolish enough to risk his career (or health) by questioning the claims of “Xí Dàda” (习近平)? Of course not, as those words reinforce the CCP’s never-ending quest for political and moral legitimacy and total control over every element of Chinese society forevermore – in this case by pushing/reemphasizing internal Party discipline (through training and indoctrination), ideological purity (as interpreted only by the Central Committee), and government effectiveness (while weeding out endemic corruption).
Over the past decade, Xi has periodically pushed his long-term “systemic project” aimed at enforcing ideological discipline according to the teachings of Mao and himself (Xi Jinping Thought), instilling “correct” ethical conduct (as defined by Xi and the Party), and implementing anti-corruption measures aimed at eradicating public displays of hedonism, extravagance, and other human failings by Party members that damage the image of the CCP. Xi’s pitch is that his project is a moral and practical necessity for achieving national rejuvenation (Chinese Dream” – 中国梦)and social harmony.
The Chinese Dream is a nationalist proposition aimed at returning China to its “historical role” as a leading global power—economically, militarily, and culturally – all the while reinforcing the CCP’s authority and prestige and erasing perceived historical grievances against China (especially from Japan and the US). The Dream underpins all of Xi Jinping’s strategic initiatives, from the Belt and Road Initiative to the Global Security Initiative to the Global Civilization Initiative (and other such schemes), all of which are intended to lead to the replacement of the US-led post-World War II international order with a Chinese new world order based on socialist principles that kowtows to Beijing. The other key element of the Dream is decidedly nationalistic and is aimed at boosting national pride, countering Western cultural influences, and establishing a confident, unified national identity under the leadership of the CCP.
Social harmony in CCP parlance means having achieved a state of societal stability, unity, ideological conformity, and balanced societal and economic development under the Party’s benign leadership – with no dissent and happy people, as well as the means and political will to enforce the CCP’s socialist vision for China. To achieve social harmony, Xi regularly resorts to sloganeering that resonates with average Chinese, including advocating for common prosperity (共同富裕), reducing inequality, and ending corruption by Party members and non-communists alike.
The CCP’s definition of good conduct is a blend of Confucianism and socialist ideology involving fostering loyalty to the Party’s ideals, maintaining discipline and duty to the state, and ensuring that all actions by Party members are taken in accordance with the CCP’s socialist principles (e.g., prosperity, democracy, civility, and harmony). Good conduct with Chinese characteristics means actions taken for the collective good, as defined by the state and the Party, with emphasis on loyalty to the Party, national unity, and social stability. It also involves supporting all government policies (no matter how contradictory or detrimental) and avoiding and suppressing any and all dissent and criticism of communist authorities.
While the CCP focuses on the collective good, traditional Western good conduct concepts focus on individual rights, personal integrity, and universal ethics. These are almost completely disregarded in communist China where individuals are required to serve the state, not the other way around. Western good conduct concepts are derived from centuries of evolving philosophies influenced by religion, war, law, and individual conscience. In contrast, Chinese good conduct is driven solely by the arbitrary whims of the CCP and enforced by the power of the state through tight social controls, mass surveillance, public shaming, predictive policing, grid-style management and control (“15-minute zones”), and other Orwellian concepts.
WHAT ABOUT SELF-GOVERNANCE?
Self-governance in China differs greatly from Western concepts. What Xi means by “improving self-governance of the Party” involves internal actions to maintain the CCP’s (and Xi’s) authority and moral legitimacy – the “prime directive” of the Chinese Communist Party being continuity of political control. Everything else is a distant second. It is certainly not about Western concepts like individual autonomy or decentralized power.
The Chinese variant is conducted through top-down Party control, with “self-governance” occurring within Party-approved frameworks, such as village elections or grassroots consultations that are carefully managed – for public consumption – by Party apparatchiks. This means that the 7% of the Chinese people who are Party members effect self-governance with Chinese characteristics on behalf of the other 93% who are non-communists!
While the CCP allows the existence of eight minority “democratic parties” to convey what passes for democracy with Chinese characteristics, those parties are operated “under the CCP’s leadership” through the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and have virtually no input into the self-governance of the Party about which Xi pontificates. Those minority parties are part of the notorious United Front, their leadership is appointed by the CCP’s United Front Work Department, and they are required to support the CCP’s leading role and policies put forth in local governments and the National People’s Congress. The minority parties themselves only represent a fraction of the Chinese population, e.g., the largest is the China Democratic League (CDL) which had a membership of ~357,000 people as of 2023. Thus, the façade that is presented by these minority democratic parties that are thoroughly penetrated and controlled by the CCP is doubly ironic.
CONCLUDING THOUGHTS
The reality of the CCP’s authoritarian controls undermines the lofty claims about “self-governance” by Xi Jinping and his understudies. The 7% of the Chinese who are CCP members are the only people able to practice a bastardized form of self-governance; the rest of the population are nonparticipant observers and victims of Party policies that are solely intended to perpetuate the authority of CCP to rule China in perpetuity. The collective good about which the communists preach translates to the collective good of the Party, not the Chinese people as a whole.
The only way for the Chinese people (lao baixing ; 老百姓) to employ the civilized concepts of self-governance that protect individual rights, personal integrity, and universal ethics is for the Chinese Communist Party to be swept into the dustbin of history. The sooner for the Chinese people and the world, the better.
The end.
This article originally appeared in Stu Cvrk’s Substack. Reprinted here with permission
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