Party plenum strengthens Xi’s grip on China

Subject

The Communist Party's recent Fourth Plenum meeting.

Significance

The Communist Party concluded a five-day meeting of senior leaders on October 31. The meeting, called the ‘Fourth Plenum’, focused on institutional and intra-Party affairs. Press statements that followed were short on policy detail, but the meeting appears to have reaffirmed President Xi Jinping's efforts to place the Party and its ideology at the centre of China's political, economic and social life.

Impacts

• Xi’s grip on the Party appears unassailable.
• There are no signs of Xi lining up a successor; he looks likely to remain leader for a third term.
• There are no indications that Beijing will compromise on US demands to reduce the role of the state in industry.