Chinese leaders met in secret as calls for change ring out

In keeping with past practice, China’s recently concluded assembly of the Communist Party was kept away from public scrutiny. Even the location of the four-day meeting was kept a state secret. 

A communique was issued at the end and immediately, security and business analysts and China watchers jumped at it, trying to make sense of what the future holds for them and this second largest economy in the world. 

There was something for everybody, as expected. But the challenge here is how to interpret the words in this communique that is usually not known for its clarity. China has always kept it that way – the guessing game – as this vague worded document would not tie their hands to any particular course of direction that the party leadership might regret later. 

For the business sector, many of whom see state-owned companies as an obstacle to reform, they were quick to point to one sentence in the communique that addressed the “core issue is ... giving markets a decisive role in the allocation of resources while better applying the role of government”.

Few doubt that that this would translate into serious reform in spite of the need for change is so evident as the old model – cheap labour, export driven and cheap capital – is being challenged from within. Workers don’t come so cheap any more and export markets aren’t as rosy as in the past.  

Party chief Xi Jinping knows that the wind of change is in the air. He is aware that the legitimacy and the foundations that held the party together for so long have been chipped away by corruption and elitism. Together with a lack of reforms on land ownership, the labour system and recalibrating state enterprise management, Xi knows that growth is vital if China decides to look the other way and hope for a better future. 

The challenge, it seems, is how to push for reform at a pace comfortable to the leadership, so that they can minimise confrontation with people who have benefited handsomely under the present system. 

Most importantly, Xi is not going to compromise the Communists Party’s hold on the country. Strengthening the legitimacy of the party will continue to be his number one priority, if the communique is to be believed. 

China’s challenge is from within. Gap between the ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’ is getting wider, along with crowded urban areas that add to environmental degradation and massive corruption are some of the things Xi is faced with. 

Few people think he could do it without allowing the public, namely the middle class, a greater say about the problems they face. The call for change is not just coming from dissidents but from Chinese intellectuals who acknowledge that reform is a must if China is to stay on a sustainable economic development course. 

But from the look of the recent plenum, the future course will not be a walk in the park. The assembly ratified the creation of a new security council under the direct control of Xi, thus putting domestic and foreign security matters in one man’s hands. 

But if the growing voice of discomfort is any indication, the old arrangement that says the party will govern and the people just sit back and listen will no longer hold. People’s voices have to be heard.