Teaching Comparative Government and Politics

Friday, November 02, 2018

Delay of "game"

The delay of an annual meeting of Chinese leaders might be due to the U.S. election schedule.

‘The biggest story in Chinese politics right now’ – silence over Communist Party’s autumn meeting

As China’s ruling Politburo wrapped up its October meeting on Wednesday, there was still no word on a key autumn meeting of the Communist Party, which according to party convention should be taking place soon…

Analysts said the likely delay of the Central Committee meeting – expected to focus on mid to long-term economic policies – might suggest a lack of consensus among the Chinese leadership over how to battle the growing headwinds facing the world’s second-largest economy.

The autumn plenum that comes a year after the party’s national congress is largely seen as the most important full meeting of the party’s roughly 400-strong political elite, who gather behind closed doors at least once a year…

Many people are watching its slowing economy, faltering stock markets and the dispiriting retreat of its beleaguered private sector. Their gloomy outlook is exacerbated by the prolonged trade war with the United States, which threatens to spill into all-out conflict in spheres ranging from technology to geopolitics to defence…

Beijing might also be waiting for the results of the US midterm elections and the meeting between Xi and US President Donald Trump at the G20 summit in Buenos Aires to make a better assessment, he added.

“The key factor that has led to the change of the situation China faces in the past year is the US factor,” [Chen Daoyin, a political observer in Shanghai] said. “It is hard for the Chinese leadership to make concrete responses given all the uncertainties at the moment.” …

He also said the Communist Party elites appeared yet to reach a consensus on the future course of the country, citing the sometimes conflicting messages from Xi’s recent tours of the northeastern rust belt and the liberal southern province of Guangdong…

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