Milestone of the Century: The Sixth Plenum

The Sixth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) was held in Beijing from November 8 to 11. The highlight of this plenum was a landmark resolution on the major achievements and historical experience of the CPC’s 100 years of endeavors, according to a communiqué released on November 11. President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, made an important speech at the session attended by 197 members and 151 alternate members of the Party Central Committee. The session discussed a work report delivered by Xi on behalf of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee. The session also reviewed and passed a resolution on convening the 20th National Congress of the CPC in the second half of 2022.

Plenums and Landmark Changes 

This year’s four-day meeting laid the groundwork for the 20th National Party Congress to be held later in 2022 that is expected to approve a new leadership lineup for China. Plenums of the CPC Central Committee create opportunities for China’s top political leaders to gather and brainstorm directions for the country’s future. Such meetings have produced some of the greatest landmark changes in the history of the People’s Republic of China.

Understanding the key importance of the plenums requires taking a close look at the history of the Party. The Third Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee in 1978 triggered the historic policy of reform and opening up. The subsequent 40-plus years of economic growth enshrined the policy as a vital step shaping contemporary China. The Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee in 2013 produced a transformative vision for China and paved the road to the Chinese Dream. The Fourth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee in 2019 reviewed and adopted a decision on some major issues concerning upholding and improving the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics and advancing modernization of China’s system and capacity for governance.

The Sixth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee in 2021 is the newest member of this list thanks to the landmark resolution on the history of the Party. The plenum has affirmed to uphold Comrade Xi Jinping’s core position on the Central Committee and in the Party as a whole, and uphold the Central Committee’s authority and its centralized, unified leadership. During the plenum, the Political Bureau also discussed holding high the great banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics, following the guidance of Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory, the Theory of Three Represents, the Scientific Outlook on Development, and Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and fully implemented the guiding principles of the 19th National Party Congress and the previous plenary sessions of the 19th CPC Central Committee.

Historic Trio

Observers have posited that the “Resolution on the Major Achievements and Historical Experience of the Party over the Past Century” represents one of the three most historic resolutions across the 100-year history of the Party: The first in 1945 preluded victory in the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, and the second in 1981 accelerated the reform and opening-up drive. The previous two resolutions served as stepping stones to advance the core positions of Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping, respectively, in the Party.

The third resolution is similarly a historic document that will truly herald a new era of Chinese history. The document stressed the significance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era in advancing the cause of the Party and the country and summarized the Thought as the Marxism of contemporary China and of the 21st century.

The document called on the Party, the military and Chinese people to unite more closely around the Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, fully implement Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and champion the great founding spirit of the Party. Former CPC leader Deng Xiaoping once declared that one cannot rely on leadership without a core. The Party has over 95 million members. China has 56 ethnic groups and a population of 1.4 billion. Only when the Central Committee and the whole Party have a core can the Party gain strength.

 During the plenum, the Central Committee unanimously agreed that the external environment has grown increasingly complex and grave over the past year. The world has been increasingly looking to China and its consistent leadership under the CPC as it has withstood the test of time.

The author is a freelance columnist. He received a PhD in Sino-Indian relations from Delhi University and worked as an associate research fellow at the School of International Relations of Sun Yat-sen University from 2018 to 2019.