All That Xi Wants: China's Communist Party is Trying to Reform the Country from the Top Down

Abstract

The Chinese Communist Party's leadership move to drop the constitutional limits ending President Xi Jinping’s tenure after two terms have been interpreted as a long-term power grab by many international media. This view however misses a crucial point: Seen in conjunction with the Central Committee's parallel decision to elevate the National Supervision commission, the leadership's step appears in a different light: It seems, the Central Committee is finally biting the bullet and embarks on reforms to consolidate the government - from the top down. How they want to control the message and also ensure co-operation by key stakeholders in this process, remains unclear.