Inside Xi Jinping’s new guide to promoting Communist Party officials

For a book on performance appraisals, it contained some surprising language – especially given its author, President Xi Jinping. The volume, published by the Central Party Literature Press, coincided with the launch of an overhaul of the Communist Party’s promotion system that will continue in the run-up to next year’s leadership transition. Among the raft of speeches and instructions from Xi since November 2012 is a blunt warning to cadres about pursuing debt-laden white elephant projects. “Some officials probably didn’t even think about repaying the debt when they raised it. When will it be their turn to pay it?” Xi says in an excerpt of a speech given at the party’s annual central economic work conference in 2013. “By the time the debt matures, these officials will no longer be in the same positions! “We cannot allow some officials to burden the government with an a***load of debt in order to achieve political achievements, tap their backsides and walk off and then get promoted all the way up.” The Chinese phrase “tap one’s backside and walk off” describes someone who creates a problem then leaves as if nothing happened. The warning reflects the book’s broader message that the promotion system is changing and the days of “two-faced people” who seek quick returns and personal advancement at the expense of national interests are gone. “During the leadership transition, we must keep our eyes peeled and promote truly loyal, reliable and responsible cadres, ensuring that no ‘two-faced’ officials are allowed to pass,” Xi said at a meeting in January. The excerpts, some made public for the first time, flesh out Xi’s vision for revamping the appraisal system, playing up political loyalty while pivoting away from the traditional focus on gross domestic product in promotion decisions. In January, he called for a more reasonable and suitable evaluation system to promote local development and “prevent a vicious cycle of promotion based on numbers”. The focus now is on governance based on local conditions and tackling problems as they arise. Several passages underscore the need for policy consistency before and after the power transition, requiring officials to adopt a long-term, national perspective on governance. In January, Xi told the party’s anti-corruption watchdog, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), to be on alert for officials who “do nothing but wait for a power transition”. He also warned against those who pursued quick success after a leadership reshuffle by “flipping the pancake”, or making drastic changes to a predecessor’s policies. The campaign and compilation of Xi’s speeches come at a critical time in China’s political calendar, with power transitions under way at the local and provincial levels and Beijing preparing to endorse a new five-year plan. The personnel changes will pave the way for the 21st party congress in autumn next year. The gathering will determine the new line-up for the party’s top echelons, including the Politburo and Central Committee. The excerpts also revealed Xi’s repeated calls to create appraisal systems tailored to local needs. In one speech in 2014, for instance, he suggested water conservation metrics be included in the performance evaluations of officials in areas facing water scarcity. Many provinces have already responded to the new directives. At a meeting last Tuesday, several provinces, including Zhejiang and Hubei, proposed training on appraisals to improve the quality of cadres and performance evaluation methods. Zhejiang’s provincial party committee claimed success in improving evaluation methods last year, according to Zhejiang Daily, the official mouthpiece of the eastern province. The report said the province was looking into whether officials had tried to meet assessment targets by building white elephant projects or staging “sprints” – wasteful activities that use up resources and labour. Zhejiang has also cut the number of assessment criteria by just under a third compared to 2024. When evaluating the development of cities and counties, factors such as technological innovation, investment, public services and income levels would carry more weight, the newspaper reported. The province has also incorporated environmental indicators into its performance evaluations and shifted from a single year-end review to daily assessments. In January, the CCDI singled out local governments and departments for deviating from governance standards. Henan’s provincial commerce department, for example, demanded annual growth in investment from outside the province despite already using inflated baseline figures. To meet these targets, some local officials required companies to provide false documentation, or even fabricated data on their behalf, resulting in distorted figures.

Inside Xi Jinping’s new guide to promoting Communist Party officials

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Chinese leader targets ‘two-faced’ officials and demands new benchmarks tailored to local needs in newly released speeches

Chinese leader targets ‘two-faced’ officials and demands new benchmarks tailored to local needs in newly released speeches