Why Is Xi Jinping Reviving Hu Jintao's Political Legacy?

Hu Jintao, who has disappeared from public view. However, his political shadow has not. Now, let me tell you a little bit about Hu Jintao. He has always been something of an enigma, I should say. People say he's a typical Capricorn, low-key, disciplined, reserved, patient, but remarkably resilient and even ambitious. And now something even more interesting is happening. Hu Jintao is suddenly relevant again. Not because he appeared on TV, not because he delivered a speech, but because of something the CCP itself had just put in writing. A major new party document is reviving a political framework and approach to governance closely associated with Hu Jintao and his era. All right, so let me begin with one of the most important documents that has emerged from the Fifth Plenum. So on November 1st, Xinhua published a major resolution adopted at the Fifth Plenum. On the last day of the session, the title of this 17,000 word document is heartily exciting. It's called Resolution on Certain Major Issues Concerning the Continued Advancement of Full and Rigorous Party Governance. All right, whatever that means. Now, what's interesting is buried inside this lengthy document are two provisions that deserve our attention. And both bring us straight back to Hu Jintao. The first one is, the resolution devotes an entire section to what the CCP calls democratic centralism. And there's one passage in particular I want you to pay attention to. In the third part of this section, the resolution lays out specific rules governing how party leadership... Bodies must make decisions. And here's what it says. It says, strictly implement the rules and procedures governing decision-making and deliberation by leadership bodies. Uphold the combination of collective leadership and individual responsibility based on the division of duties and adhere to scientific, democratic, and law-based decision-making. Now, I know these jargons don't mean much to you, but the language, I must tell you, is very unusual because buried inside this similarly routine CCP bureaucratic passage is a political landmine. It's the requirement that party leadership bodies must follow established rules and procedures when making decisions. And what principles must guide these decisions? There were three of them, scientific decision-making, democratic decision-making, and law-based decision-making. Together, they're known as the three decision-making principles. Now, why is that important? Because these three principles were a hallmark of Hu Jintao's governing philosophy, his scientific outlook on development. He formally introduced them in his report to the 17th Party Congress and reiterated them at the 18th Party Congress. They were governing principles, political symbols, and defining features of the Hu Jintao era. But when Xi Jinping came to power, the three decision-making principles virtually disappeared from Chinese media and public documents. Why? Because they were associated with Hu Jintao, and Xi Jinping simply stopped mentioning them. And for more than a decade, that political language remained absent until May last year. Suddenly, the People's Daily brought the three decision-making principles back to its front page in May 2025. It was such an unusual development that it even attracted attention in Japan. Nikkei Asia found it puzzling. Why would a political formulation that had been absent for more than a decade suddenly reappear on the front page of the CCP's flagship newspaper? And it has nothing to do with Xi Jinping, and it has everything to do with Hu Jintao. So if you look back, the timing is especially interesting because May 2025 was... Precisely when rumors were circulating that Xi Jinping had been forced to retreat to Luoyang for closed-door self-criticism, some even claimed that he was under tremendous pressure to step down. If you remember that time, it was a time when political rumors were flying everywhere. And this was also one month before Beijing formally announced the Central Decision-Making and Coordination Body. Reportedly involving retired senior officials associated with Hu Jintao's camp, including Wen Jiabao, Wang Yang, et cetera. Now consider what all of this could mean. It could mean that the machinery of Xi Jinping's one-man rule is being dismantled and the collective leadership system associated with Hu Jintao is being restored. And of course, you may ask, well, who's driving this change? Was it simply an effort to improve party governance? Or was it also an attempt to constrain Xi Jinping's authority? To understand why I'm asking this, we need to look at the second provision, and this one is even more explicit. And the Fifth Plan and Resolution devotes an entire subsection to regulating the authority of what the Chinese call yi ba shou, literally, the number one guy, the top guy. And that's the term for the top official in a party organization, the person in charge. And the language here is unusually direct. It says party secretaries. It explicitly prohibits, listen to this, one-man rule. It also warns against what you call... A paternalistic style of leadership and then comes the line that really caught my attention. The document says party organization must not demand that officials at every level uphold the personal authority of the number one guy. Let me repeat that. They must not demand that officials uphold the personal authority of the number one. Think about the implications. Xi Jinping's political system has centered on his absolute authority as the party's core leader, and officials are routinely expected to demonstrate their political loyalty to him. Yet here we have a major party resolution explicitly warning against promoting I'm promoting the personal authority of... Of the top leaders within party organizations, when party officials cross China, read language warning against one-man rule, paternalistic leadership, and demands for personal loyalty, who do you think comes to mind? Xi Jinping. Because these are precisely the characteristics that are associated with his leadership style. And after all, he is the ultimate number one, number one guy. And that's what makes this document so intriguing. Is the CCP moving away from Xi Jinping's highly centralized leadership model? Because there's another twist to the story, and it makes the whole situation even more puzzling and even bizarre. According to the party's own official media, Xi Jinping personally chaired the drafting group responsible for preparing this resolution. Yes, Xi Jinping himself. So if these provisions really do represent a political shift, we have to ask, is Xi Jinping voluntarily placing limits on the exercise of his own power while embracing Hu Jintao's governing principles? Or are we witnessing something very different? Could another political force powerful enough to influence Xi Jinping and his team have pushed for these provisions? And if Xi Jinping remains fully in control? With the kind of unchallenged authority that many people believe he still enjoys, why would he oversee a resolution containing language that appears to contradict his own governing style? While promoting his predecessor's legacy. Well, I think there are only two possibilities. The first is that Xi Jinping is responding to pressure from within the party leadership. The language may reflect concerns, negotiations, or political compromises that emerged behind closed doors. In other words, Xi may have chaired the drafting process without having complete freedom. Now, I know some of you may be thinking, Maybe these restrictions aren't intended for Xi Jinping at all. Maybe he drafted it and they're aimed at provincial and local party chiefs. Perhaps Xi Jinping simply wants to prevent powerful officials from building their own political kingdoms while preserving his own authority as the party's core leader. In other words, collective leadership for everyone else, centralized authority for himself. Well, that's certainly one possibility, but I have a problem with it. If Xi Jinping merely wanted to discipline local officials, why would he need to revive Hu Jintao's signature political framework to do it? It's not Xi Jinping's style. Why suddenly reach back to his predecessor's political legacy? That doesn't fit Xi Jinping's political style. And that brings us to another important part of the document. The resolution calls for tighter supervision of party officials and a stronger role for China's powerful anti-corruption apparatus. For years, most people have associated the CCDI with one thing, that's investigating corrupt officials. But now this anti-corruption apparatus has evolved into something much more powerful. It now monitors officials throughout their careers, before appointments, during their time in office, and even after retirement. It even requires party and government leaders to obtain organizational approval before publicly publishing personal works. Let me ask you, who is the most prolific publisher of political works in China today, or in the world today? Which world leader has authored the most political works? It's Xi Jinping. Okay, by one account, as of early 2024, at least 140 books have been published under Xi Jinping's name. And compare that with his predecessor. It's enormous. Let me just give you the numbers. Mao Zedong, who is widely believed as a thinker, a military strategist, a poet, and an author, he wrote, he published 22 books. Deng Xiaoping wrote 10 books. Jian Zemin, eight. Hu Jintao, four. And Xi Jinping? penned 140 books and that's as of early 2024. So when the resolution emphasizes prior approval for officials who want to publish personal books, people immediately think of Xi Jinping. So these restrictions may eventually reach those who were once considered politically untouchable. So let's put all three developments together. First, the resolution revives collective decision-making principles. uh closely associated with Hu Jintao. Second, it explicitly restricts the personal authority of party top party leaders. And third, it reinforces the disciplinary apparatus power to supervise officials, especially the top ones, scrutinize their finances and influence personnel decisions. So their appearance together in a major central committee resolution raises an intriguing question. Who is driving these changes? Remember, according to Xinhua, Xi Jinping personally headed the group that drafted this resolution before the Fifth Plenum. The plenum then deliberated on and adopted the document. So here's the million-dollar question. Why would Xi Jinping oversee a resolution that revives his political rival's legacy? And place this restriction on his personal authority, and strengthen the very disciplinary machinery that could restrain his power, including the number of books he wants to publish. Was that really his own initiative? Or was he responding to pressure from someone else? And if there was another political force behind those changes, who could it be? There can only be one man, in my opinion, and that's Hu Jintao. Because, after all, who is a formal party leader? He's the only living formal CCP leader with a rank and political legacy comparable to Xi. Thank you so much for watching. If you're new here, please hit subscribe. Don't forget to give my video a like. If you want me to answer your questions directly, please join my live every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday at 9 p.m. Eastern Time. I'd love to chat with you there.