Crossing River with a Boulder On Back?
Yang Jianli
Right before the kick off of China’s annual “Two Meetings,” its state media began the widespread rollout of President Xi Jinping’s new ideological directive, the “Four Comprehensives.” Two Meetings refers to the annual meetings of the National People’s Congress and Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, which are both adjourned last weekend in Beijing.
Xi follows in the footsteps of his predecessors: Mao Zedong’s “Thought” guided the first generation, Deng Xiaoping’s “Theory” the second, Jiang Zemin’s “Three Representatives” the third, and Hu Jintao’s “Scientific Development Outlook” the fourth.
Fifth-generation chief Xi Jinping announced a “China Dream” at the very beginning of his rule, during which he flip-flopped between Mao’s “Thought” and Deng’s “Theory,” confusing the general public. Now into his third year in power, Xi Jinping has gradually shown his true face. Xi has been doing a great rhetorical imitation of the great leader Mao Zedong. Yet, he has followed the example of Deng Xiaoping in governing China, relying on the same foundation for maintaining his grip on political power, despite his relentless anti-corruption campaigns.
At the end of the Cultural Revolution, the Communist Party had come to the tipping point of a collapsing ideology, national economy and political order. Deng Xiaoping seized the moment to apply his pragmatism to save the Party. The 1989 Tiananmen Massacre stirred up a new political crisis for the Communists. Deng Xiaoping wanted to save the Party and his legacy (and to evade his responsibility), and thus his pragmatism dominated the governing arena in Chinese society.
Some experts say Deng Xiaoping’s “Theory” is notoriously famous for its lack of any real theory, citing “Crossing the river by touching boulders” as the classic exposing his school of thought. Nonetheless, before the 1989 massacre, the leadership, including Deng Xiaoping, Hu Yaobang, Zhao Ziyang, had a sense of reality when they realized that China would have to “cross the river” despite various differences in their minds regarding what the other bank of the river meant.
By the time China got to the rule of Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao, they seem to have lost their sense of direction. The Chinese ruling elite have been pretending they have already crossed the river and reached their destiny.
Meanwhile, Deng Xiaoping’s brand of “pragmatism” crossed lines of morality, enriching corrupt officials. In the end, the so-called proletarian party has evolved into a little more than representative for crony capitalism, despite its rhetoric of representing the masses. The regime has censored everything critical of its policy and practice.
Xi Jinping took over from the fourth generation, misleading the world for more than two years with his boasting right and left rhetoric. Now with the proclamation of his “Four Comprehensives,” Xi Jinping shows his fifth generation markings for the first time. Compared to its predecessors, it is progressive in terms of literary expression.
First of all, “Comprehensively deepen reform” and “Comprehensively govern by law” point out that China is indeed in the middle of the river, which means its system has a long way to go before reaching its ultimate goal. This is a bit closer to the reality that China is not yet a society of full prosperity. Secondly, addressing issues “comprehensively,” rules out “one-sidedness” or “partial view.” However, for matters of principles, one-sided views or partial approaches often lead to opportunism, and therefore becoming an ideological foundation for pragmatism without any bottom lines. For that, in literary interpretation, the “Four Comprehensives” is a bit of idealistic tone in comparing to Deng Xiaoping’s pragmatism.
However, if you interpret the literary meaning of the “Four Comprehensives,” you should never be wildly optimistic about Xi himself or his leadership. Among his “Four Comprehensives” comes “Comprehensive strictness in governing the Party,” which literally dates back to hardcore values of Deng Xiaoping’s “Four Cardinal Principles,” in which Deng states, “We must uphold the leadership of the Communist Party.” Therefore, Xi’s last jargon -“Comprehensively apply strictness in governing the Party”- is therefore his foundation, or, as one of his supporters notes, the “Finishing Touch” or “Magical Dot.” All the other “Comprehensives” cannot be completed without the magical dot. But with the finishing touch, the whole set glitters.
On the contrary, I believe this last finishing touch or magical dot is actually a devil’s curse, because it proves XI’s destiny is to save the Party, which is naturally a self-defeating prescription.
The simple fact is that the Party is incurable! To be more accurate, the party has run out of prescriptions for quick fixes so long as it continues rolling downhill on its one-party authoritarian system. One may argue that if (only if) comprehensive reforms are to be underway the party is “destroyed.” Therefore, Xi’s “Four Comprehensives” seems not so self-contradictory, and has merit on its own. Let it be Xi’s intent, alas! If you judge Xi’s performance since taking over the helm, I cannot be “optimistic” about his genuine intent on this regard.
Xi has taken the reins amid widespread suspicion of his being the “last Communist emperor.” Under this circumstance, you may hear and see clearly that Xi has been a champion of the Party with the aim of holding onto power, if you fail to watch him closely. Putting aside his statements, his rhetoric, and political shows on the ground, nobody could overlook the revealing “New South Tour,” in which he expressed his sympathy over the collapse of the Soviet Communist Party in the most vivid and blunt terms: “No single manly man dared to meet the challenge (to save the USSR from collapse).” If you consider this statement as his motto, you are probable very close to the truth that Xi Jinping has determined himself to be the real manly man who will save the Communist party and its ruling position.
There is a unitary, inherent flaw in the hardcore values of every generation of the Communist leadership. They cannot be without the Party (which they call “mother”) because the Party is their tool to rule the people and loot the country. As the Party is so sanctified, thus so omnipotent, no faction in the Party has ever been close to being anti-party, although we often hear ousted party officials are being labeled so. The fact is they are labeled so and thus purged simply is because they happen to the loser in internal power struggle. It is the Party, not the people, that preserves and derives its legitimacy and orthodoxy of Chinese regime. The party chief and its subordinates at all levels are just one image of the same regime while the Party the other. Therefore, the Party, a piece of tool though, has been alienated into a subject.
This alienation has long become a malignant tumor in Chinese politics. Shen Jilan, a peasant “representative” or “deputy” of the National People’s Congress (“NPC”), so dubbed as “living fossil,” under the control of the Communist Party, said she has always cast a “YES” vote over a period of sixty years, including those resolutions that brought down former President Liu Shaoqi, Deng Xiaoping, and Peng Dehuai, and later ones reversing such resolutions, including the establishment and abolishment of the People’s Commune. Shen Jilan recently made headlines due to the fact all her family members are getting rich and holding important positions in government. The famous peasant woman is most notoriously remembered for her motto “We must be responsible for the Party.”
A short while ago, Canadaleaks revealed that during the turmoil of the 1989 student-led pro-democracy movement, Politburo Standing Committee members of the Communist Party, for fear of political instability, all had gotten in touch with the Swiss ambassador in Beijing, inquiring about ways of transferring huge amounts of money to Switzerland. Even if Xi Jinping wants to “comprehensively apply strictness in governing the Party,” what is his magical prescription for curing the incurable body covered by flies and surrounded by snarling and smiling tigers? You really want to govern the Party? You mean to deprive their access to wealth and power, then who are to join the Party and loyal to the regime? What a paradox! It only leads to a dead end unless Xi Jinping changes his course and ditches his attempt to save the Party, no matter what!
The purpose of Xi’s “Saving the Party” is, of course, to maintain the one-party authoritarian political system of the Communist Party, which has become the source of all social contradictions in Chinese society. From the perspective of upholding Communist Party rule, Xi’s vow to “comprehensively apply strictness in governing the Party” is no different from his attempt to raise himself up above the ground by pulling his own hair. How could it be possible?
To be on the optimistic side, there is a consensus regarding China: China is still in the middle of the river, well ahead of the other bank (as to which bank, you know what I mean). No matter how, we must cross the river. If Xi Jinping does not ditch his attempt to save the Party, maybe we could come to this conclusion: While Deng Xiaoping tried to cross the river by touching the steppingstone, and Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao joyfully rode in a sedan chair in the middle of the torrents as if he were on the other bank, now Xi Jinping is trying to cross the river with a boulder on his back! Ah, there you are! Aw, there you are, poor thing!