Beijing: In the latest move to highlight the importance of allegiance to the current President, China has reportedly deleted all ideology from the government rulebook but that of supreme party leader Xi Jinping.
Many of the former powers of the State Council have been transferred to the Central Committee, and this is reflected in a slimmed-down rulebook Australia-based current affairs commentator Zhang Guangzhong was quoted by Radio Free Asia as saying.
References to Marxism, Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, the thought of Deng Xiaoping and the ideologies of former presidents Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao have all been deleted from the new edition of the document titled “Working Procedures for the State Council” that was published on official websites on March 18.
State Council officials under the leadership of incoming premier Li Qiang referred solely to the political thought of Xi Jinping, a rulebook that has been edited down from 64 articles to just 43, Radio Free Asia reported.
“This revision of the rules highlights the importance of allegiance to Xi Jinping and seeks to play down the influence of Mao, Jiang and Hu, in a bid [by the party leadership] to take back control of the State Council,” Zhang told Radio Free Asia.
“In this revision of the rulebook, the freedom of the State Council to promulgate policies is limited, while centralization [of leadership] continues,” he said.
The changes come amid a far-reaching institutional shake-up as Xi Jinping begins a third and indefinite term in office, concentrating executive power in the hands of Communist Party working groups rather than in the hands of ministers and other administrative officials.
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