GEIS-新闻详情

Chinese Communist Party's centennial celebrations kept under wraps

2021-06-28 00:00:00.0 海峡时报-亚洲原网页

BEIJING - Even as Beijing prepares to mark the centenary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on Thursday (July 1), celebratory events have been kept under wraps.

Those involved in an expected parade at Tiananmen Square have had to sign non-disclosure agreements, while last-minute changes have caught guests by surprise.

A gala show originally scheduled for Tuesday night was suddenly brought forward to Monday night.

Diplomats who had signed up to attend the cultural performance at the Bird's Nest stadium received an "urgent notice" at the weekend to report on Monday morning at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse for Covid-19 testing and quarantine.

"It's baffling that they expect us to just drop everything and go," said a diplomat who asked not to be named.

The main celebratory event will take place along Chang'an Avenue at Tiananmen Square, which has been sealed since last Wednesday and will reopen to traffic on Friday.

After declaring "complete victory" over abject poverty in February, President Xi Jinping is likely to proclaim another milestone on Thursday at the country's most important political event this year.

Mr Xi, who is also party and military chief, is expected to announce that the world's most populous nation has achieved "xiaokang shehui" - or middle-class society - status after doubling its per capita gross domestic product to US$10,000 (S$13,400) from 2010 levels.

All eyes will be on whether Mr Xi makes peaceful reunification overtures to self-ruled Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its own.

Whether his predecessors - Mr Jiang Zemin, who turns 95 in August, and Mr Hu Jintao, 78 - make a public appearance could have ramifications on the once-in-a-decade leadership reshuffle at the party's 20th congress next year. Both men still wield political clout.

In his speech, Mr Xi is also expected to trumpet the CCP's achievements in transforming China from a poverty-stricken nation to the world's second-largest economy. The party faces a major challenge as its continued legitimacy hangs on whether it can keep the Chinese economy growing.

"When the pie stops growing bigger, people may start to question their share of the pie, which they would not previously," said University of Toronto political scientist Lynette Ong.

Mr Xi has also been tightening the noose on civil society and rights activists and clamping down on dissent in recent years, while going after corrupt officials and even entrepreneurs.

"No government can survive by ruling the country with an iron fist forever; that is, however, the direction the current leadership is moving in. It therefore raises uncertainty on the party's political future," said Associate Professor Ong.