BEIJING—Ahead of a top-level Communist Party conclave, Chinese President Xi Jinping is sending an unmistakable signal about what he expects from the tens of millions in the party’s ranks: total loyalty. Culminating a weekslong state-media blitz hailing the sacrifice of Communist forces that trekked thousands of miles in the mid-1930s to find a haven to continue their revolution, Mr. Xi on Friday called for an equal display of commitment. “In our Long March of today, we must strengthen the party’s leadership, persist with strict...
China's President Xi Jinping issued a rallying cry that was also perceived as a warning he demands total loyalty in his speech on Friday: “In our Long March of today, we must strengthen the party’s leadership, persist with strict party discipline,” he said. As we have noted, China's ruling party is bracing itself for a year of intensive political jostling ahead of a major leadership shuffle. The Chinese Communist Party has been under pressure to show it can be more than just an all-powerful bureaucracy since its founding nearly three decades ago. The President's foreign policy has also strained relations with neighbours, trading partners and the US.