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Xi Jinping asks: why do Chinese officials lack initiative and wait for orders from the top?

  • The country’s most powerful leader in decades told an internal party meeting that too many cadres only act on written orders, according to a new book
  • Xi has moved to consolidate his control over the party – a process some believe has made his underlings risk-averse

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Images of Xi Jinping and other senior officials are beamed to the audience at a gala show ahead of the Communist Party’s centenary celebrations. Photo: AP
President Xi Jinping might be China’s most powerful man in decades, but he has railed in internal meetings against the country’s vast bureaucracy, according to a recently published book.

In January, Xi expressed frustration at a lack of initiative among officials at an internal meeting and complained that too many waited for instructions from the top before acting, according to a book published by Central Party Literature Press last month.

It was the first time his remarks had been made public. “Some only get moving when they receive written edicts issued by the leadership and they would do nothing without such instructions,” Xi told a plenary meeting of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the Communist Party’s top anti-corruption body, to discuss the latest five-year plan.

“My written instructions are the last line of defence,” Xi said. “If I didn’t hand out instructions, would these officials do any work?”

But some analysts noted that written orders had become an increasingly important part of the leadership’s top-down monitoring in recent years and suggested this had made officials more risk-averse.

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Xi Jinping leads celebrations marking centenary of China’s ruling Communist Party

Xi Jinping leads celebrations marking centenary of China’s ruling Communist Party

Ling Li, a professor specialising in Chinese politics and law at the University of Vienna, said: “Instructions from individual party leaders are more compelling than party policies or rules because they address specific problems to designated offices or the people in charge.”

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