Chinese new centres dedicated to Xi’s thought: Another move towards consolidation of power?

In its bid for global expansion and consolidation of power, China has opened one more research centre dedicated to Xi Jinping’s thought, taking the total count of 18. What can be seen as an attempt to project Xi as a great leader with great ideas in all areas, the new research centre will be run by the Ministry Of Ecology and Environment and will be dedicated to his thoughts on ecological civilisation.

Speaking about the latest development, Alfred Wu, an associate professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, has told a Chinese mouthpiece that previously policy areas such as the economy used to covered under the purview of the premier. But, Xi is now taking over almost all areas to demonstrate that he is a leader with great ideas in all areas. 

Another scholar, named Xie Maosong, senior researcher at the China Institute for Innovation and Development Strategy at the Chinese Academy Of Sciences, has remarked that the focus of these research centres have been carefully chosen to carry out meaningful research. 

He said, “Establishing a research centre in Shandong means that they want some kind of synergy between Communism, Xi Jinping Thought and 5000 years of Chinese civilisation. The 20th National Congress of the Communist party will be held next year and we should expect to see more studies about how to put Xi’s thoughts into practice.”