From China Brief:
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is undergoing its worst crisis of confidence since the Tiananmen Square crackdown 18 years ago. While President and CCP General Secretary Hu Jintao is currently preoccupied with the means by which to consolidate the power of his faction at the upcoming 17th Party Congress, a loss of faith in the party as well as a dramatic decline in probity and old-style “combat-readiness” has hit the nation’s 71 million party members. Yet, even as a number of retired cadres have proposed relatively radical solutions to these woes, such as the suggestion that the CCP gradually transform itself into a Western European-style socialist democratic party (SDP), Hu has instead chosen to implement Maoist-era ideological campaigns to revive the party’s fortunes. [Full Text]
