“It’s the first thing I read every morning.” — Annie Lamont, co-founder of Oak HC/FT.
1. Top Chinese Communist Party officials are gathering in Beijing today for a meeting that analysts say will intensify Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign as he paves the way for a fourth term as leader. The fifth plenary session of the Central Committee, known as the fifth plenum, is scheduled to run until Thursday. The closed-door conclave will adopt a “decision regarding strengthening full and rigorous party self-governance,” according to a readout from a Politburo meeting last month. The party’s 20th Central Committee ends its five-year term next year. In China’s political system, a party congress, usually held in October, elects a new committee, which in turn elects the general secretary. Xi, 73, is widely expected to secure another term. (Source: asia.nikkei.com)
2. The best preview of the Central Committee’s fifth plenary session we’ve read is from The Asia Society Policy Institute:
Xi’s dominance should not be mistaken for omnipotence. Commanding Zhongnanhai, the leadership compound in Beijing, is easier than controlling 101 million Party members or dictating policy outcomes across a country as vast and complex as China. In January, he complained that some cadres “constantly proclaim political loyalty” but “comply outwardly while defying inwardly and doing as they please.” In remarks published last year, he accused officials of “causing significant damage” by shirking responsibility, chasing quick results, and obsessing over cultivating their image with superiors. There is a long history of Chinese leaders lamenting the limits of their power. Mao Zedong wryly remarked to Richard Nixon in 1972 that “I’ve only been able to change a few places in the vicinity of Peking.”
Closing the gap between what Xi wants and what everyone else does will be a central goal of the 20th Central Committee’s Fifth Plenum, which meets in Beijing on October 26–29 to approve a blueprint for strengthening Party governance. It will probably be the last substantive gathering of the Party’s top 300 or so leaders before next year’s 21st Party Congress, which will select a new Central Committee. Having effectively skipped a plenum in 2023, Xi is assigning the Fifth Plenum the Party-governance business usually associated with a Sixth Plenum. Such plenums can prepare the ground for political change. (Sources: asiasociety.org, et alia)
3. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won Brazil’s presidential election. The left-wing incumbent secured 51.8% of the vote, compared with 48.2% for his rival Flávio Bolsonaro, a son of a putschist former president. In just three weeks, Mr. Lula found more than 10 million new votes. He gained ground nearly everywhere, attracting vast new support in major cities like São Paulo and in his strongholds across the northeast, according to official results. A map of the results shows almost every part of Brazil shifted to the left since the first round of voting. Lula’s rebound in the second round followed a pivot in his campaign strategy to reconnect with low-income and working-class voters, including strong online mobilization that relied heavily on informal messaging through influencers and online communities. A WhatsApp channel called “Lula’s Army” surged from 50,000 to nearly 11 million followers after the first round. (Sources: economist.com, nytimes.com)
