How Xi Jinping might change the Communist Party’s constitution

When it comes to the top job, don’t expect any surprises at the Communist Party congress in October. There is little doubt that Xi Jinping will secure a third five-year term as party chief. But there will at least be some drama surrounding the party’s constitution. Observers will be watching to see how Mr Xi changes it. Even seemingly arcane revisions may signal that he sees himself on a par with communist China’s founder, Mao Zedong.

One area under scrutiny is Mr Xi’s philosophy, officially known as “Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era”. Wide-ranging and vague, it is hard to define. Nevertheless, at the previous congress, in 2017, it was inserted into the constitution. That placed Mr Xi in a league above his immediate predecessors, Hu Jintao and Jiang Zemin. Their philosophies were also enshrined in the charter—but without their names attached. Deng Xiaoping’s name was inserted only after he had died, and his thinking is merely called a “theory”.