The Third Plenum of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee has been meeting in Beijing, and tensions are high. Extra security floods the streets, petitioners have been rounded up and packed off to jails—and hundreds of high-ranking Party officials have been locked up and forced to memorize Party leader Xi Jinping’s speeches.
Until the Party issues a communiqué at the end of the Third Plenum on Nov. 12, the official version of what took place will not be reported. General Secretary Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang are believed to be introducing reform proposals on a series of hot button issues, such as land reform, reform of state-owned enterprises, and reform of the “stability maintenance” policies used to repress the Chinese people.
Any significant reform will touch the vested interests of entrenched Party factions, and the opposition is thought to be white hot behind closed meeting room doors at the Jingxi Hotel where the Plenum is being held.
At this sensitive moment, the Party leadership did not want any interest groups outside the Third Plenum expressing dissatisfaction with decisions made inside. So, according to state-run media, 334 provincial and ministerial officials have been quarantined in the Central Party School on the outskirts of Beijing, where they have slept in the dormitory and ate in the school cafeteria.
From Nov. 4 through 8, the officials were divided into 17 groups. They awakened each morning at 7 a.m., and then studied Xi’s speeches morning and night. The officials were forbidden from socializing with one another. To make sure they were studying well, a three-hour discussion on Xi’s speeches was held each afternoon.
The study sessions were meant to make the officials “think alike,” and “obey the central authority.” Everyone was expected to declare his allegiance.
On Nov. 9, when the Third Plenum began, the study sessions ended, but the officials were kept under house arrest. They are to be released after the Plenum ends.
Tactic Used Before
Former Party head Hu Jintao used this same tactic in March, 2012. 3,000 leaders of the Political and Legal Affairs Committees—the Party organs that control the security and legal systems at all administrative levels—were held for study sessions that began on March 21.
At that time, Hu Jintao had just moved against former Politburo member Bo Xilai, a leader of the faction of former Party head Jiang Zemin. Bo was detained on March 15.
According to Party insiders, the study sessions were meant to prevent any collusion or conspiracies among members of the security forces, who might have acted to support Bo.
The recent study session included officials from the Central Committee, state agencies, provincial and city governments, state-owned businesses and financial institutions, and officials from colleges and universities.
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