Xi’s thought on governing the party announced as new official doctrine

China’s ruling Communist Party has announced a new branch of President Xi Jinping’s political thought, which stresses governing the party with discipline and unified leadership.

During a national conference on party building on Monday, the concept of “Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building” was hailed as “a milestone in the history of Marxist theory on party building and in the history of Chinese Communist Party building”, according to a report from state broadcaster CCTV.

The new phrase was officially coined at a meeting chaired by Cai Qi, the party’s ideology chief and the fifth-ranking member of the party’s top decision-making body, the seven-member Politburo Standing Committee. The meeting was also attended by officials in charge of discipline, personnel and other key matters.

Xi has developed the concept since the 18th National Party Congress in 2012 and it represents an answer to major questions, including how to build a “Marxist party with long-term governance”, according to the CCTV report, which added that the concept would serve “as the fundamental guideline for strengthening party building in the new era”.

The report said “Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building” put forth “14 insists”, which included insistence on “a centralised, unified leadership of the party Central Committee”, insistence on “full and rigorous party self-governance” and insistence on an organisational system that is cohesive across different levels.

Fighting corruption is also a major focus. The doctrine demands that coordinated efforts be made to ensure “officials do not have the audacity, opportunity or desire to commit corruption”.

The latest addition to the party’s theoretical canon has been introduced around a year before the next party congress, which is expected to be held in autumn 2027. It is expected that more than two-thirds of the party’s Central Committee will be replaced due to customary age limits. Major reshuffles of the Politburo and its Standing Committee are also predicted.