China's President Xi Jinping attends a meeting with Vietnam's President Vo Van Thuong (not pictured) at the Presidential Palace in Hanoi on Dec 13, 2023. - AFP
BEIJING: President Xi Jinping publicly skipped half of a key annual economic meeting for the first time, as the Chinese leader continues to break Communist Party norms in his precedent-defying third term.
Xi travelled to Vietnam on Tuesday (Dec 12) for a two-day state visit that overlapped with the final leg of a meeting to set growth goals for 2024. That marked the first time China’s most-powerful leader since Mao Zedong had left his nation during the high-profile economic event since taking power, according to public records.
His absence was the latest in a series of unexplained moves by the Chinese leader, defying diplomatic and party protocol. The ruling party’s increasingly opaque nature has become an investor concern this year, hampering China’s attempts to ramp up confidence.
Over the summer, Xi abruptly skipped giving a speech at an event in South Africa, getting his commerce minister to read it instead. The Chinese leader also snubbed the Group of Twenty leaders’ summit for the first time in September, sending Premier Li Qiang in his place.
"Each minor departure from previous norms is not especially significant in itself,” said Neil Thomas, a fellow for Chinese politics at the Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis. "But they cumulatively contribute to a less predictable policy environment and a less confident business community.”
The ruling party’s top leaders assembled on Monday and Tuesday for the economic work conference. State media said Xi gave a speech at the event, without specifying a date.
Timings of the confab’s internal schedule are never made public, and it wasn’t clear from public statements if Xi had attended previous years in full. But the jaunt to Hanoi made his absence public, with the Tuesday evening news carrying reports of both the conference’s conclusion and Xi’s overseas travel, in that order.
The Chinese leader was accompanied in Vietnam by the party’s No. 5 official Cai Qi, director of the nation’s top planning body and commerce minister, as well as the party chiefs of Yunnan and Guangxi, according to state media reports. Those officials would normally be expected to attend the economic event.
Bloomberg News earlier reported that Xi’s trip was originally planned for Dec 14 to 16, citing people familiar, but was moved up to begin Tuesday because of unspecified scheduling reasons.
Party leaders also appear to have postponed a key gathering that’s usually held every five years to chart long-term policy. Dates for the third plenum, which often has a focus on the economy, are typically announced after meetings of the 24-man Politburo.
This month’s readout of that huddle didn’t name a date, suggesting the event will happen out of cycle next year. - Bloomberg
