Highlighting Party Identity to Shape Leadership: Chinese State Media Implicitly Celebrates Xi Jinping's Birthday

(Central News Agency reporter Zhang Qian, Hong Kong, June 16) According to reports, the Chinese Communist Party held a national party-building work symposium yesterday, during which it formally introduced the concept of 'Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building' for the first time. Additionally, in contrast to the tradition of not publicly celebrating leaders' birthdays, state media CCTV deliberately aired a video titled 'Communist Party Member Xi Jinping,' lasting over six minutes, symbolically celebrating General Secretary Xi Jinping's birthday by highlighting his party identity.

According to reports from Sing Tao Daily and Xinhua News Agency, the national party-building work symposium was held in Beijing yesterday. The meeting not only introduced 'Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building' for the first time but also designated studying this ideology as an important political task for the entire party.

The reports state that 'Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building' holds milestone significance in the development history of Marxist party-building theory and in the history of the Chinese Communist Party's party-building efforts. It emphasizes an integrated approach to ensuring officials 'do not dare to, are unable to, and do not want to' engage in corruption, upholds 'governing the party by institutions and regulations,' and stresses the implementation of political responsibilities in party management. It is described as 'rich in content and rigorously structured.'

Additionally, today's Ming Pao points out that yesterday coincided with Xi Jinping's 73rd birthday, with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko sending birthday greetings.

Chinese Communist Party leaders traditionally refrain from celebrating birthdays publicly, and official records typically only disclose the month of birth, not the exact date. Even when foreign leaders send birthday wishes to Chinese leaders, state media usually do not report them.

However, the report notes that CCTV released a 6-minute and 20-second video titled 'Communist Party Member Xi Jinping' yesterday, which was subsequently reposted by Chinese media outlets such as The Paper. This act is seen as a subtle way of constructing the image of a 'people's leader' to cleverly celebrate Xi Jinping's birthday.

The video opens with Xi Jinping's original audio stating, 'My primary identity is that of a Communist Party member, and my primary duty is to work for the Party.' The narration mentions that he joined the Chinese Communist Party in January 1974 in Liangjiahe, Shaanxi Province, and that 'through the arduous trials in the Loess Plateau, Xi Jinping's faith in communism became increasingly firm.' (Editor: Qiu Guoqiang) 1150616