New Paper | Who Briefs Xi Jinping? How Politburo Study Sessions Help to Decode Chinese Politics | Asia Society

New Paper | Who Briefs Xi Jinping? How Politburo Study Sessions Help to Decode Chinese Politics

Who Briefs Xi Jinping Cover Photo

October 23, 2024 – The Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis (CCA) has published “Who Briefs Xi Jinping? How Politburo Study Sessions Help to Decode Chinese Politics” by Neil Thomas, CCA Fellow on Chinese Politics, and Feifei Hung, CCA Affiliated Researcher.

“Who Briefs Xi Jinping?” explains the nature and importance of Politburo study sessions, using a unique database to analyze changes in topics and briefers over time, plus case studies of the sessions focused on technology policy and foreign policy. CCA compiled information from all Politburo study sessions between December 2002 and June 2024, including information on their topics, speakers, and formats. Through analyzing this open-source data about Chinese politics, Thomas and Hung come to the following conclusions:

  1. Topics and briefers reflect the policy preferences of the current Party leader.
  2. Under Xi, the Politburo has increasingly studied Party affairs and national security and spent less time studying economic development.
  3. Under Xi, the speakers briefing the Politburo have become relatively more likely to be affiliated with central Party agencies and military research institutes, while the number from universities, academies, and the State Council has noticeably declined.
  4. Under Xi, the speakers briefing the Politburo have become older and less diverse.
  5. Under Xi, fewer experts are briefing the Politburo overall.

“Beyond macro changes in policy focus, analyzing Politburo study sessions can also shed light on how the Party’s thinking is evolving in particular domains,” write Thomas and Hung. “The topics reflect the priorities of the top leader and often signal that further guidelines related to these areas are in the pipeline. But these sessions seldom signal a major policy shift, tending instead to help the top leader to confirm, disseminate, and socialize their views on an established but progressing policy process.”

Read the full paper here. Members of the media interested in contacting Thomas or Hung should email [email protected].