The Chinese Communist Party's Legitimacy Crisis

Is the Chinese Communist Party facing a legitimacy crisis? 

 

91 years after its founding, China’s ruling Party is facing a myriad of threats to its hold on power, including top level factional infighting, escalating mass incidents and a failure to curb corruption. 

 

These problems have not gone unnoticed within the regime. On Saturday, one day before the July 1st founding anniversary, Party mouthpiece People’s Daily published an editorial, naming four dangers the Party must resolve to continue to get the trust and support of the public. 

 

Do these four dangers, namely – falling energy within Party members, incompetency, being disengaged from the public and official passivity and corruption – aptly describe the challenges that leaders in Beijing face? Is the CCP acknowledging its increasingly tenuous hold on power? What lies ahead for the next generation of leaders and will it be up to them whether the Party succeeds or fails?