Xinhua reported that the Communist Party Politburo held a special meeting on December 28 and 29, 2015. The discussion at the meeting centered on the “profound lessons [to be learned] from the abuse of power cases of former senior Party officials Zhou Yongkang, Bo Xilai, Xu Caihou, Guo Boxiong, Ling Jihua and others.” Those who attended participated in “criticism and self-criticism” that centered on the Party’s disciplinary regulations and policies. The participants were asked to watch their families closely. 

On December 10, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Central Committee published "The Opinion on Implementing Political Consultation with Other Parties."

The Opinion stated, "The main subjects on which the CCP Central Committee will conduct political consultations with other parties will include: Key documents for the CCP National Congress and the CCP Central Committee, recommendations on amending the Constitution and other important laws, candidates for national leadership, and mid- and long term plans for the economy and social development …"

Regarding the candidates for key leadership positions, the CCP Central Committee will organize the political consultation meeting during the nomination phase.

Source: Xinhua, December 10, 2015
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2015-12/10/c_1117423452.htm

Hong Kong’s Apple Daily reported that there were two things worth noticing when Leung Chun-ying (CY Leung) went to Beijing to report on his work.

The first one was that Leung sat on the side during the meetings. In the past, the central government leader and the Hong Kong Chief Executive sat next to each other in the same row. This year, for the first time, the central government leader sat at the chair’s place at a long table and Leung sat on the side. Both meetings with Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang used this format.

The second one was that Xi only used the term "Full Affirmation" to appraise Leung’s work. The central leaders always used this term in the past. It does not mean that Xi is happy with Leung’s work. The fact that Xi didn’t use “Trust" in his appraisal indicates that there is a trust crisis in regard to Leung.

Source: Apple Daily Online, December 25, 2015
http://hk.apple.nextmedia.com/news/art/20151225/19425932

On December 7, Caixin published a public speech that Yu Keping (俞可平), a former Chinese Communist Party (CCP) official and theorist gave at Beijing University. The topic was "Six Political Axioms that China’s Political System Violated."  

The first axiom was "A power holder only recognizes accountability to those who give him the power." Yu argued that the CCP has claimed officials are the servants of the general public. In reality, officials are only submissive to their bosses and treat the general public as if they are nobody. That is because officials are appointed by their bosses. Yu hinted at a solution. If the public elects these officials, they will have to serve the public.

Yu also pointed out other areas that violate the political axioms: the government is inefficient because there are too many agencies in charge of the same thing; lower level officials dare not tell the truth when providing policy feedback to the upper level officials who gave them the policy order; the number one leader at each level tends to become corrupt because there is no checks and balances system to keep them in line; subordinate officials tend to yield to their bosses because they have lower rights and benefits and perceive they are lower; the income levels are quite different between officials who at the same rank but work in different agencies and different regions.

Yu served as the Deputy Director of the Central Compilation and Translation Bureau that focuses on ideology and theory research. He resigned from that post to become a political science professor at Beijing University. Caixin introduced Yu as a "famous scholar and political scientist" and mentioned that his article "Democracy Is a Good Thing" had resulted in a lot of discussion in China.

Source: Caixin, December 7, 2015
http://opinion.caixin.com/2015-12-07/100882641.html