At least four of Xi’s aides will be inducted into the Politburo Standing Committee on October 23
At least four of Xi’s aides will be inducted into the Politburo Standing Committee on October 23
China’s ruling Communist Party called off its five-year congress on Saturday, confirming leader Xi Jinping’s third term, paving the way for his domination of Chinese politics for the next five years.
At least four of Mr. Xi’s aides, 69, are expected to be appointed to the new seven-member Politburo Standing Committee (PBSC) on Sunday, apparently made possible by the forced early retirement of other officials.
The CPC Congress, a usually tightly choreographed affair, concluded on Saturday with two surprises, both of which, in different ways, underscored Mr. Xi’s undisputed position at the top of the party.
A weak-looking former leader Hu Jintao, 79, who sat with his successor, was unexpectedly removed from the Congress podium, before the party began voting to approve an amendment to the constitution, which he had called for. It was passed unanimously in absentia.
Mr Hu, once a powerhouse in the party in his own right and known to be recently unwell, had attended the Congress’s inauguration on 16 October and was then to be assisted in his seat. He appeared both unwell and disoriented and reluctant to leave the stage on Saturday, before exchanging a few words with Mr Xi and second-order leader Li Keqiang, whom he patted on the back before being kicked out.
The second surprise was the exclusion of both Mr. Li and fourth-ranked PBSC member Wang Yang – both associates of Mr. Hu – from the new Central Committee announced at Congress. Their early retirement – they are both below the unofficial retirement age of 68 – paves the way for four new appointments to the seven-member PBSC, with two other current members due to retire. However, Mr. Lee will remain as premier until his term ends in March.
All four appointments are likely to be close aides of Mr. Xi, marking a “clean sweep” in Chinese politics for the first time in decades over his most powerful body, which, in the past, had shared power between different party factions.
However, Mr. Xi has broken both factional equations as well as the “collective leadership” model, returning China to a one-man rule. Congress also approved amendments to the party constitution, underlining Mr. Xi’s “core” position, calling for the party to “establish its core position and guiding role” of his ideology and “to establish its core position and centralized, unified leadership”. called upon to maintain. of the party, called “two establishments” and “two supports”.