Xi Jinping is sure to be unveiled again as the General Secretary of the ruling Communist Party.
Beijing:
Chinese President Xi Jinping was set to secure a historic third term in power on Sunday, cementing his position as the country’s most influential leader since founder Mao Zedong.
Xi is sure to be re-unveiled as general secretary of the ruling Communist Party – turning the country decisively towards one-man rule after decades of power-sharing among its elite.
His anointing will come during a week-long gathering of the loyalist party in the Chinese capital, during which high-ranking activists backed his “main position” in the leadership and approved a sweeping reshuffle that saw several top officials step down. .
However, in an unexpected move that punctuated the proceedings at the Great Hall of the People, former leader Hu Jintao was kicked out of the closing ceremony.
The weak-looking 79-year-old, seated next to Xi, seemed reluctant to leave the front row.
State media reported late Saturday that Hu had insisted on attending the session despite being unwell.
“When he was not feeling well during the session, his staff accompanied him to rest in a room next to the meeting place for his health. Now, he is much better,” Xinhua news agency said on Twitter.
Sunday’s Unveiling
Delegates also elected a new central committee of about 200 senior party officials, who will gather on Sunday to elect the standing committee – the apex of Chinese political power on which Xi is set to sit firmly at the top.
The standing committee is expected to be unveiled to foreign and domestic media at a press conference around noon (0400 GMT) in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People.
A list of officials in the new central committee had previously revealed that four of the seven members of the standing committee would be replaced, allowing the top body to pack more with loyalists to Xi.
“Any way you look at it, it’s an almost total victory for Xi,” said Willie Lam, a political analyst at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
The move, due to be formally announced during the government’s annual legislative session in March, will allow Xi to pursue a third term as China’s president.
‘Marxism of the 21st Century’
It marked the end of a triumphant week in which China’s top officials praised the country’s own leadership over the past five years.
In the opening speech of his 20th Congress last Sunday, Xi lauded the party’s achievements, highlighting domestic problems such as the stalled economy and the damage caused by its rigid zero-Covid policy.
Heavy on ideological rhetoric and light on policy, a defiant Xi urged party members to reinvent themselves against a range of challenges, including a tight geopolitical environment.
Analysts were closely watching whether the party charter would be amended to establish “Xi Jinping Thought” as a guiding philosophy, a move that would equate Xi with Mao.
This did not happen, although a resolution called the cult “contemporary China and the Marxism of the 21st century”, and stated that it “embodies the best Chinese culture and ethos of this era”.
Xi had earlier ended the president’s two-term limit in 2018, paving the way for him to rule indefinitely.
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