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The promotion of some of his closest Communist Party friends on Sunday helped Xi Jinping earn a historic third term as China’s president, solidifying his status as the country’s most powerful leader since Mao Zedong.
The Chinese Communist Party’s Central Committee chose Xi to serve as its general secretary for a second five-year term, significantly shifting the nation away from elite power-sharing and toward one-man rule.
In a news conference, Xi Jinping asserted that “the world needs China.”
“The world needs China, and China cannot thrive without the globe,” Xi stated. We have achieved two miracles—rapid economic growth and sustained social stability—after more than 40 years of unwavering reform and opening-up efforts.
He pledged to “work hard in carrying out our responsibilities to prove worthy of the tremendous trust of our party and our people.”
Additionally, the Central Military Commission of China reappointed Xi as its leader.
As of right now, the 69-year-old is almost set to win a third term as China’s leader, which will be publicly declared in March during the government’s annual parliamentary sessions.
His appointment followed a week-long Congress of 2,300 personally chosen party delegates, during which they affirmed Xi’s “core position” in the leadership and a comprehensive overhaul that saw previous opponents resign.
Around 200 top party officials who made up the new Central Committee, chosen at the 20th Congress, assembled on Sunday to elect Xi and the other members of the Standing Committee, the highest body of political authority in China.
The seven-person committee included some of Xi’s closest associates.
A close friend of Xi’s and former Shanghai party head Li Qiang was promoted to number two, increasing the likelihood that he will be chosen as prime minister during the government’s annual parliamentary sessions in March.
Since taking over as president a decade ago, Xi has amassed a concentration of authority unmatched by any other leader of contemporary China outside Mao.
In order to be able to rule indefinitely, he eliminated the two-term presidential term restriction in 2018.
Xi has also presided over China’s rise to become the second-largest economy in the world, a significant military buildup, and a far more assertive global posture, all of which have sparked vehement American criticism.
Despite having almost total control, Xi will face several difficulties over the next five years, including managing the country’s debt-ridden economy and the escalating US rivalry.
– Present-day China
With Sunday’s election, China’s top brass could finally celebrate a successful week during which they were praised for their five-year leadership of the nation.
The party’s accomplishments were celebrated by Xi in his opening remarks to the party’s 20th Congress on Sunday, but he ignored internal issues including the sluggish economy and the harm caused by his strict zero-Covid policy.
A defiant Xi also urged party members to arm themselves against multiple difficulties, including a harsher geopolitical climate, in his often heavy on ideology and low on policy speech.
Analysts have been waiting with bated breath to see if the party constitution would be changed to formally recognise “Xi Jinping Thought” as the party’s governing theory, elevating Xi to the status of Mao.
That did not occur, but a resolution was passed referring to the doctrine as “the Marxism of modern China and of the 21st century,” adding that it “embodies the best Chinese culture and ethos of this era.”
