The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) reaffirmed this Saturday at the end of its congress the “central role” of Xi Jinping, on the eve of the almost certain formalization of a third term for the strong man from Beijing.
“Dare to fight for victory,” Xi Jinping said triumphantly after the ceremony at the People’s Palace, a Soviet-style building with interior decoration dominated by red.
There, the composition of the new Central Committee, a kind of internal “parliament” of the party, was revealed. Four big names in the CCP, including current Premier Li Keqiang, who will leave office next March, no longer appear on the list published by the official Xinhua news agency.
According to calculations by the Agence France-Presse (AFP), this new Central Committee is revised by 65% compared to the previous version of 2017.
A new committee formed by the “loyal” Xi Jinping
This group of 205 people (including just 11 women) will meet on Sunday for the first time. It will appoint the 25 members of the decision-making body of the PCC (the Political Bureau), as well as its Permanent Committee.
This all-powerful seven-member body currently holds the real power in China.
The new, largely reformed standing committee will be made up mostly of “Xi Jinping loyalists,” deputy Nis Grünberg of the Mercator Institute for Chinese Studies (Merics) in Berlin. Many sinologists believe that no potential successor should emerge.
A likely third term as head of China
Xi Jinping will most likely be re-elected as CCP General Secretary. This procedure should enable the Beijing strongman to win an unprecedented third five-year presidential term next March.
“This third term will end three decades of (framed) power transition” in China, says Neil Thomas, an analyst at Eurasia Group.
To stay in power, Xi Jinping removed the two-term limit from the Constitution in 2018. At 69, he can, in theory, preside over the People’s Republic for life.
On Saturday, the Communist Party added “the central role of Comrade Xi Jinping” to its charter, a resolution adopted unanimously that appears to further strengthen its internal power.
Former president escorted out
During a highly choreographed ceremony, former President Hu Jintao, who appeared weakened during the congress, was escorted out, AFP journalists reported.
Visibly against his will, employees pressed the 79-year-old, who served as China’s president from 2003 to 2013, to get up from his seat next to Xi Jinping.
This unusual scene was not explained or reported by state media.
A delicate context for China
This congress, the twentieth since the creation of the CCP in 1921, was held in a delicate context for China, given a slowdown in its growth due to repeated confinements and diplomatic tensions with the West.
For a week, some 2,300 delegates chosen by the different Party authorities had met behind closed doors, with the mission of reorganizing the party’s management team, and therefore of the second world economy, and charting the future directions of the country. .
Far from the cautious diplomacy of his predecessors, Xi Jinping should make China’s voice heard even more. Even if that means heightening tensions with America’s great rival, particularly over the Taiwan question. For the first time, the PCC has also decided to include in its statutes a specific mention of its “opposition” to the independence of the island of 23 million inhabitants.
Source: BFM TV
