Chinese President Xi Jinping will take the stage on Sunday to kick off a historic congress of the ruling Communist Party. He is poised to win a third term that solidifies his place as China’s most powerful ruler since Mao Zedong.
The congress comes at a tumultuous time, with Xi’s adherence to his zero-COVID policy battering the economy. At the same time, his support for Russia’s Vladimir Putin has further alienated China from the West. Still, diplomats, economists and analysts spoke to by Reuters say Xi is set to consolidate his grip on power
The roughly week-long congress will take place with around 2,300 delegates, mostly behind closed doors, in the vast Great Hall of the People on Tiananmen Square. The Chinese capital has ramped up security and intensified COVID screening. An industry source said that steel mills in nearby Hebei province were instructed to cut back on operations to improve air quality.
The opacity of Chinese politics, which has been heightened since Xi assumed power a decade ago, means party watchers are left to speculate over who will be named to key posts and what those appointments mean
Still, few expect significant deviation in direction during a third Xi term, with a continued focus on policies prioritising security and self-reliance, state control of the economy, more assertive diplomacy and a more robust military, and growing pressure to seize Taiwan.
The congress will conclude with the introduction of the next Politburo Standing Committee (PSC), the elite body that now numbers seven and that Xi has come to dominate
“The likelihood is that the new line-up will be uncompromising ‘Xi-ist’,” said former British diplomat Charles Parton, a fellow at the London-based Council on Geostrategy.
The congress will likely begin with Xi reading a lengthy report in a televised speech that will outline broad-brush priorities for the next five years. It begins a months-long process of personnel change at the top of the party and government that will conclude in March at the annual session of parliament.
In securing a third term Xi breaks with the two-term precedent of recent decades. Also breaking with norms: no successor to Xi, 69, is expected to be identified, analysts say, which would indicate he plans to remain in power even longer
