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The ruling Communist Party of China approved this Saturday, October 22, the amendments to the Constitution, with which President Xi Jinping further consolidates his power. On Sunday, the head of state is expected to be confirmed for a third five-year term as secretary general of the political movement, something unprecedented in the country’s history. In 2018, Xi abolished the two-term presidential limit.
Xi Jinping is ratified as the most powerful leader in China since the Mao Zedong era.
In such a highly choreographed event, the more than 2,000 selected regional delegates, representing the almost 97 million members of the ruling Communist Party, approved this Saturday, October 22, amendments to its Constitution and the consecration in the Magna Carta of the rejection of the Taiwan independence.
Among the amendments, “Two Establishments” and “Two Safeguards” stand out, with the aim of enshrining Xi as the core of the movement and his political thought as its fundamental ideology.
“Dare to fight, dare to win, bury your head, work hard and be determined to move forward,” said the president before the faithful of his party, at the end of the 20th edition of the Communist Congress.
#UPDATE China’s 20th Communist Party Congress ended in Beijing, after leader Xi Jinping presided over seven days of closed-door meetings with top officials.
“Dare to struggle, dare to win, bury your heads and work hard, be determined to keep forging ahead,” Xi said pic.twitter.com/ODdO3xE2xV
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) October 22, 2022
The new 205-member Central Committee no longer includes the likes of Premier Li Keqiang or his possible replacement Wang Yang.
The main course will arrive on Sunday, October 23, when there will be a foreseeable approval of Xi as secretary general of the party. It will be done when the Central Committee approves a reorganized Politburo of 25 members, the apex of China’s power, of about seven people, which analysts expect to be full of allies of the president.
This step will allow the 68-year-old to navigate his way to a third five-year term as the country’s president, to be announced during the government’s annual legislative sessions next March.
But above all, with the modifications to the party’s Constitution, the president raises his power as a leader and his status in Chinese political history.
In 2018, Xi abolished the presidential two-term limit, paving the way for him to rule indefinitely. With this measure he broke a term established by the reformist Deng Xiaoping, in 1982, to avoid the figure of a supreme leader as happened with Zedong.
Hu Jintao gets shuffled off the political stage in a fairly undignified manner.
Note how he tries to swipe Xi Jinping’s notes.
He does not seem well at all.pic.twitter.com/909xJD5koR
— Fergus Ryan (@fryan) October 22, 2022
During the event and in an unexpected move, former leader Hu Jintao was removed from the closing ceremony. No official explanation was given in this regard, although it is believed that the reason would be political differences with the current president, although there is also speculation about his state of health.
The cameras were able to capture the moment when Hu was escorted out of the Great Hall of the People after trying to question Xi, who remained oblivious, staring straight ahead.
Xi: “We must be prepared to withstand strong winds”
Xi delivered a 105-minute speech praising the Communist Party’s achievements while glossing over domestic problems such as the stagnant economy and the damage caused by its strict “zero Covid” policy.
Strong on ideological rhetoric and light on politics, a defiant Xi also urged movement members to fortify themselves in the face of numerous challenges, including an increasingly harsh geopolitical climate.
“We must be prepared to withstand strong winds, rough waters and even dangerous storms (…) In the face of drastic changes in the international landscape, especially external attempts to blackmail, contain (and) block China, we have put our national interests first,” the president stressed. .
Security was also a main focus of his intervention. Xi hailed Hong Kong’s transition from what he said was a step from “chaos to governance.”
His statements came despite massive protests in which thousands of people on the semi-autonomous island called for democracy and the fulfillment of the promise of autonomy made when the United Kingdom handed over Hong Kong to Beijing in 1997.
China’s leader, Xi Jinping, tightened his grip on the highest levels of power at a party congress, elevating loyalists and pushing out moderates while also bolstering national security and expanding state influence over the economy. https://t.co/Epn0k7brxf
— The New York Times (@nytimes) October 22, 2022
On the other hand, the Chinese president promised to “never commit to abandoning the use of force” to seize the autonomous island of Taiwan, which he claims as his own.
Meanwhile, Xi’s political philosophy is expected to be enshrined in a more concise form, which would make his thinking “the latest version of Marxism (and) China’s state ideology of the 21st century,” said Steve Tsang, director of the SOAS Institute. China from the University of London.
“Xi’s power will be similar to that of the dictator of China, and there will be almost no room for anyone to advise him to try to correct course,” the expert added.
Not since the Mao Zedong era has any other leader in the country had his doctrine included in the party constitution while he was still in power.
With Reuters and AFP
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