Armored against Covid, this Saturday ends the five-year conclave that will perpetuate him in power by breaking the rule of retiring after ten years
After an intense week, but in which Beijing has closed to the rest of China, this Saturday the XX Congress of the Communist Party concludes, which will perpetuate its Secretary General and President of the country, Xi Jinping, in power. To avoid Covid, this conclave has been held under a bubble that is a metaphor for the regime. While Xi inaugurated it last Sunday promising a “bright future”, the National Bureau of Statistics delayed the publication of third-quarter data on the economy, heavily hit by the strict Covid 0 policy.
Precisely, a protest against its restrictions and confinements managed to break Beijing’s armor on the eve of the Congress. Although there were only two banners hanging from a bridge and a campfire, what is surprising is that the protester had time to unfurl them before the police arrested him. Since then, he has disappeared and the surveillance of the bridges has been reinforced with guard booths so that no one again circumvents security, another bubble that aspires to be as impenetrable as the Great Wall.
On Thursday, Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu repeated the propaganda slogan advocating “building a community with a shared future for mankind.” But, in the United Kingdom, the Chinese consul in Manchester, Zheng Xiyuan, is leading a diplomatic conflict for having gotten involved with several of his employees in a fight against some protesters from Hong Kong who were protesting in front of his legation. As seen in a video, one of the protesters was dragged into the consulate’s courtyard by his employees, who beat him until he was rescued by the police. The incident punctures another bubble, that of the diplomacy of the “warrior wolves” that have hardened China’s foreign discourse and now go from howling to fists.
Yesterday, the Vice Minister of the Environment, Zhai Qing, had a bad day to explain China’s achievements in the fight against pollution, which has been significantly reduced in recent years. But, after the blue skies that shone during the opening of the Congress, Beijing has spent several days leaden and with levels of pollution harmful to health. Coming from the burning of coal in thermal plants, exhaust pipes and smoke from factories, its PM 2.5 particles are so tiny that they slip not only into the lungs, but also into the bubble of this conclave.
And, finally, we have the bubble of journalists, who entered two hotels in Beijing on Wednesday to spend three days in a closed circuit before attending this Saturday the closing of the Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. In this last session, its almost 2,300 delegates will elect the 205 members of the Central Committee and their 171 alternates. In addition, they are expected to vote in favor of reforming the Party’s statutes to further strengthen Xi Jinping, who will break the rule of retiring after two five-year terms imposed after Mao’s death to avoid his personalist excesses. According to some experts, the title of his political doctrine, “Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for the New Era,” could be shortened. Reduced to just “Xi Jinping Thought”, it would thus be equated to the “Great Helmsman”.
New Central Committee
But, if there is no change from previous years, the most important day of his coronation as China’s most powerful leader since Mao will be on Sunday. In the morning, the new Central Committee resulting from this Congress will elect the 25 members of the Politburo and from there will come the seven that make up its Permanent Committee, the top leadership of the regime. Except for Xi Jinping, who will continue as number one, there will be a renewal of at least four members, including Prime Minister Li Keqiang, who will finish his ten-year term in March. These changes will reveal if there are still power balances between the different factions of the Party or if Xi is capable of placing all his trusted men. In theory, it will be known tomorrow, when the new Permanent Committee appears before the Press.
To attend the event, a group of selected media also remain in the anti-Covid bubble. After a daily PCR since Wednesday, Friday and Saturday have been two to avoid the risk of contagion as much as possible at the coronation of Xi Jinping.
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