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China's top leaders meet to make final party congress arrangement
The seventh plenary session of the ruling party's 19th Central Committee, which is expected to run for around four days, will discuss a draft work report to be delivered by Xi at the congress, due to start Oct. 16, and finalize plans for China's top leadership for the next five years.
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China's President Xi Jinping gives a speech following a swearing-in ceremony to inaugurate the city's new leader and government in Hong Kong on July 1, 2022, on the 25th anniversary of the city's handover from Britain to China.
(AFP/Selim CHTAYTI )
C
hina's Communist Party opened Sunday a meeting of senior members who will make final arrangements for its twice-a-decade congress where leader Xi Jinping is expected to secure an unprecedented third five-year term as party general secretary.
The seventh plenary session of the ruling party's 19th Central Committee, which is expected to run for around four days, will discuss a draft work report to be delivered by Xi at the congress, due to start Oct. 16, and finalize plans for China's top leadership for the next five years.
The work report, which will outline basic policies as well as development goals of the party and the nation through 2027, is also expected to detail achievements in the 10 years since Xi became party chief in 2012.
Security was very tight around a Beijing hotel where the closed-door gathering is being held, with Chinese state-run media confirming the plenary session had begun in the morning.
The party is expected to issue a communique summary through the media on the last day of the session.
The identity of the successor to Premier Li Keqiang, 67, who is set to retire next spring, and whether Li will stay on in the seven-member Politburo Standing Committee -- the country's highest decision-making body -- even after retirement, have been drawing attention.
Li is in charge of mapping out the nation's economic policies. Speculation has been building that Wang Yang, 67, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, or Vice Premier Hu Chunhua, 59, may succeed Li.
The 20th National Congress of the party, the most important political event in China this year, is expected to run for a week and be attended by about 2,300 delegates from across the country. It will choose the members of the Central Committee.
A day after the conclusion of the congress, members of the Politburo and its Standing Committee will be selected at the first plenary session of the party's 20th Central Committee. The Politburo now has 25 members.
In September, the Politburo decided to incorporate into the party constitution "major theoretical viewpoints and strategic thoughts." Hong Kong media have speculated that wording suggests Xi's unswerving power and authority will be cemented.
The previous congress in 2017 enshrined in the party constitution "Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era," making his status comparable to Communist-led China's founding father Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping, the architect of the country's reform efforts.
In 2018, China removed from its Constitution a two-term limit for the president and vice president, paving the way for Xi to hold power for life.
