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Xi set to secure historic third term in office
Xi is all but certain to be unveiled as general secretary of the ruling Communist Party again -- tilting the country decisively back towards one-man rule after decades of power-sharing among its elite.
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China's President Xi Jinping (right) applauds beside Premier Li Keqiang (center) and Politburo Standing Committee member Wang Yang during the closing ceremony of the 20th Chinese Communist Party's Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on October 22, 2022.
(AFP/Noel Celis)
C
hinese President Xi Jinping was poised Sunday to secure a historic third term in power, cementing his position as the nation's most influential leader since founder Mao Zedong.
Xi is all but certain to be unveiled as general secretary of the ruling Communist Party again -- tilting the country decisively back towards one-man rule after decades of power-sharing among its elite.
His anointment will cap a week-long gathering of the party faithful in China's capital during which high-ranking cadres endorsed his "core position" in the leadership and approved a sweeping reshuffle that saw several top officials step down.
However, in an unexpected move that punctured the proceedings at Beijing's Great Hall of the People, former leader Hu Jintao was led out of the closing ceremony.
The frail-looking 79-year-old seemed reluctant to leave the front row where he was sitting next to Xi.
One of the most dramatic visuals of this century. Former Prez of China, who ruled the country for 10 yrs Hu Jintao being escorted out as Xi Jinping cements his position in a historic 3rd term.pic.twitter.com/QsoNRNkpaj
— Sidhant Sibal (@sidhant) October 22, 2022
State media reported late Saturday that Hu had insisted on attending the session despite being unwell.
"When he was not feeling well during the session, his staff, for his health, accompanied him to a room next to the meeting venue for a rest. Now, he is much better," Xinhua news agency said on Twitter, a social media platform that is blocked in China.
Video footage published by AFP showed a steward repeatedly trying to lift Hu from his seat, drawing concerned looks from officials seated nearby. Hu then put his hand on a sheet of paper placed on Xi's folder but Xi quickly put his hand on the sheet.
China's top legislator Li Zhanshu, seated to Hu's right, gave the former president's folder to a steward, wiping his own head with a cloth after Hu finally stood up.
Looking distressed, Hu appeared to resist leaving as the stewards escorted him out, turning back to his seat at one point. On his way out, he exchanged words with Xi and patted Premier Li Keqiang, seated to the right of Xi, on the shoulder.
Video of the incident, highly unusual given the meticulous stage management of most such events, was widely shared on Twitter but could not be found on China's heavily censored social media platforms. Twitter is blocked in China.
On China's Twitter-like Weibo, a few social media users alluded to the incident by commenting on old posts featuring Hu, a common tactic used to evade cyberspace censors.
By Saturday evening, however, the comments section of almost all Weibo posts containing Hu's name were no longer visible, according to a Reuters review.
State media coverage of the ceremony did not include the scene, which occurred as journalists were entering the hall.
The official CCTV evening news coverage of Saturday's congress closing ceremony included footage with Hu, as normal, from before the incident.
Sunday unveiling
The delegates also elected a new Central Committee of around 200 senior party officials, who will gather on Sunday to elect the Standing Committee -- the apex of Chinese political power at which Xi is set to sit firmly at the top.
More than a hundred journalists were gathered Sunday morning in the Great Hall of the People's Golden Hall, an imposing space bedecked with chandeliers and gold and red pillars, where China's new Standing Committee is set to be unveiled at a press conference around noon (0400 GMT).
A list of officials in the new Central Committee earlier revealed that four out of seven members of the Standing Committee will be replaced, allowing Xi to further pack the top body with loyalists.
"Whichever way you look at it, it's almost a total victory for Xi," said Willy Lam, a political analyst at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
The move will allow Xi to sail through to a third term as China's president, due to be formally announced during the government's annual legislative sessions in March.
'Marxism of 21st century'
It brings to an end a triumphant week in which China's top brass have hailed their leadership of the country over the last five years.
In his opening speech to its 20th Congress last Sunday, Xi lauded the party's achievements while glossing over domestic problems such as the stalling economy and the damage inflicted by his harsh zero-Covid policy.
Heavy on ideological rhetoric and light on policy, a defiant Xi also urged party members to steel themselves against numerous challenges including a hardening geopolitical climate.
Analysts were closely watching for whether the party charter would be amended to enshrine "Xi Jinping Thought" as a guiding philosophy, a move that would put Xi on a par with Mao.
That did not take place, though a resolution did call the creed "the Marxism of contemporary China and of the 21st century", adding that it "embodies the best Chinese culture and ethos of this era".
Xi previously abolished the presidential two-term limit in 2018, paving the way for him to rule indefinitely.
