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Xi to secure third term as president, brush off crises
Xi is certain to be reappointed as president after he locked in another five years as head of the Communist Party (CCP) and the military -- the two more significant leadership positions in Chinese politics -- in October.
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China's President Xi Jinping (center) and other new members of the Communist Party of China's Politburo Standing Committee meet the media in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on October 23, 2022.
(AFP/Noel Celis)
X
i Jinping will secure a third term as China's president at a rubber-stamp parliament that starts this weekend, enjoying unchallengeable status despite criticism over his handling of Covid and the economy.
Xi is certain to be reappointed as president after he locked in another five years as head of the Communist Party (CCP) and the military -- the two more significant leadership positions in Chinese politics -- in October.
Since then, 69-year-old Xi has faced unexpected challenges and scrutiny over his leadership, with mass protests over his zero-Covid policy and its subsequent abandonment that saw countless people die.
But those issues are almost certain to be avoided at the National People's Congress (NPC), a carefully choreographed event that will also see the unveiling of a Xi ally as the new premier.
Starting on Sunday, the NPC is expected to last around 10 days and culminate with Xi's presidency being endorsed by the 3,000 delegates casting votes in Beijing's Great Hall of the People.
"Public opinion is probably not very good about him -- zero-Covid has damaged people's faith," said Alfred Muluan Wu, an associate professor at the National University of Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.
Yet Xi still enjoys a "pretty strong" position at the top of the party that makes him virtually unchallengeable, Wu said.
