Xi Jinping has secured a historic third term as Chinese leader on Sunday, 23rd October, 2022, after being re-appointed as head of China’s Central Military Commission, keeping him in charge of of the People Liberation Army.
The Party’s Central Committee elected Jinping as its General Secretary for another five-year term, bringing the country back towards one-man rule after decades of power-sharing among its elite.
Jinping emergence cement him as the most powerful leader since Communist Party founder, Mao Zedong, in 1921.
He is now all but certain to sail through to a third term as the country’s president, due to be formally announced during the government’s annual legislative sessions in March.
In a wide-ranging acceptance speech on Sunday, 23rd October, 2022, Jinping 69 made signature remarks celebrating China’s rise as a global power and its success under his rule.
“The word needs China, after more than 40 years of unflagging efforts towards reform and opening up, we have created two miracles rapid economic development and long-term social stability”, Jinping said.
Six of Jingping’s proteges and allies were also unveiled on Sunday alongside him as members of the Politburo Standing Committee, the party’s apex of power that rules the country.
Current Shanghai Party boss, Li Qiang, who oversaw a gruelling two-month Covid-19 lockdown in the financial capital this year was named as number two in the Standing Committee.
According to reports, Qiang is likely to take over as premier from Li Keqiang, a former Jinping rival who will retire next year.
Close aide Ding Xuexiang, Guangdong Party chief Jinping and Beijing Party boss Cai Qi were also in the re-jigged lineup.
“The new Politburo Standing Committee confirms decisively that Xi has consolidated power at the top of the Communist Party to an extent unseen since the Mao era”, said Neil Thomas, a senior China analyst at Eurasia Group.
Adding to the intrigue, China’s censors scrubbed references to Hu from the internet after he was removed from the Congress.
Reports says one of Hu’s proteges, Hu Chunhua, had been tipped by some to be named to the Standing Committee on Sunday, 23rd October, 2022, but Jinping sidelined him.
Xi Jinping has been serving as general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and chairman of the Central Military Commission since 2012, and president of the People’s Republic of China since 2013.
Story: Hilda Katu