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China and the world will find out who will run the country alongside President and Party General Secretary Xi Jinping when the Communist Party concludes its biannual party congress this weekend.
The country’s senior political leaders said Xi, who is expected to be confirmed as president for an unprecedented third term, will take the stage at the Great Hall of the People and then become a member of its elite Politburo Standing Committee (PSC). will be revealed next Sunday. , the party’s highest decision-making body, in order of importance.
The 69-year-old leader has emerged as China’s most powerful person since Mao Zedong, blaming the West for its slowing economy, public outrage over its restrictive pandemic measures and alleged human rights abuses in such places. Despite growing divisions with the rest of the world, his grip on power seems undiminished: Xinjiang and Hong Kong, and the Beijing government’s refusal to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Who will participate, who will not, and who will succeed Premier Li Keqiang when he retires in March after a maximum of two terms in office show Xi Jinping’s political power to break away from post-Mao tradition. will be of collective leadership.
Ben Hillman, director of the Australian Center for World-in-the-World at the Australian National University, told Reuters News: “The new PSC line-up is one in which Mr. Xi It will tell you if you care or if you value diversity of opinion at the top.” agency.
“It is possible that the new PSC could be made entirely of Xi Jinping supporters. Limit the information available for decision making. ”
big remodel
About 2,300 delegates attended the party congress, which began in the Chinese capital on October 16.
Most of the deliberations were held behind closed doors, but this week the delegation is expected to appoint about 400 members to the party’s highest state-level body, the Central Committee, according to Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post (SCMP). reported this week: Nearly half of the existing members will be replaced.
Seven of the Politburo’s 25 members are nominated as PSCs, appointed by the 200 voting members of the Central Committee.
These choices have likely been debated among the party’s elite over the past few months, with at least two of the committee’s seven current members slated to retire due to age. Under the “seven up, eight down” convention, civil servants under the age of 67 at the time of the party congress can be promoted, but those over the age of 68 are expected to retire.
But reports in the Wall Street Journal and SCMP this week suggest that up to four holes could open up to the commission.
This will allow the Chinese leader “to promote more of his supporters from the Politburo,” Niss Grunberg of the Mercator Institute for China Research (Merics) in Berlin told AFP news agency. . To the Standing Committee ”.
A new set of rules specifying criteria for promotion and demotion, announced in September, suggests loyalty will become a key requirement, with some of the 15 criteria refusing to rank party leaders. Focus on loyalty.
The prime minister’s role in handling the economy is usually given to an individual in the second or third rank within the party.
Shanghai party leader Li Zhang, 63, who has long-standing ties to Xi, is now facing a civil war against Shanghai’s prolonged lockdown, according to The Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed sources. close to the party leader.
Another supporter that party watchers see as a candidate for promotion is Ding Xuexiang, 60, Xi’s general secretary and head of the powerful General Department of the Central Committee, which controls the administrative affairs of the top leadership.
Guangdong party secretary Li Xi and Chongqing party secretary Chen Min-er are also up for promotion, the SCMP reported.
Hu Chunhua, 59, now deputy prime minister, is considered well qualified by traditional standards for the role of prime minister, but the SCMP says his lack of trust with President Xi puts him at risk. He said it was likely to work against him.
Neil Thomas, a senior China analyst at Eurasia Group, told AFP: “Xi Jinping’s incredible consolidation of power means that elite promotion is not an act of balancing between rival factions, but Xi’s It means it’s a competition for loyalty within the dominant faction.”
Despite the expected scale of the makeover, few hints about Xi Jinping’s successor emerge.
Most analysts expect Xi to serve a fourth term. This means that many of those slated for senior positions this year will be too old for top positions when Xi retires.
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