Lagatar24 Desk
Beijing, Oct 23: Xi Jinping led a new lineup of top Communist Party officials on Sunday, AFP journalists said, confirming he has secured a third term as China’s leader after a week-long congress.
President Xi walked at the head of the group at the presentation event for the CCP’s seven-member Standing Committee, a position reserved for the party’s general secretary. Xi Jinping vowed Sunday to “work diligently” after securing a historic third term as China’s leader.
“I wish to thank the whole Party sincerely for the trust you have placed in us,” he told journalists at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, promising to “work diligently in the performance of our duties to prove worthy of the great trust of our Party and our people.”
Xi Jinping was reappointed head of China’s military on Sunday, state media reported, after being handed a historic third term leading the country.
Xi was elected at the first plenary session of the Chinese Communist Party’s 20th Central Committee, Xinhua reported, adding he “was also named chairman of the CPC Central Military Commission at the session”.
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Sunday promoted his closest allies into the Communist Party’s top ruling body, further consolidating his grip on power as he secures a third term as party leader.
Xi stacked the seven-member Politburo Standing Committee — the party’s apex of power — with four allies, including two of his former secretaries, in a move that flaunts his power and rewards loyalty above all, analysts said.
Current Shanghai Party boss Li Qiang — who oversaw a harsh two-month Covid-19 lockdown in the metropolis earlier this year — is likely to take over as premier from Li Keqiang, who will retire next year.
Close aide Ding Xuexiang, Guangdong Party chief Li Xi and Beijing Party boss Cai Qi were also in the new lineup, according to state media broadcasting from Beijing’s Great Hall of the People.
“It is all Xi’s people, signalling he wants to rule even beyond a third term,” said Alfed Wu Muluan, a Chinese politics expert at the National University of Singapore.
The leadership reshuffle comes shortly after the party concluded its twice-a-decade Congress, a major political event in which a new Central Committee of around 200 senior Party officials is installed, then elects higher layers of the top leadership.
Current Premier Li Keqiang is destined for retirement after the annual legislative sessions next March, as his name was not on the list of new Central Committee members.
Meanwhile, the Chinese Communist Party’s top body will have no full women members for the first time in 25 years, according to the new Politburo roster released Sunday.
Sun Chunlan, the only woman sitting on the previous Politburo, has retired, and no other women were appointed.
