![\"Double](\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/24927648a3463a1cd57db04d59d9a9c93eee1dc5\/0_103_3975_2385\/master\/3975.jpg?width=460&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=865e1919baa8dbe704118bf5f7a2f1b7\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nAt the lead was Xi, confirming his reappointment as general secretary of the party for a third term. The long-speculated reappointment signalled Xi\u2019s successful and overwhelming consolidation of power in Beijing, with retention of the role as chair of the military commission, controlling the People\u2019s Liberation Army. It\u2019s expected he will next year regain the less powerful title of president.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As the second-ranked member after Xi, Li Qiang, the party secretary of Shanghai, is likely to be appointed the next premier when Li Keqiang steps down from premiership in March after two terms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shanghai has historically been a breeding ground for top national leaders. While Li\u2019s prospects might have been dented by the chaos of Shanghai\u2019s protracted Covid lockdown, analysts say Xi values loyalty and trustworthiness above all, and Li\u2019s strong rapport with Xi over the years has put him in good stead. Li was Xi\u2019s chief of staff from 2004 to 2007 when Xi was Zhejiang province\u2019s top party boss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The relatively surprising inclusion of Cai Qi was a sign of how Xi values both loyalists and people he knew rising up through the ranks. Like Xi, Cai spent many years in Fujian province at the start of his career, and moved on to Zhejiang. More recently he oversaw the 2022 winter Olympics, and has been a prominent champion of the zero-Covid policy embraced by Xi, indicating that is here to stay for now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Standing Committee was formally selected by the powerful politburo, also revealed on Sunday. For the first time in 25 years the new politburo contains no women members where previously there was one, vice-premier Sun Chunlan, and has reduced in number to 24 from 25.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Willy Lam, a senior fellow at Jamestown Foundation, a Washington-based think tank said this week\u2019s Congress had shown that \u201cthe personality cult surrounding Xi will exacerbate\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe party and country risk becoming a \u2018one-voice chamber\u2019 where only one voice will be heard. The supreme leader has almost totally abandoned the institutional reforms started by Deng Xiaoping and largely followed by ex-presidents Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In his short speech on Sunday, Xi said China must remain on high alert for challenges \u201clike a student sitting for a never-ending exam\u201d, repeating earlier warnings of \u201cchoppy waters\u201d and \u201cdangerous storms\u201d on the horizon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The language is heightened compared to previous Congresses, which were more focused on peace and development, and reflect how much more isolated China has become from the west, with numerous disputes and tensions. But he emphasises a need to keep relationships open.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cChina\u2019s development can\u2019t leave the world and the world\u2019s development also needs China,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2018 Xi spearheaded the abolition of term limits on leaders, paving the way for him to become leader for life. Massive anti-corruption purges during his tenure, and this week\u2019s political reshuffles have ensured there is little, if any, opposition remaining.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A list of delegates appointed to the 205-member central committee on Saturday revealed some of the most senior rivals to Xi, with links to other factions in the party and their own power base, had been shuffled into retirement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Resolutions announced on Saturday revealed constitutional changes enshrining Xi the individual and his political thought as the core of the CCP and its ideology, raising concerns of a growing Maoist \u201ccult of personality\u201d around Xi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Separate amendments cemented Beijing\u2019s more aggressive stance on Taiwan in the party\u2019s constitution. Where it previously listed Taiwan alongside Hong Kong and Macau as a place with which to \u201cbuild solidarity\u201d. It now only swears to \u201cresolutely oppose and constrain Taiwan independence\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Xi Jinping has been confirmed as leader of China for a precedent-breaking third term, after a week-long political meeting eliminated key rivals and strengthened his political power. The 20th Party Congress, the most important meeting of the ruling Chinese Communist party five-year political cycle, saw about 2,400 delegates gather in Beijing to rubber-stamp major reshuffles […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":26755,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_post_source_name":"","_post_source_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[8217,6263,6369,887,7421,8307,8263,6693,1384,5222,6036,7487,5061,3883,8326,8601,8794,1821,3874,9665,8340,8235,9833,5572,1707,11973,5396,96,3805,11495,8443,5807,5601,10041,8840,6059,5374,12794,2711,11906,12664,2354,3954,8964,5320,36,7898,8327,6309,5603],"class_list":["post-26753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news","tag-army","tag-beijing","tag-chaos","tag-chief-of-staff","tag-chinese","tag-communist","tag-communist-party","tag-congress","tag-corruption","tag-covid","tag-covid-lockdown","tag-general-secretary","tag-general-secretary-of-the-party","tag-hong-kong","tag-hu-jintao","tag-independence","tag-jiang-zemin","tag-kong","tag-lead","tag-li-keqiang","tag-li-qiang","tag-lockdown","tag-meeting","tag-military","tag-olympics","tag-one","tag-peace","tag-china","tag-president","tag-reforms","tag-retirement","tag-risk","tag-shanghai","tag-speech","tag-strong","tag-student","tag-sun","tag-supreme-leader","tag-taiwan","tag-the-general","tag-third-term","tag-washington","tag-will","tag-winter","tag-women","tag-world","tag-xi","tag-xi-jinping","tag-zero-covid","tag-zhejiang"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26753","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26753"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26753\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/pub\/2022\/10\/image.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n