Ajit Karn
Xi Jinping Will Receive His Third Term As President Of China Today
Beijing: On Friday, Xi Jinping will be granted an unprecedented third term as president, crowning a rise that has made him China’s most potent leader in generations.
The anticipated appointment by China’s rubber-stamp parliament comes after he secured another five years as head of the Communist Party (CCP) and the military in October — the two most important leadership positions in Chinese politics.
Since then, the 69-year-old Xi has confronted numerous obstacles, including mass protests over his zero-Covid policy and its subsequent abandonment, which resulted in the deaths of innumerable individuals.
This week’s National People’s Congress (NPC) is a meticulously orchestrated occasion that will also see the appointment of Xi ally Li Qiang as the new premier.
Faced with what one NPC deputy described as foreign efforts to “contain and suppress” the country’s rise, legislators have instead prioritised a comprehensive overhaul of Beijing’s science ministry and technological capabilities.
During the parliamentary meeting, Beijing also revealed a growth target of “around 5%” — one of its lowest in decades — as well as a modest increase in defence expenditure.
And on Friday, according to an official schedule provided by the NPC, they will elect the country’s next president — a position that is certain to go to Xi.
His reelection represents the culmination of an extraordinary ascent, during which he went from a relatively obscure party official to the leader of a global superpower.
Adrian Geiges, coauthor of the biography titled “Xi Jinping: The World’s Most Powerful Man,” told AFP that he did not believe Xi was motivated by a desire for personal gain, despite international media investigations revealing his family’s accumulated wealth.
Geiges stated, “That is not his concern.”
“He truly has a vision for China; he wants China to be the most potent nation on earth.”
– Destruction of the regulations –
Decades after Mao Zedong’s autocratic rule and cult of personality, China eschewed one-man rule in favour of a consensus-based, albeit still autocratic, government.
Xi’s successors Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao gave up authority after 10 years under this model.
In 2018, Xi abolished term limits and permitted a cult of personality to nurture his all-encompassing leadership.
His coronation this week positions him to become modern China’s longest-serving head of state. If no challenger emerges, Xi will rule well into his seventies, if not longer.
The start of his unprecedented third tenure as China’s leader comes as the world’s second-largest economy faces significant headwinds, including a sluggish economy, a troubled real estate market, and a declining birth rate.
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Relations with the United States are also at an all-time low, with disagreements over human rights, trade, and emerging technologies.
Xi criticised Washington’s “containment, encirclement, and suppression of China” in a speech to delegates at the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), which runs concurrently with the NPC this week.
China, he stated, must “be courageous in the face of profound and complex domestic and international changes”
