Beijing: China’s ruling Communist Party has set the ball rolling for a rare third term for President Xi Jinping. He was ‘unanimously elected’ as a delegate for the once-in-five-year party Congress to be held in the next few months which was widely expected to put a seal of approval for his continuation. Xi Jinping, 68, was elected delegate to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) at the party’s Guangxi regional Congress by a unanimous vote Friday, state-run ‘Xinhua’ news agency reported. The 20th CPC National Congress is scheduled to be held in the second half of 2022, the report said.
The Congress, which is due to be held in November, has been preponed. This is because the leadership wants to get on with it early in view of complex and fluid national and international situation starting from relapse of Covid-19 virus in China paralysing Shanghai and the deepening Russia-Ukraine war in which Beijing was caught in the middle with mounting US pressure to break off from close ally Moscow.
Ever since his first election in a similar CPC Congress towards the end of the 2012, Xi heading the party, the powerful military and the presidency has consolidated his hold on power, highlighting the need for strong leadership to strengthen stability of the party and the country in the face of international adversity building against the country on a host of issues.
With highly successful campaigns like the crackdown against corruption punishing over a million officials, including over 50 top Generals of the military, besides subduing massive anti-China agitation in Hong Kong with National Security Law and tiding over the international adversity generated by the emergence of the coronavirus pandemic from Wuhan, Xi has emerged stronger every year. He has emerged as a ‘core’ leader on par with the party founder Mao Zedong, who remained in power until his death in 1976.
This year, Xi will be completing the 10-year tenure. All his predecessors retired after two five-year terms. By virtue of elevation to the status of a ‘core’ leader he will continue to remain in power for another five-year term and perhaps for life.
The plenum of the CPC held in November last year already paved the way for Xi’s continuation by adopting a landmark resolution to cement his ‘core’ status in the country’s political history and cleared the decks for him to extend his rule for a record third term and beyond.