Xi Jinping asserts supremacy as Chinese president begins third term with loyalists in key posts

Leadership transition in the People’s Republic of China (PRCs) takes place twice in a decade; involves the Party and State Government. The ‘Communist Party of China’ (CPC) held 20th National Congress in October 2022 where its leadership for five years term was decided. The State Government functionaries are elected by the National People’s Congress (NPC). The first plenary session of 14th NPC was held in Beijing from 5 to 12 March 2023. Two Sessions-Framework The ‘two-session’ (Liang Hui) is a collective term for the plenary sessions of the NPC and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) held concurrently at the Great Hall of People. It is an annual feature of enormous political significance. While the NPC is a rubber stamp parliamentary body- composed of around 3,000 selected delegates, CPPCC on the other hand is a political consultative and advisory entity. As NPC meets only once a year, a ‘Standing Committee’ comprising  of some 175 handpicked legislatures works full time to formalise the policy decisions This year, the ‘two sessions’ were highly consequential as a major leadership reshuffle was on the anvil. It was also the first meeting post 20th Party Congress where Xi Jinping was reappointed to the posts of General Secretary of the CPC and Chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC) for the record third time to two most powerful positions. This enabled Xi to establish absolute control over the Party, although he had to weather nationwide protests due to his ‘Zero-Covid Policy’. Salient highlights During the recently concluded NPC, the most significant event was the re-election of Xi as the president. In a carefully stage-managed show, Xi was formally handed an unprecedented third term when all the 2952 delegates of the NPC unanimously voted in his favour. Xi had set the stage for this special exception by amending the Party Constitution in 2018 and doing away with the two-term norm for the presidency. The new leadership lineup primarily comprises Xi’s loyalists. The six key members, all part of the apex CPC body Politburo Standing Committee (PSC) are – Li Qiang - the closest confidant of Xi is the new prime minister. The former Shanghai Party Chief, known for pro-business views is now in charge to revive the nation’s economy. Zhao Leji - Xi’s trusted head of ‘The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection’ (CCDI), a returnee of the previous PSC has been made the Chairman of the NPC. Wang Huning- another holdover from the earlier PSC has been appointed as the Chairman of the CPPCC. Cai Qi, former Beijing Party Chief now heads Party’s Central Secretariat. Ding Xuexiang - previously Xi’s Chief of Staff has been nominated as ‘First Vice Premier’. Li Xi- erstwhile head of Guangdong Province has taken over from Zhao as the head of anti- corruption watchdog. Other important officials of the cabinet include Qin Gang, Xi’s former Protocol Officer and later Ambassador to Washington. He succeeds Wang Yi (now a member of Politburo and head of the Party’s ‘Central Foreign Affairs Commission’) as foreign minister, expected to follow his predecessor’s footsteps and could also be a special Representative’ on Indo-China border talks. Han Zheng, former member PSC and Vice Premier has been appointed as Vice President, the role being largely ceremonial. General Li Shangfu with military modernisation background was named as the new defence minister. He Lifeng, Xi’s associate, one of the four newly appointed Vice Premiers will be in charge of economic policy. Yi Gang, Governor of ‘People’s Bank of China’ (PBOC) and Liu Kun, Finance Minister have been retained despite the two reaching retirement age of 65 to ensure continuity but are no longer members of ‘Central Committee’, Party’s elite decision making body. Even Li Xiaoping, son of former prime minister Li Peng has been reappointed as transport minister but had to step down from the Central Committee Xi’s Third Term: Agendas and Ramifications Having dispensed with the collective leadership model, Xi starts the third term with a further concentration of power. The fine balance that existed between the Party and State is set to tilt in favour of the former with the ongoing organizational reforms and restructuring in the Central Government. It implies that the State organs and business entities are likely to witness increased Party control. There are also hints of greater Party intervention in the legal sector as well. During the opening address, Xi highlighted the vision of ‘Common Prosperity’ and high-quality development, the foremost task in building a modern socialist country. To rein in the financial sector, new ‘National Financial Regulatory Commission’ and ‘Securities Regulatory Commission’ are being established. With Xi laying emphasis on building self-reliance and strengthening science and technology, ‘The Central Science and Technology Commission’ is to be set up to make China a leading technological power. Security tops the agenda, evident from Xi’s closing speech where he stated, “Security is the bedrock of development while stability is prerequisite of prosperity. We must fully promote modernization of ‘national defence’ into a ‘great wall of steel’ that effectively safeguards national sovereignty, security and national interests.” Xi also highlighted ‘one country-two systems’ and avoiding ‘Taiwan split’. At a meeting with the business leaders, Xi attributed the nation’s current economic troubles to Western nation’s animosity and openly accused the US. China’s current defence budget of $225 billion marks a rise of 7.2 per cent. China is up against numerous challenges evident from the work report presented by the outgoing prime minister Li Keqiang wherein he highlighted the economic headwinds of high unemployment (around 20 per cent with respect to youth in the 16-24 years bracket) and sluggish consumption and precipitous drop in revenue from the land sale. Even the conservative economic growth target of 5 per cent may be hard to achieve. In the wake of repressive actions against private enterprises, there is little hope for the investments to return Xi begins his third term as an all-powerful leader seen as Mao 2.0; riding the Dragon solo amidst tough times, marked by internal uncertainties and an unpredictable international milieu. In pursuit of the ‘China Dream’, Xi envisions PRC to ‘play an active part’ in global governance, evident from his ’24 Character Guidelines’. Hence, Communist Leadership behaviour is expected to be even more aggressive. Consequently, China is set to encounter increasingly hostile world as its belligerence is bound to be staunchly contested. Xi will deftly endeavour to find ways by mending fences with some, simultaneously pitting ‘one barbarian against the other’ (Chinese old Strategy); while shoring up support back home by playing the nationalism card. The writer is a professor, Strategic - International Studies, a war veteran and a former defence attaché to China and North Korea. Views expressed are personal. Read all the Latest News , Trending News , Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.