Xi’s grip on China tightens with new term
BEIJING (AFP) — Chinese President Xi Jinping was formally handed a second term yesterday, with no clear successor emerging in a revamped ruling council, cementing his grip on power and setting the stage for him to dominate China for decades to come.
In a highly choreographed event, Xi led the new members of the elite Politburo standing committee in front of television cameras at Beijing’s massive Great Hall of the People after their selection by 204 party officials in a closed-door vote.
Xi, 64, secured a second five-year term as general secretary of the Communist Party after his eponymous political theory was enshrined in its constitution, giving him an inviolable mandate to rule and possibly positioning him to retain power for much longer.
He was also reappointed head of the country’s Central Military Commission.
Premier Li Keqiang, 62, retained his seat on the sevenmember committee while five other men — all little known outside China — replaced comrades who had reached an informal retirement age of 68.
In a speech, as the other members stood expressionless in dark suits, Xi heralded a “new era” for the country under his rule and said the party “must get a new look and more importantly make new accomplishments.”
But the new ruling council looked decidedly old, raising doubts that any could succeed Xi.
“Jinping doesn’t want to share power. He doesn’t want someone breathing down his neck, preparing the succession,” Jean-Pierre Cabestan, China specialist at Hong Kong Baptist University, told