Chinese leader Xi Jinping formally stepped into his third term ruling China on Sunday, paving the way for lifelong rule. Xi also unveiled the other six members of the politburo Standing Committee, China’s top ruling body stacked with staunch allies, limiting potential resistance, at a press event on Sunday.
This comes after the end of the week-long Party Congress meeting on Saturday, where Xi further consolidated his power by retiring key party leaders from the top ruling body.
The end of the Party Congress came to be defined by a dramatic and unexpected moment, when former top leader Hu Jintao was led out of the room.
“I was reelected as the general secretary of the CPC central committee,” Xi said in opening remarks, before presenting the six other members: Li Qiang, Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang, and Li Xi.
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.
Shanghai has historically been a breeding ground for top national leaders. While Li’s prospects might have been dented by the chaos of Shanghai’s protracted Covid lockdown, analysts say Xi values loyalty and trustworthiness above all, and Li’s strong rapport with Xi over the years has put him in good stead. Li was Xi’s chief of staff from 2004 to 2007 when Xi was Zhejiang province’s top party boss.
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. Standing Committee, China’s top ruling body, stacked with staunch allies, limiting potential resistance.
