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China on Saturday amended the Communist Party’s charter to further cement leader Xi Jinping, and for the first time included a stance against Taiwan independence in the charter.
Xi Jinping, who will begin a third term as a convention-breaking Chinese leader on Sunday, further tightened his grip on the Chinese Communist Party on Saturday by amending the party constitution and relaxing top leaders, including Premier Li Keqiang, as allies in the top leadership. Make room.
Xi Jinping is expected to be named Communist Party general secretary on Sunday and start his third term as president in March 2023. The week-long 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China concluded on Saturday with 2,296 delegates electing a new 205-member Central Committee (CC).
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The new Central Committee does not include the four current members of the CCP’s seven-member Politburo Standing Committee (SC), including Li, Wang Yang, who ranks second after Xi Jinping, Han Zheng and Li Zhanshu, the former Shanghai party secretary, who are China’s rubber-stamp parliament, the National People’s Representative Chairman of the General Assembly. Li Keqiang will remain prime minister until March 2023, before making way for a new premier at the end of China’s annual National People’s Congress.
The closing meeting of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China clearly passed the resolution on adding “two affirmations” and “two insistences” in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, aiming to consolidate Xi Jinping’s core position in the party and strengthen his role in guiding his political thought.
The first “two establishments” refers to establishing Xi Jinping’s “core” position of the Party Central Committee and the entire Party, and establishing “the leading role of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era”. The “two insistences” refer to: maintaining Xi Jinping’s “core” position within the party and maintaining the party’s centralized authority.
Together, the new members elevate Xi’s status as China’s most powerful leader since Mao Zedong, the founder of modern China, in 1949.
The last National Congress in 2017 also revised the constitution to add “Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era”, putting him on a par with leaders Mao and Deng Xiaoping.
On the Taiwan issue, the CCP passed a resolution in the constitution opposing Taiwan’s independence, signaling Beijing’s tough stance on self-governing democracy that China claims as its own territory.
“(Congress) agreed to include in the party constitution a statement on … firm opposition to and deterrence against separatists seeking ‘Taiwan independence’,” the resolution said.
In response to the constitutional revisions in the context of Taiwan and the military, the official statement said: “These revisions reaffirm the party’s commitment to building a strong military with Chinese characteristics, continuing to steadily advance one country, two militaries. Institutional policies, advancing national reunification…”
The key meeting, which began on Oct. 16, endorsed Xi Jinping’s “core status” in the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party, all but guaranteeing him an unprecedented third term when China’s new top leader is unveiled on Sunday.
All party members are obliged to “maintain Comrade Xi Jinping’s core position in the Party Central Committee and the entire Party,” said the unanimously adopted resolution on amending the party constitution.
“These revisions will help the whole party to uphold and strengthen the centralized and unified leadership of the central government, enhance cohesion with Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and forge the soul of the party.”
Other words or ideas adopted in the constitution include developing a “fighting spirit”, advancing “Chinese-style modernization”, recognizing the party as the “supreme political leadership force” and gradually achieving “common prosperity”.
“Whoever is appointed (Sunday), they will fully agree on the politics related to Xi Jinping. China is now a country without factions. At the highest level, the level of consensus and agreement is quite amazing,” said Liu, director of the China Institute and director of the Kerry Brown, professor of Chinese studies at King’s College London, said.
“We must improve political judgment, thinking and execution. We must take the lead in maintaining the authority of the central government and centralizing and unified leadership,” Xi said in his speech at the closing ceremony on Saturday.
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“Xi Jinping will find it difficult to go further in terms of centralization and centralization of power. Security will continue to trump everything, including economic growth: so this set of priorities clearly forces Xi Jinping to maintain a high degree of control and centralization,” Jean-Pierre Carr said. Bestein, professor emeritus of the Department of Government and International Studies in the School of Social Sciences, Hong Kong Baptist University said.
While Xi Jinping was locked into a historic third term, the dramatic removal of his predecessor from the event also made headlines. Surprisingly, former leader Hu Jintao was taken out of the closing ceremony. The frail-looking 79-year-old seemed reluctant to leave the front row sitting next to Mr. Xi. No official explanation was given, but state media later said Hu Jintao was unwell when he left.
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