China Communist Party Congress ends with Xi set for third term, new central committee excludes Li Keqiang and Wang Yang

The China Communist Party Congress concluded on Saturday, with President Xi Jinping set to be elected for an unprecedented third term.

The expected move came at the end of a weeklong party congress that established the national agenda for the next five years.

This will enable Xi to run for a third term as China’s president, which is expected to be announced during the government’s annual legislative sessions in March. Xi previously repealed the presidential two-term limit in 2018, allowing him to rule indefinitely.

Xi, in brief closing remarks, said the revision “sets out clear requirements for upholding and strengthening the party’s overall leadership.”

“Dare to struggle, dare to win, bury your heads and work hard. Be determined to keep forging ahead,” he told the party members.

Foreign media were barred from entering the Great Hall of the People in central Beijing during the first part of the meeting, presumably when voting took place.

Police were stationed along major roads, with bright red-clad neighbourhood watch workers stationed at regular intervals to monitor for any potential disruptions.

In a viral video, it was seen that Hu Jintao, the immediate predecessor of current Chinese President Xi Jinping, was unceremoniously escorted out of the Communist Party’s congress’ closing ceremony on Saturday.

According to Reuters, Hu, 79, who was seated to Xi’s left, was led off the stage of the main auditorium of the Great Hall of the People in Beijing by two stewards.

Drama in China as former president Hu Jintao is escorted out of the closing ceremony pic.twitter.com/AzsqUJWuFx

— Dan Banik (@danbanik) October 22, 2022

Xi Jinping began his unprecedented third term by retiring veteran heavyweights such as Li Keqiang and Wang Yang.

According to the South China Morning Post, four members of the Politburo Standing Committee, the highest decision-making body in China, are missing from the list.

Ranked in order of their party hierarchy, they are Premier Li Keqiang, 67; National People’s Congress chairman Li Zhanshu, 72; Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference chairman Wang Yang, 67; and Vice-Premier Han Zheng, 68. This means they will go into full retirement.

Greater than expected changes have been made. Li Keqiang and Wang Yang are both one year away from the traditional retirement age of 68, and if tradition had been followed, they would have continued to work.

But as Xi, who has firmly established himself as the most powerful political figure since Deng Xiaoping, starts his convention-breaking third term, it makes sense that he would want to assemble a young team that could serve as his backbone for the next five years and beyond.

Yang Jiechi, a senior diplomat, and Vice-Premier Liu He were also omitted from the Central Committee list.

According to The Associated Press, the roughly 2,000 delegates, wearing blue surgical masks under China’s strict zero-COVID policy, also formally elected a new Central Committee of 205 members to govern the party for the next five years. Xi is expected to retain the top spot when the new leadership of the party is unveiled Sunday.

Comparable to Mao Zedong, who established the communist state in 1949, Xi has become one of China’s most powerful leaders in modern times during his first ten years in office.

An anticipated third five-year term as party chief would violate an unofficial two-term limit that was put in place to try to curtail the excesses of Mao’s one-person rule, particularly the turbulent 1966–1976 Cultural Revolution, under which Xi suffered as a youth.

With inputs from agencies

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