Xi Jinping Wins Third Term as China's Leader

Facts

• Chinese Pres. Xi Jinping secured a third five-year term as the leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on Sunday, following a twice-a-decade Communist Party congress.
• This comes as 2.4K CCP delegates attended the 20th Party Congress on Saturday to ratify constitutional changes and major reshuffles, reelecting Xi as the general secretary of the Politburo Standing Committee (PSC) and appointing its six additional members.
• Newcomer Li Qiang, a close ally to Xi Jinping and the party chief of Shanghai, has been promoted to No. 2 in the CCP hierarchy, becoming the most likely candidate for the Chinese premiership next March. The PSC includes also Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang, and Li Xi.
• Amendments to the CCP's charter instructed party members to recognize and protect Xi Jinping as the "core" of the party, to regard his governing philosophy as a key doctrine of party rule, and to protect the CCP's leading position in China.
• A video showing former President Hu Jintao — apparently resisting being escorted from the closing ceremony by party aides — has fueled speculation among China analysts despite state news agency Xinhua stating that he had been feeling unwell.
• Xi's third term breaks with a traditional two-term limit, which was introduced by Deng Xiaoping in 1982 to prevent a return to a Mao-style of rule but retracted in 2018. Xi was named leader of the CCP in 2012.

Sources: PBS NewsHour, Guardian, Al Jazeera, NPR Online News, Reuters, and NBC.

Narratives

• Anti-China narrative, as provided by The New York Times. Xi Jinping, since the very beginning, has put himself on track to become the next Mao Zedong in Chinese politics. He has crushed dissent, uprooted civil society organizations, and expunged political rivals in his quest to be China's autocrat. Now, having secured a precedent-defying third term, Xi is set to push his vision of a strong nationalist China even further, with himself at the center.
• Pro-China narrative, as provided by Global Times. Though the Western media may portray Xi Jinping's rise negatively, in reality, Xi is in power because he is a strong and charismatic leader who understands the complex challenges that contemporary China is facing. The CCP now has a strong and unified core leadership, which is advantageous to overcoming China's many political and economic obstacles. Xi and the CCP will accomplish great things and withstand any difficulties in a turbulent world together.

Predictions