The ruling Communist Party of China strengthened the status of President Xi Jinping at a congress on Saturday and unveiled the composition of the Central Committee, which does not include two key officials who have no ties to the country’s leader.
Source: Reuters
Details: The agency notes that Xi, 69, intends to serve a third five-year term as party general secretary, setting a precedent.
The party’s charter amendments define Xi as the party’s “core” leader and his ideas as the guiding principles for China’s future development. The “Two Guarantees” confirm Xi’s “basic” status in the party and the party’s centralized power over China.
Another amendment enshrined “the development of morale, the strengthening of combat capability” in the constitution of the party, and for the first time included in the charter a call to resist and contain the separatists who seek Taiwan independence.
The new 205-member Party Central Committee did not include outgoing Premier Li Keqiang and former Guangdong Party leader Wang Yang, who was seen as a potential replacement for the premier.
Analysts say their absence was a sign that the influential Politburo Standing Committee, which will be formed on Sunday, will include people close to Xi Jinping.