COMMUNIST PARTY RAISES XI’S STATUS TO ‘CORE’ LEADER

BEIJING China’s Communist Party elevated President Xi Jinping to the position of “core” leader on Thursday, underscoring his clout and strengthening his dominance ahead of a reshuffle in the top ranks next year.

A key party meeting this week called on all members to unite around the party leadership with “Comrade Xi Jinping as the core,” according to a communiqué released by the official Xinhua News Agency.

“This actually is very significant in the sense that it is truly making him the undisputed leader of today,” said Dali Yang, a Chinese politics expert at the University of Chicago.

While mainly symbolic, the move to bestow Xi with “core” status reflects his assertion of himself as one of the country’s most powerful leaders in decades.