Xi placed to reign for as long as he likes
CHINA: Xi Jinping has given the clearest indication yet that he intends to rule China for decades to come after he unveiled his new leadership team without annointing a potential successor.
At the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, the president yesterday unveiled a new Politburo Standing Committee – China’s top tier of political power – to help him rule for his second five-year term.
The group of six officials will be too old to take his place when he is expected to step down in 2022, under China’s unwritten retirement rules.
The standing committee includes five new faces and a previous prime minister, Li Keqiang.
The decision not to unveil a next-generation leader is a major shift from precedent, and suggests Xi, 64, is setting the stage to prolong his rule as long as his health permits.
‘‘You can see clearly as his status within the party rises that he will make it to a third term and even lead China for his lifetime,’’ said Wu Qiang, a political commentator who formerly taught political science at Tsinghua University in Beijing.
‘‘Maybe he will be like Putin, and be transferred to other posts before returning to be president, or he will step down but still play a key role in making decisions. All these are possible.’’
The standing committee and the 25-member Politburo are supposedly appointed by 200 or so members of the Communist Party’s Central Committee. Those members were ‘‘elected’’ by more than 2000 delegates who attended the recently concluded 19th Communist Party congress.
In reality, political appointments are made by horsetrading and senior posts will be decided by Xi and his allies. He has emerged as the country’s strongest leader for generations, helped by an anti-corruption campaign which some see as a device to purge his political opponents.
The 19th Party Congress has seen him elevated to the political level of Mao Tse-Tung after his ideology was enshrined into the constitution.
Steven Tsang, the director of the China Institute at SOAS, University of London, said Xi had increased his power to such an extent that it was no longer relevant that a next-generation leader had not been unveiled.
‘‘I think it has become moot. Though this is a big deal in terms of the institutionalisation process post-Deng Xiaoping,’’ referring to the leader who presided over a series of reforms in the 1980s. He called it a ‘‘step backward’’.
After unveiling his new committee, Xi said: ‘‘Over the past five years, we’ve done a lot and some work has been finished, and some we must continue. A new era needs a new look.’’
– Telegraph Group