Chinese president poised to amass even more power
Leader can stock top Communist Party jobs with his allies
Perhaps the grand Beijing Exhibition Center should be renamed the grand Xi Jinping Adoration Palace.
The giant complex has been transformed into a showcase promoting the accomplishments of China’s president: “Five years of Brave Endeavor.” His image is plastered on every wall, his words are blasted from large speakers, and a massive TV screen announces that under Xi, the ruling Communist Party “has solved unsolvable problems and carried out impossible tasks.”
The over-the-top display comes as the party convenes Wednesday to select Xi for a second five-year term as its leader, and thus head of the country, cementing his place as the most powerful man to rule this nation of 1.4 billion in at least a generation.
Xi, 64, is guaranteed a second term as party general secretary. The party’s semi-secretive meeting also gives him a chance to strengthen his position by maneuvering loyalists into other key roles within the leadership.
A compromise candidate when he came to power in 2012, Xi did not get to choose most of his colleagues in the party’s leadership.
After spending the past five years amassing clout, he has a chance to deliver on some of his big promises, such as “economic reform” to spread prosperity to more Chinese and the “belt and road” initiative — a massive infrastructure project connecting Asia to Europe and beyond.
“He has set a lot of initiatives in motion. Now he has to make good on them,” said Elizabeth Economy, director for Asia studies at the Council of Foreign Relations.
“He has set a lot of initiatives in motion. Now he has to make good on them.”
Elizabeth Economy, Council of Foreign Relations
During his tenure, Xi has helped ensure that China’s economy grows along with improved standards of living. He built up the nation’s military and influence in international affairs, and he has waged a popular campaign against government corruption that has snared many lower-level officials and a few senior ones.
He transformed relations with the United States by seeking consensus on trade and currency issues and pledging to President Trump that he would use his influence to try to restrain North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. He also has confronted the United States by flexing his military power in Asia.
Xi appears to have popular support among the Chinese people, but it is difficult to say for certain since he cracked down on free expression, imposing greater censorship on the news media and information from the Internet that is critical of the central government. He took a hard line against pro-democracy demonstrators in Hong Kong.
Some political analysts said Xi’s ambition is to extend his power for a decade by laying the groundwork for either a third term as president, as the party’s general secretary overseeing a loyal supporter chosen as president or in a new overarching position as “party chairman.”
“He will follow what (Russian President Vladimir) Putin did. There is very little chance of him leaving in 2022,” said Hu Xingdou, a political economist at the Beijing Institute of Technology.
Putin has stayed in power for 17 years by arranging with a protégé to switch their offices of president and prime minister when constitutional limits forced him to step down as president — a post he could legally assume again after several years.
Observers will watch for clues about Xi’s intentions during the national congress, which starts Wednesday. One indicator will be the fate of Wang Qishan, one of Xi’s closest allies. Wang, 69, should retire from the Politburo Standing Committee, the party’s supreme body, according to an informal rule that prevents senior party posts going to anyone over age 67. If he stays, it will show Xi has the power to break the rules.