Xi introduces China’s new leaders but no clear successor

BEIJING — The ceremony in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People on Wednesday was meant to introduce the world to China’s new leaders, members of an elite committee that for decades has tried to govern by consensus and sometimes has been compared to a corporate board of directors.

Instead, the nationally televised event was more a display of the political power that Xi Jinping has amassed in just five years as president. None of the other members of the new Politburo Standing Committee could be considered equals or potential rivals. The six men stood stiffly in dark suits on the stage, each bowing as Xi introduced them.

After reciting their names, Xi added almost offhandedly: “More information about them can be found through media outlets.”

The debut of the new Standing Committee, the pinnacle of power in China, capped a weeklong Communist Party congress that became a celebration of Xi’s oneman style of rule and his promise to lead a resurgent China to a place at the center of the world stage.

For the first time in a generation, the new Standing Committee did not include a younger leader who would be groomed as heir apparent. The decision to delay anointing a successor broke with the unwritten conventions that have ensured relatively stable leadership changes since the era of Deng Xiaoping, which was beset by schisms and purges.

By setting himself up as the strongest ruler since Deng, Xi has pushed the world’s newest superpower into new and potentially dangerous political territory. On Tuesday, its final day, the congress elevated Xi, 64, to the same exalted status as the nation’s founder, Mao Zedong, by enshrining “Xi Jinping Thought” into the party’s constitution.

Xi’s victory at the congress means he will welcome President Donald Trump to China next month more confident than ever in his hold on power and the party’s support for his more assertive foreign policy.

His attempts to extend China’s influence overseas, such as the global infrastructure program known as “One Belt, One Road” and a drive to build artificial islands in the disputed waters of the South China Sea, are now likely to stay unchallenged.