BEIJING: Xi Jinping was sworn in as China’s president for a third term on Friday, making him the country’s most powerful leader in generations.
The appointment by China’s parliament comes after Xi was suspended for another five years as head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in October.
Since then, Xi, 69, has faced widespread protests over his zero-COVID policy and the countless deaths that followed his abandonment.
These issues have been avoided at this week’s National People’s Congress (NPC), a carefully choreographed event that is also set to install Xi’s ally Li Keqiang as the new premier.
On Friday, delegates elected Xi to a third term as China’s president and re-elected him as head of the country’s Central Military Commission in a unanimous vote.
Adrian Geiges, co-author of “Xi Jinping: The Most Powerful Man in the World,” told JEE News that despite international media investigations revealing his family’s accumulated wealth, he does not believe Xi Jinping is a personal power. They were motivated by the desire to enrich.
“It’s not his interest,” Geiges said.
“They really have a vision for China, they want to see China as the most powerful country in the world.”
Tearing up the rule-book
For decades, China – marred by authoritarian rule and the personality differences of founding leader Mao Zedong – eschewed one-man rule in favor of more consensual, but still totalitarian leadership.
This model imposed term limits on the largely ceremonial role of the presidency, with XI’s predecessors Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao stepping down after 10 years in office.
Xi has torn up that rule book, scrapping term limits in 2018 and allowing a cult of personality to develop its all-powerful leadership.
But his unprecedented third term comes at a time when the world’s second-largest economy is facing major challenges, from slowing growth and problems in the real estate sector to falling birthrates.
Relations with the United States are also at lows not seen in decades, with the powers squabbling over everything from human rights to trade and technology.
“We will see a more assertive China on the world stage, one that insists on accepting its narrative,” Steve Tsang, director of the SOAS China Institute, told JEE News.
“But it’s something that will focus domestically on making it less dependent on the rest of the world and making the Communist Party the center of governance rather than the Chinese government,” he said.
“This is not a return to the Maoist era, but an era in which the Maoists will feel comfortable,” Tsang added.
“Not a direction of travel that is good for the rest of the world.”
