China Watch China Window: Xi’s Third Term, Hidetoshi Kaneko | Weekly Economist Online

The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China has concluded and President Xi Jinping has been elected General Secretary for the third time. A new Politburo was inaugurated on 23 October, which includes seven members of the Politburo Standing Committee.

In his third term, the Xi administration purged the Politburo Standing Committee of reformists such as Premier Li Keqiang and People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) Chairman Wang Yang. Mr. Xi’s former subordinates have been chosen, and Mr. Xi’s dictatorship is strong.

Reform Deputy Premier Hu Chunhua, who should have been promoted to the Politburo Standing Committee, was demoted by the Politburo to the Central Committee. Prime Minister Lee and CPPCC Chairman Wang were also nominated by the Central Committee. It is the annihilation of the reformists who go with the flow of Deng Xiaoping.

Xi ranks first among the seven new members of the Politburo Standing Committee. Below them are ▽ Li Qiang, party committee secretary of the Shanghai municipal government (the next prime minister); Li Xi, secretary of the CCP Central Committee for Disciplinary Inspection (former secretary of the Guangdong Provincial Party Committee).

Mr. Li Qiang was Mr. Xi’s subordinate when he was in Zhejiang Province, Mr. Cai was a subordinate when he was in Fujian Province, and Mr. Ding was a subordinate when he was in Shanghai. Li Xi is a former party secretary in Yan’an, Shaanxi Province, where Xi’s father is from.

Zhao Lejie, former secretary of the Disciplinary Inspection Commission, and Wang Huning, former secretary of the secretary’s office, will remain in third and fourth positions respectively, and will be appointed chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC) and chairman of the PPPCC next spring, respectively.

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There was a fierce power struggle behind the scenes of the party congress. On the last day of the convention, Mr. Xi fired Hu Jintao, the former general secretary of the president’s seat, who tried to confirm the contents of the bill before voting. Although Mr. Xi showed his heavy-handed constitution, there was a vacancy in the middle of the president’s seat, and the vote was not unanimous.

Has Mr. Xi, who has served three terms in a row, won the power struggle?

Indeed, the full text of the party’s constitution, released later, did not include the phrases “two institutions” and “leader of the people”, which were said to have been added in the amendment of the constitution. The anti-personality clause, which was thought to be deleted, remained.

“Two establishments…