Published on : 14/03/2021 – 00:44
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The annual session of the National People’s Congress concluded this week, Thursday, March 11, with measures intended to make China the leading economic power by 2035. A way also to prepare the ground for a third mandate for President Xi Jinping.
There is the name of the Chinese president who comes up regularly in speeches. In that of the Prime Minister, there are also signs that do not deceive like his two cups put in front of Xi Jinping during the plenary session of the National People’s Congress. Two cups to one for the rest of the politburo to keep the tea still hot after ten years in office and room for President Xi’s re-election to the 2022 Congress. plenumologists Read in tea leaves, or just state media. Xi Jinping certainly does not have the little red book, but he is more present in the People’s Daily than Mao was in his time.
« This shows that the president considers himself the savior of the Chinese Communist Party which he found, on his arrival, totally plagued by corruption and the ineffectiveness of local officials. », according to Christian Göbel, Modern China Specialist in the East Asia Department of the University of Vienna. “ By showing it so often on the front page, it reinforces the power that he has focused on himself, in particular through the various committees that he has set up. »
Commissions under control
Commission for Reform, Finance, Defense… Each time with relatives at the helm, this last straight line before the 20e Congress also coincides with the centenary of the Party. An anniversary which will be celebrated with fanfare next July with the current president at the heart of the commemorations.
« Everything is done to pave the way for a third term of the president », says Wu Qiang, political analyst and former professor at Tsinghua University. “ There is, for me, no doubt that he will stay. The goal now is to give the 20e Congress, next year, the importance of the 7e Congress that had shaped Mao’s absolute leadership, and thus strengthened Xi’s power to a third, or even longer. »
« Xi Lifetime Emperor »
For the moment this extension of the presidency is still only speculation. Nothing official because Xi Jinping did not only make friends inside the Party, not to mention the other challenges.
« Xi Jinping intends to revitalize the party and even bring it back to its roots highlighted Christian Göbel. It’s a complicated transition because it goes against many interests. On top of that, there is an environment that is increasingly hostile to China, in part because the Chinese leadership has provoked this hostility. »
A hostility to which the Chinese leaders oppose an apparent serenity as for their sustainability : «Lhe hundred years of the Party, thus affirms the Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi, are only the preamble of a great millenary work. »
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