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Chinese Communist Party Congress affords another step for Xi Jinping’s consolidation of power



In coming days, Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to further cement his standing as the Communist Party’s most powerful leader in decades. But last week, a flicker of dissent appeared in China’s capital.
Two banners had been hung on an overpass Thursday amid a column of smoke in Beijing’s northern Haidian district. One called for students and workers to strike and oust Xi, labeling him a traitor to his country.To get more news about china party congress 2022, you can visit shine news official website.

The other condemned life in China during his 10 years as the party’s general secretary. “We want food not COVID tests, reform not Cultural Revolution, freedom not lockdowns, votes not leaders, dignity not lies, to be citizens not slaves,” it read.

Images of the banners circulated on the Chinese internet before social media censors quickly removed the offending posts.The rare protest in a nation where ubiquitous surveillance and censorship work in tandem to swiftly crush political opposition was all the more remarkable for its timing, just ahead of the high-profile political conference where Xi is all but certain to break precedent by being anointed to a third five-year term.

It also served as a reminder that even one of the world’s most powerful men can’t claim total control — at least not yet.

Regardless, the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party will almost surely take him a step closer.

“We have ensured that the party will never change its nature, its conviction or its character,” Xi said Sunday from the People’s Great Hall in Beijing at the opening ceremony. “The rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is now on an irreversible historical course.”

The twice-a-decade party congress is a heavily managed and notoriously opaque affair. The decision on Xi’s third term and the personnel changes at the upper echelons of leadership — all expected to be announced on Oct. 23, the day after the event concludes — are traditionally determined ahead of time behind closed doors.

“It’s probably the most clear party congress for a heck of a long time,” said Steve Tsang, director of the SOAS China Institute in London. “The real issue is how much more powerful he gets after.”

Lawmakers abolished term limits in 2018, allowing Xi, who turned 69 this year, to maintain his positions as president, general secretary and military chairman for life. The new makeup of the Politburo Standing Committee, China’s top governing body, will decide the degree of autonomy Xi will have in moving forward with his vision for the nation.

In the face of rising economic and social challenges, Xi’s ultimate aim has been to make China an undisputed world leader in economic prosperity, technological innovation and military strength under the ongoing control of the Communist Party.He is not somebody who is grabbing power for the sake of being power hungry,” Tsang said. “He is going to push harder because he wants to achieve his China dream.”

Continuing to stack party leadership with loyalists will enable Xi to aggressively pursue his goals. However, analysts say autocratic control means there are few checks on miscalculations and that full responsibility falls on one man.

When Xi first took the helm in 2012, few saw him as becoming the supreme leader of today’s brash, nationalistic China. Many had hoped he would continue to lead the country on a path of reform and openness that led to more international engagement and collective party leadership, and would step down under the two-term limit enacted by late paramount leader Deng Xiaoping.

But Xi has ruthlessly consolidated power and has increasingly turned the nation inward. He eliminated political rivals in a wide-ranging anti-graft crackdown, snuffed out an already limited civil society and has promoted loyalists into top government posts.