China's Xi expands powers, promotes alliesCTV News, Oct 23, 2022
BEIJING - President Xi Jinping, China's most powerful leader in decades, increased his dominance Sunday when he was named to another term as head of the ruling Communist Party in a break with tradition and promoted allies who support his vision of tighter control over society and the struggling economy.
Xi, who took power in 2012, was awarded a third five-year term as general secretary, discarding a custom under which his predecessor left after 10 years. The 69-year-old leader is expected by some to try to stay in power for life.
"Power will be even more concentrated in the hands of Xi Jinping," said Jean-Pierre Cabestan, a Chinese politics expert at Hong Kong Baptist University. The new appointees are "all loyal to Xi," he said. "There is no counterweight or checks and balances in the system at all."
On Saturday, Xi's predecessor, 79-year-old Hu Jintao, abruptly left a meeting of the party Central Committee with an aide holding his arm. That prompted questions about whether Xi was flexing his powers by expelling other leaders. The official Xinhua News Agency later reported Hu was in poor health and needed to rest.
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Party plans call for creating a prosperous society by mid-century and restoring China to its historic role as a political, economic and cultural leader.
Those ambitions face challenges from security-related curbs on access to Western technology, an aging workforce, and tensions with Washington, Europe and Asian neighbors over trade, security, human rights and territorial disputes.
Xi has called for the "great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation" and a revival of the party's "original mission" as social, economic and culture leader in a throwback to what he sees as a golden age after it took power in 1949.
During the congress, Xi called for faster military development, "self-reliance and strength" in technology and defense of China's interests abroad, which raises the likelihood of further conflict.
The party has tightened control over entrepreneurs who generate jobs and wealth, prompting warnings that rolling back market-oriented reforms
Xi, in a report to the congress last week, called for "regulating the mechanism of wealth accumulation," suggesting entrepreneurs might face still more political pressure, but gave no details.
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