Xi Jinping re-elected for third Chinese presidential term

Xi Jinping won a historic third term as president China after an official vote by the country’s legislature confirming his status as the most powerful leader in decades.

The result of the vote of MPs, announced shortly before 11:00 (03:00 GMT), became final: 2952 votes in favor, zero against and no abstentions.

This was not an unexpected result, given that parliament is effectively subordinate to the Communist Party (CCP), which in October had already re-elected him for another five years as general secretary and commander in chief of the army, two of the most powerful positions in government. a country.

The only candidate for this position, the 69-year-old leader received a new term as head of state, a position he has held since 2013.

The past few months have been difficult for Xi, with massive demonstrations against his zero-covid policy in late November and a wave of deaths since abandoning the strategy in December.

These sensitive issues were sidelined during the annual session of parliament, a carefully planned event where Xi ally Li Qiang is expected to replace Li Keqiang as prime minister.

The National People’s Congress (NPC) meeting in Beijing is also due to formally elect a new vice president to replace Wang Qishan.

These days, MPs have focused on an institutional reform project aimed at strengthening the Ministry of Science and Technology and capacity China in the digital sector.

Xi Jinping set as a priority the development of these sectors in search of self-sufficiency China in the face of what Beijing sees as the West’s “containment” policy aimed at hindering its development.

Cult of personality

The annual session of the NPC was also the occasion for the announcement of a modest growth goal of “about 5%” in 2023 and an increase in the military budget.

Xi’s official re-election as head of state marks a major political rise for the once-obscure politician who has become the most powerful Chinese leader in decades.

Swiss writer and journalist Adrian Gyges, author of the presidential biography, believes that Xi “really has a vision China”.

“Want China become the most powerful country in the world,” he said AFP.

For decades, the People’s Republic of China, scalded by the political chaos and cult of personality under its leader and founder Mao Zedong (1949-1976), promoted a more collegial system of government in the highest echelons of power.

According to this model, Xi’s predecessors (Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao) left the presidency after ten years in power.

But Xi ended that rule by lifting the constitutional two-term limit in 2018, fueling a nascent personality cult in the process.

“Containment, siege and repression”

Thus, Xi Jinping will become the leader with the longest years in power in the recent history of the Asian giant.

At 70, as his third term ends, he may even be aiming for another five years as president, unless a credible successor emerges in the meantime.

But the world’s second-largest economy faces multiple challenges ahead: slower growth, a declining birth rate, a woe in the real estate sector, or a tarnished international image.

Relations with the United States are at their lowest point in decades, with disputes ranging from the status of Taiwan to the treatment of the Uyghur Muslim minority to technological rivalry.

This week, Xi denounced the “policy of containment, encirclement and repression against China” applied by “Western countries led by the United States”, which “brought unprecedented serious challenges to the development” of the country.

(According to AFP)