Chinese President Xi Jinping is heading into a historic third term at the 20th Communist Party (CCP) Congress, which begins on Sunday.
There is consensus among analysts and sinologists that at the end of this event the 69-year-old leader will be confirmed as the party’s new general secretary, consolidating his position as China’s most powerful leader since the time of Mao Zedong.
International agencies report the reinforcement of security around Tiananmen Square in Beijing. Almost 2,300 delegates from all provinces of China will gather in its imposing Great Hall of the People starting Sunday.
The Congress will be held under strict sanitary protocols, in correspondence with Xi Jinping’s insistence on maintaining his zero Covid policy to contain and eliminate the virus within its borders.
In the conclave, the participants will elect around 200 members of the party’s Central Committee.
In turn, these will appoint the 25 members of the Political Bureau and those of its Permanent Committee, the highest decision-making body in China.
But in reality “everything has happened beforehand, because the congress does not take place until the factions have agreed,” said sinologist Jean-Philippe Beja.
On the first day, Xi will deliver a speech to assess his previous term and outline his governing plan for the next five years.
At the 2017 Congress, Xi promised a new era for socialism with Chinese characteristics and China’s greater engagement with the world.
“Openness brings progress, while self-seclusion leaves you behind,” he said. “China will not close its doors to the world, it will become more and more open,” she added.
