- Title: Country file of Communist China as pivotal Party Congress approaches
- Date: 10th October 2022
- Summary: China has faced growing international criticism for what it calls vocational training centres in Xinjiang, a vast region bordering central Asia that is home to millions of Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic minorities. Activists say there is a network of mass detention camps there holding more than one million people, part of a crackdown that Beijing says is needed to stem the threat of Islamist extremism. DABANCHENG, XINJIANG UYGHUR AUTONOMOUS REGION, CHINA (FILE - SEPTEMBER 2018) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF EXTERIOR OF RE-EDUCATION CENTRE KASHGAR, XINJIANG UYGHUR AUTONOMOUS REGION, CHINA (FILE) (REUTERS) RESIDENTS OF KASHGAR VOCATIONAL EDUCATION TRAINING CENTRE IN CHINESE CLASS AND CHANTING (Mandarin): "HOW VAST OUR GREAT MOTHERLAND IS" Mass and at times violent protests against a contested extradition bill in the Chinese territory of Hong Kong morphed into demands for greater freedom from Beijing. The protests resulted in the complete withdrawal of the bill, but was regarded as the biggest challenge for Communist Party rulers in Beijing since President Xi Jinping took power in 2012. HONG KONG, CHINA (FILE - JUNE 9, 2019) (REUTERS) PEOPLE MARCHING IN STREETS PROTESTER HOLDING PLACARD READING (English): "NO CHINA EXTRADITION" HONG KONG, CHINA (FILE - JUNE 12, 2019) (REUTERS) PROTESTERS RUNNING FROM TEAR GAS VARIOUS OF POLICE AND PROTESTERS CLASHING HONG KONG, CHINA (FILE - JULY 1, 2019) (REUTERS) PROTESTERS HITTING GLASS WINDOW OF LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL WITH METAL ROD PROTESTERS DISMANTLING METAL BARS AROUND ENTRANCE TO LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
- Embargoed: 24th October 2022 01:39
- Keywords: China history party congress xi jinping
- Location: SEE SCRIPT BODY FOR LOCATIONS
- City: SEE SCRIPT BODY FOR LOCATIONS
- Country: China
- Topics: Asia / Pacific,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA00Q008701011970RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: China's ruling Communist Party opens its 20th congress on Oct. 16 in a session that is likely to end with President Xi Jinping anointed for an unprecedented third, five-year term as the supreme leader, and a shuffle of personnel on the decision-making Politburo.
About 2,300 party members from across the country will gather, mostly behind closed doors, at the cavernous Great Hall of the People on Beijing's Tiananmen Square for a once-in-five-year congress that typically runs for about one week.
Xi will unveil his new leadership team, and the congress will also see a sweeping reshuffle of the top echelons of China’s power structure, putting in place people who will set policies – economic, diplomatic, security and social - for the next five years and beyond.
Xi, 69, has steadily consolidated power since becoming party general secretary a decade ago, eliminating any known factional opposition to his rule. He is expected to exert largely unchallenged control over key appointments and policy directives at a congress that many China-watchers liken to a coronation.
Despite headwinds that have buffeted his path to a third term - from a moribund economy, the COVID-19 pandemic and rare public protests to rising frictions with the West and tensions over Taiwan - Xi is poised to secure a mandate to pursue his grand vision for the "rejuvenation of the Chinese nation" for years to come.
Since assuming power, Xi, the son of a communist revolutionary, has strengthened the party and its role across society and eliminated space for dissent.
Under Xi, China has also become far more assertive on the global stage as a leader of the developing world and an alternative to the U.S.-led, post-World War Two order.
(Production: Aleksander Solum, Phyllis Xu) - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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